when Darlene walked to the casket, the siblings parted for her arrival, then stood a distance behind her, as if in fear she might turn and decimate them for their sins.
Finally, Gracie stood, gripping the wad of tissues like a lifeline, and headed straight for Delia.
A peace enveloped her as she looked down into her mother's face, and then she laid a hand on her arm.
"We did it, Mama. You nearly killed me doing it, and I lost you twice, but I got you safe to Daddy. I won't say it was easy, but it was my blessing to have done this for you. You taught me two things in the past nine years that I will never forget. To never take life for granted, and to find strength within myself that I didn't know was there. I love you."
She pulled a pink carnation from the casket spray and tucked it in her mother's hands, and when she turned around, Willis Decker was there with the pallbearers.
They rolled the pearl casket out of the church and into a hearse, then ushered the family into a limousine for the ride out to the cemetery.
Still gripping the tissues, Gracie leaned back against the seat and closed her eyes, leaving Darlene to stare the others down.
They'd all heard what Gracie said at the casket. Now they were looking at those scars on her with new horror. Surely to God their own mother had not done that? Surely!
"I feel sick," Daphne mumbled.
"Save it for the cemetery," Darlene said.
Mamie had gone fetal. She hadn't let go of Joel since they'd entered the sanctuary, and now, sitting within the confines of the same vehicle, she felt Gracie's rage as if it were a living, breathing fire. She looked up at Joel with tear-filled eyes, silently begging him for forgiveness she didn't deserve.
James was struggling with the shame of what he'd ignored and denied, and what he'd left undone. Being this close to Darlene, after all these years, just made it worse.
The hardest part was hearing Brother Harp reading their mother's words, and her assumption that they had all stood by her and Gracie. He didn't know how their lives would play out from this day forward, but in his mind, he was forever branded as a traitor—forever changed because of shame.
The service at the cemetery was poignantly brief. Later, the cemetery workers would lower Delia's casket into the ground beside Tommy, but for now, it rested in quiet splendor, surrounded by flowers and sunlight, and the mourners who'd traveled with her to see her off.
The wind had laid, leaving them all sitting and standing in the torpid heat. Makeup was melting. Sweat was in abundance as Brother Harp read the Twenty-Third Psalm, then said a prayer, and it was over.
This time, when people came by to pay their respects to the family, the conversation was normal, and memories were briefly shared. It was very apparent to Delia Dunham's children that they were not the only ones who had been blessed by their mother's time on this earth.
Darlene was getting nervous. Gracie was too quiet and too pale. She rounded up the limo driver and herded Gracie inside where it was cool, which sent others to do the same.
They drove back to the church for dinner, and the moment they were inside, Darlene took Gracie to the ladies room.
"Go pee. Then come wash your face and hands and cool off. You look like you're going to pass out."
The ladies room only had four stalls, but Gracie was quickly ushered into the next empty one.
When she came out, Darlene had a wet paper towel waiting, and slapped it on the back of Gracie's neck like she was swatting at a fly.
"Don't pass out on me, girl," she said.
"I won't," Gracie said, and then stood at the sink sluicing her face with cool water until the feeling of nausea had passed.
"Lord have mercy, girl. You just washed off every bit of makeup you were wearing and still look like a million bucks," Darlene said.
The women who overheard them laughed, agreeing.
Gracie looked back at herself, then shrugged.
"All I see is Daddy looking back at me."
Daphne was in a stall puking, and Mamie was trying to repair the makeup on her face as Darlene took Gracie down to the dining room, seated her at a table, then headed to the kitchen where the church ladies were waiting to serve the meal.
"She needs to eat something. Now," Darlene said, as she grabbed