Chapter Four: Broken Wings

Nobody enjoys a funeral. When you are standing there, the casket wide open in front of you, and a person you once knew to be alive and well now lying silently in the thing, there is no possible way to avoid crying. You might try to deny your inner sadness or hide it away from the rest of the people around you, but when you look in the face of the person you once loved (and still do) you find that there is no way to conceal your emotions. Victoria Van Dort was looking around her husband's funeral miserably, her small daughter wrapped securely in her arms. She could not bare the whole thing. All these people, staring at her dead husband like he was nothing more than a dead squirrel. She looked down at her black dress and sniffed a little...nobody cared that the love of her life was gone.

Victoria was pressing her daughter's tiny face into her bosom; she did not want Lily to see her father's cold, stiff body. The girl was far too young to understand the likes of death, and when Victor had been gone for the past few weeks Lily had bawled from her crib nearly all of the day. The sound of her infant sobs made Victoria cringe and shutter; Lily had always been her daddy's girl, and always would be. And that had brought a brand emotion to Victoria's heart: fear. How was she going to raise her child now that her husband was dead? She and Victor had totally depended on each other for the past sixteen months, and now that Victor was gone...how was the widow going to tend to her child's needs?

Well, there were always her parents, she thought bitterly. Victoria had always been some what pushed around by her mother and father, and now that she was a parent herself she found it both foolish and embarrassing to ask for their help. Also, Victoria did not want Lily to be raised the same way that she was. She wanted her child to be able to play beautiful music and run around and not have to wear a corset. If anyone deserve a more sheltered childhood than Victoria's had been, it was not Viola Rosemary Van Dort, and so it would not be. If she had to raise her daughter without a father, then so be it. Her body swelling with emotion, Victoria took an enormous gasp of breath and walked away as the funeral came to an end.

"Lily?" the woman in a filthy old wedding dress said again. "Lily. Oh Victor, I do like that name. It's very lovely."

Smiling and taking her good friend's hands in her own, Emily led him to her coffin and motioned for him to sit down. Uncomfortably he sat down; Victor was used to being in the land of the dead, but it had been a long, long time since he last been with the Corpse Bride, and also he was not all too thrilled about sitting in a coffin. He was still tremendously sad about leaving his wife and daughter behind, and the pain in his heart became even heavier when he talked about them, even with a person he trusted as much as Emily. Surely he had been dead for at least a fortnight now; he had truly not been counting the days. Mostly he had been by Emily's side, as she was trying to help him cope with his new-as she called it-"unlife-style." It was just today that he had started talking about his life after she had left. He described his and Victoria's marriage ceremony (whiling suppressing quite a few laughs, I might add), the troublesome in-laws, and last of all the baby. Victor still could not believe that he would never get to see his child grow up...he had tried to stifle a few tears while telling Emily about the day she was born.

"Yes," he sighed deeply, "Lily was the first thing we thought of calling her. Then Victoria said that it would be better as a nickname, so we named her Viola and called her Lily instead."

"Viola!" Emily chimed, giggling a bit, "like the instrument! Oh, how cute."

Victor grinned at her silliness. "Thank-you."

"You're welcome," she replied. She was smiling more quietly now, looking into Victor's eyes and making him feel very uneasy. He was no fool (well, not a huge one) and he knew that Emily was very fond of him, no matter how much she denied it.

"Your life sounds wonderful, Victor. I'm so glad you were happy with Victoria. You two deserved each other, you know it? You really did. You love her very much, I can tell, and she loves you as well..."

She stopped herself almost immediately after she said these words, looking-perhaps it was just his imagination-suddenly very pale. She looked at Victor apologetically, but he merely smiled sadly and waved her off. He had decided that he ought to get used to talking about his family.

"You really think it was that obvious?" he asked.

"Well..." she looked very serious and put a blue finger on her chin, "to me it was. Elder Gutneckt says I have an eye for love. I think I'm just a terrible romantic with too much passion."

"I don't think you're too passionate," replied Victor, and then smiled and said, "Emily."

The Corpse finally let go of his hand and closed her eyes, the smirk fading from her face. She looked as if Christmas had been cancelled. A worried sort of feeling came over Victor as he asked her, "Emily, are you alright?"

"Oh yes, I'm fine." Emily opened her eyes and placed her right hand in his lap. He had just noticed a golden band on her ring finger. His eyes widening to the size of large saucers, Victor started to ask another question but was only stopped by Emily's voice.

"Victor...I'm engaged."

Victoria loved visiting her in-laws. Though her husband had always felt uncomfortable around his parents, she found William and Nell Van Dort to be all the more charming. They had treated her kindly since the day she had married their son and now that he was gone, Victoria thought the least she could do was comfort them. After all, she could not possibly imagine losing a child, even if Victor had been an adult. Shivering in the cold, the young widow knocked on the door to the home of her second parents.

Surprisingly, a very weepy looking Nell Van Dort answered the door, not a servant. She took a quick a look at Victoria and the sleeping baby she was carrying and grabbed her free arm, pulling her into the dark house. As soon as she was in and had shut the door behind her, Victoria put a finger to her lips then gestured to Lily, who was breathing warmly on her neck.

"Of course," said Nell, her voice very hoarse and quiet. One of the servants to took Lily from her arms and Victoria sat down beside William, who also looked a bit weepy, but not so much as his wife. She cleared her throat nervously, unaware of what to say. She finally made her mind and began to speak in a gentle whisper.

"I cannot tell you how sorry I feel for you two, and I can't imagine the pain you must be in...the thought of losing a child astounds me." She paused, and sighed. "I only wish that I could say for certain that everything is going to be okay, but I cannot. Please, do not get too upset," she added, seeing the horrible expression on Nell's chalky face.

"You speak of the pain that we are going through, child, but I hardly can imagine yours!" she cried, waving her arms about. Victoria was very taken aback.

"What-what do you mean?"

"Oh Victoria," she sighed. "Surely you know what I mean? You have lost a husband! You and our Victor were practically inseparable, and now because of some silly accident..." she ceased talking and fanned herself ("Settle down now, Nell!" William had said firmly). The older woman looked at her daughter-in-law's face, which was now greatly still.

Victoria was at a loss for words.