Free Stephanie Mittman by A Heart Full of Miracles Page B

home with the boy now, and she knew that Seth would be hurryingback to him as soon as the funeral was over—sooner if little Jenny Youtt came running for him.
    She wondered about the last time Seth had taken a day for himself, gone fishing or sat by the fire with a good book. When Sarrie was alive he had always taken time to sit with her. Sometimes he would read to her, Sarrie said. Sometimes he would take out his violin and play one of the tunes that Sarah loved.
    Abby had heard him playing once. She’d been bringing Sarrie the latest issue of
Demorest’s Magazine
and they hadn’t heard her come in. The moment Seth saw her, he’d stopped. She’d bet anything that he hadn’t played a note, read a chapter, even gone for a walk to stretch his legs, since Sarrie’s death.
    Her father was eulogizing Joseph Panner, praising his generosity and tactfully skipping over the source of his funds. The way her father put it, it sounded a lot like Mr. Panner had very wisely, in his last moments, bought his place in heaven.
    “And a church shall stand testament to the good in his heart and the purity in his soul,” her father said, and even at a distance she could see Seth’s eyebrows rise. Purity of his soul indeed! The man drank, swore, and caroused enough to keep two taverns in business and Miss Ella Welsh in silk.
    “I suppose this isn’t the right time or place,” Mr. Youtt, the town’s only lawyer said, clearing his throat before interrupting her father. “But before you start building that church, Reverend Merganser, you ought to know that there isn’t all that much money left, and what there is he left in bulk to the town of Eden’s Grove to do with as they see fit.”
    Ella Welsh all but collapsed against Seth, who steadied her more solicitously than Abby thought she deserved. Of course, Seth was a gentleman and a doctor. She couldn’t expect him to just let the woman fall down, could she?
    “Would you look at Ella Welsh!” Prudence whispered against Abby’s neck. “It looks like she’s already staking out her next victim!”
    “And it’s
your
victim … I mean your man,” Patience added. At least she had the good sense to keep her voice down, but then with their father being a reverend, they’d all pretty much been raised on funerals and solemn events.
    “He’s not
my
anything,” Abby hissed at her sister as her father spoke to the assembled group about Joseph Panner’s money and the man’s intentions as if they’d been written in stone and handed down to him.
    “They say a zebra can’t change his stripes, but Joseph Panner did just that, and as we lower his body into the ground, there is solace in the fact that a church will grow from it where all of Eden’s Grove’s citizens can worship as one and sing their own joyful songs unto the Lord—songs of thanksgiving—”
    “I think we ought to just split the money between us,” Mr. Ellenberg, the new butcher, said. “I mean, we aren’t all of the same faith and those who want a new church could contribute their portion to that church, and those who don’t—”
    “I think we ought to install streetlights,” Mrs. Winston, the milliner said. “A body isn’t safe at night walking about in the dark.”
    Six men stood holding the sturdy leather straps slungbeneath the heavy coffin of Joseph Panner. Each of them kept their eyes glued to the reverend, waiting for the signal to lower the coffin.
    “Only heathens don’t want a church,” her father said, his cheeks reddening. “Why, what kind of a town hasn’t got a church? I’m not even sure it is a town without a church to unify it. Maybe it’s just a collection of houses and businesses that only have a postal address in common?”
    One of the men holding the leather straps shifted his weight and coughed. Her father didn’t seem to notice.
    “Meaning no disrespect, Reverend Merganser, but there are people who don’t worship the Son and the Holy Ghost, but only our Father. I don’t