Chapter 9
Echo sat in the hard wooden pew next to her father and Daniel, waiting for her grandmother's funeral to start. She had been blaming herself for not picking up on her grandma's symptoms early. Lizzie's autopsy showed that she had a cerebral aneurysm that had ruptured the day that Echo had gone into the backcountry with her grandpa. On the day that Lizzie died, she had another aneurysm that had ruptured. She had died in her husband's loving arms.
"It's my fault Grandma's dead," Echo had told her father when he had come back into her room, an hour later to tell her the news.
"Sweetheart," he said as he sat on her hospital bed next to her, "it's not your fault."
"Yes it is," Echo replied, "all the signs were there. Grandma had severe headaches, neck pain and stiffness, and pain behind her eyes. I should have seen it sooner."
Egon and Daniel had tried to convince Echo that it was an accident and she wasn't to blame, but Echo wouldn't listen to them. Peter had come through for Echo, like he did when her mother had died.
Echo had seen the plane hit the North Tower on September 11th and she had watched helplessly out of Peter's apartment window, as Dana had first called her husband and then Egon. When Peter had walked into the apartment that day, the North Tower had come crashing down to the ground in a pile of gray smoke. Echo couldn't do anything to help her mother trapped inside. Peter had gathered her hysterical nine year old body into his arms. He hadn't said a word, he didn't need to, as he rocked Echo back and forth until she had fallen asleep in his arms.
The same thing had happened with her grandmother. Peter had come into her hospital room and had ordered her father and Daniel out. Sitting on the bed next to her, Peter had gathered her into his arms once again. As Echo tried to convince Peter that it was all her fault, he said nothing the whole time and only held her tighter each time she got more upset. In the end, Echo had cried her heart out onto Peter's shoulder. When she was done Peter's shirt was soaking wet and Echo had apologized to her uncle. Peter only smiled and patted her on the arm before he left.
"I hate this shirt anyways," Peter said, "Remember Echo I'm always here for you whenever you need to talk."
The chorister now stood up before the group of mourners and used her hands to ask the people attending to rise from their seats. As Kane's oldest son Benjamin played the piano, Echo sang the words to "How Great Thou Art" with her father singing, in his deep rich tenor voice, next to her left side. Looking his way, she saw him smile at her before he turned back to the hymn book he held in his hands. Echo didn't need the book. She knew the words by heart. Echo now heard a beautiful light and airy baritone voice coming from her right. Turning to look at Daniel, she was surprised. She had never heard him sing before, not even at her birthday parties. He always seemed to hide behind his violin and play it instead.
Echo dropped her soprano voice down to the alto line, on the second verse of the song, and listened to Daniel as he tried to match what she was doing. Smiling at him she nodded her head to encourage him to sing out. Manny, standing on Daniel's right side, placed a hand on Daniel's back and made him stand straighter. It made a world of difference to Daniel's voice. Daniel's eyes went wide with surprise at how different his voice sounded when he was standing correctly. "Just like when I play my violin," Daniel thought to himself as he nodded a thank you towards Manny.
As the song ended, and they were sitting back down, Manny handed Daniel the week old baby girl, that he held in his arms. Manny needed to go and say an opening prayer for his mother's funeral. Echo bowed her head, but kept her eyes open in wonder, as she watched Daniel hold the baby. Daniel gently cradled the infant, as if it were his own, and Echo suddenly realized what she was missing in her life. She had kept so busy with work and her schooling that she hadn't stopped to consider that maybe there was something more important that just her. A family, and not just her and her father, but Echo's own family, waiting for her to welcome them into her arms. Echo loved Daniel and had been waiting for him to make the first move, but now she needed to get the ball rolling. Echo smiled a sly smile as she decided that she was going to make the first move on Daniel, much like her mother had done on Egon.
Manny, having finished the prayer, came back over and took the baby back from Daniel. Echo turned her attention to her grandfather Kane who was now giving her grandmother's eulogy.
"Elizabeth 'Lizzie' Rose Mathews Parnell grew up in Bend, Oregon where we met in high school. We married when we were both eighteen years old and have never looked back. Our first son, Benjamin, came into our lives nine months after we were married. As Lizzie stayed home to raise our son, I attended Central Oregon Community College and then transferred to the University of Oregon in Eugene, when Ben was almost three years old. Lizzie had two miscarriages during this time and was feeling depressed that she couldn't have a large family like she wanted. To get her mind off of this, I backed off of my full schedule of environmental science courses and took half days. I had Lizzie sign up for classes at the university which she took two days a week. At the end of the semester Lizzie announced to me that she wanted to become a nurse and that she was pregnant with our second child Ruth."
"Ruth, as many of you know, died last year from a hit and run driver. Her body was thrown from the car and landed in a ditch before the car was dragged another hundred feet down the road. The police and paramedics didn't find her body until two days later when her husband, who had been driving, woke up in the hospital asking where she was."
"Miraculously Ruth didn't suffer and had died on impact, but the local wolves, in Canada where they lived, had desecrated the body. Lizzie and I had her remains cremated and Tommy, her husband, sent them to us in Utah at the time."
"A year after Ruth was born Lizzie started working as a nurse at night at a local clinic and I finished up my degree during the day. The first forestry job that I got was at Arches National Park, in Utah, where we lived until six months ago when I was transferred here to Wyoming. During our stay in Utah, Lizzie continued to work nights at Moab Regional Hospital, where she worked in Labor and Delivery. Lizzie absolutely loved children and after two more miscarriages she thought about other ways of adding to our small family."
