“No, no, it’s not that,” Birdie said. “The upset was already a reality. It’s the answer that was shocking. Tell Mama thank you for the message. And I thank you for delivering it.”

Elliot smiled. “You can tell her yourself. She’ll always hear you, even if you don’t know she’s there.”

Birdie threw her arms around Elliot’s neck and hugged him.

“Thank you, sir. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.” Then she gave him back his coat. “And God bless you.”

“He already has, countless times in my life,” Elliot said. “My sympathies for your loss,” he said, and walked away.

Birdie went back inside and walked straight to the casket and looked down at her mother. She almost looked like she was sleeping.

Oh, Mama…thank you. I’m going to figure out a way to get them all together, Hunt included, and give him the answers he deserves.

She blinked away tears and slipped into the crowd, glad her absence had not been noted.

* * *

Hunt had gone back to Granny’s for supper, but only because he didn’t want to spend the evening alone. When he was finished, he left a tip on the table and went up front to pay. He felt the stares as he moved through the room, suddenly wishing for the anonymity of Houston. Nobody knew him at Granny’s, but after the funeral tomorrow, everyone in town would know he was back.

He drove through the quiet peace of a night in Blessings, thinking about the frantic hustle and bustle of Houston traffic. As soon as he got home he went inside, but he was too antsy to settle. His mother’s body was on display, and that was somewhat offensive to him, so he moved through the house, kicking off his boots, hanging up his jacket, and then stripping down to a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt.

But the old house and the disarray it was in bothered him, and it was too early to go to bed. There were many things he’d learned while in the army that mattered to him now—like order and neatness, and enjoying the burn of muscles and the surge of adrenaline from physical activity.

He needed to run—to get lost in the rhythm of his body and the hammer of footsteps to earth, and thought of the path through the park just beyond the backyard. Without hesitation, he put on some running shoes and headed out the back door, then out the gate and into the park.

There was just enough moonlight and security lights in the park to see the sidewalk that wound through it, and he took off at a lope, taking it easy until he got into the rhythm, and then he amped up his stride. From a distance, he was little more than a dark shadow on the path, and then he disappeared into the trees and was gone.