He paused for a moment to steady his voice and clear his throat. “And the two of them never looked back,” he said. “Kate came back to work a couple of days later with happiness shining right through her. She was the most caring, most compassionate, most capable nurse any of us had ever seen and when the two of them were on together, well, that was a good day to be at work.”
“Adam had seen so much tragedy in his life, and he felt deeply that he wanted to do some good and Kate wanted to share that with him. After their wedding, a beautiful occasion as a lot of you will remember, Adam had planned on taking Kate on an exotic honeymoon before dedicating a year of their lives to the Red Cross, but a disaster happened and so they selflessly put their life on hold for a while to fly out and help. And so it began. Their first year of marriage, traveling the world and helping out wherever crisis needed them, be it earthquake or hurricane, landslide or tsunami, keeping in touch with the people they met along the way. And when they came back home, they worked tirelessly, sending out much needed supplies donated by anyone and everyone they could persuade to help them.”
He glanced sideways at the coffins, blinking back the tears that threatened to escape and shaking his head. And then he stilled himself for a moment to settle his voice.
“Adam told me once that Kate was like a breath of fresh air; she was the best thing that ever happened to him. He said he might have regretted many things along the way, but never a single moment that he spent with her. When he had her by his side, he said, he felt invincible.”
The man paused. “There is a saying that the candle that burns twice as brightly, burns half as long. Well their candle could have mirrored the sun.” He looked down for a moment and steadied his breathing. “Theirs was a love most people can only dream of. Poets could not write words as beautiful as the happiness they shared. And it ended far too quickly, on the dream holiday he had always wanted to take her on, in the clear blue waters of the Caribbean. All I can add now is at least they died as I know they would have lived, together.”
White handkerchiefs dabbed at watery eyes all around as the story of their tragic passing unfolded.
Gloria placed a handkerchief in her daughter’s hand and looked at her with concern. Tears were pouring down Lena’s face and Lena hadn’t even noticed. She dried her eyes and looked back at the photo in her lap. They looked so happy together, so perfect, just like they had…
A draught blew in from behind her and Lena turned round to see who had walked in, but the door was closed. She noticed the young lad watching her from the back of the church, standing solemn and still beside the door. His eyes searched hers and made a connection.
Music started up again and Lena turned back and pretended to sing.
At the end of the service ‘The Prayer’ was played, a song that had apparently come to mean so much to them. It wasn’t a song Lena knew well, a duet by a man and a woman, sung in English and Italian, but it suited the occasion perfectly.
Men in mourning suits – family from the pews and the undertakers - walked with great purpose up to the front of the church and lifted the coffins high up onto their shoulders. The music swelled and rose inside Lena’s crippled heart, moving her with its melody.
The story of two people, so in love and so tragically lost together. And now Lena knew how it ended. And as the congregation filed outside for the interment, a small piece of paper fluttered over in a gust of wind and landed on the floor at her feet. Lena looked down and picked it up. It was the business card for the funeral director, Thompson, Thompson and Sons, and it had fallen from a pile on the table beside her. She slipped the card into her pocket and carried on.
Outside they gathered at the grave side as the coffins were lowered into the ground and the vicar muttered the words that comforted few.
They were at peace now at least, Lena knew that. Kate, floating upon that eternal sea, with Adam and her daughter by her side. The three of them, tucked up under the ground, together forever, in heavenly seclusion.
When it was over, Lena wandered past the row of wreaths reading the words written by those who loved them. Adam had no family left to miss him, but Kate’s family had taken him to their hearts and there seemed to be no shortage of mourners. They may be gone now, but Lena doubted they would ever be forgotten and certainly not by her.
Clusters of people began to form again as the congregation broke up and started to leave. It was back to the house now for more cups of tea, and Lena almost wished she was going with them. But her mum had promised her they wouldn’t have to go, so they were leaving straight after. It had all been arranged.
Lena understood now all that had happened to her that day, but she had to search around one last time, just to make sure.
“I’ll meet you at the car in a minute,” she said to her mum and left her to say her goodbyes to the family and wandered slowly round the graveyard, searching through the sea of faces for the ones she did not expect to find. They were gone. Only the picture in her hand was left to remind her of what she had learned that day, and who would believe that?
She started walking back down the slope, away from the crowd, to the car, parked at the bottom of the hill, and standing by the family’s car, patiently awaiting his charge, was the lad she had noticed from before. He smiled at her.
“It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?” he said.
Lena looked up at the sky and then back to him. “Yes. I suppose it is.”
“Did you know them well?” he asked.
“Better than I thought,” she said, and the lad looked at her curiously. A breeze danced a wisp of hair about her face and Lena smiled. It was the first time in many months that her face had looked so at ease. She caught the errant strands and tucked them back behind her ear.
At that moment, Gloria walked around the side of the church and saw her troubled daughter smiling at the boy beside the car. And as she watched the scene unfolding, new tears of joy began to trail wearily down her sodden cheeks, as Lena held out her hand and spoke to him.
“I’m Lena,” she said. “What’s your name?”
The End
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First published in Great Britain by HarperImpulse 2014
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