Chapter 12

“The boy will be cremated. The girl will be buried. We will have much work to do for an open casket.”

“Yes,” Frank said. Though her dress was quite pretty beneath the brown paper, her face looked nothing like it should. “I’ll help you, Vaughn. We will do it together. I’ll deliver Mr. Gifford’s ashes to the post office later on.”

“Are you certain, dear boy, it will not be too difficult?”

“It would be an honor, Vaughn. Something I can do to repay her for her kindness.” Frank would do anything possible to make Melissa as beautiful deceased as she had been when alive. He closed his eyes to picture her smiling, the radiance of it, the joy and the loveliness. “I insist.”

“As you wish,” Vaughn said.Chapter 3