Chapter 8 #2
After leaving the hospital, she had to pull over once and cry.
It just hit her that she’d not have to go to the hospital again to visit her sister.
That Beth was truly gone, and that her sister Helen was gone as well.
It hurt her to her core to know that she was now the only child left from the Jamestown family.
She wished then that her parents would have been there to help her, but they were at peace as well.
Putting the car into drive, she made her way to the house that she’d been sharing with Sherman and decided that things were going to be better for her from now on.
Exhausted when she got home, she nearly didn’t make it up the stairs.
It was as if she’d had all her energy taken from her the moment that she’d walked in the door.
Glad that Sherman had been there when she’d collapsed, he carried her up to the bedroom and laid her gently on the bed.
Smiling at him, she told him how much she loved him.
“You rest now. We have the rest of our lives to make love, but you need your sleep.” She said that she was all right and yawned to show just how much she wasn’t. “You’re weak with exhaustion, Serenity. Even I can tell that much.”
“But I want to start my new life with you.” He said that they were doing just that as he was going to sleep with her. “Oh, please do. I would love to have you lying next to me when I wake.”
“If you wake up in the morning, I’ll be there for you.
” He laughed a little, and she didn’t understand.
If she was honest with herself, she was beginning to shut down herself.
She really was tired. “You sleep until you wake up refreshed. Everything that you had going on now is over, and you need your rest.”
“I really do.” He took off his shirt and tossed it to the floor.
Rolling to her side, she missed the rest of him being undressed but could hear the sounds of things hitting the floor.
Sitting up to strip off her clothing, she got to her bra and panties and was finished.
If she was going to put on a night gown, it was too late.
Lying down, she was out before her head hit the pillow.
Sherman was laughing again when he moved her to the bed the right way.
Her legs had been dangling off the side of the bed, and her arms were up under her.
As soon as she was put right in the bed, he kissed her on the mouth and told her that he loved her.
Before she could say anything back to him, the covers were over her, and she felt like she’d been wrapped up in sunshine and warmth.
Serenity didn’t know if she’d move after that and closed her eyes.
Sleep wasn’t far off in coming to her, and she smiled. She was home. And she was happy.
~*~
Sherman had hated to wake up Serenity, but was glad that she looked so much better.
The graveside service was this morning, and he knew she’d never forgive him if he let her sleep past the time it was.
He was glad that she looked better than she had three nights ago.
Not only did she look rested, but she looked happy as well.
“I should have given myself a week.” Yawning, he yawned with her and smiled. “It looks like both of us could have used a bit more sleep. I know that I could.”
“You’ve slept around the clock for three days.
I think you needed to get up and refresh yourself.
If you’re still tired after today, I’ll let you go back to sleep and not wake you at all.
How about that?” She kissed him for an answer.
“By the way, there will be flowers and planters at the graveside for us to take home. Or whatever you wanted to do with them. There are quite a few of them, I was told.”
“Who are they from?” He told her the few names that he’d been able to remember. “I guess I never thought of people knowing you guys would send flowers. She was your sister-in-law, wasn’t she?”
“Yes. No matter what went on at the hospital, people would find out that she died and send flowers and arrangements. I’m just glad that the funeral director gave me a heads-up.
He said that there are about a hundred and fifty arrangements.
” She asked what he’d do with that many.
“I’d sent them to the hospital so that they can put them in rooms with people who don’t have anything or anyone visiting them.
That way, someone will get some use out of them. I’ll have him save the cards, however.”
“That’s an excellent idea.” Sherman told her that he’d seen that done another time when there had been too many flowers. “I guess I should take the cards and write thank-you notes. I’m so glad that you reminded me. That’s a great deal of flowers for someone who wasn’t well known around here.”
“Yes, I was surprised too. He said that he’d do what you wanted and that would be on you for the cards.
I guess they have the book too of the list of people that will be here today.
I don’t know how many will show up, but I know that all the Savages will be there.
” She thought that was nice of them. “They’re your family too and would like to be there to support you.
I know that they’d been planning it for a while now. ”
“I think it’s great.” They decided to ride over in the limo as parking would be at a premium.
As soon as they arrived, the funeral director said that he had brought only the flowers that had been cut to the service and that they would take care of the planters as soon as they got back.
Serenity seemed pleased with the outcome and told the man that.
“I’ll make sure people know what an amazing job you’ve done here. You saved me a lot of time as well.”
“It’s not often we have two deaths from the same family within a few weeks of one another.
This way, there will be something for the elderly people at the hospital and nursing homes.
Everyone makes out well.” She hugged the elderly man and told him that he’d been so nice to her that she’d never realized it all.
“I hope that it’s a long time in coming, but if you need our services again, you know that we’ll be here for you. ”
After the service, where about fifty people showed up, she was glad to have this taken care of.
She’d not known about it until after the service, but Tucker and Kaida had catered a meal for anyone who wanted to stop by the house and give their condolences to Serenity.
She couldn’t believe how many people showed up and was glad that they only had nice things to say to her.
None of them knew Beth, but they said that they were happy that she and Sherman had become engaged and were happy for them.
After everyone left, she sat down on the couch and looked around the room.
That was when Skye and Raven came to sit with her.
“We wanted to invite you to our Thursday luncheons. We meet at a restaurant and have a lot of food that’s bad for us, and then get to work on projects.
Just stuff around town, but we help mostly with projects that your mate and his brother have gotten started.
It’s a lot of fun for us.” She said she’d like that but needed to get her own house in order first. “We’ve been meaning to talk to you about that. The faeries would like to help.”
“Sherman mentioned that we’d probably get us some faeries to help around the house.
I’ve been sort of out of it since my sisters’ deaths, but I can see where they’d be helpful.
He told me that they can dust and clean up after us, too.
” Raven said that their home is always dust-free.
“That would be helpful to me. I hate housework. You can tell that if you were ever to see my apartment.” They all three laughed.
“I’m not a slob, but I don’t care for housework.
Cooking either. I’m glad that we’re hiring a cook. ”
“She’s been hired already. While you were resting, we did a few things that will make things easier for your home.
” She thanked them and thought that she could use some friends like these.
“We want to meet up weekly so that we can all get together on projects. Usually, like I said, it’s things that have been started by Ace and Sherman, but there are other things as well.
Did you know that if you walk around town for an hour daily, people will come to you with ideas on how to make the town better?
Not all of it is feasible, but it’s good ideas.
Sherman, I’ll have to get used to calling him that from now on, has been really good at finding all kinds of money for us to use to make sure that things are going well.
The new school is a prime example of how they worked hard to get money.
There was no way that the current school was going to make it another year.
All the money for it came from grants and low-interest loans.
That’s gotten the town on board with a couple of tax increases, too.
Better schools mean better teachers, and we needed that. ”
“I’ve heard that there is a line of people wanting to come here to teach.
That’s really good. Most schools in New York could use someone like Ace and Sherman to help them out, I’m betting.
” They talked about the other things that they did while at lunch when Lisa and Kaida joined them.
“This is really nice. I’ve never really had any girl friends before, and I’m glad that I’m related to the lot of you.
I might even have to rely on you guys when we start to have children. ”