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The first visitors arrived for the viewing in the early afternoon. Christopher recognized Lady Charmaine and her husband, Mr.Jerome Bennett. He remembered Charmaine was Lilith's best friend, and they often met for tea and lady's social events. The two were inseparable and acted more like sisters than friends. She approached Christopher as he sat next to Lilith's casket.
"Greetings, Lord Thorn." Charmaine bowed her head to the man sitting before her. He looked up to see the lady gazing back at him nervously as if she had something she wanted to share. Christopher rose from his chair, gave her a nod, and reached out to shake hands with Jerome Bennett. Jerome was a second-generation jewelry maker and was as good as they came. Over the past few years, he had done a lot of business with Mr. Bennett, including bringing diamonds and gold from African traders into the country.
"Mr. Bennett, thank you for coming," Christopher said.
"Condolences on the loss of your wife. We were shocked and saddened to hear of her passing. Milord, if there is anything you need in the coming days, please reach out to us. We will help with whatever you require." Replied the man back to Christopher.
"Thank you, Jerome. Your offer is very gracious." Christopher responded with a sad smile.
Lady Charmaine addressed Christopher, "Milord, I dislike to ask at this time during the wake as I know you are grieving, but I have something for you. I want to present this to you in private if you don't mind."
"Okay, Milady, we can step this way to my study." Christopher gestured for them to follow him down the hall. Jerome linked hands with his lovely wife, who looked like she might pass out from fright. Jerome could tell Charmaine was rattled but knew how important it was to give Christopher what was in her pocket. Lilith would have wanted her to do this.
The couple followed Christopher. He opened the door to his study for them to enter. "Please have a seat and make yourself comfortable. Would you like something to drink?" He looked at them, still standing at the entrance to the room.
Jerome stopped at the door and let his wife enter. She turned to look at him, and he nodded his head at her. Jerome told his wife, "I will be outside if you need me." He then turned to Christopher, who looked puzzled at the man. "I think it better to let her converse with you alone." The Lord nodded in silence as Jerome shut the door.
Charmaine settled into the seat next to Lord Thorn. Looking down at her hand, still meddling with something in her pocket, she began to speak to him. "Back in the summer, Lilith came to Jerome and I to make an order at the jewelry shop. She wanted something special to give to you for this Christmas. It has been completed, and you need to have it. She pulled the dark blue velvet box from her pocket and gently handed it to Christopher. "I wanted you to know, Milord, that you were Lilith's whole world. She told me recently that even though her marriage was arranged, it didn't matter. Lilith loved you from the first time you met." Charmaine could see Christopher inhaled sharply and released a ragged breath as she told him about his wife's feelings.
Lord Thorn opened the lid on the box. Inside was a solid gold pocket watch. The first thing that caught his eye was the front of the watch. It had the Thorn family crest and signet. He muttered. "Leave it to Lilith to have no detail left undone." Christopher folded the bow back at the top of the watch and pressed the latch release. It popped open to show an ornate dial created with mother of pearl and the hour and second hands made of gold. When he looked at the inside of the cover, it was a hand-painted portrait of Lilith. Charmaine noticed his hands begin to shake.
"If I may, I'd like to show something else about the watch." Charmaine looked at the timepiece in his hands. Push the latch button a second time, Milord. It will open the back of the timepiece." Depressing the button again, he saw the back cover open; there was a crystal over the watch parts, and he could see the clock working inside. "Look inside at the back cover," said Charmaine. He pulled the watch cover fully open to read better it was an inscribed message from his wife.
To my Husband Christopher,
I know what love is because of you,
and my life has become a neverending
love story.
Lilith
Christopher sat silently for a moment. His entire body quaked. He kept repeating in his mind to keep a stiff upper lip, but his facade was cracking, and a dam of emotions would soon break. Lord Thorn looked at Charmaine. She could see the soul-crushing pain surface in his grey eyes, tears filling the rims. "This is an exquisite piece. You can see Lilith put a lot of love and thought into it. Thank you for personally delivering it to me." The Lord's voice wavered. "I'm too overwhelmed to say much more. I need a moment alone if you don't mind." He was no longer looking at Charmaine but staring down at the watch in his hands.
The young woman stood from her seat and turned to leave. Before opening the door, she looked back over her shoulder to see Christopher's head in his hand, clutching the watch next to his heart in the other. Charmaine saw his shoulders were heaving. The moment had become too personal, and she quickly turned and ran from the room. Jerome was outside the door waiting. He held her tightly in his arms, rubbing her back as she cried into his shoulder. It was the most challenging thing she had ever done.
The days had merged one into another, and before Christopher realized it was the day of Lilith's funeral. So many people had come to give their respects to The Lord and Lilith's family. He was numbed to everything going on around him. He hadn't slept in days. Lord Thorn gazed down at the beautiful watch in his hands. He was taken back by the gift and broke down for several hours after acquiring it from Lady Bennett.
He had not shed a tear in a very long time, so long he could not even think back to when it was. This mortal woman who was no longer alive had affected him to show frailty and cry for her twice in the past week.
His thoughts were interrupted by Jackson "Milord; we're ready. Christopher mounted his horse, Onyx, and followed the funeral procession to the Thorn family cemetery. It was an old place, with some sepulchers dating back to the fifteenth century. Snow was still falling, and the air was so cold one could see their breath. He could hear Mrs. Thomas wailing for her daughter. Lord Thorn was going through the motions at this point. All he wanted was for the world to leave him to rest.
Christopher had given Lilith all the recognition of a high society lady. He saw Jackson seated in the driver's box, fully dressed in mourning attire and a black ostrich plume in his top hat, steering the hearse to the cemetery. The welsh carriage was made of glass boxed in with black and gold accented woods. It was covered in white roses, outfitted with the black ostrich plumes, and pulled by a team of eight Friesians just as Christopher requested.
The hearse crested the hill beyond the estate, and the graveyard stretched out between the forest and the small family chapel. The last time he saw this place was when they buried his adopted Father, Lord Thorn I.
Christopher watched as they got closer to the mausoleum he had opened for Lilith. The structure looked like a diminutive ornate medieval cathedral. It had a spire on every corner and an angel on each side of the entry that would guard her tomb. There was another angel above the entrance that held the Thorn family crest. The door was patinaed copper and cut out to look like a trellis of roses. It was a beautiful homage to his young wife, who was no longer with them.
The carriage stopped ahead of the mausoleum. Jackson descended from the driver's box and opened the double doors on the back of the hearse. The pallbearers, tallying eight men, consisting of Lilith's cousins and brothers, silently lined four on each side at the back of the carriage. They commenced pulling the coffin from the hearse and carried into the tomb. Christopher stood at the front of the family with a stoic face and watched the starburst walnut coffin with rosewood accents pass by and placed in the stone crypt to be sanctified and then sealed by the clergy who took care of the cemetery.
Lilith's mother was overcome with grief and could no longer restrain her crying. No one could soothe her.
"Shh... Lily, she's in a better place now. She is with God now," said her husband, Sir Thomas.
"No parent should bury a child," Lily retorted to her husband through stammered sobs and tears.
Christopher could tell the poor woman was on the threshold of collapse. It was tearing at his core. He closed his eyes and said a blessing for the bereaved family. The Lord mumbled words that no one could hear.