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Chapter 23 : Funeral

Ricardo P.O.V

I sat frozen and after my secretary left did I snap out of my frozen state and look at Dante. He is looking at me expectantly for my answer and just racking my brain on how to answer that question as less painful as I can.

"Well your mommy is not with us anymore," I choked out. My own grief over her death still new and painful took over my emotions. Then he said something shocking again. "Is she with angles now?" Dante asks with his innocent and intelligent eyes looking at me.

I look at him speechless as to how intelligent he is and taking the news way better than the adults like he expected this to happen. "Ho-w do you know this," I ask him my voice shook a little.

"Mommy use to tell me that she will go live with angels when I meet dada, and not be sad when she not here. She want me be happy with dada so that she be happy live up there with angels" he explains sniffling and rubbing his eyes. I didn't know what to say to that. How Sapphire knows that she will not make out alive and for Dante to understand that, shows how smart and mature he is for a child his age.

I look at him and see that he is trying hard not to cry so I whisper to him, "it's okay to cry. I know you must miss your mommy a lot." As soon as I said that he burst into tears and clings to me saying how he doesn't want his mother to leave him and live with the angels. All I could do is hold him and whispering soothing words about how his mother wants to live the angels and that she will always love and look after him from above.

While I am soothing Dante I hear the door quietly open so I lift my head and see that it's Miss Jones. She looks at Dante who is on my lap crying hard and pain took over her expression. She quietly walks towards me quietly asking me with her eyes if she can comfort him. I nod my head at her and gently pull Dante from my chest and turn him towards his aunty.



He looks at me scared why I would pull him away but when he sees his aunt who is standing behind him he jumps into her arms and cry some more. This time Miss jones is the one rocking him gently and whispering something to him. It took a while but he finally cried himself to sleep.

After a minute of rocking him Miss Jones gently put Dante on the bed and look at me with a questionable look. "You stay here with Dante while I go and sort out the paper works for Sap-phire's funeral and Dante's hospital release form," I instruct her choking a little on Sapphire's name.

"Yes sir," she answers. After giving Dante a kiss on the forehead I left the room swiftly. I felt like dead inside after all that has happened in the past day. It felt like ages when Sapphire called me when it was only last night and now she is dead and about to be buried six feet under ground. I had to wait a minute for the elevator to arrive and when it did it is empty so I entered and press ground floor and waited for a few seconds as the lift went down until I reach the ground floor.

The elevator opens with the familiar ding so I walk out of the elevator and head to the reception desk to sort out everything. Once there I ask about Sapphire's body and the receptionist calls the same nurse that I was talking to before, to tell me everything I need to know. So after I talk with the nurse about the arrangements of putting Sapphire's body in a coffin and send it to the cemetery that is close by, I head back to the receptionists to release Dante from the hospital.

After all that is done I call my maid to make sure that everything is prepared for Dante's arrival. The maid assures me that she has had everything ready and is just waiting for Dante's arrival. I told her that I would be back with Dante in about 40 minutes then I disconnect the call. Then I call my driver to come to the hospital right away and once he tells me he is on the way I end the call.

I hurried my way to Dante's room to take him home with me. I quietly open the door and see that Dante's awake and is sitting on Miss Jones lap while Miss Jones is saying something to him. The closer I got I realize Miss Jones is telling stories about when she and Sapphire were growing up. I felt something tug at my heart but I ignore it and said "it's time to go home son."

As soon as they hear my voice both of their heads snap up and when Dante sees me he tries to leap towards me but Miss Jones caught him before he can get hurt. Dante struggle in his auntie's arm as she stood up from the chair and walk towards me. Once she is within range I lift Dante from her lap and hug him to me.

"Did you miss me," I cooed at his ear.



He just nodded his head and buries his face on my neck. "I miss you too," I whisper to him and hug him tighter. I hear a movement and see that it is my secretary. I had forgotten that she is here. "Thank you for taking care of him I'm going to take him home now, and take him to the funeral later this afternoon" I said to her. She tense and looks like she want to say something but I speak first. "I am not going to stop you from visiting your nephew as he also needs you. I will text you my address and you can come anytime you want except at night. Just say show them your ID and they will let you in," I explain to her.

