[Edward POV]
Christmas was supposed to be a time of laughter and joy.
But no one was really smiling in my family.
My dad and Uncle Aaron went to buy a coffin for my grandpa. We had to find a funeral home last night—one that was still open—and make arrangements for the body.
This morning, on Christmas Day, I sat in the living room wearing a black suit and tie. My nephews, the twin toddlers, slept in my arms.
I was watching over them while my aunts and uncles prepared for the funeral procession and the wake.
Grandma seemed… weirdly calm. Like she'd already expected this to happen.
The toddlers cooed softly in their sleep. I placed them gently on the couch and picked up my phone.
There were dozens of messages from people I knew, but I couldn't bring myself to read any of them.
It felt like opening those messages would make the whole thing too real.
Amy walked toward me, wearing a black mourner's dress, her hair tied in a tight ponytail. Her eyes were red—she'd been crying all night.
"Your dad already picked out a coffin," she said shakily. "He… he said to bring everyone to the church. They're going to start the final viewing soon."
Her voice broke multiple times as she tried to finish the sentence.
She couldn't help but cry again. I stood up and hugged her, trying to give her some comfort.
"I'll handle it," I said softly.
It was time for the final viewing before grandpa would be buried.
…
"How did he die?" Grandpa's friend asked my father at the church. I was sitting on the church bench, still taking care of the kids and heard it."He had a heart attack. He didn't make it." My dad replied.
My eyebrows scrunched up.
'I've been feeding my grandpa medicines. It's supposed to let him live longer. Why did this happen?'
I began questioning my decision. 'Was the pills were the one that killed him?'
My chest started hurting. A swamp of unease filled my mind.
Frankie, with her pregnant stomach, wore a mourning veil on her face and sat next to me. "How are you doing Edward?" She asked.
"I'm fine." I replied."You're not fine." She said abruptly. I turned towards her.
She looked into my eyes and said, "I know that expression anywhere. I've been living with that same one for years."
She wrapped her right hand around me and pulled me closer, making me lean on her shoulder. "This is in no way, your fault. You got that? You have nothing to do with this."
"I–""This is just… the natural order of things." Frankie added. I closed my eyes slightly.
Suddenly, grandma approached me and gave me a letter.
"Edward, this is, something your grandpa left behind for you." She handed me a wax sealed envelope with my name on it, 'Edward'.
My eyes shook slightly. "Grandpa did?" I was astonished.
Grandma smiled despite her eyes flashing sadness, "He wrote one for everyone. It was as if he's expecting this."
Grandpa walked away to give the letters to everyone else. My hand shook slightly as I held the letter.
Frankie opened hers and it read, 'When your baby came out, don't let Ted name the baby after me just to honor me. Do it, if the baby is handsome.'
"Pfft-" Frankie almost laughed, and her eyes filled with tears as she continued reading.
'The time we know each other is short, but I have to tell you, you're my favourite amongst all the people my children married.'
Amy opened hers and also cried. Maggie also crumbled to the ground as she read the letters.
My nerves worsened. I almost didn't want to read the letter, but grandma told me grandpa said it's imperative that I open it during the final viewing.
I opened mine with a heavy heart. As I read the one short sentence there, I grimaced in confusion.
'Grab a gun.'
"Huh?" It turned out, there's several papers in the letter. Grandpa might have had the orders wrong.
'Edward. Amongst all of my grandchildren, you resemble me the most.' He wrote.
'And I didn't mean that in a good way.
'Like me, you won't share with people what you're really going through
'Like me, you shoulder everything on your own as you didn't want to make others sad.
'Edward. It's tiring to live like that. Believe me. I know.
My eyes became slightly glossy as I continued reading.
'When you find someone who will make you feel like you have taken that burden off, you will know.
'Now, I'm not good with poetry or words as much as you do. But we share a similar sense of mischief. Now, what I want you to do is…
'Grab my gun.'
I read some of his instructions and furrowed my eyebrows even further.
He ended it with, 'And then, shoot my corpse right in the head. I don't want it to be a situation where you people mistakenly buried me, so I woke up in a coffin on the ground.'
I face palmed myself and murmured, "Grandpa. Seriously."
After thinking about it, I decided to honor his last wish. I folded one of the papers and slid nicely into my pocket.
…
"Where did you go?" Maggie asked as the wake began. The priests talked about life and death on the podium.
Then, he invited my Uncle Aaron, the oldest son, to talk about my grandpa.
"I have to go pick up something," I whispered to Maggie.
Uncle Aaron took a deep breath as he stood in front of the podium. Then, he said slowly, "My father is… was…" He corrected himself.
"An admirable man," he added, his eyes glossy. "I still remember when we were little. He would work at an asbestos factory—"
My eyebrows raised a little.
"For about 120 hours a week. And he never once showed how tired he was when he got home," Uncle Aaron added with a soft smile.
"The first time my dad hit me was when I went against his will and joined the army. And that's also the first time I saw him cry.
"The thought of never seeing his children again broke him. That's when I knew how much he loved us."
