“Yeah,” Jamie replied. “I’ll talk to him later. Make sure he’s okay.”

At last, Nancy emerged from the bedroom. “She’s ready,” she said.

I sent Jamie down to the dock to collect Arch. From the foot of the steps, I watched them walk back toward us, arms around each other. The sight buoyed me, less for the apparent tenderness than for its value as evidence that Arch was not too far gone to tolerate a moment with Jamie.

I followed Jim on our way around the pond. Dolly walked between us, holding both of our hands. She had grown up enough for me really to start seeing my mother in her. I glanced over at Jim. I didn’t think I’d ever be able to love him, but I’d certainly run out of resentment. He’d more than paid for his sins in suffering.

“If I have a baby one day,” Dolly said, “I hope it doesn’t die.”

“I’m sure it won’t.”

“But Nessa’s baby is with Mommy now,” Dolly said. “Daddy said so.”

“If Daddy says so,” I said, “it must be true.”

By the time we reached the burial plot, the priest had changed into his robes and set the table for Communion. A few minutes later, we heard the hum of the ATV and the sound of the wheels rolling gently through the pine needles. Scott stopped it at the edge of the clearing and Arch and Jamie helped Vanessa climb out of her seat. I don’t remember what the priest said; I wasn’t listening. When he was finished, he opened the Book of Common Prayer, and gave each of us the body and the blood, and we prayed again.

Vanessa stood and Arch helped her walk up to the casket. She trailed her hand across the surface of the little stainless-steel box and stood still for a moment. Then she nodded, and Arch helped her back into the ATV, and they drove back to the cabin, where Vanessa disappeared into her bedroom again.

Jamie and I were to sit down for lunch and wait for everyone to leave before going back out to cover the casket with earth, but I didn’t feel like I could swallow food. So I changed out of my suit and put on an old pair of jeans and a flannel and slipped out the back door. When I arrived at the gravesite, I found Arch, alone on his father’s bench, gazing toward the sky.

“I’ll come back,” I said.

“No,” he said. “We’ll do it together.”

I took a shovel for myself and handed the second one to Arch. Tossing the dirt into the hole was much less taxing than digging it up.

“Vanessa’s going to stay out here for a few days,” Arch said. “I have to go back tonight. Will you look after her?”