Daughters of Buxton by Kathryn Ewers Bundy

Author:Kathryn Ewers Bundy [Bundy, Kathryn Ewers]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FF, Fiction, GLBT, Historical, Lesbian, Romance
ISBN: 9781475237900
Google: x6p5LwEACAAJ
Amazon: B00892V50A
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Published: 2012-06-27T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

October 1909

Vanetta was torn. She believed that it was important to expose children to the reality of life and death, unavoidable as it was, but wavered at the thought of taking Lucy to Mrs. Ivans' wake and funeral. Vernon was older, he could understand, but Lucy had been a particular favorite of their invalid neighbor and the sight of her lying in the funeral parlor, still and dead, might frighten the child's imagination.

“She is six years old and ready for school,” Lou stated matter-of-factly. “How long do you intend to shelter her?”

Vanetta pulled a towel from the basket and held it to her face for a moment before folding. “You're right, of course. She cannot stay a baby the rest of her life.”

“Nor would you want her to,” Lou reminded. “She will need every bit of strength and wisdom she can muster, just to survive.”

“Very well, we'll take her with us this afternoon.”

The doctor's wife Ellen, never robust, had died giving birth to another premature baby, the fifth she had tried to carry, of which none survived. Even the doctor, with all his training and knowledge, could not help when her worn and ruptured womb gave out. It was a sad time in both houses. So many residents in the town of Buxton respected Dr. and Mrs. Ivans, that the funeral became something of an event. Dr. Ivans used the services of Manion's Funeral Parlor and bought a plot in the Buxton Memorial Garden, a half mile out on the west side of town. It had been established for the purpose of town burials, but the Company, in its continuing effort to create a climate of enlightened supervision, combined the pragmatic with the artistic. The graves were dug in rows with identical stones that stood straight as soldiers, marking the final resting places of miners and their family members. But they also planted trees, flowers and bushes, and scattered benches throughout, to give the burial ground an air of contemplation and peaceful rest.

Individual patrons, of course, were allowed to pay extra for the installment of unique funerary sculpture. Dr. Ivans had an extravagant monument carved to honor his wife, which included not only her birth and death dates, but a lovely epitaph followed by Scripture.

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