He turned to the coffin and muttered something to grandpa before leaving. Then, the priest called my dad.
My dad was in a worse mental state than Uncle Aaron. Then, it was Aunt May, who shared how grandpa took her in as one of his own, even when they weren't related by blood, only by marriage.
Maggie, Amy, and I were all surprised, and we glanced at each other.
My grandma didn't go, but she requested something from the priest.
"Now, Edward Newgate will say something, and he will also uphold Sam Newgate's last words as requested of him," the priest said.
I went up on the podium. For the first time in a long time when I went on a stage, I wasn't met with cheers.
"My grandpa was somewhat of an enigma," I said with a difficult expression. Everyone was quite surprised by my opening statement.
I showed the letter and said, "I'll read what he asked me to do. 'Edward, I want you to go back to the house and grab a gun.'"
I waved the letter around and said, "'I don't want it to be a situation where you people mistakenly buried me, so I woke up in a coffin on the ground.' And he wants me to shoot his dead body in the head with his own gun."
Everyone gasped as I showed them the gun.
"Edward!" Aunt May was flabbergasted.
Uncle Jim pointed at me and asked the priest, "Should he do this? I mean, it was Sam's last wish, but should he do this?"
The priest shrugged, not really having an answer.
"This one is for you, grandpa." I pointed the gun at the coffin. Everyone panicked and began to shout and gasp.
BANG
A loud noise startled everyone at the wake. Some people closed their eyes. Then, when the chaos calmed down, people started to see what actually came out of the gun—it was a flag that said, 'Got'cha.'
"Oh, my heart." An old grandmother was aghast.
I chuckled as I turned to the crowd and said, "Now, I'm going to read my grandpa's true last words."
I took out the paper I had folded before.
"'That must've startled you guys, right? You all deserved it for looking so gloomy at my party.'"
The crowd began chuckling. My tears flowed out from my eyes as I smiled and continued reading.
"'Jules, I love you with all of my heart. My sons… take care of the ranch for me. I love you guys. I already told you what I wanted to say in your letters, so I'm not going to bother Edward to repeat it.'
"'May, no matter what people say, you're my daughter, and you will always be my daughter. Jim, keep your promise to take care of her. I still remember how nervous you were when you asked for my blessing. The little brat who dared to lay eyes on my daughter has finally grown up.'"
I wiped my eyes as I continued reading. Aunt May and Uncle Jim were sobbing and hugged each other for comfort.
Grandpa ended his own funeral eulogy through me. He mentioned everyone, even Ace and my mother, Miranda.
My Cuban mom and my aunt were at the wake, as I flew them in last night.
Pepper, Robin, Yuri, Max, and Ness all came to the funeral.
"'I don't want my last party to be filled with sadness. Instead of mourning my life, I want to celebrate it. I've lived well. I have no regrets—maybe one. Not being able to see my son Ted's new child.'"
I sobbed hard at the podium but kept reading through his letter.
He ended it with a personal note to me: "'Edward, take care of yourself better. That's my final request.'"
After the eulogy, it was time to bury my grandpa. We buried him on the family land, together with the rest of the family members there.
"I wonder if his wife who died first will get mad at him for taking too long," my grandma joked, trying hard to smile.
I leaned on her shoulder and hugged her.
We had some food after the wake. Ness approached me in the ranch living room while people were talking with each other.
"It's the first time I've ever seen you cry," she said, handing me some drinks. She whispered, "Don't tell anyone, but this is pure Euphoria."
"Thanks. I need this." I drank the only thing that could make me drunk in the world in one shot.
Ness rubbed my back and said comfortingly, "Your grandpa was a great man."
"Yeah. He really was," I said in agreement.
We sat side by side on the couch. Ness leaned her head on my shoulder. Suddenly, a strange man approached us with a camera and snapped a picture of me and her.
I grimaced in annoyance. Robin immediately grabbed him and pulled him away.
"Even when you're in mourning, people want to make money off you," Maggie said, disbelief palpable on her face.
"This is stressing me out right now. The gaze from the others. I think I'm going to go to the barn and feed the cattle. Since grandpa's not here, they might not have eaten anything yet."
I took off my suit and folded my sleeves. Ness followed me and helped me feed the livestock and milk the cows.
The grunt work took my mind off the funeral a bit. Ace, the panther, came to me, nuzzling her head against my legs.
"Did you miss him already?" I rubbed her fur and comforted her. "You're going to come live with me after this."
…
[General POV]
The news of Edward Newgate's grandpa's death on the day before Christmas was everywhere in the nation and worldwide.
A picture of him speaking at the podium and crying, taken by a young child, was sold for about 15 million dollars to Hollywood Entertainment.
Edward didn't care about that, but his fans were fuming. They called the magazine heartless and accused it of invading people's privacy.
Despite that, it was probably the best-selling magazine issue in recent years for the publication.
"We should go to Wisconsin!" Haley said urgently as she followed Phil.
