Moving On(Part 1)

Fallen spring flower petals decorated the floor beautifully when the newly-wed couple opened the doors of the church, ready to leave. The entire wedding ceremony had been very grand, but less was not expected because this event was a union of two of the world's biggest conglomerates. Unionized together in an affair of not only politics, economics, but also true love, the wedding event was a large one that involved the attendance of many big players in the global market.

It included even various prime ministers and presidents of different countries sitting in the pews, watching as a very successful businessman take his wife in holy matrimony. It also happened that the wife in question was also a very successful businesswoman who had multiple chain companies under her control, with many other large companies in association with her name.

The entire affair was both commercialised and blown out of proportions, but both the new husband and wife understood their place in society. Besides, neither of them had honestly needed the ceremony to confirm their love between them. They had known deep within them since long ago that they were meant to walk beside each other for the rest of their lives. There had never been a real question about it before.

Brandon Greaves pasted on his businessman grin of victory, taking the steps from the church entrance slowly so that his new wife would not trip over her beautiful dress that trailed a long train behind her. The only thing that had paid off in this over-the-top ceremony was the fact that Brandon had been able to catch his wife in the most stunning piece of white dress that he would ever want to see her in.

The flashes of paparazzi lined along the sides of the staircase disturbed him a little, but he had long come to get used to cameras pointed at his face. Ever since taking over the conglomerate from his father, stepping up officially as the Master of the Greaves family, Brandon had dealt with press, reporters and cameramen on a regular basis. Today was just another field day for them.

Brandon paused on one of the steps, looking over to his wife in concern when she stopped one step behind him, her arm still linked in his. Her free hand –the one that wasn't holding on to the white bouquet of beautiful pink-white roses –was busy arranging her dress around her knees.

"What's wrong?" He asked with soft concern as he backtracked a step upwards so that he stood on level with his wife. "Did you step on the dress?"

"I told you this was ridiculous. I don't understand how anyone is supposed to walk in this." His wife answered in a partially-irritated tone, but he only grinned wider. The fact that she had thought that the dress was ridiculous, and yet obliged to wear it on their important day owing to his begging her spoke of exactly how much she loved him. He knew that she was a no-nonsense woman in her business dealings, but when it came to dealing with him, his wife was apparently easy in accepting his nonsense. The 'ridiculous' wedding dress was a case in point.

"You've made thus far." Brandon encouraged, leaning forwards in hopes of helping his wife free her legs, but not even being able to touch anything other than puffy lace over even more layers of cloth.

His wife sighed heavily once more, then seemed to give up.

"I'm glad I asked to take a look at this abomination that I was about to wear before the wedding." Louise Greaves said as she fiddled with something on her waist instead now. "And I am thoroughly relieved to have Keyron on my side this time, because he thinks that this dress is completely impossible as well."

Brandon's question about why the woman was glad that she had looked at the dress before the wedding fell away from his lips when Louise found the catch in her dress, and gave it a sharp tug. The removable piece tore away, and Brandon's mouth dropped in a surprised gape when his wife half-turned and tossed the removable piece that came along with the long train of cloth.

"There." Louise announced, regaining her blissful smile that had been so beautiful on her face when they had met at the altar to exchange their vows, rings, and saliva during their kiss of union. "Now I'm all at ease to go, shall we?"

His wife was the one tugging him along this time, and Brandon could not help but cast a forlorn look at the tail of the wedding dress that had been left on the steps. He knew his wife didn't like it, but he had loved the sight of Louise in that, with that beautiful cloth trailing after her making her look like an angel leaving her mark wherever she walked.

"Was the removable piece Keyron's idea?" Brandon asked as they slowly took the long steps down from the church.

"Yes, and it was a rather good idea at that." His wife answered. "Imagine if I tripped over my own dress and went toppling down this flight of stairs. Even if I didn't, I think I will take an hour reaching the bottom if I still had the whole dress."

Much as Brandon was reluctant to see the beautiful part of the dress gone just like that, he supposed that both his wife and butler were correct. He hadn't remembered the flight of stairs to be so long. It certainly hadn't felt that long when he walked up, but that had probably been because he had been looking forward to marrying his beautiful fiancée.

"It would have been fine if you took an hour." Brandon suggested. "There would be even more pictures of you in your most beautiful self, and I would have more photographs for keepsake."

"Will it be me you will admire, or yourself in that tuxedo?" Louise deflected the flattery, but Brandon supposed that only his wife would know him so well. There was good reason why Brandon was so fond of this set of tuxedo, and he had been bragging about how he fit it perfectly, how his shoulders and chest filled out the tux properly without shame.

