Song Recommendation: Six Feet Under by Billie Eilish (Sofar Los Angeles Version) – Listen to this at the middle part of this chapter ;)
"Amy! There you are!" Emy heard her mom said with a slightly loud voice, she followed her line of sight to find Amy not far from where they stood as the little girl walks towards their spot while holding the hand of someone beside her.
The hand belongs to a middle aged woman, whose age looks similar to her own mother. She is wearing an exquisite dress with length that is below her knee, with the design that elegantly matches her age. The woman has fair complexion, and hair that looks perfectly well-maintained by a hair stylist. As the woman gets closer, Emy noticed her captivating charm that is oozing with elegance and her face looks smooth even with little fine lines. A distinct feature of round face with a slightly pointed chin, short jaw with moderate high tip nose, and a heart shaped lips that have dark shade of red lipstick on it.
"Grandma! Mom!" Amy called out their names as she appeared to be happy seeing both of them now, and the little girl run towards their spot, she immediately hugged Emy while holding her grandmother's hand.
Emy crouched down to hug her daughter as she says "where have you been? We're worried that you may have lost your way back" her voice quavering with a long weary sigh that escaped her lips.
"We found her near the main gate" The woman suddenly spoke to them, and when she said 'we', it refers to the other two women, accompanying on her side that appeared to be younger than the woman who spoke just a while ago.
The woman continues to say "Oh! Apologies for interfering, I am Mrs. Hensley, and these are Hollie-my daughter, and Anna-my assistant". Her voice gentle but full of sophistication with the way she speaks.
"It is nice to meet you Mrs. Hensley, Hollie and Anna. I am Mrs. Prim and this is my daughter Emy, and my granddaughter Amy and please, you're not interfering. We should be the one to apologize for bothering you with my granddaughter here" Mrs. Prim politely said as she smiles at the three of them. Even though Emy is not speaking, she didn't forget to greet them with a polite smile as well, as she now stood beside her mom while holding Amy's hand as the little girl stood beside her.
"Amy is not bothering us at all, if it not for her, I would have lost my favorite scarf as it suddenly slipped after a sudden gust of wind" Mrs. Hensley said as she smiled back, her eyes look at Mrs. Prim and then shifted to Emy that finally settled to Amy.
"That's true, she is very polite that appears to be smarter than her age with the way she talked" added by Hollie who showed fondness for the little girl's simple act of kindness.
"Well if that's the case, our little Amy here did a good job then!" Mrs. Prim looked and winked at Amy as she compliments her good deed.
"Yes indeed! Thank you again little Amy! We will go ahead now and again its nice meeting all of you." Mrs. Hensley said as she slightly nods to bid their farewell.
"Take care" Mrs. Prim said before the three women walk ahead to where they are intended to be going before they have encountered Amy.
Emy raise her hand in front of Amy implying her for a high five gesture, and when their hands touches, she hugged her daughter again as she says "mom is so proud at her little girl here, but still you made us worried back then, so how will I punish you for that?!" and as if Amy already understood what her mother meant by the word punishment, she immediately run away from there but then Emy runs faster and catches her quickly, the little girl screamed as she tickled her.
When noontime came, Emy decided for them to leave the cemetery to head for their lunch, since they are already outside why not treat them to a good restaurant and make the most of her rest day with them as their family quality time, after all it's not that every day she could afford to have this leisure time with her family as her work demands more time with loaded schedule of activities, Emy thought.
While the three of them walks toward the main gate of the cemetery, they saw Mrs. Idris walking on the opposite direction, she was Emy's mother-in-law. The woman is as same age as Emy's biological mother, but unlike Mrs. Prim who has gentle features which refers to her being calm and courteous, Mrs. Idris has stern and fierce bearing that it makes Emy feel awkward every time she talks to her.
'Mother-in-law appears to be visiting today as well' Emy thought to herself. Thinking it would be rude of her if she would not to greet the woman first so she walks toward her, tagging Mrs. Prim and Amy along with her. When they are already near her, Emy saw Mrs. Idris looked at them,
"It's good to see you again, mother" Emy greeted her mother-in-law with polite smile on her face.
Emy raised her hand forward that is currently holding Amy's hand as if implying to greet her other grandmother. Amy did what was told to her and she walked toward Mrs. Idris to kiss her cheeks as the woman slightly bent her upper body to let the little girl reach her face, and she goes back to hold her mom's hand as soon as she was done.
The three of them are unaware that Mrs. Idris had already noticed them from afar before they came near her, just waiting or rather testing if they would greet her first as she had no intention to greet them at all if ever they would just to pass by her.
"How have you been Mrs. Idris? I hope you're doing well" Mrs. Prim politely greets the woman.
"Of course I am doing well Mrs. Prim, only not like it was before…Looks like you have visited my son already?" Mrs. Idris greeted them back with her stiff upper lip that shows stoic impression as her eyes shifted from Mrs. Prim to settle on Emy.
"Yes mother, we came here early but If only I have known that you will be visiting today, we would have accompany you so we can visit together" Emy said ignoring her mother-in-law's indifferent behavior towards them, and she acted as if they are all speaking in a polite manner, like any other normal relatives would do.
"It's alright, just a flower for my son from you would do, did you at least bring my son his favorite flower?" one of her eyebrows raise as she gaze Emy with her demeaning tone.
"Of course mother, I always bring him that flower" Emy said as she is referring to the red chrysanthemums, keeping a polite smile on her lips.
Although that flower is not really what you can say as a favorite for her late husband, but he likes it among the other flowers. Since then, she always makes sure to bring that kind of flower every time she visits him.
"Good for you, at least he knows that he is not being forgotten" Mrs. Idris said, and Emy just forced a small smile without saying a word as the middle-aged woman's words hits a spot on her heart.
"Your son is not forgotten, Mrs. Idris... Not even for a second on my daughter's mind" Mrs. Prim answered instead at the other woman in front of her, her voice calm but her face serious without holding her usual politeness anymore.
Not wanting to make a scene, Emy says "I guess we will be going ahead mother, have a good day and take care" for Mrs. Idris to just nods at Emy and Mrs. Prim, her lips is pulled on a straight line and without even saying farewell with her granddaughter in front of her, she just walked ahead, leaving them.
"Let's go have lunch, mom" Emy said as she keeps Mrs. Prim from looking back on her mother-in-law whose back is facing them now as she walks away from there.
"She hadn't changed a bit...her choices of words as well as her tone are still not good on one's ears" Mrs. Prim bluntly said feeling annoyed at the woman's attitude towards her daughter.
"She is not the only one who is still suffering from losing a loved one, and she should stop blaming you for it!" Emy heard her mother's complain and she can see now the flare of anger that is starting to form in her eyes.
"Come on mom, you know her...it's just the way she is ever since we met her, maybe she still couldn't let go of the past until now… She just needs more time, besides you'll ruin the mood now, so let's go and have our happy lunch, shall we?" Emy forcing a little bit of optimism in front of her mom so she would not worry about her, she tried to keep herself cool and calm so it will not ruin the rest of their day.
However, If not for Mrs. Prim and Amy who are beside her now, she would have felt depressed with her mother-in-law's words by now. Her mother has a point there, every word that her mother-in-law had said awhile ago were not nice on one's ears to hear, particularly on her granddaughter's ears.