Page 136 of Already Home

“I’ll pick you up at the airport,” Dragon said.

“You stay with your family. We’re renting a car. We’ll callwhen we land in San Francisco.”

“All right.”

She smiled at Wolf. “Please tell Jasmine I wish her the bestwith the baby.”

“Thanks. The midwife says it’ll be a few hours yet. I should behome before the baby’s born.”

Life went on, Beth thought. No matter how much anyone suffered,life went on.

She walked them to Dragon’s rental car. When they were gone,she returned to her SUV and pulled out the boxes she’d brought.

In less than an hour she’d packed up everything. When her carwas loaded, she dropped off the keys with the landlord and drove to the postoffice to mail the boxes to Dragon. Then she returned home.

The hospice people had been by that morning to take back thehospital bed and table. The chairs and sofa had been returned to their usualplaces. Except for a few plants in the corners and the incense and half-burnedcandles on the windowsill, the room was empty.

Without having to close her eyes, Beth could hear theconversations, the laughter, the chanting, the tears. She remembered Serenity’slast breath and willed her spirit to a peaceful place. Then she stepped out ofthe room and closed the door behind her.

She spent the rest of the afternoon getting ready for her tripto California. When Marshall arrived home a little after five, she had dinnermostly made and his favorite martinis waiting in a pitcher.

He smiled when he saw her, set his briefcase on one of thekitchen chairs, then crossed to her and kissed her.

“How are you holding up?” he asked.

“I’m okay. Getting through it.” She looked into his face. “Idon’t tell you enough how much I love you. You’re a wonderful man, MarshallStevens, and I’m very fortunate to have you in my life.”

“I’m the lucky one,” he said.

She smiled. “I wish that were true, but it’s not. You’reeverything to me. I want you to promise you’ll never die.”

“Sweet Beth.”

He kissed her again, this time lingering in that special way ofhis. The one that always made her stomach flip and her insides tingle.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he murmured.

Which wasn’t exactly the same but would have to do, she toldherself. “I’m not going anywhere, either.”

* * *

Serenity’s funeral was as unexpected as her arrival inJenna’s life had been. On a warm, early-summer afternoon, nearly three hundredpeople gathered in an old church to celebrate a life cut too short.

Jenna stood with Beth, just behind the row with Tom, Dragon,Wolf, Jasmine and baby Serenity. The infant had been born two hours after herdaddy had arrived home and nearly forty-eight hours to the minute after hergrandmother had died.

Friends and neighbors filled the church and spilled out ontothe lawn where loudspeakers carried the service to those who wouldn’t fitinside.

A minister spoke first, followed by a man in a robe. Jenna hada feeling many religions were represented as people spoke kindly of Serenity,telling stories that indicated she had known each of them. Dragon and Wolftalked about how much she had loved them and how she had been loved in return.Jenna had said she didn’t want to say anything, and now, as she listened toother people talk about the woman she’d barely known, she was grateful to remainsilent. She didn’t regret having known her biological mother. She couldn’t. Shewas a part of Serenity, and Serenity would always be a part of her. They wereconnected by more than biology. Serenity was her mother. How could she put thosefeelings into words?

After the funeral, everyone made their way to the family home.Jenna had already spent most of the morning cooking food from Serenity’s stashof favorite recipes. She had made a lentil salad, sweet potatoes with curriedbeans, cookies and a whipped dessert called “Apricot Fluff.”

She and Beth ducked into the kitchen to bring out what had beenmade only to find every inch of surface covered with casserole dishes. Therewere instructions on all of them, along with notes to Tom and his sons about howthe cook had felt about Serenity.

“These are wonderful,” Beth said. She dug around in a couple ofdrawers, then pulled out some paper and a pen. “I’m going to copy the notes andtake them home with me. I can print them up in different fonts, then make ascrapbook for Tom.”

“He would love that.”

“Poor man.” Beth read the nearest note, then started copying.“He’s going to have a tough time.”

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