Hester waved them on. “Come on! They’re already unloading the angel.”
Two men in coveralls and barn coats stood behind the flatbed truck and began the slow process of hoisting the Juliana statue into the air. Shrouded in bubble wrap and moving blankets, Celeste’s sculpture looked colossal. No one spoke as the men used an automated hoist and pulley system to lower her toward the marble base behind Bren’s and Celeste’s gravestones.
When Juliana was hovering inches above the layer of sticky white epoxy on the base, the men paused the hoist and gently peeled away her protective layers.
With this done, the older man looked at Nora. “You want her facing the graves, right?”
“Yes, like she’s watching over them,” Nora said.
The men carefully lowered the statue the rest of the way. Satisfied that she was secure, they moved away to confer with the cemetery’s caretaker.
Hester reached into her tote bag and withdrew a bundle of daisy crowns she’d made from grocery store flowers. They weren’t wildflowers like the ones Bren would have used, but they were still lovely, and Nora took the crown Hester offered her with a grateful smile.
After removing her gloves, Nora placed her crown on Celeste’s stone. Her fingers traced the engraved letters of her real name, Cecily, followed by her Miracle Springs name, Celeste, in parentheses. The stone was cold, and the wind curled the petals of the daisies inward, concealing their yellow faces.
Nora stood up and pulled a piece of paper from her coat pocket. As her friends gathered in a tight cluster around her, she began to read Mary Oliver’s “Daisies” poem.
One by one, the attendees stepped forward to place a flower crown on Bren’s or Celeste’s stone. When it was the sheriff’s turn, he knelt beside Celeste’s grave with nothing in his hands.
Pressing his palm against the stone, he said, “Rest easy now. Your book is safe.”
Like his deputies, the sheriff was in full dress uniform, and the sight of him kneeling in the brittle grass, addressing a member of his community as if she were still alive, brought tears to Nora’s eyes.
The words printed on her page blurred and she struggled to find her place.
“ ‘The white petalled daisies display/the small suns of their center piece, their—if you don’t/mind my saying so—their hearts,’ ” she read.
The tremor in her voice drew her friends in closer, and by the time she reached the end of the poem, hers weren’t the only tear-streaked cheeks in the cemetery.
Andrews held Hester for a long moment before leading her over to where Jack and Estella stood. When Andrews offered them a ride, Jack suggested that they all head over to the Pink Lady for coffee and pie.
“The pie won’t be as good as yours, but the coffee’s not bad,” he told Hester.
“A homemade dessert that I didn’t have to make? That would be a real treat for me.” Threading her arm through his, she asked, “What’s on today’s menu?”
Jack counted off the options on his fingers. “Chocolate bourbon pecan, peanut butter supreme, apple cranberry crumb, cherry crisp, and pumpkin s’mores. Estella came up with that one.”
“Has this flavor maven been inside you all along?” Hester asked Estella.
“What can I say? Jack brings out things in me I never knew were there.” Estella grabbed Sheldon’s hand. “Come here, love. You need a warm slice of pie, a hot cup of coffee, and a seat close to the heater.”
“Gawd, yes.” Sheldon looked a question at Nora, but she waved him on, saying that she’d meet up with them in a bit.
June and Dominique walked away in the company of Sheriff McCabe and Deputy Fuentes. After putting the dogs back in his truck, Jed joined Nora.
“Hey,” he said, wrapping his arms around her. “You okay?”
She leaned into him. “I’m sad, but I’m okay. Thank you, Jed. I know you’re in the middle of a training session with Henry Higgins and that you’re also on call, so thanks for being here.”
Just as Jed opened his mouth to respond, his pager beeped.
He pulled it from the holder clipped to his belt and surveyed the number. It wasn’t difficult to interpret his expression.
“You have to go,” she said.
“I have to go,” he agreed.
He kissed her on the mouth, and then, on the tip of her nose.
“That’s my official cold weather test,” he said. “They teach us that the first week of classes, and your nose is telling me that you shouldn’t stay out here much longer.”