He hardened his heart against the pitiful sight the cousins made.
The younger one, Cleo, was incredibly pale under her naturally olive complexion, and was crying hard without making a sound. Aithne's daughter, on the other hand, sat there with a calm expression on her lovely face, even if it too was a bit pale. Those haunting eyes were the only thing of Aithne that he could view on her face.
He sighed quietly, bored with everything now that she had turned her head to the front of the room, leaving him with a view of the back of her head.
A cigarette at this point would probably be viewed as something akin to disrespect in the church by the heavily religious Greek folk who were sitting in front of him mourning. It was a funeral, after all. He had already gotten some nasty looks from them over his black, yet mainly leather outfit.
Sighing once more, he adjusted the collar of his linen button-down dress shirt, and put the knee length over coat back on, turning from the grim scene at the front of the church where the two coffins lay side by side, and headed out.
"It's fucking freezing!" He quickly buttoned up the jacket while thanking god that it and his pants were warm leather. "I knew there was a reason I hate Canada. At least it's not snowing."
***************************
"Girls, you really should come home with me to Greece." Gemma Rhys told them in rapid Greek.
"Thank you, but no. I am turning eighteen next week and am Cleo's legal guardian. I believe she would benefit from being around things that are familiar to her. Of course, we'll come to Greece at some point, just not at the moment." Aibhlin replied calmly in the same language.
"No, really, I must insist. You are far too young, and America is no place for two girls alone. You have no family here to look after you! Come to Greece and be with your family where you belong. Ari and Carissa would have wanted you to come home with us." Gemma was starting to look a little nervous at the prospect that they might not come back with her.
Aibhlin narrowed her eyes at the distant cousin she had only met once before when she had been five years of age. Something was a little off in her overly concerned manner.
Sighing softly with disgust, Aibhlin turned to Cleo to say, "Do you think she's heard about how little the rest of the family gets, according to the will?", in sarcastic, but rapid Gaelic. Carissa, for some mysterious reason of her own, had insisted on them both studying the almost obscure language to the point where they had both been fluent for years.
Cleo said nothing, but slightly nodded her head in response. Aibhlin was worried over her not speaking since Carissa and Ari had died in the car crash almost two months ago.
Her worries were interrupted again by her increasingly annoying cousin. "What language is that, Damia? It is quite beautiful sounding."
Aibhlin started to get angry at Gemma's deliberate use of her incredibly Greek middle name. She went the polite route only by clenching her hands into tight fists at her sides. "I do not use that name, Gemma. You have not seen me in a good while, so it is understandable. I always use my first name, Aibhlin. And that language is Irish Gaelic. It is incredibly beautiful, isn't it? Cleo and I are as at home with using Gaelic, as using English and even Greek. I was simply asking her if she was okay, and would like anything to eat."
"That's nice." Gemma couldn't really muster up the enthusiasm for her two cousins secretive language.
"Yes, well, we should really be going home, is there anything else you wanted?" Aibhlin already had her coat on and was handing Cleo her's.
"Just another plea for you to come home to Greece."
"I don't think so. Thank you for asking though." Aibhlin smiled around the stiff English to soften it somewhat.
"Until next time I see you then. Damia, Cleo, I feel for you. Carissa and Ari were wonderful people." Gemma spoke in deliberate Greek to Aibhlin's English. She leaned over to kiss their cheeks in farewell.
"Do you want to get somethiing to eat?" Aibhlin switched back to Gaelic and turned to Cleo.
***************************
"May I sit with you girls? The place seems quite filled and I can't get my own table for a coffee." He stepped up to the table laying on his accent and charm for their benefit.
"Actually, we kinda just wanted to be alone. Sorry sir." Aibhlin spoke looking up at him coolly.
He was almost expecting that arrogant dismissal. Aithne would have done that to him too in exactly the same fashion. So mother and daughter were more alike than he had originally thought. "I have things that need discussing, Aibhlin."
"What?" She looked back up at him startled. "Do I know you?"
"No." He shook his head in the negative. She looked relieved and somewhat curious until he spoke once more, "But I knew your mother. Aithne Shannon."
"That is not my mother's name, sir." Aibhlin stood to look him in the eye rigidly.
"Aye, it is. Carissa was supposed to have callen on me when you had come of age, but we know what happened before that. I'm going to go now, but I shall leave you my card. If you want to know your true past, give me a call." He handed a stiff white business card to her and turned with a flurry of black leather to leave the restaurant.
Numbly, Aibhlin looked down at it. "Caley Redfern."
