“Yes,” I said.
What else was there to say? I didn’t know Royce and Shane well. They had come to Cassie’s funeral but hadn’t spent all that much time with me. Considering what Daddy was now telling me, I thought that was odd, but then again, I thought maybe Royce wanted to feel more like the baby’s mother. To do that, it was better not to think of the baby’s real mother.
“I told Royce and Shane they could give the baby a name. It’s not Asa,” he said, almost smiling, “but it’s close enough. They chose Anna. I’ve gone ahead and had it put on the birth certificate, Anna Norman.”
“That’s a nice name, Daddy.”
He nodded.
“Are you going to go see her?”
“I’d rather not,” he said. “I hope that’s all right. I’m making sure Anna has everything she needs,” he quickly added.
“It’s all right,” I said.
I knew Daddy was right about it all, but it still made me terribly sad. What Cassie had done, the pain, lived on long past her and always would.
But that would be another war in another home to come. What role I would play in it lay out there in the future, like some egg yet to be hatched.
A day before I was to leave for my private school, I asked Uncle Perry to take me to the cemetery. He surprised me by telling me that my father had been there often. Daddy had never mentioned it. When we arrived, Uncle Perry remained in the car, and I walked out to look at what was now another impressive tombstone. It seemed so unreal to read Cassie’s name on it. For a while, I simply stood there looking at it. Then I went down on my knees and took out the spoon I had brought in my purse. I dug as deep a hole as I could in her grave. When I was satisfied, I reached behind my neck and undid the clasp. I held the locket in my hand for a moment and then dropped it into the hole, quickly covering it.
Was that an act of forgiveness?
Was that an act of love?
Or had I simply come to believe that the locket was hers after all?
It would take me years to learn the answers.
I didn’t say a word. I stood, looked again at the tombstone, and walked away.
But in my heart, I knew I wasn’t leaving her behind.
I would forever hear her whispering in my ear.
For after all, as she had said many times, we were the Heavenstone sisters.
And nothing, not even death itself, could change that.
The Heavenstone Secrets Page 35