the plan, not caring what they did next. For her, at this moment, life was just one big blank open sucking hole, and she didn’t see how visiting graves of dead people she had never met would help. She didn’t know them. She would never know them. Why bother? All she felt was numb.
But her friends wanted to go, and it was the least she could do for them. Besides, she was stuck in Marsha’s car. She hated not being in charge of where she wanted to go, when she wanted to go. The sooner she got back to living her life, the better.
After they stopped at a local florist to get flowers, Cindy directed them to the cemetery, reading aloud what she found out about it from their website. It had been around since 1842 and was now funded entirely by donations.
“There are some interesting people buried here,” Cindy said, “Including civil war soldiers.”
As Cindy explained more about who was buried there besides Paul’s parents, Grace thought about her friends back home in Doveland. If Bryan were here, he would see all the in-betweeners, people who hadn’t yet learned they were dead or had unfinished business, and some of them would ask him for help. And being Bryan, he would say yes, because that’s what he did. She missed him. She missed Doveland.
I’ve done what Paul wanted me to do, she thought. After they finished at the cemetery, she would be ready to go home.
“It’s beautiful,” Marsha breathed. Everyone nodded, including Bree. The air was sweet with May flowers, and birds sang in the trees. She hadn’t expected it to be such a peaceful place.
Watching the cemetery map she had on her phone, Cindy led them through the graves until they found the two simple markers. Bree laid the flowers on their graves and thanked them for bringing their son into the world.
“He was a good man,” Bree said to Joseph and Maureen. “I know he kept this secret, but he thought it was the right thing to do.”
As Bree said those words, she felt her spirit lighten as she realized that it was true. He had thought it was the right thing to do, and he had been a good man and husband to her. Perhaps it was time to forgive him for leaving her.
Besides, the two of them had a secret together, too. And she had no plans for telling anyone about it. Ever. Remembering the secret that they shared, she forgave Paul a little more. He had kept what happened to him at fourteen a secret, but he had also kept what happened to her a secret.
“I loved—love—your son,” she told the Fords as tears ran down her face. It was true. She did. From the moment she saw him, she loved him, and she would love him forever.
“I’m sorry, Paul,” she whispered to the wind, hoping he would hear her.
Turning to her friends who had stepped away while she visited Paul’s parents, she asked Cindy if perhaps Noreen Ferguson was buried there too.
“Why didn’t I think of that?” Cindy asked, checking her phone. “Yes, just a few rows over!”
Bree took a few sprigs of flowers from the ones she had put on the Ford’s grave, and they made their way over to Noreen’s.
It was a newer headstone and easy to read, “Noreen Ferguson. A beloved mother.”
“I’m sorry,” Bree said to Noreen, even though she knew Nora couldn’t hear her. “He loved you too, and of course, he didn’t mean for your baby to die.”
“I guess Paul arranged for this,” Marsha said, gesturing at the headstone. “It was part of his last gift to her, too.”
Bree nodded. “He was a good man, wasn’t he?”
All three women stood in a circle around Bree and said, “Yes, Bree, he was.”
Back at the hotel, Grace told them it was time for her to leave. She would drive for a few hours, stop at a motel for the night, and be home by noon the next day.
Once again, all four women gathered together in a group hug, but this time around Grace, thanking her for bringing them the information they needed.
Before Grace left, she pulled Bree away from the group and said, “I know how hard it is to lose someone you love as much as you loved Paul. But you have to know that his life continues, and someday you will see him again. So make a good life for yourself while you are here because that is what he would want. You know that, don’t you?”
Bree nodded, tears running down her face, and gave Grace one last hug.
The three friends waved as Grace drove away, and then Bree turned to her friends. “Cindy, do you mind riding with Marsha back to Spring Falls?”
“Of course not, but why?”
“I’m leaving too.”
“Now?” Cindy squeaked.
“Now. Could we say goodbye now, please? I don’t want to cry in front of the whole world. I just need some time to myself.”
Both women looked shocked, and Cindy started to cry.
“Please understand,” Bree said. “I promise I’ll come to Spring Falls. Besides, you have that dang Find Me app on your phones. You’ll know I’m okay.”
“You promise?” Cindy asked.
“I promise,” Bree said, reaching out and hugging Cindy. “Thank you for coming and getting me out of my funk. If you hadn’t come, I might still be sitting against the door sobbing. You rescued me. You both rescued me. I will not forget that, ever!”
“Paul’s gift to all of us, reuniting the Ruby Sisters,” Marsha said.
Sniffing, Cindy said, “Okay. We’ll see you soon. Get your stuff. We’ll wait right here and wave goodbye. Just promise you’ll be okay.”
“I promise,” Bree said again. “I just have some thinking to do.”
A few minutes later, Bree was back with her luggage, and Marsha handed her a bag filled with snacks and a cold pack filled with sodas.
Bree took it, trying not to cry, knowing Marsha had rushed into the hotel’s store to get all of it before she left.
“Ruby Sisters forever,” she whispered.
She didn’t look back, but she knew they were standing there watching her go, and they would be there when she was ready to see them again. But she needed to think about how she would start her life over, and she needed to do that by herself.