Everlyn Chapter 3
After a restless night, I forced myself to get up and get ready for the day ahead. I made coffee, but I wasn’t up to eating anything. I’d stayed the night with Allegra in the main house so that she wouldn’t be alone. I lived in the guesthouse on the property, and she lived in the main one.
When we’d graduated from college and found jobs locally, I had every intention of getting my own place. However, Jeremiah had said it was ridiculous to do so, given that he had all this space and was the only one living there.
The main house had five bedrooms, four and a half bathrooms, and the guesthouse had two bedrooms and two full bathrooms. I’d only agreed after he let me pay rent, but he wouldn’t take the market value amount, no matter how much I argued.
Allegra had one wing of the house all to herself, so it wasn’t like she didn’t have privacy. He kept telling us to save our money, invest, and that one day we’d have a good down payment for a house or something we really wanted.
I knew in Allegra’s case, she would inherit his estate. She was his only living relative. I didn’t see her getting rid of the place. It sat on twenty prime acres. It was worth several million dollars.
I drove back to the funeral home again. We arrived at Norse Passage at eight forty-five a.m. The place opened at nine o’clock, so while we waited, I walked around the outside of the building.
I noted that behind it sat an old cemetery, one that hadn’t had new occupants in decades, maybe centuries. Instead of being creeped out, I longed to check it out. I’d driven by here several times without knowing it was here.
I wondered why the funeral home sat outside the town limits, rather than within them.
I would think it would decrease their business being out here.
Movement caught my attention. Coming down the road was a car.
At the same time, the sound of an engine, not belonging to the car, hit my ears.
It sounded like it was coming from the cemetery.
The car pulled into the parking lot next to ours. Myron exited it and called out a greeting. He was headed for the front door. As we followed him, the sound of the engine grew closer.
Suddenly, a two-toned motorcycle came racing out of the cemetery.
It zipped into the parking lot and came to rest next to my car.
I recognized the rider. It was Zephyr. He wasn’t wearing a helmet.
He cut the engine after putting down the kickstand, then swung his long leg over the bike.
He stood up and looked our way. He wore a pair of sunglasses, so I couldn’t tell if he was looking at Myron or one of us.
Myron called out, “Morning, Zephyr. I wasn’t expecting you today. It’s the weekend. Is there something wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong. Just thought I’d stop by. Hello, ladies, it’s good to see you again.”
Allegra smiled and said good morning to him. I smiled at him, but said no words.
His rough voice made me want to shiver, but I held back. I guess my reaction to him wasn’t better. Great. Hopefully, whatever he was here to do would keep him in another part of the funeral home. Myron waited for Zephyr to catch up to us, his long strides eating up the distance like it was nothing.
After the director unlocked and opened the door, he held it for Allegra, who was ahead of me. Before I could go through, Zephyr’s hand took hold of it.
“I’ve got you,” he said practically in my ear. I bit my lip once before answering. I refused to remain mute today.
“Thank you.”
I didn’t know what else to say. Walking ahead of him, I swore I felt his eyes boring into me, but why would he do that? I gave myself a mental shake and a lecture. Focus on Jeremiah, no one else.
I followed Myron and Allegra to an office.
“May I get you something to drink? We have bottled water, coffee, or if you prefer, hot tea,” Myron offered kindly.
“I’m fine, but thank you,” I told him.
“Thank you, but I’m okay,” Allegra informed him.
“Please have a seat.”
He gestured to a desk with an office chair behind it and two chairs in front, though I noticed there were two more chairs scattered around the room in case there were more than two people.
Off to the side were two soft chairs and a small table.
As I sank into mine, the prickling of my neck refused to disappear.
I discovered why when Zephyr went over and sat in one of the comfy chairs.
I glanced at Myron. I could see that it slightly unnerved him to have the other man here. Myron shifted his eyes over to Zephyr, then cleared his throat.
“Zephyr, is there something you needed from me?” He was polite as he asked.
“Nah, I’m just observing. I hope you ladies don’t mind. From time to time, I have to evaluate an employee’s performance. I haven’t sat in on one of these in ages. Pretend I’m not here.”
His smile was engaging. I bet he had no problem getting everyone to do as he asked. I straightened my back. I wasn’t about to ask him to leave or act like a fool. He was just an attractive man. I’d met plenty of them.
“I don’t mind if it’s okay with Allegra.”
“It’s perfectly fine. I understand having to do that.”
Her voice was sweet, and so was the smile she gave Zephyr. Unbidden, a flare of anger or something hit me, then it was gone. What the hell?
“Well, then let’s get started, shall we?” Myron suggested.
I saw his fingers tremble. Over the next twenty minutes or so, Allegra, with my input, explained the type of service we wanted.
It was what Jeremiah had instructed us to do.
When we were finished with that aspect, it was time to look at caskets.
Allegra was teary-eyed by then. She glanced at me with a pleading look.
“Everlyn, please, will you go look and pick one out? I trust your judgment, and I can’t do it. I just can’t.” Her voice faded, and tears fell from her lashes. I squeezed her arm.
“Of course I’ll do it. I’ll be back when I’m done.”
As I began to rise, so did Myron. Zephyr’s voice interrupted for the first time since we started the process.
“Myron, I’ll escort Ms. Forrest to check out what we have. You stay and keep Ms. Moore company. She shouldn’t be alone.”
Nothing he said was inappropriate, so why did it make me nervous?
“I don’t want to take away from your evaluation time,” I protested.
“You’re not. I’ve got what I need. Come with me. I’ll show you our models, and then the catalog. We offer a greater selection than other places.”
Knowing I had no choice, or it would raise questions, I walked to the door. Zephyr beat me to it and had it open for me. Nodding at him, I slipped out. He came up on my right side.
