A Sister's Heart

Chapter 15

Ivy decided it best to get to the printers and back before school got out, and of course Diana had asked to tag along, well more insisted really, repeatedly pointing out that her job gave her unique insight and expertise when it came to design, layouts, and aesthetics.

They parked the car a couple of doors down from the printers and climbed out; Diana following Ivy into the store. They hoped that the Orders of Service would be done and ready to pick up on Saturday, maybe even earlier if they were lucky. "Hey Don!" Ivy called out as she made her way over to the counter.

"Ivy," The man's face was filled with sadness. "I was so sorry to hear about your Mom. She was always so nice, and I know a lot of folks are gonna miss her." Don was a sweet guy whom the Hart sisters had known since they were kids. He was two years older than Ivy and had lived down the street from them with his parents when he was younger.

"Thanks Don. You remember my sister, Diana, right?" Ivy asked as her sister stood silently beside her. Don gave a sheepish nod. Ivy had always suspected that the guy had had a crush on her eldest sister when they were in High School, but she never said a word about her suspicions. Now was not the time to think about that, however; there were more important matters to take care of. "Okay, so we were hoping you might be able to help us out with the Orders of Service for the funeral?" Ivy glanced down at the large manilla envelope she had in her hand, struggling emotionally to hand it over.

Don offered out his hand to take it from her. "Is that everything that you want to go inside? Photos? Information? Readings? Is it all in there?" She snatched her hand back when he had finished, still clutching the envelope.

"Would it be okay if we went through it with you? We just want to make sure it's perfect." Another sad smile appeared on Don's face reflecting the sadness in Ivy's eyes.

"Of course. If you'd like to follow me, we can go through to the private room in the back to discuss it further?" He led them around the back of the counter and down a narrow hallway lined with photos of Employees of the Month and opened the door at the end allowing both Ivy and Diana to enter first, where they were greeted with a table and six chairs. "Please take a seat." He closed the door behind himself as the two sisters did as he had suggested.

"Thank You!" They answered in unison.

Once they were all comfortably seated, Ivy reluctantly gave Don the envelope and watched as he flipped through its contents. "So why don't you tell me what you had in mind?" And that's exactly what they did.

For the next half an hour Ivy and Diana talked Don through everything they had discussed as a family in detail, the song lyrics, the readings and the photographs. As hard as it was to look at them, they managed to tell Don where each one was to be placed and within another few minutes, there was a sketched mock-up on the table in front of them.

"So, I can have a copy made up for you in the next couple hours and if everything is to your satisfaction, then the rest will be ready to pick up Saturday morning." That was the fastest he could complete the order with it being Thanksgiving and all. He swore that if he could have them finished sooner, then he would because their mother was a pillar of the community and everybody loved her.

"That would be great!" Ivy responded, before agreeing to be back at two to check the draft copy.

*****

Five to two and Ivy and Diana were walking down Main Street back to the printers praying that Don had done exactly as they had wished and that the order could then go ahead as planned.

They had spent the last two hours doing some shopping for Thanksgiving, even managing to get one of the few turkeys the butchers had had left. It wasn't how they had originally envisioned spending the afternoon, but at least they could check a couple things off of their list.

"I was thinking... on Thursday we should do something special to honour Mom. Maybe go around the table and talk about our favourite memories of her or something." Ivy had to admit that she liked her sister's idea.

The funeral would be a way for the whole town to say goodbye to Esther, but it would be nice for them to do something just the family before then. "That's a really nice idea and I think the kids would like it too. We can ask them tonight and see what they think." Diana nodded in agreement as they reached the printers. "In the meantime, what do you say we check how Don's getting on with the mock-up?" Again, Diana nodded and fifteen minutes later they were walking back out of the store happy with the result and with just enough time to get to the school to pick up Matthew.

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Author's Note - Just a short chapter today. Hope you like it x