Victoirie had held herself together by the barest of threads. She had avoided mentioning her brother in previous conversations, even with Teddy, because the admission that he was gone was simply too much. Her mother, her aunt and uncle, and then her brother, all dead. Through the service, the tears had started. She snuggled into Ted and the tears dripped onto his shoulder.
Once she felt up to it, the crowd moved around. Ted stopped to talk to some of the others and she approached the coffin that held Louis. She wanted to beg him, or anyone for this to not be true, or for him to come back. Others had come back, so why couldn't he. She opened her mouth to say something but there really were no words. She just smoothed her hand over the casket. Her head swirled with thoughts over what those last moments must have been like. "You were going to be so brilliant. It isn't fair."