The Way of Women (25 page)

Mellie nodded, tears blocking her throat again.

“You look familiar. Do I know you?” Katheryn, head cocked slightly to the side, studied Jenn.

“No.” A slight head shake. “I’ve been gone from here for fifteen years. Where are you from?”

“Seattle.”

“Nope, never been there.” Jenn stood, turning just enough that Katheryn got part of her back. “If you’d let me take your picture, I’d make sure you got a copy.”

“But I look so terrible.”

Lissa looked up at her mother. “No. Not terrible. Nice.” She leaned back against her mother’s shoulder.

“I’d like you to be part of my story.”

Mellie shrugged, but nodded at the same time. Making someone happy would be good for a change. With everything so overwhelming and people helping her, she needed to be a help for someone.

Katheryn pulled out her small portable typewriter and set up to write. At least she could take notes on everything that had happened.

“What you doing?” Lissa leaned slightly forward.

“Writing.”

“Writing what?”

“I write books—for children.”

“I like to draw.”

“You do?”

“Have you made lots of books?”

“Some.”

Mellie listened to the exchange, aware that Jenn was moving around, snapping pictures from different angles, changing lenses. Something niggled at the back of her mind. Katheryn Sommers. The name sounded familiar.

“What are your books about?” Mellie joined in the conversation.

“Oh, animals and plants and some with kids in them. I wrote about a little girl with a pony, and right now another one of my characters, Brandy, is in a new school.”

“Did you write
Zoe and the Dancing Pony?
”

Katheryn nodded.

“That’s my bestest book.” Lissa smiled up at her mother. “Huh, Mommy?”

“Sure is. How wonderful to meet you. Harv’s read
Zoe
so much, we all have it memorized.”
And to think you’ve been helping me. What if Harv would never be there to read to Lissa again?
The black thought nearly took her breath away. No! She wanted to cover her ears and not hear those voices any longer. Surely Harv was coming back to them. Any minute now, they would learn that he’d made it out.

Katheryn smiled back. “That’s good to hear. I’ll have to send you an autographed copy.”

“Really? Ours is about worn out.” There, she could talk without crying.

“What is aut’graphed?”

“She will sign her name in your book.”

“Why?”

“Because she wrote it.”

“Oh.” Lissa cuddled her rabbit in one arm and leaned back against her mother.

“Out of the mouths of babes …” Katheryn shook her head. “Lest we become prideful.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, I’m grateful she likes the book well enough to request it.”

“All the time. Third only to
Goodnight, Moon
and
The Cat in the Hat
. When her father reads, he acts out the parts, with his voice, you know.” Mellie glanced up to see a man in uniform remove his hat as he stepped through the automatic door. He crossed to the desk, spoke softly with the receptionist, and turned to see whom she pointed at.

Mellie felt the point pierce her heart.
Good news, could it be good news?
She watched his face, hoping that his stoic officer’s look would at least crack with a bit of a smile.

“Mrs. Sedor?”

“Y-yes.” She clenched Lissa’s blanket between her hands.

“I’m Cowlitz County Sheriff Frank McKenzie.” He nodded at Jenn.

He glanced to Katheryn. “Are you a friend?”

“Yes.”

“Could you all come this way, please?” He motioned down the hall, then shepherded them in front of him. “This room to the left.”

Mellie clutched Lissa to her as if a drowning victim on a life preserver.
Move, feet, keep moving. Lord, what are we going to do?

“Are you a friend too?” he asked Jenn as she followed them.

Mellie turned and caught Jenn’s gaze. “Yes, she is.” Surprised at her own answer, she followed Katheryn into the room, empty but for several folding chairs and a desk.

“I’m sorry to have to ask this of you, but a body that might meet your
husband’s description was brought in this morning. I need you to come down to the morgue and see if you can identify him.”

Mellie closed her eyes.
Might be. Please, Lord. Oh, please, not Harv
.

Katheryn put an arm around Mellie’s shoulder. “Isn’t there any other way to identify him?”

“Yes, but getting dental records would take time. His fingerprints didn’t match anything we have on record.”

“I … I’ll come.”

“I’ll go with you.”

“Thank you.” Mellie shifted a small part of trust to Katheryn, her slight weight seeking harbor in the woman’s warmth. A friend, yes, a friend; she had so few. At least someone she knew would be with her.

“Lissa, you and I could read a book while they go with the sheriff.” Jenn offered. “Or we could play with my camera.”

“That’s a very good idea.” Frank nodded as he spoke.

“Lissa, baby, here’s your blanket so you can cuddle up right here with Jenn.”

“Can I take a picture?”

“You sure may. How about we set up your bunny and you take a picture of him.”

“He’s Harvey the magic rabbit.”

“I see.”

Frank took Mellie’s arm and the three of them tiptoed out of the room. He led them back to the elevator and pushed the Down button.

“I don’t know if I can do this.” Mellie, eyes closed, collapsed against the wall behind her.

“We’ll get through it.” Katheryn took her hand.

“I have to tell you that the body is in really poor condition.”

“Where did they find it?” Katheryn asked.

“Not far from here. Most likely been in the water and mud since Sunday morning.”

Oh, Harv
.

They walked down a narrow hall and stopped in front of a door marked M
ORGUE
. Frank held the door open and ushered them into a small room with a large window showing into a stainless-steel room, the walls, tables, and all the apparatuses gleaming in the bright fluorescent lights.

