Heavenstone 01 - The Heavenstone Secrets

through the community. I’m going to work on that right now.”
    “Where is Daddy?”
    “He’s waiting for the ambulance.”
    “Ambulance? Isn’t it too late?”
    “Oh, Semantha. You’d think you would know more, at least from those novels you read. There will have to be an autopsy. There’s little or no question about the cause of her death, but the law requires it, so she’ll be taken to the hospital morgue and examined. In the morning, Daddy and I will go to the funeral parlor and start arrangements.”
    “Won’t I go?”
    “It’s going to be difficult enough for him without your sobbing and wailing,” she said. “And what if you faint again when we go to the funeral parlor?”
    “I won’t.”
    “We’ll see,” she said.
    “Is Uncle Perry with Daddy?”
    “Yes, but he’s not much help. He’s as white as a bedsheet and looks like he’ll faint, too. He’s already had two shots of whiskey, thanks to me,” she added. “Frankly, I wish he’d go home.”
    “But he’s Daddy’s brother. He should stay with him, with us.”
    She smirked but then said, “The only good thing about it is that Daddy’s worrying over himkeeps him distracted from his own deep sorrow for now. I’m going down to make something simple to eat in case anyone’s hungry tonight.”
    “I can’t imagine ever eating again.”
    “Eating is comforting,” she said. “You’ll see. Sorrow is exhausting.”
    “Is that why Asa’s father drank himself to death?”
    “Yes, I’m sure it was.”
    “Just think, Cassie, the first Asa dies, and the second dies in a miscarriage, and—”
    “Stop talking about it,” she snapped. “It’s not the same, anyway. The first Asa died in a war. He had lived with his family for years. Our Asa was little more than an idea. We don’t even have a picture of him.”
    We heard people talking in the hallway.
    “That’s the ambulance personnel,” she said. “I don’t think you should come out and see this.” She walked toward the door.
    “If you’re going, I’m going,” I said.
    “Suit yourself, but don’t dare faint or anything.”
    Just warning me about it put it in my mind. I was a little dizzy when I stood up, but I closed my eyes and then opened them to follow her into the hallway. The sight of Mother covered with a sheet and being wheeled out of the bedroom was like a blow to my stomach. I started to dry-heave, but Cassie spun on me with those fiery eyes, and I caught my breath.
    “I’m all right,” I said.
    We walked behind the ambulance attendants and watched them lift the gurney and carry Mothercarefully down the stairway. Daddy walked right beside them as if he was afraid they might drop Mother. Uncle Perry waited below. The attendants lowered the gurney again and wheeled it to the front door. Daddy followed them out, but Uncle Perry stood back, watching with us. Then, without a word, he turned to me and put his arm around me. Looking pointedly at Cassie, he said, “You must not blame yourself, Semantha.”
    Cassie turned away from him and headed toward the kitchen. Afterward, he went with Daddy to Daddy’s office to call our minister and what relatives they thought they should call, and I joined Cassie in the kitchen.
    She was right about us being hungry, after all. When I looked at Daddy, even though he was eating, he seemed more stunned than sad. Every once in a while, I caught him looking toward Mother’s chair. Cassie was sitting in her own place again. We had just gotten seated at the table when the phone started to ring. Cassie took it on herself to handle all phone calls. She reported each and every one to Daddy. He smiled at some names and nodded, and then returned to his far-off look.
    Later, he and Uncle Perry sat and talked. Cassie kept busy in the house but walked in and out to ask Daddy if he needed anything. I tried to stay up with everyone, but my eyelids wouldn’t cooperate. They kept shutting, and I kept dozing off until Cassie shook me and told me to go up to bed.
    “I’ll come up to look in on you in a little while,” she said.

    How she could be so strong and so helpful when I was nothing but a wet noodle amazed me. Once again, I thought how Mother had been right about her, how she would be a leader and would always have strong self-confidence.
    Despite all that had occurred and all I had seen, I still couldn’t get myself to believe that Mother was gone, had literally been carted away under a sheet like something to be kept hidden