Phil replied with irritation, though not directed at his daughter. "I'm trying to book a ticket, but all of them are sold out. It's Christmas time—it's hard to get a ticket!"
Haley began to cry slightly, and Phil quickly comforted her.
"Honey, we'll keep trying. All of us agreed to go to Wisconsin, so we're going to—"
"I got it!" Claire came in.
"You found tickets for all of us?" Phil asked excitedly.
"Better. I got us a plane," Claire replied. She used her Christmas bonus to rent a private jet to get her and the family to Wisconsin.
Jay, Gloria, and Manny were still in California. Mitch and Cam came to their house to celebrate Christmas and also to talk about the funeral.
"Is Edward still not replying?" Cam asked.
Mitchell nodded and said, "He must be really disturbed by this."
On the plane, Alex groaned as she watched the social media posts about the news, her face full of displeasure.
"What's wrong?" Claire asked her.
"There are all kinds of conspiracy theories about the death. I'm afraid of how Edward's going to react when he sees all of this. People can be really insensitive."
When Alex finished speaking, Phil suddenly stood up from his plane seat and shouted, "OH MY GOD!"
"What? What happened?!" Claire asked frantically.
Phil's eyes shook, and then he showed the news to Claire.
A senator who had been vocal about his skepticism of Edward's cure—and was trying to convince people that Edward was planting microchips in their bodies—spoke about Sam's death.
The video showed a clip of him speaking at a podium in front of a mall.
"He can't even help his own grandparent? Why should we believe that his medicines work? We should—"
Before he could slander Edward any further, someone shot him in the head. He died instantly. No one had caught the murderer yet.
The media blamed Edward's fans and heavily insinuated they were responsible.
"The body's not even cold yet—" Claire's words got stuck in her throat. Then, she broke down in tears. "People suck."
"There are millions of people wishing the best for the Newgate family right now. Some people suck. Not all of them," Alex said.
…
Enid, Jacob, and Jenna all wanted to go to Wisconsin, but they couldn't. They put their hopes in Alex and would try to connect to Edward through her when she arrived at the ranch.
When the family came, the wake was already over. People were leaving the ranch.
"Edward's at the barn," Ness told them. "He doesn't want to be disturbed," she added.
At the barn, Edward called out to the air. "Sage. I need to talk to you."
However, what usually happened didn't happen this time.
"Sage!" Edward called again.
Yet, nothing happened. Instead, Gong Shin appeared.
"She's not going to respond to you right now," he said calmly.
"I have some questions to ask her," Edward said, slightly heated.
"I know. That's why I cut off her connection from you. I know what you're going to ask. She doesn't know—"
"Did my grandpa go to the Afterlife smoothly?" Edward asked, surprising Gong Shin.
"You're… not blaming her?" Gong Shin was surprised.
Edward said, "Should I blame her? I don't think she's that type of person. It's just an unfortunate coincidence that I called her when my grandpa had his heart attack. She definitely doesn't have anything to do with it."
His tone turned unsure at the end. "Right?"
Gong Shin sighed and said, "Yeah. That's accurate."
"Was my grandpa really supposed to die yesterday?" Edward asked, his voice trembling slightly.
Gong Shin shook his head. Edward's heart skipped a beat. The gnawing feeling in his chest became more painful.
Gong Shin said, "He was supposed to die two years ago."
"Excuse me?" Edward turned, baffled.
Gong Shin nodded and said, "Yeah. He was supposed to die two years ago. His body had gone through so much—he went to war, he worked in an asbestos company, he worked in a cigarette company, he worked in a lead paint company—and still worked on the ranch at the same time."
Edward's mind went blank.
Gong Shin added, "You made him live for forty more months with your medicines."
He placed his hand on Edward's shoulder and said, "Thanks to that, he managed to meet his new grandchildren. You did that, Edward. You definitely shouldn't blame yourself for his passing. That's just fate. Even we couldn't interfere with it much."
Edward slowly exhaled, and the tension inside his body eased up a little.
Frankie suddenly came to the barn. She called, "Edward?"
Edward turned to her. Gong Shin disappeared.
"What are you doing?" She asked. "Are you trying to contact your grandpa?"
Frankie knew about some of Edward's abilities, but was not really clear on it. He helped her meet her dead sister before, so she was trying to see if he was doing something similar.
"Oh… No. I'm not doing anything." Edward replied.
Frankie placed her hand on his shoulder and said, "Come and eat. Your grandma wants everyone to eat dinner together."
"Okay."
As Edward went back to the house, he was surprised when he saw the Dunphy family there.
Phil and Claire rushed to hug him. Edward smiled with disbelief and asked, "When did you come?"
"Just now." Phil replied. "Oh Edward. The world is really cruel to you these days." Claire added, sobbing slightly.As they finished hugging him, Claire asked, "What are you going to do now? Make sure to take a day off-- Maybe several weeks off. Or several months off--"
"Claire. I'm fineee." Edward replied, faking playfulness. "And that is within my plans. My grandpa told me to take care of myself, so that's what I'm going to do now."