No one knew the real reason why Brandon loved this tux more than any set tailored for him. Well, no one except for his faithful butler, because there was really nothing that Keyron didn't know. Also, it had largely been because Keyron had been the one to dig through his brother's old wardrobe and found this perfect tuxedo.

"Well, everyone will have to admit that I look perfectly smashing in this tuxedo." Brandon jumped at the chance to boast again, and this time elicited a beautiful laugh from his wife even as they made their progress down the steps slowly to the car already waiting to bring them to the airport, where they would set on their honeymoon trip around the world.

"Brandon, please remember that as of today, you are off the market. Looking smashing in this tuxedo may attract hormonal women looking to get a piece of you." Louise reminded, and though it was supposed to be a fair warning from his wife about being interested in other women, Brandon felt his grin become even more voracious.

There was good reason, because Louise rarely showed her possessiveness over him.

There was still some more progress to be made on the stairs, so Brandon picked up another topic of conversation as they took the steps slowly, allowing the cameramen their field day. None of the reporters or videographers were close enough to catch their conversation, so the newly-wed couple were allowed their conversation while they held on to their smiles for the camera as they took the steps.

"Do you think Keyron looks particularly stunning today? I never thought he would ever pull off a white three-piece, but he has opened my eyes today."

"Yes, he was." Louise agreed, bringing up the mental memory of the butler in white who had walked a careful distance behind her fiancé when the door to the church had opened. "And he grinned like a particular idiot through the ceremony."

This time, it was Brandon's bark of laughter that interrupted their conversation.

"I have never seen someone as childlike as him at his age. His expression when we pinned our families' coat of arms on his lapel was like... I don't even know what I can think of to describe it."

"He was almost cross-eyed when you pinned the golden coat of arms on him." Louise reminded.

"He had been coveting that since time immemorial." Brandon dismissed. "The golden coat of arms is like a candy cane to reward him and keep him coming for more."

"I can hardly think of more candy canes for him from now onwards."

"No worries." Brandon assured his wife, though there was little need, because Louise knew Keyron almost equally well by now. After all, after their marriage, they were supposed to share the same Head Butler of the Household. It would be rather horrible if Louise did not know the butler serving her well by now. "There's always one thing or another that keeps Keyron coming."

"Don't let him hear that." Louise remided, and by now they were already close to the bottom, where the car was waiting. They didn't even need to look hard to see their butler waiting patiently in the driver's seat. "Is Keyron driving?"

Brandon paused for a short while at the shock in his wife's tone, took a quick look at the man dressed in his perfect white suit sitting in the driver's seat.

"Yes. Why?"

"I got the impression that Keyron couldn't drive." Louise answered honestly as they took the last few steps.

"He can, but I wouldn't let him."

"Why?"

Louise's question went unanswered when they reached the bottom, then turned around to find that a substantial crowd of visitors from inside the church had followed them out. Henry and Kelly Greaves stood at the front, proud grins at their son and new daughter-in-law.

"Throw it high, and please don't aim at my cousins. If any one of them gets married soon, we're going to have our hands full of wedding preparation again, and I've had enough for the year." Brandon advised his wife as Louise spun around to put her back to the crowd, holding the bouquet in both her hands now.

Louise gave her husband a short look of admonishment at his partially selfish words, but gave the bouquet in her hand a hard toss over her head behind her. Brandon tracked the arc of the flying bouquet, watching as it fell into the crowd of women fighting to receive it, and then...

A hand emerged from the crowd holding on tot the bouquet by its handle as polite applause came from the crowd. It slowly parted to show the woman who had emerged the victor.

Brandon choked in disbelief, and his wife chuckled when she turned around, covering her mouth with her hands as if to force back the helpless laughter. Brandon could not resisting clapping in applause for the woman in a beautiful white dress, who blushed furiously when she suddenly found herself in the limelight.

"Let's go." Louise urged, taking his hand again. "We need to tell Keyron about this."

"Yes." Brandon agreed quickly, knowing that his butler probably hadn't even cared about the bouquet toss. Together, the newly-wed couple piled quickly into the car, Brandon closing the door behind him.

"Keyron." He could not bear keeping it back. "Guess who caught the bouquet?"

"Probably one of your many cousins." The butler answered as white gloved hands shifted the gears and set the car into soft movement.

"No." Brandon grinned viciously this time, knowing that his butler could see him through the rearview mirror. "It was Kiera. So, when's the wedding date?"

"Kiera caught it?" The shock and horror was easy to detect in their driver's voice and Louise regretted that they could not tell the butler face-to-face, because she would have liked to see Keyron's expression at this point of time.

