Page 44 of Over the Verdant Hills
“You’re asking the wrong person. This is one thing I can’t help you with. I can tell you that it’s clean. And if I owned a restaurant, I wouldn’t kick you out.”
“All right. That’s good enough.” She smiled at him and knew that she owed him more than she’d ever be able to repay. “Thanks again. Help yourself to whatever’s in the kitchen. Sorry there’s no fresh bread.”
“No problem. I’ll work on getting more stuff cleaned out and see what I can get done before you get back.” And then he said, “And don’t worry about getting back here before your kids. If you’re not, I’ll handle things until you arrive. I won’t tell them about Grandma.”
“All right. I’ll do my best to get back, but thanks for the reassurance that you’ve got things under control.”
She walked out the door, humming to herself. How could she be humming on the day Grandma died? But she was. She found she was humming an old, upbeat hymn. One that talked about depending on the Lord and going to Him when she had a problem.
It was perfect for today, and she smiled, though she wasn’t sure why it had popped into her head, because she hadn’t thought about it in years.
Some of the old hymns were the best. And then she smiled softly to herself. She was glad to be back in Raspberry Ridge and going to a church that sang hymns and preached from the Bible. She had a feeling she was going to need it in the weeks and months to come.
It didn’t take long to get into town, and she was early as she pulled into the healing garden, but there was a car already there. She wasn’t sure whether it was Grace’s car or not.
She got out and walked through the gate.
Josiah had told her to follow the path back—there was a pretty waterfall and a soothing reflection pond. She found it easily and thought that Grace was already there.
“Grace?” she asked, pretty sure it was her friend.
The woman turned, and then her face broke into a smile. “Claire!”
She moved forward, her arms out. If Claire had wondered how thereunion would go, she needn’t have worried. Grace embraced her like a long-lost friend. And she supposed she was exactly that.
“Thank you so much for being willing to meet me.”
“I should thank you,” Claire said.
Grace paused. “I heard about your grandma.”
“Oh good. I thought I was going to have to tell you, and… I told so many people today, I really didn’t want to have to go through it again.”
“You don’t have to. I’m not sure exactly how everything went, but I think it had something to do with my mom talking to Josiah’s mom, who knows the funeral director’s aunt, and yeah. Small towns.”
Grace grinned, and Claire laughed. “I know I’m supposed to be sad, but I’ve laughed some today too, which I think is weird.”
“Laughter is a stress relief, just like crying or anything else. In my personal opinion, I prefer laughing to crying, and I’ll do that any day.”
“I never thought about it like that. Do you really think that laughter lets stress out just like crying does?”
“I don’t know, but I always feel better after I’ve laughed. And somehow, when things are sad or hard, I always do better if I’m laughing.” She lifted her hands and shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know if I’m handling it well or if I’m doing it in some kind of unhealthy way. But it works for me.”
“I suppose that’s the thing that matters.”
Grace nodded. “Would you like to sit down? I always find this spot the most comforting of all the spots in the garden.”
“Yeah. Vera and her husband did an amazing job on this.”
“They’re professionals. And you can tell. I think, since they dedicated it to their son, they spared no expense.”
“They dedicated it to their son? I thought they had a whole bunch of kids. Did they lose one?” She seemed to remember a bunch of kids running around the church after Vera and Dominic. Or maybe it was Dominic and Vera running around after the kids. That picture seemed more accurate.
“Before they had those children, they had one that they doted on, an only child. They lost him to a sudden fever, I think. Anyway, this garden was dedicated to him. They almost separated, but when they built it,they ended up coming back together. And then God blessed them with a whole pile of children.”
“Wow. That’s quite a story.”
“It is. It’s a beautiful love story. They should write it in a book sometime.”
