Free Healing Hands (The Queen of the Night series Book 2) by Laura Emmons Page B

again.
    Somehow Evan had stepped up to stand behind me.
    Father Pruitt took a handful of dirt and threw it on the coffin, “…we commend to Almighty God our sister Shannon; and we commit her body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust…”
    I reached my hand behind me.
    Evan grasped it tightly.
    I remembered her face as she brushed Corey’s hair out of his eyes on the Night of the Mothers.
    “…May her soul, and the souls of all the departed through the mercy of God, rest in peace.”
    “Amen.”
    Evan wrapped an arm around my shoulder and led me back to the waiting car.
    The tears flowed freely, I couldn’t stop them. I barely noticed anything around me. I was surprised by his appearance but grateful for his support. Sometime during the service he must have changed his mind. Rose held Corey. Duncan, Fiona’s farm foreman, held her. It was a relief someone held me.
    Someone make a passing, furtive comment to Evan. I couldn’t hear what the person said, but I caught his response.
    He snarled, “I don’t give a hairy fire truck what they think.”
    I wondered if my family was a bad influence on him.
    When the rented sedan pulled up in front of the sunny, yellow house, Evan helped me out. He steered me into the house, up the stairs and into my bed. He tucked me in, still wearing the new black dress, under the blankets and he lay on top of the covers holding me tightly. I was so drained and so tired.
    ***
    When I woke several hours later, it was dark and Evan was gone. I stripped out of my clothes, climbed back under the covers naked, grabbed the couch pillow, and cried myself back to sleep.
     

 
    Chapter Ten
    Mistletoe
    I wanted to spend a couple of days wandering around the house abjectly depressed; but couldn’t. Aunt Rose may have planned the schedule, or not, but the next two days were filled with a bustle of activity.
    When I walked into the kitchen, Rose sat at the table with Pat McMahon, Duncan’s eldest son. They sat closely, held hands and talked quietly over mugs of hot tea. I made one for myself.
    “Good morning,” said Rose. “How do you feel?”
    “Morning, Aunt Rose. Hi Pat.”
    He nodded and smiled at me.
    “I guess I feel okay,” I shrugged.
    “That’s good. I’m afraid we have a lot to do today.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Well, we need to make sure you and Corey are ready to start school next week.”
    School?  Next week?  Oh wow . “I already have stuff for school.”
    “I doubt you have stuff for snow.”  She had a good point. The daytime temperature never dropped below 50º F in Santa Monica. I had a few warm things, but not enough to get through an entire week of school.
    “Corey hates shopping.”
    “I’d assumed as much. That’s why I asked Pat over this morning. Are you able to shop for him?”
    “Sure, I guess so.”
    “Then you and I will shop, and Corey will go on the mistletoe hunt with Pat and his brothers.”
    “What’s a mistletoe hunt?”
    “It’s when the men of the clan go looking in the forest for mistletoe growing wild in trees. When they find it, they harvest the bush for Fiona. We have many uses for mistletoe throughout the year. More importantly, we need it for Hogmanay.”
    “What’s Hoeg-man-eh?”
    “It’s our traditional celebration of New Years. Get ready. I’d like to leave within the hour.”
    ***
    Corey seemed pretty excited to be included in an all-guy event. That is, he became excited after I dragged him out of bed and explained it all. A spark of hope flickered in my heart at the thought of him getting a temporary respite from being angry and depressed. I made sure he wore all of his camouflage protection stones and wished him good hunting.
    Once Rose and I headed out of town in her car, I asked where we were going.
    “I thought we’d head to Virginia today. We’re going to Winchester.”
    I’d never been there, so I didn’t know what to expect. Luckily, the city had a booming, modern commercial district