"Yes, you little bastard. When are you going to hold the wedding date? You know you don't have to worry about anything. I approve of her already, and I know Louise loves her as well. Right, Louise?"

"Yes." Louise picked up from where her husband left off. "When are you popping the question, Keyron? You have been dating Kiera since you became the Head Butler."

"Hey, being the Head Butler means I didn't have time to be dating her properly, right?" Keyron protested, but even from her seat she could easily see that the butler's ears were turning red.

"Stop giving us excuses. This is an order from your Master and Mistress. Answer us; when are you going to pop the question?"

Louise supposed it was a good thing that the car had already driven quite a distance away from the church by now, because Keyron slowed the car down to a stop along the empty small road.

"Why are we stopping?" Brandon echoed the unspoken question in her mind, but the butler didn't answer. Instead, the Head Butler of the Greaves family sighed heavily, and then tugged at his glove on his left hand.

Louise gasped.

"You dirty bastard, you didn't tell us! You're not supposed to keep secrets from us!" Brandon exclaimed, throwing a punch to his butler's arm at the sight of a ring sitting firmly on Keyron's middle finger.

"We're not getting married that soon, okay?" Keyron raised his voice in exasperation, rubbing his sore shoulder before putting his glove back on. "We're just engaged for now. When you and Mistress Louise are well settled in your new home, then I'll bring Kiera over and marry her. She agreed with the arrangement."

"Well, I'm not okay with it." Brandon said in a matter-of-fact tone. "You're having the marriage soon."

"We're not." Keyron argued even as he set the car back smoothly into drive.

"We are." Brandon balked, and Louise pressed her hand against her forehead. Had she married a child? "You are marrying Kiera soon, and I won't take no for an answer."

"This is my marriage you're talking about, Brandon."

"You're just being scared, you pussy. You're scared that you've proposed to the wrong girl, so you want to take your time to make sure that it wasn't a wrong choice." Brandon's protest was surprisingly well-founded, because Louise found it rather befitting of Keyron's character. "But Kiera isn't a mistake. You've got me and Louise assessing her for you. Kiera's perfect for you, so you're marrying her next month."

"Next month?!? Are you crazy?"

"Nope. Mama is going to be so happy. Her two sons married off within one month of each other! I would have made it within a week, but I think Kiera deserves more, considering she will be spending the rest of her life with a child like you." Brandon declared happily, deciding immediately that his wedding today wasn't the only cause of his joy now that more joyful news had broken on him.

"Don't go deciding my life for me, Brandon!"

"That's 'Master Brandon' for you!" Brandon argued back, and Louise could not stop her laughter.

They had come so far together, and still nothing had changed at all.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

"I regret ever asking why you wouldn't let Keyron drive." Louise spoke softly, knowing that if she tried to speak louder, she would perhaps be forced to upturn her guts unglamourously. It had nothing to do with the tight-fitting wedding dress, but rather the prolonged period of rapid heart-palpitations due to the fear of their lives.

"I couldn't help it. It had to be a last minute change if we were coming here, and Mama wouldn't accept us going anywhere else other than the airport immediately after leaving the church." Brandon apologised, extending a supporting hand for his wife even though he looked slightly green in the face.

"Hey, it wasn't that bad!" Keyron exclaimed as he locked up the car underneath the shelter of a tree that hung over the main road. "I had complete control. There was no chance that we would have crashed."

"I have suffered enough terror for the next two lifetimes." Louise declared, pressing her free hand on her chest and forcing herself to breathe in and out deeply in an effort to calm down her racing heart and push her nausea down. "I beg: please let Brandon drive our journey to the airport after this."

"Fine." Keyron threw his hands up in defeat, trailing carefully behind his well-dressed master and mistress as they made their careful way through the grass. "I suppose I have to resign myself to serving a pair of people who do not appreciate a little speed and risk at the wheel."

"It is more than 'a little'." Brandon corrected, but the air suitable for protests eventually fell away as they walked deeper into the serene silence of the place. The flattened land with well-kept grass made it slightly easier for Louise to navigate with her heels, and she made sure that her appearance was well as they made a beeline for their destination.

They reached the low wooden fence quickly, and Keyron stepped forwards to pull open the gate that surrounded the small piece of family land. Brandon kept his hands supportively on his wife's as she picked her way past the gate and stopped a few steps onto the land. Clear that Louise was now standing stably, Brandon let go of her hand and instead reach for his lapels. It took him a short while to work the boutonniere out from his lapel, but he eventually achieved his success when he produced the gardenia that had been resting upon his chest. Stepping forth, he offered the flower resting in front of the grave, then was surprised when another gloved hand did the same.