“We’re going this way,” he said, pointing to the left.
The silence stretched for several moments before he began speaking.
“As I said, if you don’t see something you like, we have a huge supply to choose from. We can design one to meet your needs.”
“I would think that would be expensive, even for you to order them,” I remarked.
“We don’t order them. They’re custom-built by my club here on our property,” he replied.
He grabbed my attention with that. “Really? I had no idea.”
“Yeah. Have you seen trucks with Valhalla Caskets on them?” he asked.
“Yes, I have.”
“That’s us. We make and ship them all over the US, and sometimes even outside it. You can choose the type of wood, stain, accessories, and hardware.”
By the time he finished explaining, we were outside a room.
He stepped ahead of me and opened the door, ushering me inside.
The lighting was slightly muted, but spotlights shone down on the individual caskets, highlighting them.
There were over a dozen caskets on display.
I had to be honest: I wasn't an expert, but what I saw was eye-catching and unlike anything I’d seen before.
“These are some of the most popular ones, but that desk over there has a binder showing others we make. Or, if you have a specific theme and don’t see anything like it, one of the guys can draw it up. Though those will take longer.”
He stood back and allowed me to walk the room, studying the caskets. All were lovely, but they didn’t strike me as being Jeremiah’s taste. After looking them over, I went to the binder.
As I flipped through it, I had to ask, “Do you make these? Or is it done by the one you mentioned, who could design one?”
“There are those who primarily make them. However, we all have a hand in it. Just some are more artistic. I can cut wood, hammer, stain, and attach hardware. Specialty cuts, designs, and things like that, I let someone else do it,” he explained.
“Your friend is lucky to have someone like you to do this for her. She clearly loved her grandpa,” Zephyr tacked on.
“She did, and so did I. Jeremiah was an incredible human being. I don’t know where I’d be if it hadn’t been for him.”
“How do you mean? If you don’t mind me asking.”
“After Allegra and I became friends our freshman year of high school, and she brought me home to meet him, Jeremiah discovered I was in foster care. Do you know what he did?”
Zephyr shook his head, so I continued. “He went to a lawyer and started the process to make himself my legal guardian. And he waited until he knew it was possible before asking if I’d be willing to live with him and Allegra.
I bawled. I was shocked. It took six months, but the court couldn't find any family on my side to contest it. Child Services had done the due diligence, looking for someone when my mom died when I was twelve.”
Zephyr stared at me for a few moments as I dabbed at the tears wanting to run out of the corner of my eyes. He surprised me when he reached into his vest and brought out a bandanna.
“Here, use this. It’s clean. So your dad and mom were both gone by the time you turned twelve. That’s heavy.”
“My grandparents on both sides and my mom were dead by then. As for my dad, he left when Mom was six months pregnant with me. He wasn’t ready to be a dad.
Mom told me that was his excuse. I have no idea if he’s still alive.
CPS never found him, if he was. I never cared to find out.
I have no use for him. It was backward. My dad, the man who should care about and want me, didn’t, and a man with no familial connection to me did. ”
I had no idea why I was telling Zephyr so much about myself. I wasn’t typically a sharer. As for my tears, those were a shock, too. I finished drying my tears, then I handed his bandanna back.
“Thank you. I didn’t mean to turn into a watering pot or a chatty cat.”
“You’ve been neither of those. I see why you want to find the perfect casket.
It should be a symbol of him. I heard some of what you and your friend said about him today and yesterday.
I have an idea. Let me show you. If you don’t like it, there are more in here to look over or custom ones if you want. ”
He leaned down, bringing him to my ear. If I turned my head, all it would take was six inches or less for my mouth to touch his if we faced each other. The scent of his cologne or bodywash filled my nose. God, he smelled incredible. I tried to inhale deeply without revealing what I was doing.
Zephyr’s strong hands flipped toward the back of the binder.
His hair hung forward, making me want to touch it to see if the strands were as soft as they looked.
Eventually, he stopped and pointed. I focused on the casket, and as it registered, I inhaled sharply.
The design was incredible, and to me, it screamed Jeremiah.
While Jeremiah had been a man of wealth, he wasn’t flashy with it. He dressed for comfort, unless it was a board meeting or something of that nature that required him to wear a suit or tux. The photograph I was staring at screamed simple elegance. I read the description.
It was a solid-wood casket made from reclaimed one-hundred-year-old wood from old barns torn down across the South.
It was an antique chestnut and could be stained in a variety of stain colors or built in different woods.
The wrought iron handles were hand-forged.
Using reclaimed wood made it ecologically friendly, which Jeremiah would’ve loved.
“I love it. How long do you think it would take to have one made? I like this darker stain on this same type of wood.”
He removed his phone from his pocket as he answered me. “Give me a few. I’ll ask one of the guys back in the shop. They’ll be able to tell you a better timeline than I can.”
He tapped a couple of buttons. It took only a handful of seconds for him to speak.
“Yo, Invader, I have someone at the funeral home. She wants to know how long it would take to get Item 210. The gentleman it would be for passed away the day before yesterday.”
Zephyr listened for a minute or more before he said anything else.
“I’ll let her know. Thanks, man. I’ll tell you if it’s a go as soon as I know.”
When he hung up, Zephyr smiled. “Invader said they can have it done in ten days if they start right away. They’re in between orders.”
“Invader? You sure have some wild names. Well, since Legra left it to me, I’m going to make the decision and say yes to this one.”
“Excellent, it’s a personal favorite of mine. Let’s go back up to Myron and your friend so we can let them know what you chose. It can get added to the plan and bill.”
He offered me his arm. I took it, then fought the urge to rub his muscular arm the entire walk back to the front. I walked as slowly as I could without drawing attention so I could enjoy it. I had to live vicariously because this would be the last time I’d see him.