Inary
Word spread that a girl drowned many years ago had been found in the loch. St Colman was full to the brim, and many more gathered at the graveyard. The local press was taking pictures of Rose’s coffin and of her remaining family. It was a beautiful day – fresh and full of light. I was so happy for her that it should be spring when she too was finally put into the ground. Torcuil, Logan and Taylor stood all around her white coffin, covered with lilies.
“Inary . . . there’s something I have to ask you,” Taylor said to me after it was finished. “How did you know?”
I couldn’t answer that one. I just smiled, gave him a peck on the cheek and walked away. Apart from my family, only Alex could ever know about my secret.
“Thank you,” I mouthed in Torcuil’s direction, touching his arm briefly as I went. I needed to be alone.
I wasn’t surprised, as I walked home from the graveyard, when I saw Rose and Mary waiting for me by a birch tree, holding hands. Rose looked herself again, her eyes sparkling blue, her cheeks rosy. I could see the tree through her body now, as if her spirit had got weaker. Maybe she was on her way somewhere else, now. To peace, at last.
They both smiled at me, and I smiled back, my eyes welling up with joy and sadness and relief all mixed up. Mary and Rose were together again; maybe Emily and I would be, one day.