Keyron stepped back in unison as his master, taking his position on one side of his mistress while Brandon took Louise's other side.

Silence panned out between them as all three of them bowed their heads and closed their eyes in fervent prayer.

Silently, mentally, Keyron greeted his twin brother with his usual colloquial terms, and updated Kyrano of his life alongside his master and mistress. Keyron made sure to tell Kyrano of how much the lady had grown, and how Louise was now a very successful businesswoman who had risen from the ashes of a defeated Crawford estate. Keyron emphasized upon on how the lady that they both served had singlehandedly reinstated the power of Crawford as a conglomerate, and how he had been meticulous and completely efficient in serving the mistress.

Keyron asked for forgiveness from his brother for any faults he might have in serving the lady, professing that no matter what, Kyrano was still her perfect butler, and Keyron was only simply doing his best filling out Kyrano's shoes.

And since, of course, there was no reply from his twin brother, Keyron continued on in his silent one-sided conversation with his brother, updating about his own life, and how he had progressed with Kiera. And since it had been some time since he last came to visit Kyrano, Keyron reported to his brother about his fiancée, and how Kiera had completely understood his position as a Reyes man serving both Crawford and Greaves, and had demanded nothing from him. Keyron professed that he was completely lucky to have a woman who loved him for the person that he was, butler or not. It was Keyron's dumb luck to have found a lady who would stay by him even though he would be spending most of his time away from her, even though the love that she would receive would always be shared with his master and mistress.

Keyron stood in silent prayer until he ran out of things to say to his brother and thus awkwardly bade farewell to a man who would probably never hear him anyway. Once done, Keyron opened his eyes, found that his master and mistress were still in prayer, and so silently walked back out through the gates. He briefly considered waiting for them closeby, but it appeared that both his master and mistress might want some alone time together with Kyrano.

Besides, Keyron figured that he needed some alone time right now as well, soaking in the melancholic feelings bubbling inside.

He felt a little guilty that he had gone to his family grave, and had only bade his words for Kyrano. Keyron paused briefly, and took a look at the three other graves within the same piece of land, one each for his mother, father and sister.

He apologised briefly to each of them for being a biased little bastard and promised all of them that he would be back soon –after his master and mistress came back from their around-the-world honeymoon trip –and give their graves a good cleanover. He simply had no time at the moment for that work, and frankly did not want to dirty his white suit as well.

Keyron wandered back to the car, thinking to wait by the car while watching over his master and mistress. He might leave them their alone time, but he was still a butler charged in protecting them, and was thus still alert to any possible approaches of danger, especially now that Brandon and Louise were tied publicly in holy matrimony. Any one who was enemies of either the Greaves or Crawford conglomerate could easily target the both of them right now.

His expectation of a peaceful, undisturbed visit for his master and mistress was breached when sounds of clicks came after a few minutes of waiting. Surprised, Keyron turned towards the sound, and saw a bent old man making towards him slowly, each step accompanied with a click of cane that he had heard. The old man, though haggard, hung a friendly smile on his face, and appeared to be coming for Keyron, and not his master and mistress instead.

"Hello." The old man smiled as he approached, Keyon straightening in greeting of the stranger. "Are the three of you related to the Reyes family?"

Keyron raised a brow at the sudden question posed to him, not being able to help his suspicion though he supposed that there was nothing much an elderly man could do to him. The man looked like he had problem walking, much less attacking anyone. Then again, Keyron supposed that it could be a really good act at being a feeble old man.

"I am the only surviving son of the family. Kyrano's twin brother." He professed cautiously and watching the man carefully.

The old man, however, seemed to smile wider at the announcement, a light in his eyes.

"Mr Reyes!" The old man exclaimed, as if connecting dots. "So you must be the person I have been trying to contact all this while!"

"Excuse me?" Keyron repeated with surprise. Trying to contact?

"I am the caretaker of this cemetery." The old man finally introduced. "Or rather, I was. I have passed the job to my son. Either way, I have been taking care of this piece of land since young, so every inch of this place is like my home. Any disturbance or change in this place gets to me immediately. It's like you know someone has been snooping through your own home, you get me?"

Keyron understood what the man was trying to explain, but couldn't figre out what he was trying to get at.

"Umm... yes, but how is this related to me or my family's grave?"

