Chapter Thirty: Happy Birthday Isabella

                                    

                                          
Meena took a deep breath as she smoothed out her black lurex pencil dress, she looked at herself in the mirror knowing that she was going to have to be strong; she closed her blue eyes wishing that she wasn’t doing this. 
                          
Meena would rather be throwing Isabella’s sixth birthday party right now instead of going to lay flowers at her daughter’s grave; there was so much that she could have had if it wasn’t for Miguel.
                          
 Slowly pulling on her black patent strappy sandals, Meena tried to keep herself calm and collected; she didn’t want to burst into tears and she would never make it to see her daughter. 
                          
Meena quietly moved to sit down on her bed, she would be going to the cemetery with her mother and sister since her father had to go to work. 
                          
Meena carefully reached for the small picture of her holding Isabella, it looked like the little girl was sleeping and it was the only picture that Meena had of her and her daughter.
                          
 The brunette sniffled staring down at the picture, she had no words to describe how she felt right now; she would always love Isabella and she was hopeful that her daughter was in a better place now. 
                          
Meena clutched at the picture as she allowed a couple of tears to fall, she would be taking the picture back with her to Barcelona; she wanted a part of Isabella close to her and so that she would never forget her little girl. 
                          
“Meena are you ready to go?” Gabrielle called from downstairs, she knew that her daughter had a hard time but they couldn’t wait around for her all day and they needed to get going. 
                          
Meena took a deep breath, she couldn’t keep them waiting any longer and they needed to get going to the cemetery before it was too late to go and she couldn’t let Isabella down.
                          
***
                          
Gabrielle slowly led her daughters’ towards Isabella’s grave, it wasn’t easy but she had been making this trip often to look after her granddaughter’s grave; she wanted it to be looked after no matter what. 
                          
Aranea looked at her older sister, she swallowed seeing the look on her face knowing that now wasn’t the time to try and mend fences between them; it could wait until later for her to try with her sister. 
                          
Meena walked quietly following after her mother, she wished that she could come and see Isabella more often than she did but being in Lisbon was painful for her. 
                          
Meena watched her mother stop in front of the small grave, she swallowed staring at it knowing that her little girl shouldn’t be in there; she deserved to live her life and not have it stolen from her by her own father. 
                          
Aranea blinked at the sight of the grave, she had never realised that it belonged to her niece and she knew that she would do better now that she knew the truth about what had happened. 
                          
“Isabella Ana Lima Pinto,” Aranea whispered reading the name on the grave stone, she wasn’t surprised that Meena hadn’t given Isabella’s her father’s surname; he didn’t deserve to be known as her father after what he had done. 
                          
Meena carefully moved to set down the flowers that she had brought, she had also brought a teddy bear that she had gotten while in Barcelona for her daughter; she had wanted to give her daughter something special. 
                          
Gabrielle smiled sadly watching Meena, she knew that this hadn’t been easy for her daughter but she did hope that this trip to Lisbon would convince her to move back. 
                          
Gabrielle wanted her daughter home and she was sure that Meena would be happy if she could see Isabella more. 
                          
“Mummy misses you so much Isabella,” Meena whispered blinking back tears, she wanted nothing more than to go back in time to fix all of this; she wanted her little girl and she could never have that. 
                          
Meena would never forget her little girl, the one that would never get to grow up, the one whose life had been stolen from her before she’d even had a chance to live. 
                          
Gabrielle watched her eldest daughter as she started to cry, she had no idea how to take away the pain that Meena was feeling; she didn’t know how to comfort her daughter since she had never been through this. 
                          
“Meena,” said a voice that made Meena’s blood run cold, she closed her blue eyes and sniffled knowing that she didn’t want to face the woman that had called out to her. 
                          
Gabrielle turned to glare at Catherine Cortez, she couldn’t believe that the other woman was trying to approach them right now; especially after what her son had done. 
                          
Meena slowly turned to look at the woman, she hadn’t expected to run into anyone that she had known grown up; least of all anyone from Miguel’s family. 
                          
Catherine blinked pleased to see Meena again, her son still talked fondly about her and she knew that if Meena would just talk to Miguel then she could forgive him for what he had done. 
                          
“Did you get the visitation request that Miguel sent you?” Catherine asked hurrying forward, she had only come to lay flowers at Isabella’s grave and hadn’t expected to run into Meena and her family; she felt bad for what had happened and she was sure that things could be fixed. 
                          
Gabrielle stepped forward and blocked Catherine’s attempt to speak with her daughter, she didn’t want any of the Cortez’s near her. 
                          
“Get out of here Catherine… or so help me God, I will slap you into the next millennium,” Gabrielle said furiously, she couldn’t believe that the woman was trying to talk to her daughter right now. 
                          
Catherine blinked surprised, she knew that Meena was upset about what had happened and she had every right to be but Miguel had changed while he was in prison and it was time to put the past behind them all. 
                          
Isabella’s death had been a tragic accident and it would forever haunt Miguel for his part in her death; however Catherine was sure that things could be amended if Meena would speak to him.
                          
 “He just wants to talk to you… he’s truly sorry for what happened,” Catherine said trying to talk Meena into seeing her son, she knew that it wouldn’t be easy but Miguel had changed and he had worked on getting better. 
                          
It would still be a long time before he was released from prison but he was better now and the time he had spent in prison so far had made him think about what he had done. 
                          
Miguel hated himself and he was devastated that he had caused the death of his daughter, he wanted to come to her grave but couldn’t so he had his mother bring flowers on her birthday.
                          
 “I don’t care how sorry he is… he ruined my life, I hate him for what he did and I’ll never forgive him,” Meena said stepping around her mother and glaring at Catherine, she couldn’t believe that Catherine thought that she would ever forgive and forget. 
                          
Miguel had raped her and murdered their daughter, he deserved to rot in prison and hell for what he had done; he would never be able to hurt anyone again and Meena hoped it stayed that way.
                          

                          
Gabrielle wrapped an arm around Meena and started to lead her daughters away, she smirked at Catherine knowing that the woman hadn’t expected Meena to be so angry about what had happened. 
                          
Catherine watched them leave, she had to find some way of getting Meena to speak with Miguel; it would make her son so happy and she would make it happen no matter what it took.