“That’s how she would have wanted it, don’t you think?”
“Maybe, but it seemed a bit much to me. You really don’t know who he is?”
“Should I?”
“You must have found him somewhere. I asked the head of Dignity Memorial, and he told me you took care of the music.”
“That’s not true. I went through them.”
“At first, but their musician was unable to perform because of an accident this morning. But you already knew that, since you’re the one who fixed the problem.”
“Why are you so interested in this man?”
“It’s not every day that a man buries his wife. And you know very well my passion for details. I just want to know who he is. Especially since you spent the whole reception chatting with him and avoiding all our friends. It was very rude.”
“A daughter doesn’t bury her mother every day, either. I was tired of being polite and fielding condolences. If you must know, I asked him not to leave my side so people would steer clear. He did exactly as I asked, and I don’t care what our friends thought.”
“It’s strange he didn’t tell you his name, though.”
“I didn’t ask!”
“That’s even stranger.”
“What are you getting at?”
“You haven’t answered my question. The musician didn’t just fall from the sky, so where did you find him?”
“On a bench in the park, where I found him humming perfectly in tune with a nice voice, so I took a chance and got lucky. Happy now?”
Manon’s father gave her a distressed look.
“Will you spend more time at the bookstore now?” he asked after a moment.
“Will you spend less time at your office now?”
“Don’t talk to me like that. You should open a second location in another neighborhood, think about growing your business.”
“I didn’t get into bookselling to make money. I did it because I enjoy the company of books. Speaking of which, I’d like to borrow one.”
Manon pushed her chair back and left her father alone at the dining room table. Since the beginning of the meal, she hadn’t stopped thinking about what Teresa could have been hinting at. But she understood immediately when she opened the door to the library.
The urn containing her mother’s ashes was sitting on the grand piano.
Manon walked over without speaking. Her father broke the silence when he came in after her.
“She loved music so much, this seemed the best place for her. Don’t you think?”
“What is Mom doing here?” Manon cried. “Won’t you ever let her be?”
“After what happened at the Columbarium, I wanted to protect her.”
Manon abruptly decided to change tactics. She went to her father and took his hands in hers. “Dad, you know that’s not why. Mom couldn’t be in this house anymore; it wasn’t your fault. Stop torturing yourself. I know you like the back of my hand. You’ve always prided yourself on being able to handle anything, but you couldn’t have prevented her disease from getting worse. No one could’ve.”
“I never visited her. I couldn’t stand it when she didn’t recognize me. I don’t understand why I was so weak, but I just couldn’t do it. I would take the car and drive all the way there, only to turn around when I got to her door. I never even got a chance to say I was sorry. So, when I came home earlier, I sat down on the bench and—”
“She forgave you long before she died,” Manon reassured her father, whose red eyes were brimming with tears. “She didn’t want you to see her there. She said she preferred it that way. She didn’t want you to have that memory of her. She even said she was selfish to want to keep you away.”
“Did she really say that?” her father asked.