"Ahh... yes, sorry Mr Reyes. See, I have been trying to contact you since seven years ago, but the number listed on your register is the one of your family home, which I understand have been given back to the government since your mother's death. I could find no way to contact you. I was here during your mother's funeral, but I think I remember thinking that you might be too upset to take another shock, so I didn't tell you. I forgot to ask you for a contact, silly me, and then you were off missing again. That's why I came out quickly from my house –it's just over there, and it overlooks the entire cemetary –when I saw the three of you standing at the Reyes's grave. I wasn't sure if you were just friends of the family or not." The caretaker explained, but Keyron's confused slight-frown did not ease.

"I'm sorry, I don't quite catch you."

"Ah, silly me!" The old man seemed to catch himself by surprise. "Please forgive an old man like me. I have a tendency to ramble on, and it hasn't gotten better with age. My son always says I'm like a second mother, always nagging at him..."

It wasn't surprising at all to Keyron when the man continued rambling again about his tendency to ramble.

"Dear me, what have I been doing?" The caretaker interrupted himself all of a sudden in mid-ramble, blinking in surprise. "I'm sorry, Mr Reyes!"

"It's fine. But do you have something to tell me? Why would you rush out when you saw us come in?"

"Ahh, yes. I don't know if it still matters to you anymore, because it's been seven years. But seven years ago, a few months after Kyrano was buried, the earth around his soil was tossed. I've been here all my life, so I know when a piece of land has recently been dug or not. Kyrano's grave most definitely have been dug after it was lowered, and we have passed our fairshare of grave robbers. I just wanted to ask you if you want your brother's coffin pulled up just to check if anything is missing. There are some families that insist on leaving a piece of belonging with the dead inside the coffin, so if you want that for your brother..."

"You mean to say that someone might have robbed Kyrano's grave?" Keyron repeated with shock. He had heard of graverobbers before, but had not really imagined that the grave of his twin brother would be robbed. "My brother wasn't very rich at all. In fact, he was buried without anything of value."

The only thing that held the most monetary value that Kyrano had owned was the golden coat of arm that was now pinned on Keyron's lapel, given to him by his master during the ceremony.

The old man gave a shrug. "There are some grave robbers who harvest bones of the dead. There are some materials in human bones that they can extract. Do you want to have your brother's coffin pulled up to check?"

Keyron briefly considered the proposition, looked over at his master and mistress who were still praying quietly in front of the tombstone.

"It's fine." He decided with a small smile. "Thank you for caring over my family's grave, but I don't want to disturb Kyrano's resting place now after seven years. Even if something might have been stolen... then let it be."

"Alright. I understand." The old man smiled. "It is a relief to have met you, because I've been holding on to this secret for so long."

"Thank you once again." Keyron professed honestly, looking over to find his master and mistress already done with their prayers and already on the move back towards the car. "If you will excuse me, my master and mistress are done with their prayers as well, so we must be off."

"Master and Mistress?" The old man repeated with surprise at his addressing, turning to look at the couple who was approaching them with an increasingly politely curious expression, definitely wondering who it was that their butler was speaking to.

"Yes, I serve them." Keyron answered with a polite bow of farewell, moving to open the door for his mistress.

"Hello." Brandon greeted curiously. "You are?"

"I am the caretaker of this cemetary." The old man professed with a small bow, obliged to do the same after seeing how Keyron had done the same.

"Oh! It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Brandon Greaves, and this is my fiancée –no wait, she's my wife now –Louise Crawford... No wait, it is Louise Greaves now." Brandon stumbled embarrassingly, but Louise only chuckled, patting her husband's hand.

"It'll take time." She assured her husband, then turned to the old man with a politely beautiful smile. "It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Louise Greaves."

"Greaves? Crawford?" The old man repeated with utter surprise now. "The Greaves and Crawford?"

"I assume you must have heard of us." Brandon smiled indulgently, obviously used to the shell-shocked, wordless surprise of normal civilians at their name. "Thank you for taking care of the Reyes's family graves, Old Man, and coming out here to greet us."

"Yes." Louise added. "Thank you for taking care of Kyrano's grave so clean and well. We appreciate it. Please excuse us, good sir, because we have a flight to catch."

"Y-Yes, of course!" The old man rushed to say, watching as the lady daintily stepped into the car, the butler closing the door behind her. Keyron Reyes rushed on automatic to open the driver's seat, but was intercepted by his master.

"I'm driving." Brandon insisted, ignoring his butler's forlorn look and pushing Keyron out of the way, squeezing into the driver's seat and closing the door firmly.

Keyron frowned a little, remembered that they had an audience, and turned to give one last polite farewell bow to the old man who stood and watched them, then rushed to take the seat beside his mistress in the car when it started up.

The old man taking care of the cemetary watched as the car rumbled steadily out of the cemetary the same way it came, shaking his head.