She relaxes once I finish talking. Why would she think that I would not let her see her own nephew, I am not that cruel. "Oh alright. I will see you and Dante later this afternoon than," she says. I nod my head at her. Then she went to gather her things before she left the room saying goodbye to Dante before walking out the room. "I see aunty again?" Dante asks me. "Yes you will. Aunty needs to rest at home first before she meets you again this afternoon," I answer him.

He looks satisfied with that answer and said "okay." Then I gather all my stuff and double-checking to make sure I didn't leave anything, I left the room carrying dante in one hand and the bag on the other.

As I am walking through the reception area several nurse said goodbye to Dante and he would shyly say goodbye too. I am glad that my driver is already waiting for me at the drop off and pick up area as the faster I get away from this hospital the better. As this place holds a terrible memory that I rather not dwell on. No amount of wishing is going to bring the dead back to life and all we can do is move on. I'm sure that is what Sapphire would have wanted us to do.

The driver opens the back door as soon as he sees me coming out of the hospital. He takes the bag and with a thanks I slid into the car and the driver closing the door. The driver went to the boot to store the bag and then walk to the driver seat and start the engine. A few minutes later we are on the highway heading home. I play with Dante while we wait to arrive home and before I know it the car stops and we are in front of the house.

Dante stop playing and look at the house with amazement. "House so big," Dante exclaimed in an excited voice. "I live here?" Dante asks looking at me and I just nod my head. He looks like he is going to live in a mansion. Well I suppose my house does look like a mansion compared to the small apartment he lived in before.



I waited until the driver open the door before getting out of the car while carrying Dante in my arms. I thank the driver again as he went to retrieve the bag at the trunk and giving it to the maid that rush out of the house when she saw the car come in the house. I carried Dante inside and head straight to the kitchen as I'm sure he must be very hungry. Once I'm in the kitchen I see that the maid already prepare food on the table and it's still warm.

I pull out a chair and sat Dante on the chair. "What do you want to eat Dante. You must be hungry," I ask him. He looks at the food that is on the table and pointed to the plate with macaroni and cheese on it. "You like macaroni and cheese?" I ask him while taking the plate and putting it in front of him. "Yes," he answers me while taking the plastic fork from my hand and began to eat himself.

"What a smart boy. You can eat by yourself already," I praise him. Although he did drop macaroni on the table and his shirt. He nodded and said, "I feed myself so that mommy's friend don't hit her for feeding me as I am a big boy already." The breath is knock out of me when he said that. I can't believe because of that guy my three-year-old son has to learn to feed himself so that his mother would not get hurt.

I am filled with rage at Sapphire's stalker for putting a toddler through suffering and forcing my son to think like an adult at the age of three. Dante was not able to live a carefree life like all toddlers should be. I rained in my anger and said to Dante, "it's okay you wont see him ever again and if you want me to feed you just ask me okay." His eyes tears up a bit but he nods his head and continue to eat.

I watch as he eats until he's finish before carrying him to my room, leaving the plates for the maid to clean up while I give Dante a bath. When I reach my bedroom I put Dante on the king size bed and telling him to wait for a bit as I prepare the bath for him. He nods his head while swinging his small legs back and fourth, so I head to the bathroom and filled the tub with water and soap.

When the bathtub is almost full I close the pipe and walk out the bathroom to get Dante ready for his bath. He is still sitting on the bed looking around the room when I see him. "It's bath time. Let's get you undress," I tell him. I help him with taking his clothes of and carrying him naked to the bathroom.

As soon as I put him in the tub he is splashing around and soak my shirt with water and soap so I decided to take a bath with him. I strip out of my clothes and enter the tub. We played around throwing bubbles at each other for a bit and the sound of my son's laughter is music to my ears.



After a while I manage to clean him properly and pull the cork making the water drain out. Dante pouts that he doesn't get to play anymore but I promise him he can take a bath again tonight as right now both of our hands has turn into prune. After I made that promise he stop pouting and let me lift him out of the tub and dry him and myself off with the large towel that is on the towel rack.

