“Are you okay?” Marley whispered. She knew how it felt to lose a mother, but she had no idea that Laurel felt very different about Ellen than Marley had about Amber Rose.
Laurel couldn’t talk for the lump in her throat, so she leaned over and kissed the girl’s forehead, and that brought an even sweeter smile.
Myles noticed this exchange and squeezed her hand. Mia hugged one of his legs while she watched Rex toss dirt on the coffin. They’d all thrown a shovelful, except Virgil. He stood across the grave with Peyton, Brady and the new baby, but he’d just been released from the hospital and wasn’t supposed to be on his feet quite yet. Peyton and the kids had come to be with him during his convalescence. Now they were ready to take him home. Laurel had told him he didn’t have to attend the funeral, but he’d insisted. He said it was time to bury the past along with the woman who’d raised them, that this ceremony was important for everyone involved, and she agreed.
“Mom, do you want me to go back to the car and get the umbrella?” Jake asked.
“No, honey. I’m fine.”
Her son hovered close to Myles, as usual. He’d scarcely left his side since he and Mia had returned from New York. Laurel couldn’t help being pleased that he was so happy to have a good man, a good role model, in his life. They had a camping and fishing trip planned for next week. The girls were going to stay together and have some fun of their own.
Peyton smiled as Laurel caught her gaze, and Laurel smiled back. The baby was wrapped up tight, well protected by a large umbrella that Peyton held over herself and Virgil, who was on crutches. Their new baby symbolized the fresh beginning they all needed. There was something special about seeing little Anna there, at her grandmother’s graveside.
The ceremony didn’t last long. The minister who performed the service wasn’t too happy with the weather. And that was fine with Laurel. Myles took the kids back to the car to get them out of the rain; Peyton took Brady and the baby. Soon, it was just the three of them—Laurel and Virgil and Rex.
“I wonder if she did it,” Laurel said to them. “Wouldn’t you like to know, once and for all?”
Rex shoved his hands in his pockets. His withdrawal symptoms had left and his color was returning. “And if she did?”
“Then we haven’t lost anything, have we? That means she never really loved us as a mother should.”
“And if she didn’t do it?” he asked.
“Then I let her down. Then I should’ve forgiven her.” She looked at Virgil. “We both should’ve forgiven her.”
Rex and Virgil exchanged a meaningful glance.
“What?” Laurel said. “Do you two know something you’re not telling me?”
“It’s time,” Rex murmured, and Virgil hobbled close enough to take her hand.
“We haven’t lost anything,” he said, and pulled her into as much of an embrace as he could in his current condition. “But you’ll always have me.”
She’d have him, Rex, Myles and the kids. And she’d have her freedom. At last. Ink was currently in the hospital under heavy guard, but he’d soon be heading back to prison. And after what he’d done, he’d never get out. The bodies of four men had been discovered behind the cabin where Ink had been hiding. She couldn’t believe she’d survived his visit to Pineview.
It might take some of her friends and family a while to get used to calling her Laurel instead of Vivian, but she’d earned the right to go back to her original identity, to meld all the separate people she was into one complete person. She felt lucky to be able to do it.
As Virgil and Rex moved back to the cars and the loved ones who were waiting, Laurel tilted her head back and twirled in the rain.