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gone fifteen minutes or more.”
    Annie pressed her hand to her chest, where her own heart was pounding like a trip hammer. “You can’t—can’t you do CPR or something and bring her back?”
    He shook his head. “I’m afraid not.” He rubbed a hand across the stubble on his chin. “If, as I suspect, her heart failed, she would have first experienced a sense of confusion, then lost consciousness and fallen. From that point she entered the state of terminal apnea when her breathing stopped, then she passed into the agonal state— at which point we might have been able to revive her if we were in a hospital. Brain death followed within minutes.”
    â€œSo I could have saved her if I’d rushed up here when I heard her fall?”
    He reached out and squeezed her shoulder. “No, honey. A massive heart attack would damage her heart, and nothing short of emergency surgery and a possible heart transplant could make her well again. Olympia and I have talked about this sort of thing, and she didn’t want to be resuscitated in a situation like this. She knew she was at risk for heart trouble, and she was ready for whatever came. She missed Edmund, you see.”
    Tears, hot and angry, spilled over Annie’s cheeks. “But that’s not fair! Why didn’t she watch her diet more closely? I know she missed Edmund, but she still had me. We were just beginning to understand each other.”
    She fell into his arms, one fist weakly pounding his chest as a torrent of words and emotions poured out. “I needed her. Who else do I have, if not her? I know she missed Edmund, but I needed her, too. I don’t have anybody else, Dr. Marc, not anybody.”
    His gentle hand fell on her head and smoothed her hair. “Shh, Annie, I know it’s hard.”
    â€œShe is home now.” Caleb’s voice rang with conviction. “She’s with Edmund and her loved ones, and together they are rejoicing in the presence of the Lord.”
    â€œOh, Caleb.” Straightening, Annie swiped at the tears on her cheeks. “You make it sound so real.”
    â€œIt is real, honey. More real than anything in this room.”
    Annie sniffed, wishing she could believe him. She wanted to believe, but sometimes heaven seemed like a fairy tale invented to ease children’s fears about death and what lies beyond. . . .
    She would face the unknown alone now.
    â€œI never knew,” she repeated, turning to the doctor, “that her heart condition was so serious.”
    â€œShe didn’t have a serious problem, but unfortunately sometimes these things are unpredictable, particularly in women.” The doctor frowned as he glanced at Olympia’s still form. “You could request an autopsy.”
    Annie considered a moment, then shook her head. “No. If you say it was a heart attack, I trust you.”
    â€œI’ll call her doctor in Ogunquit. And the funeral home, if you want me to handle that part of . . . the arrangements.”
    Annie leaned her elbow on the stool by Olympia’s dressing table. She had never planned a funeral. Uncle Edmund had slipped away after a long illness, and he and Aunt Olympia had preplanned his funeral and everything associated with it.
    She suddenly realized she didn’t have the faintest idea where to begin what must come next.
    â€œWould you do that?” Her eyes fixed upon the doctor’s face. “The same funeral home that took care of Uncle Edmund would know what to do.”
    Dr. Marc nodded. “They’re good people. If they pick up the body tomorrow morning, I’m sure they can return her Monday for a viewing. You can talk to Pastor Winslow about a funeral on Tuesday.” He frowned. “Olympia would want to be buried next to Edmund, but I’m pretty sure the ground is too frozen to be broken with shovels. We’ll have to get someone to bring in a backhoe, and that might take a