Many Blessings

  “I should be downstairs.” There were a few early arrivals, close friends and longtime customers who’d loved Julie, but the wake wasn’t scheduled to officially start for almost an hour, at eleven.

  “Sachi, Makenzie, and Grover are downstairs. Paige, Anna, Kim, and Mina will all be here any minute. You need to take a few minutes for yourself and rest. It’s going to be a long day and we’ve got everything under control for you.”

  “Thank you for everything you’ve done. I know this isn’t easy on you, either.” Libbie and Grover had gone with her that horrible night nearly a week earlier, Grover driving, to make the official ID. They then helped her make the arrangements with the undertaker. Libbie had known Julie growing up and considered her a good friend, almost as close to her as Mandaline was. Julie had even suggested the name of Libbie’s bakery, It’s a Sweet Life.

  “We’re all going to miss her,” Libbie said. “She’d want us to stand beside you right now.” Mandaline felt her palpable hesitation. “Did you call your parents and tell them what happened?”

  Mandaline blew her nose. “Yeah. I don’t expect them. When I finally got a hold of them on Saturday they were in Northern California. They’d just pulled into an RV park there.” Since her father’s retirement five years earlier, their home had been an RV and wherever they wanted to park until they got restless.

  Usually within easy driving distance of her older brother’s house.

  “Did you ask them to come back?” Libbie gently asked.

  She shook her head. “Nope. Dad made the offer. They barely knew Julie anyway. They didn’t approve much of her when we were in high school because of all the rumors about what her great-grandfather did and because she got me into reading Tarot.” She let out a little snort. “They shut up about her when she graduated valedictorian of our class.” She wadded up her tissue. “They never did admit they were wrong about her.”

  “I’d think they’d want to be here to support you right now.”

  She shrugged. “They rambled on about Greg and Michelle and the new baby. They’re fifteen minutes from their place in the park they’re staying at. They wouldn’t know what to do if they were here. They’ve called me a couple of times since then to check on me.” She took a deep, cleansing breath. “I know they love me, but you know they never were quite sure what to do with me once I hit my teen years. Greg’s the successful one.”

  They heard quick, heavy footsteps on the stairs. Grover appeared in the stairwell. “Libbie, I need to talk to you, hon. Right now.”

  Mandaline sat up straighter and sniffled. “What’s wrong?”

  The large man looked agitated. “It’s okay, Mandaline. I just need Libbie for—”

  “Grover, please.” He’d been a blessing, helping fend off paparazzi who wanted to hear about Julie and what she’d been doing at the famous author’s house, acting as “official family spokesman” with the legitimate media outlets, and helping her navigate the dizzying paperwork avalanche to get everything officially transferred into her name so she could keep the store running and access the bank accounts to pay the other employees and freelance teachers, as well as the suppliers.

  He let out a sigh and stepped all the way into the apartment. “Samantha Corey and Matt Barry just showed up.”

  Mandaline nodded. “It’s all right. I asked them to come.”

  Shock froze his face. He looked taken aback. “You invited them?” he finally managed.

  “They didn’t kill Julie. They’re as upset by this as we are. They were attacked, too.”

  “But her husband—”

  “It wasn’t Steven Corey,” Mandaline quietly, but firmly, insisted. “It might have been his body, but he wasn’t in his right mind. Julie died to help them. To save them.” She let out a tearful laugh. “If I held what happened against them, she’d come back and haunt me in a bad, bad way.”

  Grover walked over to the couch and knelt his bulk in front of her. “I beg to differ with you, hon. The sheriff’s office says it was Steven Corey.”

  “I know what I know,” Mandaline quietly insisted. She reached out and hugged him. “It’s okay. Please, don’t turn your back on them. They’re hurting, too. They liked Julie, and Julie liked them. I want to honor her spirit.”

  Grover exchanged a glance with Libbie before reluctantly nodding. “All right. It’s your call. If you’re okay with them being here, it’s okay.”

  “Thank you.” She blew her nose again and went to wash her face before rejoining them.

