I sat at the table in the place my babushka usually did. Bishop sat next to me and took my hand.
“Katarina?”
“Yes.”
“I’m not going anywhere today unless you tell me to.”
“All right.”
In the background, I could hear Anna in the other room, making calls. I was glad she’d insisted. I wouldn’t have known who to contact or what to say.
When Henry camein and sat across from me, I had no idea how much time had passed. It could’ve been a few minutes or more than an hour.
“Lyra is with Anna, making the arrangements. Is there anything you want us to know, anything you’d like to do in terms of a funeral?”
“I wouldn’t know.”
He nodded once. “Anna said that there is a burial plot on the property. A family cemetery I wasn’t aware of.”
“Is it near Orenda?”
“It is.”
“That’s where she’d want to be.”
He put his hand on my arm. “I agree. I’ll take care of it.”
“Thank you, Henry.”
“Lyra wants to help with whatever she can. Let her.”
“I will.”
“Katarina?”
I hadn’t been looking at him, but I turned my head and did. “Yes.”
“You don’t have to hold everyone up today.”
“I know.”
When he left the room, I glanced at the clock. It was close to noon. “We should go to the command center.”
“We don’t have to. Everything is being taken care of.”
I shook my head. “I need to.”
“Then, that’s what we’ll do.”
Anna was in the main room, sitting on the sofa. Henry sat on one side of her, and Lyra was on the other. All three looked as though they’d been crying.
“We’re going to the boathouse for a few hours,” I said.
Anna stood and reached for me. “Good. That is what your babushka would want. She’d want you to keep moving forward.”
I nodded once, and Bishop and I left.
Bishop’s handwas at my waist on the walk down to the boathouse. Neither of us spoke.
