Laurel Cove by Sarah Turtle

Author:Sarah Turtle [Turtle, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781948232548
Publisher: Sapphire Books Publishing
Published: 2019-03-01T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

The little chapel was packed full to capacity with people, well before the service was due to begin. With the exception of a few elderly parishioners who attended the church regularly, no one was quite sure what religion was practiced within the holy walls of the building. It was just a fact that every wedding and funeral on Laurel Cove took place there no matter what their religious beliefs were.

Willa sat on a wooden bench behind a curtain, in a small room specifically reserved as a place for direct family members to have private time alone when they needed it. She couldn’t help but think about how brides also used this space, where they waited with their father until it was time to walk down the aisle. She added that event to the list of things she would never share with her own father. People’s most joyful and sorrowful moments mixed with the energy of the room. Just the thought of that made Willa dizzy.

She wondered if her dad had held her in his arms when she was a toddler, in this very room, as her mother’s funeral was taking place. She had a few select memories of her mother, but being in the chapel for her service was not one of them. It was most likely the beginning of one of the many times in her life when her father had shielded her from the sadness of the day by covering it up with his infectious smiles and love.

She peeled aside a portion of the red velvet curtain to peer across the hall where people were filing in the rows of pews. A constant murmur vibrated amongst the crowd. Conversations were spoken in whispers too low for her to pick up on what was being said, but by the solemn expressions on their faces, they genuinely seemed to be as upset about her father being gone as she was. Until seeing for herself how many lives he had interwoven his own with in their tiny community, she had never given much thought as to how missed he would be.

When a silence fell throughout the building, the minister, who to Willa seemed to be as old as time itself, came to get her. He held a frail hand out to help her from the bench. When she took it, his skin looked so white and thin that it almost appeared to be translucent. He led her past the curtain to a small group of people, all of which were dressed in robes and carried religious objects to be part of the ceremony. A silver urn was placed in Willa’s hands and for the first time, she realized that she was expected to carry her father’s remains down to the front of the church. She shook her head to deny the responsibility, and held the urn out for someone else to take it, but it was too late; the line had already begun its procession towards the altar.

Organ music echoed

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