After I dried us off I wrap the towel around my waist and grab another towel to warp around Dante's body, I carry him out the bathroom and into the walk in closet to get dress. The maid made a slight change to my closet as she move all my ties and shoes to a different rack to put all of Dante's new clothes.

I grab a t-shirt, pants and underwear for Dante and a black collared shirt, a boxer shorts and my black work pants before walking out of the closet and into the bedroom. I put all the clothes on the bed and help Dante to wear his clothes. Once he's dressed I quickly and take Dante to the living room so that he can watch TV until its time we leave for his mother's funeral.

While he is watching TV I went to the kitchen to eat my lunch. I finish eating my lasagna quite fast so I left the kitchen after I answer that I don't need anything else to the maid's question. I thank her and she bow her head and excuse herself. When I enter the living room I see that Dante's attention is glued to the TV. I look at the TV and it's Jake and the Never land Pirates.

I made a mental note on everything that he likes so that I know how to make him happy. After an hour of watching Disney Junior with Dante it's time to go to the funeral as it is already 3:30 pm. So I close the TV and tell him that we need to go and say goodbye to his mother. He nods sadly and get up from the couch, then holding hands we made our way to the front door.

By the time we reach the front door, the door is already open by the maid standing in front of the door and she wish us a safe journey and gave Dante a lollipop. Dante's shyly said thank you to the maid and take the lollipop. The maid just smile at him and wave at us as the driver drives us out of the house gate. All the way to the funeral Dante's mood is somber and doesn't want to play. I felt so helpless on how to lessen his pain.

So we drove on in silence until we reach the cemetery. I lift Dante into my arms and step out of the car when the driver open the door but when I began walking he struggle a bit in my arms wanting to walk himself so I put him down on the pavement and together we began walking hand in hand in to the cemetery.

As I enter the cemetery I can see that Sapphire's coffin has arrive already and Miss Jones is also here with some other lady comforting her as Miss Jones cries. When Dante sees his aunt, he let go of my hand and walk towards his aunt. I want to hold him but I let him be with his aunt who looks like she needs him to comfort her. She looks down when she felt someone tug her skirt and when she realize that it's Dante she lifts him up and hugs him.



Fresh tears came out of her eyes as she hugs him and began to rock Dante back and fourth. As Miss Jones is occupy with Dante I made my way to the open coffin and Sapphire's body laying there pale and still. I want to cry seeing her like this as she use to have a shining presence and now she is just cold and lifeless. But I rained in my tears as I have to be strong for Dante who will need someone to be his anchor that he can rely on.

As I stand there staring at her lifeless body I heard someone clear their throat so I lift my head and it's the priest wanting to know if he can close the casket. I step back from the casket and nod my head. The priest close the casket and call everyone's attention to give his speech.

I didn't pay attention to what the priest says as I am numb and the only reason I am not breaking down is because of my son who Sapphire has entrusted to me to take care of him. I will make sure to grant her dying wish as best as I can with the help of her sister because I know I wont be able to take care of him alone with my busy schedule as a CEO.

Furthermore, I don't want my son to be raise by nannies as he will end up being lonely and hiring a nanny can be risky so he will either be in my maid and I's care or in his aunt's care. Miss Jones is the only two people I trust to take care of my son as I know how much she adores her only nephew. Also Dante is very attach to his aunt, probably because she reminds him of his mother.

The next thing I know it's time to bury the casket. I snap out of my reverie to help them lower the casket into the ground. In a minute the casket is lowered and the are covering it with sand. It took a few minutes to fill up the hole with sand. After that is done the workers and the priest left leaving only me, Dante, Miss Jones and her friend standing around Sapphire's grave.

I made sure that Dante didn't see his mother lying lifeless and pale in the casket as that might set him off. It's better for him to think that his mother is up there with the angels.

I don't know how long I stand there just staring blankly at her grave while thinking about all the happy memories we made together and how our love gave birth to Dante. He is the most precious person for me and I will gladly sacrifice myself to keep him safe and have the happy childhood that deserves. No one will know how much I love and cherish my son and the length I'll go through to make sure he will never suffer again.