After the eulogy, there was music...pieces Margaret had selected herself, apparently, years ago when she’d pre-planned the service. Songs that were aningful but not maudlin, celebratory rather than sorrowful.
Several other people spoke briefly. A neighbor who talked about Margaret’s kindness. A library colleague who shared a funny story about Margaret’s organizational system that no one else could ever understand.
Each story added another dinsion to the woman Eve had known, showed her sides of Margaret she’d never fully seen.
The final part of the service was the committal.....Margaret had chosen cremation, her ashes to be scattered in the city park where she and Eve had spent countless afternoons when Eve was young. But that would be private, later, just Eve and the people closest to her.
For now, people filed past the closed casket, paying their respects in whatever way felt right. So touched it briefly. So stood silently. So cried.
Eve stood with her mates, receiving condolences from people she barely knew, accepting hugs from Margaret’s friends who felt like they knew Eve from stories even though they’d never t.
Rick approached again as the crowd was thinning. "If you ever need anything," he said awkwardly. "I know we’re not....I know the club isn’t exactly a warm mory. But if you need anything."
"Thank you," Eve said, genuinely touched.
After everyone else had left, after the funeral ho staff had quietly begun the process of clearing the room, Eve stood alone at the casket.
Just her and Margaret, one final ti.
She placed her hand on the smooth wood and closed her eyes.
"I love you," she whispered. "I’ll miss you every day. And I promise....I promise I’ll make you proud."
The bond pulsed warmly....her mates giving her space but present, always present.
After a long mont, Eve turned away and walked out into the gray afternoon.
The reception was held at the estate....Maya and Elena had coordinated it without telling Eve, wanting to give her one less thing to manage. The formal dining room had been set up with food and drinks, comfortable seating arranged throughout the connected rooms.
It was smaller than the funeral itself...just the pack mbers who’d attended, Maya, Elena, Raphael, and a handful of Margaret’s closest friends who’d been invited back.
Eve moved through it chanically, accepting condolences, making small talk, trying to be present while feeling like she was watching everything from underwater.
Catherine appeared at her elbow with a cup of tea....apparently having decided Eve needed managing. "Drink this," she said firmly. "And eat sothing. You’ve been running on grief and adrenaline all day."
"I’m not hungry," Eve said.
"I didn’t ask if you were hungry," Catherine said. "I told you to eat. Your mother would have agreed with ."
Despite everything, Eve almost smiled. She took the tea and a small plate of food that Catherine pressed into her hands.
In the corner, she saw Maya and Elena talking with so of the pack mbers, bridging the gap between Eve’s old world and new one with easy grace. Raphael stood near the window with Elder Markov, engaged in quiet conversation that looked surprisingly comfortable.
As the afternoon wore into evening, people began to leave. Respectful goodbyes, final condolences, promises to check in on Eve later.
Finally, it was just the household.....pack family, chosen family, all the pieces of Eve’s new life.
"Thank you," Eve said to the room at large. "All of you. For being here. For honoring her. For...." Her voice caught. ".....for letting have this day to say goodbye."
"Always, Luna," Marcus said, and the others murmured agreent.
After the last of them had left, Eve found herself in the library....the quiet room that had beco a refuge, where she and Margaret had talked on the phone so many tis over the past months.
Maya found her there, settling into the adjacent chair without asking permission.
"Hell of a day," Maya said quietly.
"Yeah," Eve agreed.
They sat in silence for a while, comfortable and familiar.
"She really loved you, you know," Maya said eventually. "Like....I know you know that. But I an really, really loved you. The way she talked about you....you were her whole world."
"She was mine too," Eve said. "For so long, she was the only person I had."
"You have more people now," Maya said. "It doesn’t replace her. Nothing replaces her. But you’re not alone."
"I know," Eve said. "So days that makes it easier. So days it makes it harder....feeling like I’m moving forward when she’s not here to see it."
"She saw enough," Maya said firmly. "She saw you beco strong. Saw you find people who love you. Saw you start to claim the life you were ant for. That’s....that’s more than a lot of parents get to see."
Eve nodded, unable to speak.
They sat together as the evening deepened into night, two friends who’d been through impossible things together and would continue to be there for whatever ca next.
Eventually, Silas appeared in the doorway. "Eve. You should rest."
"I know," Eve said. But she didn’t move.
Silas crossed the room and held out his hand. "Co on. Let us take care of you."
Eve took his hand and let herself be led back to the master bedroom, where Damian and Damon were already waiting.
They helped her undress, settled her into bed, arranged themselves around her in that protective configuration that had beco familiar.
"I’m okay," Eve said, though no one had asked.
"We know," Damian said. "But we’re staying anyway."
Through the bond, she felt their love.....fierce and protective and absolutely certain. Felt their commitnt to seeing her through this grief, however long it took.
"She was extraordinary," Raphael’s voice ca from the doorway. He stood there with an expression of deep respect. "Your mother. She protected you without understanding what she was protecting you from. Loved you without knowing your heritage. Raised you to be strong and compassionate in equal asure." He paused. "My brother and Lilith couldn’t have chosen better."
"Thank you," Eve whispered.
Raphael nodded and withdrew, leaving her with her mates.
Eve closed her eyes and let herself grieve.....fully, completely, without trying to be strong or composed or anything other than a daughter who had lost her mother.
Her mates held her through it, the bond pulsing with support and love and the promise that she would never have to carry this alone.
Tomorrow, the Court politics would resu. The combat trials and faction negotiations and all the dangerous complexity of claiming a throne.
But tonight....tonight was for Margaret.
For rembering. For grieving. For honoring the woman who had given Eve everything and asked for nothing in return.
The woman who had been, in every way that mattered, her mother.
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