  Downstairs, Matt and Sami sat in a corner. Matt looked grim, fading bruises on his temple and face attesting to what he’d been through. Sami looked like she’d been crying and was seconds away from tears again. They both stood when Mandaline walked over and hugged them.

  “Thank you for coming,” she said to them. “Julie would have wanted you here.” A gentle peace settled over her. She could almost picture Julie’s pleased smile. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

  Sami exchanged a look with Matt. “We just…we’re so, so sorry.”

  “I know.” She took Sami’s hands in hers and held them as she stared into the other woman’s eyes. “I know it wasn’t your husband’s fault,” she whispered so no one else but the three of them could hear. “I know it was George Simpson.”

  Sami looked shocked before she burst into tears. Before Matt could embrace Sami, Mandaline engulfed her in a hug. “When are you burying your husband?” she asked.

  “I…I’m not. I can’t have a…I won’t. I’m going to have him cremated. I’m going to scatter his ashes at the…” She shuddered. “Where everything else…” She tried again. “There,” she simply said.

  “The Oriole cemetery plot?”

  Sami nodded. “They haven’t released his…him yet. They said by later this week we could…” She took a deep breath and fell silent.

  Mandaline looked into her eyes again. “Please, let me perform a ceremony for you. For him.”

  Matt stepped closer. “Thank you, but we can’t ask you to—”

  “You’re not asking,” Mandaline quietly said. She squeezed Sami’s hands. “I’m asking you. Please, for my peace of mind. Julie’s mission in life was to help people. I want to do this for you as much as for her.” She took a deep breath. “I also want to make sure there isn’t anything left there that can hurt either of you. Or anyone else. For Julie. She’d want me to help. Please?”

  The couple exchanged a glance before Sami tearfully nodded. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

  Mandaline hugged her again. This felt right. This felt good.

  This felt like what Julie’s spirit wanted her to do. “Please don’t stop coming by to see me,” she said. “That’s all I ask. And that you keep her spirit alive by passing her energy and her giving nature forward to others.”

  Sami nodded. Mandaline hugged Matt. “And,” she whispered, “when we all get past the craziness, I want to come cleanse the house for you. Finish what she started.”

  “Thank you,” Matt said, his voice thick with emotion. “We appreciate that. We’ll talk with you about the…about Steve…after. Later.” He nodded his head toward the rest of the store where a few more people had come in. “Not today,” he said.

  Mandaline nodded. “Agreed.” She took a deep breath. “Tomorrow,” she said. “Ten o’clock. Bright and early.” When it looked like they might try to argue again, she said, “We can’t cancel the classes and clients we have tomorrow afternoon. I don’t want to, Julie wouldn’t want us to, and we all need the distraction. So please, come by at ten and we’ll be able to talk. I’ll have Sachi here to watch the store.”

  “Okay,” Sami said. “Thank you.”

  Mandaline made the rounds, accepting hugs and nearly identical words of sympathy from everyone. She was acutely aware of Libbie, Grover, Sachi, and the others all keeping close tabs on her, mentally hovering if not standing right behind her.

  Under other circumstances, she would have laughed.

  I feel
like you’ve just made me grow up fast, lady, she mentally told Julie.

  Julie had inadvertently saved her life, too. When Grover drove Mandaline out to her trailer the next day to check on it and pick up a few things, she found a tree had lost the battle with the wind and collapsed on the bedroom end of the trailer.

  The only piece of furniture she cared about saving was an antique secretary cabinet, which had belonged to her grandmother. The rest of it was all secondhand furniture, or cheap discount store crap she didn’t care about. She salvaged her clothes and the rest of her belongings and felt grateful to her friend once again. The rest of the furniture, what wasn’t in the bedroom and didn’t get wet, she sold, or gave away to other storm victims, or just abandoned there.

  Now, Many Blessings was her business and her home.

  The store was filled beyond capacity by the time eleven o’clock arrived. With Sachi standing on one side of her and Libbie on the other, Mandaline read in a shaky voice a letter Julie had left for her friends, the only thing she’d wanted officially read at her wake. The only funeral she wanted, other than her friends to make each other laugh and smile with shared stories. Instead of flowers, she asked everyone to donate to the local animal shelter or other charity of their choice.

