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Page 25

by Wendy Perriam


  Once the coffin was placed on the catafalque, the vicar stood at the lectern; his neat, dark, slender figure a total contrast to Meg’s tousled, bright voluptuousness. He began reciting the same words as at her mother’s funeral, yet, strangely, they had changed their tenor: consoling and serene now, instead of cruel and harsh.

  After the opening prayers and readings, he gave a brief address. There was no one but her to listen; no one but her to join in the responses, but her father would undoubtedly be gratified that all the due formalities were being so punctiliously observed. Indeed, when it came to the hymns, both she and the vicar sang with power and resonance, to compensate for the lack of other voices. And, once again she noticed that, instead of sounding wrathful and morose, they seemed solemn and majestic and thus appropriate.

  ‘May our brother rest in peace,’ the vicar concluded and, as he bowed towards the coffin, she realized, with a jolt of mingled solace and surprise, that guilt and grief, uncertainty and worry, had all disappeared entirely. Now there was only peace – peace soothing like a balm; peace unforeseen, unprecedented; peace restorative and rare – peace not simply for her dear departed father, but for her, as well – at last.

  By the Same Author

  Absinthe for Elevenses

  Cuckoo

  After Purple

  Born of Woman

  The Stillness The Dancing

  Sin City

  Devils, for a Change

  Fifty-Minute Hour

  Bird Inside

  Michael, Michael

  Breaking and Entering

  Coupling

  Second Skin

  Lying

  Dreams, Demons and Desire

  Tread Softly

  Virgin in the Gym and Other Stories

  Laughter Class and Other Stories

  The Biggest Female in the World and Other Stories

  Little Marvel and Other Stories

  The Queen’s Margarine and Other Stories

  Broken Places

  Copyright

  © Wendy Perriam 2012

  First published in Great Britain 2012

  This edition 2012

  ISBN 978 0 7198 0604 9 (epub)

  ISBN 978 0 7198 0605 6 (mobi)

  ISBN 978 0 7198 0606 3 (pdf)

  ISBN 978 0 7090 9135 6 (print)

  Robert Hale Limited

  Clerkenwell House

  Clerkenwell Green

  London EC1R 0HT

  www.halebooks.com

  The right of Wendy Perriam to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

 

 

 


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