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family house. And then she slept.
    When Cynthia
woke Marla, it was dark outside. Marla was disoriented and didn’t
know where she was for a moment. “I’m sorry to wake you up,
honey,” Cynthia said. “Maybe I shouldn’t have. But everyone’s
gone now and I know you were going over to see Sean.”
    “ What time is
it?” Marla asked her mother.
    “ It’s eight
thirty. You’ve been asleep for quite a while.” Her mother sat on
the side of the bed and began to weep softly. Marla sat up and put
her arm around her mother’s shoulder. She began to cry, too.
    “ It’s the
hardest thing in the world to lose a child,” Cynthia said. “It’s
not natural. It shouldn’t be.”
    After a few
minutes, Cynthia told Marla that if she was going to see Sean, she
should get going. Marla got up from the bed that had been her comfort
through countless nights and years of her childhood. “You’re
right, I should go. I promised Merrie.”
    Cynthia looked
at Marla, questioningly, but she didn’t say anything else.
    “ Mom, is it
okay if I leave you and Daddy? I know you need me too.”
    Cynthia didn’t
respond right away. And then she said, “I wish you would stay here
forever. I want to hold on to you. I don’t want to lose you. But I
think Sean needs you right now. It’s what Merrie would want.”
    They walked
down the staircase with its polished wood banister and Marla held
onto it as she descended. She hugged both of her parents goodbye and
walked outside to her car where she had parked it before going to the
funeral. The night was clear and dark and the stars winked in the
sky.
    Marla pulled up
in the driveway of Meredith and Sean’s house and walked to the
kitchen door. Sean’s parents saw her and opened the door.
    “ He’s
asleep,” Sean’s mother said. “I gave him one of my sleeping
pills. I don’t think he’s slept for days.”
    Marla nodded in
understanding and moved to the table and sat down. Sean’s mother
got her a cup of tea.
    “ How is he?”
Marla asked.
    “ He’s not
good. I’m pretty worried about him,” his mother said. “I’m
going to stay with him for a while. But I know the time will come
when he’ll want me to leave so he can grieve alone. And then I’ll
have to go.”
    Marla sat with
Sean’s parents and sister for a few more minutes, sipping her tea
but not tasting it or enjoying it. She got up from the table. “I
think I’ll just look in on him before I go,” she said. She walked
into the hallway, past the spare room with the hospital bed, and
quietly opened the door to the master bedroom. Sean lay on the bed
fast asleep. Marla wanted to comfort him, but she didn’t know how.
She needed comfort herself.

Chapter
Eight

    A week after the
funeral, the ashes arrived from the crematorium. Marla went to the
funeral home to pick them up. They were in a plain white box. Marla
picked the box up and it was heavier than she expected. Inside, the
ashes were in a plastic bag. That didn’t seem right. Meredith in a
plastic bag. Meredith wanted her ashes scattered in the bay, and
Marla wanted to do that as soon as possible. Get her sister out of
that plastic bag.
    Marla knew she
couldn’t take Meredith’s ashes to Sean’s in a box that looked
like something ordered from the Internet. She went back to the shop
and went up to her apartment, carrying the box like a treasure. The
china cabinet in the dining area was full of family china and various
vases. Marla opened the cabinet doors and reached into the back of
the top shelf, careful not to knock into the china in front. She was
reaching for a Chinese vase with a top. Meredith had always loved the
piece, which had been in the family for over a hundred years. Marla
pulled the vase out of the cabinet. It was dusty and she took it into
the kitchen and washed it in the sink. When it was completely dry,
Marla put the bag of ashes inside and put the top on.
    Marla drove to
Sean’s house, because now it was Sean’s house and not