Zed put his hand in his pocket to be sure the ring was still there and rose to his feet with a groan. He was almost to her porch when she noticed him. She jumped up and motioned for him to sit in her chair. “Uncle Zed, I’m so glad you’re out for a smoke. I feel like I’m floating on the clouds right now. Nick cooked steaks, and we talked and talked. I’ll go out with him again.”
“He’s a good boy,” Zed said. “Comes from good, sturdy stock.”
“I don’t deserve all this,” she sighed.
“Don’t you waste a single minute feelin’ like that. If we got what we deserve in life, we’d all be paupers,” he told her. “I’ve given the other girls a little something.”
“I know. Harper cried when she told me about the recipe book. She’s come a long way, hasn’t she, Uncle Zed?”
He nodded and fished the ring from his pocket. “You all have, and here’s what I want you to have.”
“You don’t have to give me anything. You being here with us is a gift from the angels,” she said.
He reached out his hand and opened it up to reveal a small band in his palm. “This is made from a nickel. My daddy didn’t have the money to buy my mama a real wedding ring when they first got married, so he melted down a nickel and fashioned this ring to put on her finger when they went to the courthouse that day.”
“I can’t take that, Uncle Zed. It’s too priceless.”
He picked up her hand and slid it on the third finger of her right hand. “It’s still got a lot of wear in it, and when you look at it, you think of an old couple that was in love their whole married life.” It fit perfectly and before he withdrew his hand two big teardrops had already christened it. “Don’t cry. Be happy.”
“They’re tears of joy, Uncle Zed. I am happy, and I think it may be for the first time in my life,” she said.
“Some folks never find joy or happiness. You are a blessed child.”
She knelt in front of him and put her head on his knee. “Yes, I am, Uncle Zed. I’m so blessed lately that I think I’m dreaming.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Harper awoke with the tinkling piano of the first part of Bette Midler’s “The Rose” running through her head that Monday morning. Dark clouds drifted over the moon and a coyote howled in the distance, but nothing was going to spoil her day. For the first time ever, she beat Zed to the café. She turned on the lights, reset the thermostat, and started the coffee brewing before she turned on his radio in the kitchen. She smiled when Conway Twitty started singing his rendition of “The Rose.”
She pulled up the old wooden stool and listened to the whole song, nodding about love being a flower. “Yes, Wyatt, our love is all of what he’s saying,” she whispered.
Tawny poked her head into the service window about the time the song ended. “Where’s Uncle Zed? Look at what he gave me last night.” She held out her hand. “It was his mother’s wedding ring. I can’t believe he’s trusting me with it. I’m going to cherish it forever. He’s given us all . . .” She stopped and clamped her hand over her mouth.
“Oh, no!” Harper felt the world drop out from under her, and she had to grab the worktable to keep from falling.
“He has to be sick. I told y’all he was losing weight and coughing more. Come on. Let’s go see about him.”
Dana came in through the kitchen door. Her face was absolutely gray, and tears were dripping off her cheekbones. Brook was weeping behind her, and Harper knew without even asking. She dropped to her knees and put her head in her hands.
“What? Is Uncle Zed sick? Have you called his doctor or 911?” Tawny screamed and ran toward the door.
Dana stopped her, hugging her close while they both sobbed. “He’s already cold. I called 911, and they’re sending the coroner. They told me not to touch anything.”
Brook crossed the floor and sat down with a thud beside Harper, who leaned into her shoulder and continued to sob.
“He’s sittin’ in his easy chair.” Brook said a word at a time. “His hand is stretched out touching the other chair. He just looks like he’s sleeping. I can’t believe he’s not going to walk me down the aisle when I get married.”
Harper gathered the child into her arms, and suddenly her other two sisters were there in a group hug, their tears mingling on their cheeks.
“What are we going to do without him?” Tawny whispered. “He was the glue that held us together.”
“We’ll have to rely on his and Granny’s memories. I hear sirens. That must be the ambulance,” Dana said.
Harper shook her head. “I don’t even know what to do next. We’ve got to close up shop for a couple of days.”
Dana nodded in agreement. “Call the lawyer. Remember, that’s what was in Granny’s letter. She said there was another letter when Uncle Zed went and to call the lawyer.”
“I’ll do it when . . .” Harper couldn’t finish the sentence.
“We are brave. We are Granny Annie’s girls. Suck it up,” Brook said. “Let’s go to the store so we can stand by him when they put him in the vehicle. We can cry and carry on like babies later.” She got up.
Harper and Tawny did the same and then followed Dana and Brook out the kitchen door. The ambulance pulled up behind the store and Dr. Tipton got out of the passenger’s seat. He and the driver went inside, but he was back out in only a few seconds.
“I’m not going to do an autopsy. The congestive heart failure and bad lungs finally took their toll. Two years ago I would have bet a hundred dollars that he’d go before Annie,” Dr. Tipton said. “I reckon you want him taken to the same funeral home as Annie? I can do that right now if you want, since I’m the acting coroner until we can get another one.”
“Yes, please,” Dana said. “Which one was it?”
“Let me write it down for you. If I don’t, you’ll forget ten minutes after I leave. I’m so sorry for your loss and it coming so soon after Annie.” The doctor wrote on the back of one of his business cards. “His heart just played out, but from that last visit, I’d say he knew it was coming. And, girls, this is a blessing. It wouldn’t have been long until he would have had to have continual oxygen—possibly a respirator in a few weeks. Y’all want to go in there and tell him goodbye before we take him?”
All four nodded. Chins quivering, backs straight, and holding hands, they entered the little apartment that had been his for more than fifty years. He could have had so much more, but he’d opted to stay and help Annie after their grandpa died.
Harper went right to him and touched his gray hair. “Goodbye, Uncle Zed. I’m going to miss you so much. I hope you know how much I love you.”
Dana took a few steps forward and draped an arm around Harper’s shoulder. “Is this why you gave each of us one of your prized possessions? You knew it wasn’t going to be long, didn’t you?”
Brook slipped an arm around her mother’s waist. “I love you, Uncle Zed, and that comb you gave me will bring you right in the room with me on the day I get married. I’ll feel you and Granny sittin’ on the front pew, and you can wear your overalls.”
Tawny stretched out her arm to embrace all three of them at once. “Peace. You helped me find it. I owe you so much. I can’t say goodbye because it hurts too much, so I’m just going to say that I’ll see you and Granny someday. Until then, I’ll touch this ring when I need your advice, and you can pop into my memories anytime you want to.”