Kieran waited for sadness to come, or relief, or closure. Nothing. He glanced at Lucky. “I was pure dreading this. But…”
“It’s weird. You’d think now that I know more, I’d feel a connection. But I don’t.”
“Having the wrong name doesn’t help.” Sara gazed at the headstone. ‘It might be different if you had everything on there — Freya Noreen Haggerty and her date of birth as well as her date of death. How old was she?”
“Twenty-two. Granny celebrates it every June 13th.”
“I’ll make sure Molly gets that info.” Lucky held his bouquet in the crook of his arm as he pulled out his mobile and tapped on it. “We should take our picture and send it. Molly needs time to work her magic.” He set his bouquet by the headstone.
Sara put hers next to it and then Kieran added his. The bright flowers lined up at the base of the granite slab helped. Lucky tapped on his mobile and backed up, moving to the foot of the grave.
“Wait.” Sara took her mobile out of her purse. “You two should be in it.”
“Should we?” Kieran glanced at Lucky.
He shrugged. “It’s for Granny. It shows that we were here together. It’s our mother’s grave. Why not?”
“On either side, then?” He looked to Sara for direction.
“One of you on each side and take off your hats.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He removed his Stetson and finger-combed his hair.
Putting away his mobile, Lucky did the same. “Should we smile? I don’t think we should smile.”
“But then we’ll look like we don’t give a feck.”
Lucky snorted. “Sorry. This is not a laughing matter.”
“Or maybe it is, mate. We’re hoping to fool an oul dear into thinking this banjaxed headstone is fine and dandy. That’s a story you tell in the pub over a couple of pints.”
Lucky flashed him a grin. “Hadn’t thought of it that way.”
“Here’s an idea.” Sara took another step back. “Look at each other instead of at the camera. And smile just a little bit.”
Kieran turned slightly so he could see Lucky. The fella was wearing the goofiest fake smile ever. “What is that?”
“My half smile.” He said it while trying to keep his lips in position.
“It needs work.”
That set Lucky off and once he started laughing, Kieran couldn’t help himself. When he finally regained control, he looked around to see if anyone was in the cemetery apart from the three of them.
“Nobody else is here,” Lucky said. “I figured it would be deserted on a weekday morning.”
“Are you two eejits ready to try it again?”
Keiran gave Sara a thumbs-up. “Well spoken, lass.” He checked with Lucky. “Don’t do the half-smile.”
“Should we shake hands, instead?”
“Like we’re concluding a business deal? I think not. Let’s just look at each other.”
“Okay.” Lucky’s eyes twinkled. “For the record, I give a feck.”
“Yeah, me, too.”
“Okay!” Sara called out. “I took several. Good job.”
