“No, he doesn’t know any of this yet. He’s too much in mourning right now to hear anything. At the right moment after the funeral, I’ll speak to him and get everything arranged for you. Don’t say anything about this to him until I have the conversation with him. For now, I have to prepare for people who will start calling to give condolences. Of course, most of them will come out of sick curiosity, but there’s nothing we can do about it. We can’t shut them out.
“What we will do,” she continued, “is be strong and not let anyone see us being weak. Be somber, but Heavenstones don’t cry in front of strangers, understand? I’m hiring some help to prepare and serve during the period of mourning. I’m not cooking and baking for a bunch of strangers.”
“When will they come?”
“It will start tomorrow. It doesn’t take long for bad news to whip 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 him keeps 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 Mother carefully 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.