Maybe she did. She never thought about what characteristics she inherited.
“Your father’s humility and your mother’s strength. The best of both of them.”
She smiled. He may be right about that. She just never thought of it that way.
“He still wants us there though.”
“Of course.”
“Go wash your face. Mavis has some breakfast for you, and I want you to eat too.”
“Okay.”
He kissed her again before he got up and left the room.
***
Royce greeted his sister and Lance at the door. He gave her a hug. “I want to thank you for keeping your cool last night. I think it inspired our mother.”
“I wouldn’t know about that, but honestly Royce, it’s what I do best in that situation. And you’d probably take that back if you saw me this morning.”
He gave a questioning worried look to Lance. Tammy knew he was wondering if something else was going on. Lance enlightened him.
“Two days, two plane trips, a death and no sleep,” he said as if it explained everything.
“Yeah, I guess that sums it up better than anything.” He turned his attention back to his sister. “You’re okay though?” he asked with concern.
“Better, much better.” She smiled slightly. She felt as strong as an ox emotionally after Lance had proposed for real.
“Mother is in the sitting room with old Ed Brackman.”
“He’s our parents’ lawyer,” Tammy explained to Lance.
“Yes, their lawyer since the dawn of the dinosaurs. Jesus, I keep thinking he’s going to stroke whenever he moves. He should have retired twenty years ago, but still works, and is still sharp as a tack.”
Tammy was surprised. “He’s got to be near eighty. I remember him looking pretty old when I was a young girl.”
“A hundred and eighty,” Royce corrected leading them through the apartment toward the room.
She laughed again.
He opened the large double doors and motioned his arm for her and Lance to enter.
Ed stood up, albeit very slowly, when Tammy walked into the room. Her sister was already there.
There was another man, mid-sixties there also. Royce introduced him as the funeral director Peter D’Amato. He was balding with grey hair and bright blue eyes that made him seem younger than he was. She first walked over to her mother and gave her a hug weather she wanted it or not. Elizabeth surprised her by returning the embrace. “I’m glad you’re here,” she added quietly.
“Miss Van Allen, I assume.” Peter stood and shook her hand before Lance’s.
Tammy didn’t correct him to Easler. Her mother didn’t need any more stress.
“How nice to see you Tamara. We were waiting for you to discuss his wishes,” Ed said in his shaking elderly voice. “Your father already had all of the arrangements made. He was a very organized man.”
Lance moved her to a small sofa in the room and sat beside her. Royce sat on the arm next to her.
Arrangements? “What did you say Ed?”
He gave her a look of sympathy. “Your father had a heart condition. He kept it from you three, but Elizabeth knew.”
