HEAVEN SENT by Pamela Morsi

Author:Pamela Morsi [Morsi, Pamela]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2010-12-24T00:44:53.914000+00:00

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CHAPTER 12

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It was a terrible day for a funeral. The trees rustled with a gentle whisper, the birds sang, and bees droned lazily in wildflowers by the roadside. The bright blue sky was powdered with high cirrus clouds that sauntered across the top of the heavens, with a cool northerly breeze making the morning seem fresh and springlike. In short, the weather was the antithesis of the mournful reality of death.

The Hensleys lived a good distance from Henry Lee's place, so they started out early to arrive at midmorning before the majority of the mourners. Although Henry Lee's wagon was well-sprung, it was not as comfortable as the buggy. In addition to the jostling, there was no top and Hannah didn't own a parasol, so she was forced to wear her bonnet down close, with the brim shading her eyes from the hot sun. It certainly would not do to show up at the funeral with a bright red nose and too much sun in her cheeks.

The wagon held the coffin. In the bright sunlight it was polished and pretty. Almost too pretty, Hannah thought, to put into the ground. There was also a caldron of butter beans cooked in fatback and a big basket of Hannah's yeast rolls. This made up her contribution to the funeral dinner. How food and funerals had become so closely tied in the communities of the prairie, Hannah did not know, but having a funeral with no dinner was tantamount to not saying words over the grave. It was as if the deceased was not much missed or deserving of the grief of the survivors. It was the responsibility of a preacher's wife to organize the dinner and Hannah, as her father's daughter, had instigated many a funeral meal and she knew that Reverend Brown's wife would be grateful for her help.

Lost in her own thoughts, she was unaware of Henry Lee's preoccupation. He had spent most of the night pacing his room and planning his future with Hannah. Now in the morning sun, he felt somewhat foolish. She was his wife, she'd made this bargain of her own free will. He had never wasted so much time and worry over a woman before. Of course, he'd never really had one that was his very own.

As he pulled his wagon into the shade in the Hensley's yard, the family began filing out of the house. Henry Lee helped his wife down from the wagon seat and then reaching into the wagon bed he retrieved the basket of rolls and handed them to Hannah. He carried the heavy kettle of butter beans himself, until they reached the porch where Young Newt relieved him of his burden, leaving Henry Lee standing on the porch with the menfolk, Newt Senior, his two brothers, his sister's husband, a couple of male cousins, and Reverend Brown.

"Good of you to come, Watson," the preacher told him, shaking his hand.

"Glad to do it." Henry Lee turned to Newt and his brothers.

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