1Victoria was sitting in the wooden washtub, with her knees pulled up to her chest and her arms wrapped tightly around her legs. The wash women were rubbing cleaning sand into her hair when she herd the distant sound of the piano. She smiled to herself, then shivered as one of the women poured a bucket of cold water over her head, "sorry dear," the woman said "I guess I should have warned you"
Another woman came over to Victoria holding a white, soft looking bath robe, and holding out her hand to help her up out of the washtub. The robe was warm, like it had just been hanging in front of the fire. Victoria could still hear the soft music of the piano as the women helped her into her dress she would wear that day. As she descended down the stairs, Victor stopped playing and stood up, walking over to greet her with a warm, gentle hug, "are you going to be okay darling?" he asked softly.
Victoria nodded. Victor took her hand and guided her to the door. Draping her coat around her shoulders he said, "our carriage should be here by now." Stepping over the threshold of the doorway, as the bright winter sun shone in their eyes, they saw the small, horse drawn carriage approach their home.
The short ride to the cemetery was a quiet one, neither of them spoke to each other. Victor couldn't think of any comforting words to say to his wife, and Victoria was just trying to hold back the tears that she had for her recently deceased mother whose funeral they were going to attend today. She knew that she shouldn't be too upset with her mothers' death, her parents had been cruel to her sometimes, but she couldn't help loving them.
During the funeral, Victoria finally let out the silent tears she had been fighting to hold back, Victor held her close against the cold winter air. As they were walking back to the carriage after the funeral, Victoria noticed something that made her stop, "look," she said to Victor in a small whisper, pointing down to a grave marker, "do you think that that could be her?"
Victor looked down to examine the tomb stone. He read the name Emily, but the last name was all chipped out and unreadable. So was the date of death and birth, but the stone was engraved with pictures of flowers, some of Roses, and some Lilies, and some, a flower Victor had only seen once, but recognized as Baby's Breath.