  “I go on to the Summerland, friends. I don’t want you to shed tears. I want you to be happy. I hope that when you think of me, that I was able to make a positive impact in your life. I want you to go forth and carry that spirit on to others. I want you to smile, and laugh, and dream, and believe. Always believe. I want you to be grateful every day. I want your smiles to light the darkness. Above all, I want you all to know how loved you were, and how many blessings you brought to my life. Namaste. Blessed Be. Merry Meet and Merry Part, and Merry Meet again. Love and Light.”

  Mandaline barely got through it, hardly able read the words on the paper through the tears welling in her eyes. When she finished, she looked up at the crowd filling the shop.

  “Thank you all for coming today. Julie didn’t want any kind of a formal service. But Grover talked to the county and received permission for us to plant an oak tree in her memory over at the library. They’re going to mark a place for us to plant it, and they’ve offered to put up a plaque there in memory of her. We’ll do that this Saturday at noon. It’s a full moon. So anyone who wants to join us over there, please feel free to do so.”

  She took a deep breath and forced a smile. “I know I don’t hold the monopoly on grief over her loss. She touched us all by being in our lives. Please feel free to come up to her urn and have a moment with her, if you wish. Thank you.”

  She somehow made it through the afternoon. By the time the last mourners left around three o’clock, Mandaline, Libbie, Grover, and the others felt drained.

  Sachi hugged Mandaline. “Why don’t you go upstairs and rest? We’ll clean up down here.”

  Mandaline glanced around. The store shelves looked nearly naked, but she suspected no one had stolen anything. Mina had quietly manned the register nonstop, ringing up customer after customer. “Clean up what?” She let out a laugh. “Probably our best day in a while.”

  Sachi soberly nodded. “We did over seven grand.”

  Mandaline had to grab the counter. “Are you serious?”

  Mina chuckled. “I had her come in and double-check the numbers for me when I cashed out. I couldn’t believe it, either.”

  “And the class schedule, as well as all the readers, is booked solid for weeks. Everyone prepaid.” Sachi coughed. “The seven grand doesn’t include the class and reader fees.” Class and reading fees were split between the store and the teachers and readers.

  That meant even more money had come in.

  Overwhelmed, Mandaline had to sit down. The shop’s income had always paid its own bills and payroll, but Julie’s main income was from the investments she’d inherited from her family. The shop was more her passion than her profession, although her business degree helped her run it efficiently and profitably.

  “I’ll come in early tomorrow and do a full inventory,” Sachi said. “We were scheduled to do one next month anyway. Get our replenishment orders put together.”

  “I’ll help,” Mina volunteered.

  Mandaline, still in shock, simply nodded.

  Summers were notoriously slow. It wasn’t quite summer yet, but the snowbirds had mostly departed for northern climes. Their daily take today, in just a few short hours, was more than the equivalent of an entire busy weekend during the brisk winter holiday shopping season.

  Mandaline closed her eyes. Thank you, Julie. And thank you, Goddess.

  She opened her eyes at the sound of the bell on the front door tinkling.

  Two guys walked in. If she hadn’t been grief-stricken, she knew her heart would have skipped a beat. Both over six feet tall, handsome, one a blue-eyed blond with neatly styled hair, the other with shaggy brown hair and brown eyes.

  Libbie hurried up to them. “I’m sorry, but the store’s closed today.”

  The blond man frowned. “We were supposed to meet with Julie today to talk. We have an appointment.” He held up a card.

  The silence following the collective gasp as everyone turned to look at them nearly deafened Mandaline.

  She stood and walked over. “It’s okay, Libbie. I’ve got it.” Taking a deep breath, she said, “I’m sorry. Julie…died last Thursday. Unexpectedly. We just finished having her wake.” She couldn’t quite make herself say “raped and murdered” yet to describe Julie’s death.

  “Died unexpectedly” could fall from her mouth without her bursting into tears.

  The blond man’s frown disappeared, replaced by a somber look. The brunet looked completely crestfallen. “I’m so sorry,” the blond said. “We didn’t know. How did it happen?”

