The Secret Promise

Chapter Sixteen

It was late when Lucas and his father returned home. Arthur had made supper and it was keeping warm on the back of the stove. They ate in weary silence before retiring to the sitting room for a while before heading to bed.

"Pa, why did you tell Allie you were sorry she was the one that found her?" Lucas finally asked what they'd both been wondering.

Mr. Dillan turned his head to look at him and blinked a few times after having stared at the fire for so long. "Well, because she's the one that found her ma, when Mrs. Warner passed away. She was so young when it happened......maybe nine or ten. It was really hard on her. I just figured it would have brought back some unpleasant memories for her."

Lucas had never known that. And now, it felt like his heart had dropped into the pit of his stomach. He nodded slowly. "I think I'm going to call it a night," he said after a moment, and he stood up and slowly climbed the stairs.

"Poor girl," Arthur shook his head.

Mr. Dillan sighed. "She's turned out to be such a well adjusted young lady. You'd never know it to look at her how hard her life's been."

"She's lovely," Arthur nodded.

"As is her friend Susan," Mr. Dillan smiled.

"Oh yes! She is as well!" Arthur's face brightened at the mention of her name.

Lucas stood stoically next to the grave beside his father and Arthur. The last time he'd attended a funeral it had been for his mother. Now, he stared down into the deep hole in the dirt, his heart heavy but his face like stone.

Many people from town that knew Mrs. Lynch were there to pay their respects and a large crowd had already gathered around before Reverend Carter began the long eulogy he'd prepared for her.

Lucas lifted his eyes and looked straight across the grave site. He hadn't heard her join the crowd, but perhaps he'd felt her presence there. Standing straight across from him, Allie looked small and sad. He imagined she didn't look much different from her younger self when she'd stood there at her mother's grave, and if felt like a knife had just been stuck into his chest.

"Are you alright?"  Arthur whispered, and Lucas realized that he'd felt actual, literal pain. He must have made some kind of sound, because Arthur and his father were both staring at him.

"I'm fine," he whispered.

Later, Lucas and his father stood near the gate of the cemetery as everyone filed past, offering their condolences before heading over to the church for the reception. As the last person left, Lucas glanced back at the grave and noticed that Allie was still standing there. She held a bouquet of wild lilies in her hand and he recognized them as the ones that grew all along the river. They were his grandmother's favorite.

Her father walked over and spoke with her, but she assured him that she would walk to the church when she was finished. He nodded and headed for the buggy, driving away with Seth.

"Come on, son." Mr. Dillan said. Everyone else had left. He'd noticed Allie still there, but he knew she needed a moment and he pulled Lucas away.

Eventually, Allie laid the flowers on top of the casket and turned away, promising to think of her any time she saw those flowers down by the river. It was three blocks to the church and she walked slowly.

Nearly everyone from town was standing around, eating food and talking about how they'd known Mrs. Lynch. Allie stayed as long as she could, but finally she went to find Mr. Dillan, making sure to offer her condolences before she left.