Chapter 37
“I don’t know if I can do this,” Sheba said as Delilah helped her get dressed the day of Uriah’s funeral.
“You can and you will,” Delilah said as she buttoned up Sheba’s black dress.
“What if I can’t cry? People will be talking about that.”
“Baby girl, don’t worry about ‘people.’ You grieve in your own way. If you feel like crying, cry. If you feel like laughing, laugh. Do you, and don’t worry about everybody else.”
Sheba looked at herself in the mirror. She was dressed in a new knee-length black dress. She slipped on the silver sling-back slippers with three-inch heels. She debated about whether or not to wear a hat. She opted not to, and her hairdresser wrapped her long hair up in a bun. She grabbed her huge black shades and followed Delilah into the living room.
A knock was heard at the door.
Delilah said, “That’s probably the driver. You got everything?”
Sheba looked around. She inhaled one deep breath and then exhaled. “Ready.”
The ride over to the church was solemn. Delilah had been her backbone these past few days by being by her side, filtering calls, and being the loving sister she had always wished she had.
Sheba knew Uriah had known a lot of people, but she wasn’t expecting this many people. There was not an empty space in the church’s parking lot. She thought that since a lot of people came to show their respects at the wake the night before, there wouldn’t be a large crowd at the church today. She was wrong.
The cameras flashed as she and Delilah exited the limousine. Some of the local news media, along with the station that Uriah had overseen, had cameramen filming. Delilah tried to shield Sheba as they walked toward the front of the church and followed the preacher’s instructions.
“Ma’am, we’re going have to ask you to get behind the family,” one of the funeral home attendants said to Delilah.
“I am family. I’m her sister,” Delilah responded.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Someone told me that you weren’t a part of this family,” the funeral home attendant said.
“I don’t know who could have told you that, but Bathsheba’s my sister, and I’m staying with her.” Delilah’s temper flared.
The attendant backed away. Sheba heard murmurings but didn’t care. Delilah was more welcome there than some of Uriah’s family. Some of the people who stood in the funeral processional line neither she nor Uriah had seen in years.
The pastor of the church started reciting scriptures. Sheba tuned out everything around her. She held her head up high and followed behind the preachers. Thankfully, Delilah was on her right side, holding her up, because her legs were beginning to feel like jelly.
The closer they got to the front, the more Sheba wanted to run the other way. Fortunately, the bomb hadn’t blown up the top half of Uriah’s body. That was still intact. She stopped in front of his casket. The tears she had been holding in all morning streamed down her face. She leaned down and kissed him on the lips one last time. “I love you, baby. I’ll always be your pumpkin.” She removed the necklace he had given her with the half heart pendant and placed it in his hands. She could hear people whispering, but this was her moment with her husband, so she didn’t care. She kissed her fingers and placed them on his lips one last time before taking her seat.
Her head hung low as she waited for the rest of his family to be seated. She was handed a funeral program. She looked at the picture of Uriah on the front. It reminded her of happier times. Of when they didn’t have a care in the world. She had two regrets in her life. One was that she cheated on him, and the second one was that they would never have a child together.
About midway through the service, Sheba felt the funeral was getting to be too long. She sat impatiently, waiting for the sermon to be over. People were laughing, but she couldn’t find anything humorous in what the pastor had said. She knew Uriah was in a better place, but he had left her alone. Alone to deal with the world. Alone to deal with raising a child that should have been his.
“Do you want the casket opened up again?” the funeral home director asked her.
Sheba shook her head.
Delilah answered for her. “No. If they didn’t get a chance to see him yesterday or before the service, too bad.”
Sheba had been doing well, but now she found herself crying uncontrollably. As the funeral home director and the attendants got ready to roll the body down the aisle, Sheba and Delilah stood up to walk behind them. Sheba’s feet were planted in one spot. She rocked back and forth and said, “My baby. There goes my baby.”
Delilah wrapped her arms around Sheba’s waist and tried to get her to walk, but she wouldn’t move. David approached them and assisted Delilah with Sheba. Sheba fainted, and she would have hit the floor if David hadn’t caught her in his arms. When she woke up, she was in the back of the limousine. David was on one side of her and Delilah on the other.
“Tell me I didn’t miss the burial.” Sheba felt her heart drop again.
Delilah said, “No. We’re on our way there now.”
Sheba was relieved. “David, thanks for catching me back there.”
“Yes, sis, you almost hit the floor. Now, that would have been a sight,” Delilah said, trying to lighten up the situation.
Sheba laughed a little. “Delilah, thank you for helping me this week. Lord knows I wouldn’t have been able to get through this week without you.”
Delilah winked her eye. “That’s what older sisters are for.”
After Uriah’s casket was lowered into the ground, Sheba remained seated for a while. People walked up to her to offer their condolences. Then David walked up to her, and standing next to him was a man almost as handsome as he was.
“Ladies, I want you to meet my best friend, Reverend Nathan McDaniel.”
Sheba shook Nathan’s hand.
Then Delilah shook Nathan’s hand and said to David, “Your best friend is a preacher, and you’re like you are.” Delilah looked at Nathan. “I bet you use up a whole bottle of holy water on him.”
Nathan laughed. “Well, dear, I can tell I might have to sprinkle a few drops on you, too.”
David said, “He just calls it likes he sees it.”
Delilah rolled her eyes.
Sheba, tired of the display, stood up. “I’m ready to go home.”
“The repast is back at the church’s fellowship hall,” Delilah said.
“Y’all can go. I think I just want to go home,” Sheba sighed.
Joyce, one of Uriah’s cousins, walked up to her at that moment and said, “That looks like a baby bump. Are you pregnant?”
“Joyce, now is not the time for this,” Sheba said as she turned and walked toward the limousine.
Joyce shouted, “Don’t walk away from me.”
Sheba threw her hand up in the air and waved and got inside the limousine. The tears flowing down her face were not only from the grief of losing her husband, but also for her and David’s betrayal.