Mellie ran into a blinding wall of orange scent overlaying a sharp smell of decay. It reminded her of the stench in her kitchen when she’d once burned a chicken to a crisp. Her eyes watered and her throat clenched against the gagging.

“Breathe through your mouth,” Katheryn whispered, digging in her purse for a tissue.

“You stand here at the window, and I’ll bring the body out.”

“I … I can’t do this.”

Katheryn’s arm around her shoulders held her tight.

The sheriff and a man garbed from head to foot in green scrubs pushed a sheet-draped gurney up to the window.

Mellie gasped and sucked in a breath through her nose. “Uh, uh …”

“Easy, you’ll make it.” Breathing through her mouth garbled Katheryn’s words.

“Mrs. Sedor, did your husband have any scars or identifying marks, like a tattoo?”

Mellie stared at the white sheet that covered what looked like a jumble of puffy packages. “Ah, he had a scar with a jag in it about three inches or so on his upper right arm. Close to the shoulder.” She indicated on her
own arm where it would be. The man in green screened the area with his body, moved something around, and stepped back to point at what must at one time have been an arm.

Mellie nodded. “I think so.”

“But you are not positive?”

Mellie fought the dizziness that threatened her vision. “He … he wore a ring, wedding ring that has three sort of Xs on it. They match this.” She held out her hand to show the decorations on her own rings.

The sheriff and the man in green fussed over the gurney again, and Frank turned to the window.

“Yes, ma’am, they match. I’m so sorry.”

Mellie sagged against Katheryn, a whimper, like that of a lost and frightened puppy, escaping her clenched lips.

Together they turned from the window, but Mellie spun back, spreading her white fingers on the window glass. “Harrrrvvvvvey!” Her cry echoed around the viewing room, ricocheting from wall to wall and burying itself in their souls.

“Come, dear.” Katheryn took her by the shoulders, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Frank came back through the door to the viewing room, and another wave of the morbid stench hit them.

Mellie gagged and retched before either of them could help her. Her eyes rolled back, and Frank caught her before she collapsed on the floor.

“You get the door. We’ll take her out of here. George, bring us a basin and a wet cloth.”

Gently, Frank lowered her into a chair, and Katheryn took the offered basin and cloth to tenderly wipe Mellie’s face and hands. She rinsed the cloth and dabbed at the wet spots on her T-shirt.

“Mrs. Sedor, can you hear me?”

Mellie’s lashes fluttered and her eyes opened. “Harv?”

“No, he’s gone.” Katheryn bit her lip.

Mellie gave a small nod and closed her eyes again, at the same time struggling to stand. “Lissa, poor Lissa.”

A
s the rumblings dissipated, she wondered,
What have I done to deserve this decree that continues from everlasting to everlasting? Why has the Creator forsaken me?
Her glory, her rocky summit once her crown and the mantle of white, her royal robe, had been reduced to muddy relics of carnage and fire-streaked, ashen hills. Gray clouds shifted, and a hint of sun pierced down upon her like a needle. Survival, yes, for she had before, but inside she felt hollow and wondered if she would ever be beautiful and majestic again.

S
urely that wasn’t Harv. Of course it was. You know his scars and the ring. But …
The thought of that gurney of sheet-draped body bags made her gag, but she had nothing left to vomit. That had all erupted before she made it out of the room. That cold, terrible room. Death indeed lived in that room in spite of the white lights and stainless-steel everything.

She hadn’t even been able to touch him. Not through the glass—not that the police officer would have let her.

He’s in heaven now. Harv’s in heaven, I know that. He reassured me so many times that he—we—would go straight to heaven because we believe in Jesus
.

Lissa believes in Jesus. I can’t say for sure about me. I used to believe that, but why, God, why did you let Harv die when we need him so bad? Why?

Are you there? Are you real?

Lissa stirred in her arms.

“Do you want me to take her for a while?” Katheryn, who’d been sitting
by Mellie ever since they reached the hospital waiting room, offered again.

“No … thanks, we’re fine.”
We’re fine. What a stupid thing to say. I’ll never be fine again. I can’t live without Harv
.

I can’t get a job. I can’t do anything. All I know is to take care of Harv and Lissa
.

“I need to tell Mr. Johnson.”

“Is there anyone else we should contact—parents, relatives, friends?” Jenn returned from somewhere. What people said seemed to float right on over Mellie’s head. She took the chair on the other side of Mellie and picked up Lissa’s rabbit that she had dropped in her sleep.

“Have you heard any more of when they’ll be ready to do the transfusion?”

“I have to call the doctor back.” The thought became words, as if it passed through a dense filter.

“Let me do that for you.” Katheryn leaned closer. “Where do you have the number?”

“Number?”

“For the doctor for Lissa—the transfusion.”

“My purse.” Mellie fumbled with her purse, her hands like thick mittens.

Katheryn returned after a few minutes. “Dr. Thomas is setting things up here for you.”

“When?” Jenn asked.

“Soon.”

Soon, what a joke, nothing was soon when you waited for doctors. It wasn’t like they were regular patients here. Mellie watched as Katheryn
rose and crossed to the desk. She spoke softly so Mellie couldn’t hear.
What could she be saying? More than I would. I’d just nod and …
Mellie felt like she was standing off in a corner, watching all this go on.

Sometime later a nurse in a blue-and-pink top motioned them from the door. “Mrs. Sedor and Lissa.”