A Sister's Heart

Chapter 8

Mid-morning on a Saturday and the roads were unusually empty. Ivy was driving her sisters to Saint Matthew's Church to meet with the priest Esther had specifically requested to preside over her funeral. She had called the church first thing that morning and made the appointment to see Father Donnelly. She was surprised that he was available at eleven am on such short notice, but when he explained that a meeting had been cancelled; it made sense.

He was waiting for them in the rectory when they arrived ten minutes later. "I'm so sorry for your loss." Greeting them all with a brief handshake, he closed the door and took his seat, as did they. "Now I understand that your mother left rather detailed instructions as to what she wanted." Ivy nodded and handed over the envelope with the, now broken, wax seal as her sisters avoided eye contact with the priest. He looked over the contents carefully as they sat in silence listening to every utterance he made while he did so.

When he had finished, Father Donnelly met the stares of the women sat before him. Ivy kept her gaze on him as both Diana and Veronica looked away almost immediately. "Obviously, readings and a few other details have yet to be decided, but everything stated in those pages should be pretty straight forward." The priest nodded in agreement and was about to say something when Diana interjected.

"We were hoping that the funeral could take place before Thanksgiving. Would that be possible?" The father stated that he would have to look through the church's diary to see which dates were available.

While he rifled through his drawers to find the misplaced date book, Ivy glanced around the office, noting the lack of personal touch. The room appeared very bland and professional, something that she as a person drawn to colour and art, found boring. She did however, spot two photographs on top of the filing cabinet in the corner to her right. One was of Father Donnelly with an elderly woman, most likely his mother, and the other was him sandwiched between two other priests, both of whom looked to be at least twenty years his senior.

Snapping her from her thoughts, the father clambered back to his seat triumphantly waving a diary around. "Found it!" He exclaimed, flipping through the pages until he came to the month of November. "You said before Thanksgiving, right?"

"Correct." Veronica spoke calmly, but it came across as a little too calm to Ivy, who remembered how as the middle child Ronnie always tried to be the strong one when both she and Diana were arguing and falling out, but then the slightest thing would set her off.

"Okay then. We either have a week today, or a week Tuesday." A woman peered around the door and as he spoke, she beckoned for him to join her outside. Ivy recognised the woman as Mrs. Mills; a parishioner who sometimes helped out with decorating the church for events and holidays. "I'm sorry. If you'd like to discuss, I'll be back in just a moment."

As soon as he was out of the room, Ivy's two older sisters turned towards her as if expecting her to just make the decision, but she was not going to take sole responsibility for this, and she told them as much.

Veronica responded first. "Okay, so to me Saturday is just too soon. Tuesday is my vote." She glanced back and forth between Diana and Ivy, silently pleading that they would agree.

Diana did. "Me too. I mean, I want to this right for Mom, and if we go with Tuesday then that gives us more time to do that." She had a point, and Ivy was inclined to agree with them.

"So, Tuesday it is!" Ivy smiled; glad they had finally come to an agreement about something. "This won't be an issue for either of you with regards to work, will it?" She was well aware of just how busy their lives were back in New York and that it couldn't be easy for them to be away at such a crucial time, but a part of her liked having her sisters around and although she'd never admit it, she hoped they might actually stick around through Thanksgiving.

Before either of them had a chance to answer, Father Donnelly came back. "Sorry about that." He said, straightening the sleeve of his clerical shirt. "Did you manage to pick a day?" All three nodded in response, and Ivy explained that they all felt Tuesday would be best.

In the minutes that followed, the Father made a copy of Esther Hart's wishes and asked her daughters if there was anything else that they would like to discuss. When they said no, they exchanged pleasantries, with each side relaying to the other that they would be in touch before saying goodbye.

Outside Saint Matthew's Church, Ivy headed straight for the car, but Diana pulled her back. "About what you asked us in there," There was a short pause as she exchanged glances with Veronica, who gave a slight nod, encouraging her to continue. "You know there is nowhere else we would rather be right now, right?" She asked as if it didn't need confirming, although to Ivy, maybe it did. They hadn't been around much, and Ivy had felt neglected by them, and unimportant to them. "Nothing is more important than Family." With that, Diana took a hold of her youngest sister's hand and squeezed it, emphasising the fact that she had in fact meant every single word.

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Author's Note - Hope you are enjoying the story so far. Please don'thestitate to give it a like or leave a comment xxx