CHAPTER 20

Kurt would look back on that conversation and wish he had called his dad.  He would think about so many times when he had thought about calling his dad and hadn't, times when his dad had called and he had either let it go to voice mail or cut him off too quickly, because he was busy or felt his dad was interfering or he just didn't want to talk to him right then.  Now, he would give anything to be able to pick up the phone and talk to him, to see him one more time smiling at him, yelling at him, anything but lying in a casket, wearing a suit he hated, because for some reason everyone seems to think you need to dress someone up to bury them.  He had tried to argue in favor of dressing his dad in his favorite jeans and an old flannel shirt, the very outfit that had so embarrassed him when he was in high school, but Carole wanted him in his best suit, and Finn had pulled him away.  Now, he was crying in Finn's arms while Ellie went to find Blaine.

As she had so many times over the last years, Quinn had made the arrangements.  She had taken care of Burt's business while he was ill, eventually taking over the ‘business' side of things, leaving Burt free to work on the cars he loved.  She had handled the transfer of the business to Finn and Kurt when Burt had retired, continuing to run it, so Burt would never see his beloved tire shop closed.  Now, she would handle the sale of the business to Sam, who had worked there for years in the office and sometimes in the shop.  She made the funeral arrangements, because Carole and Kurt were too distraught, and Finn and Blaine were too busy taking care of them.  Fortunately, all the grandchildren were in their teens or twenties, so childcare didn't have to be arranged, although Mercedes kept the kids busy and distracted while business was taken care of.  After that, there would be meetings with an attorney to read Burt's will and dispose of the estate.  Kurt was the executor, but was clearly in no shape to deal with it, so this too fell to Quinn.  Not for the first time, Kurt was grateful for his sister-in-law's strength, intelligence, and kindness, as well as her devotion to his family.

Kurt was still trying to process his father being gone.  It had been so sudden.  Yes, his health had been slowly declining, but there hadn't been a crisis of any sort for over a year.  He was eating better, walking every day, and his stress seemed to be under control.  He had been watching a Buckeyes game with Finn when he suddenly stopped, mid-yell, and slumped to the side.  Finn had picked him up and driven him to the hospital, where while being treated for a massive stroke he suddenly went into cardiac arrest.  They had tried to restart his heart for almost an hour, to no avail.  Finn had been on the phone with Kurt, telling him of the latest setback, when the doctor came out to explain to he and Carole what had happened.  Kurt had heard, through the phone, and collapsed.  When he didn't respond but the line stayed open, Finn had called Blaine, who had gone to Kurt's studio to find him sitting on the floor against a wall, nearly catatonic.  Even now, standing before the casket with his husband and children, Kurt found it difficult to believe his father was really gone.