  Behind her, Grover cleared his throat. “Mandaline, honey, why don’t you let me—”

  “No,” she softly said. “It’s all right, Grover. I can’t ask you to babysit me all the time. This is going to happen and I need to be able to handle it.” She took another deep breath and turned back to the men. “She was…killed last Thursday.”

  Now blondie looked shocked. “I–I’m so sorry.”

  “You don’t watch the news, do you?” Grover angrily snapped.

  She put a hand on Grover’s arm, but the blond man now stared at the floor. “We just got back from Tampa this morning,” he explained. “We were down there for the storm, from Wednesday on, and Bradley just spent the past two days at the VA hospital there for some tests. We stayed with my folks in Tampa instead of coming back up here last weekend.”

  Mandaline guessed Bradley was the brunet, who now wiped tears from his eyes.

  The blond man held a Many Blessings appointment card with Julie’s handwriting on it. “What was your name?” she asked. “I’m sorry, but I didn’t see any appointments in the calendar for Julie today or we would have notified you.”

  “I’m Ellis Fargo. This is my friend, Bradley Sawyer. We stopped in early last week and talked to Julie. She said she was on her way out, and she wrote it down in a small appointment book she was carrying before giving us this card.” Behind her, Mandaline sensed Sachi dart into the office where Mandaline had put the boxes of Julie’s things that Sami Corey had sent over the day after…the incident.

  Sachi appeared seconds later, searching through the appointment book as she hurried over. “Here it is. Mandaline, I’m so sorry, I didn’t even think to look here. She is…was so good about always putting things in the computer. I didn’t—”

  “It’s all right,” Mandaline gently assured her as she took the appointment book. There, for today, Julie had written, Ellis Fargo/Bradley Sawyer - 3:15. URGENT!

  The men were a little early for their appointment.

  Mandaline took yet another deep breath. “Please give me a minute to collect myself, Mr. Fargo, and I’ll be with you. Did you need a reading?” Please, don’t let it be that! She knew there was no way in the Universe she could gi
ve a reading today.

  Ellis shook his head. “Ellis is fine, and we can come back another time—”

  “No, it’s all right. I promise.” She reached out and touched his arm, shocked, literally, at the contact. A tingle zipped up her arm when her fingers touched his bare flesh.

  He apparently noticed it, too, because he flinched. “Huh, static electricity, I guess,” he said with a lopsided, halfhearted smile.

  She slowly nodded. “What is the reason for your appointment?”

  He chewed on his inner lip and looked at his friend, who had produced a tissue to wipe his tears away. “We think there’s something wrong with our house. She was going to talk to us to get the details before setting up another appointment to come out to take a look at it. She said she was in the middle of a large case and couldn’t come out until she finished with that one.”

  Mandaline shivered. The large case would have been the Coreys’ house.

  The house where Steven Corey raped and murdered Julie.

  The house where Julie’s great-grandfather had raped and murdered Julie’s young grandaunt, his daughter.

  “Sachi, can you take them to the smaller room?” Mandaline asked. “I’ll be right there. Get them anything they want to drink, on me.”

  Sachi nodded, her usually sarcastic demeanor subdued and her stunning blue, almond-shaped eyes red from crying off and on most of the afternoon. “Follow me,” she softly said to them as she tucked a strand of her long, straight black locks behind her ear.

  Mandaline closed the appointment book and watched them follow Sachi down the hall.

  Grover leaned in and dropped his voice. “Honey, it’s all right to cancel.”

  “No, Julie wouldn’t want me to.” She took a deep breath. “She never forgot to put appointments in the computer. And she rarely wrote urgent by an appointment unless she truly thought it was.”

  The appointment with Sami Corey had also been marked urgent.

  She turned to Grover. “I know you don’t believe the things I do, but this is a sign from Julie. Maybe this is what I need to do to move forward. Julie wouldn’t want me to turn my back on them.” She hugged him. “I’ll see you tomorrow at noon for all the probate stuff. Thank you so much for everything you’ve done. You have no idea how much it means to me.”