"While in Moab we got the reputation for collecting 'lost sheep'. Lizzie and I fostered our share of children, while in Utah, when they needed a place to stay, even if it was only for the night. The local court system liked how we thought of the needs of the children under our care first before our own comforts. Lizzie and I often gave up our own bed to a late night addition whose mother or father had been arrested and was going to have to spend the night in jail. My good friend, Officer Dean Cutler, would give me a call, late at night, to 'impose' upon us to take a child so that Child Protective Services wouldn't have to be called at one in the morning. No matter the hour Lizzie and I always said "Yes" and welcomed the children into our home."
"It just so happens that our third child, Sarah, and our fourth child, Joseph, were not our direct seed but we loved them anyways and they joined our little growing family. Sarah was born deaf and deserted at the hospital an hour before Lizzie came on duty. When Lizzie saw Sarah she fell in love and refused to let the social worker take her away. Since the social workers knew us well they believed Lizzie when she told them that we were adopting the child. Lizzie, however, got into a little bit of trouble that night with the hospital administrator. She told him that we were adopting the child and that was that. When the hospital administrator called me up, to see if we were really adopting the child, I had no idea what he was talking about and answered him back."
"What my wife says is correct."
Echo laughed, as well as the others that were there, and Kane waited for the laughter to die down before he continued.
"Well I didn't know what fully went on, until Lizzie brings this beautiful six pound baby girl home at four in the morning."
"Kane," Lizzie said to me, "I couldn't leave her there, unwanted, in a cold unloving environment. I just know she was sent for us to raise."
"I agreed with my wife that night and the whole family signed up for a Saturday course on American Sign Language the next week."
"Two more years would go by, with two more miscarriages on Lizzie's part, until Joseph came into our lives. Lizzie helped with the delivery of Joseph to a young sixteen year old girl. Lizzie thought everything would be fine when she left that morning. The young mother had left, supposedly with the child after Lizzie got off of work, but when Lizzie came in the next night the child was there without it's mother."
"Lizzie discovered that the doctors had diagnosed the baby boy blind at birth. She found Joseph in the neonatal unit suffering apnea, most likely caused by drugs. He was tested and opiate toxicity was found in his system. Lizzie surmised that the young mother must have been taking the drugs, while she was pregnant with him, causing him to be born blind. The landscapers had found the baby at lunch time in the hospital shrubbery. The mother had left at eight that morning. Lizzie had left at four in the morning. Lizzie called me up at home in tears. I asked her if it was a girl or a boy. She told me a boy and I told her to bring him home when she could."
"A month later Joseph joined our family and Sarah and him have become inseparable to this day. Each knowing what the other was going through, they became each other's eyes and ears."
"Our fifth and last natural born child was Eden. Ben was eleven years old, Ruth was seven, Sarah was five, and Joe was two when Lizzie went into labor and delivered Eden in my forest ranger's truck. It was a Saturday, and as a family we were on a hike in Arches National Park, when Lizzie's water broke. Lizzie was two weeks early and all the kids thought it exciting that their sister was going to be born, right there before their eyes, in the dirt on the Windows Loop Trail."
Another round of laughter filled the church and Kane waited once again until it subsisted to finish his story.
"Well Lizzie did at least wait until we got back to the parking lot and I opened the passenger side of my truck. Sitting her in the seat, and trying to put her legs inside, Lizzie delivered our daughter into my hands."
Egon could see Kane wipe away a tear. He knew how the man felt. He had delivered his own daughter Echo in the middle of a snow storm. Kane sighed and continued.
"We thought that our family was complete until eighteen years later Emmanuel joined us. We were on our way to Cedar City, Utah to help Eden start her first year of college. Before we left Lizzie stopped by Valley View Medical Center to visit a friend from her college days. Lizzie always stopped by the newborns, in the nursery, before leaving. She noticed an African-American baby off by itself and questioned her friend about it. The baby had been left at the hospital's emergency room door and the social workers had been called. Well after an extended stay in Cedar City, with my brother Edward, and after all the paperwork was signed, Manny came home to live with us."
"Now thirty-seven years later it appears that Lizzie decided that our family was still not complete. On the day of her death, she was at St. John's Medical Center where my granddaughter Echo had been taken. Passing by the nursery she noticed a half white/half African-American baby girl off by herself. This child had been left, much like Manny, an unwanted child. Lizzie signed the papers to take this child home and had come to our granddaughter's room to tell me the good news."
A tear fell down Kane's face as he recalled his wife's last moments.
"Lizzie died in my arms telling me 'Forever my love'. I didn't find out about the baby until after Lizzie was pronounced dead in the emergency room. When the doctor told me, that under the circumstances, they would understand if I didn't want to go through with the adoption, I told them that I would. Lizzie had felt deeply that this child should be a part of our family and I have never gone against the wishes of my wife, until now."
Kane looked up towards the ceiling of the church.
"Lizzie forgive me," he cried before he brought his face back down.
"Lizzie wanted this child to be called Mary. It was her idea, from the beginning, to give all of our children names from the bible, but just this once I am going to change it around."
"Manny could you please stand up?" Kane asked.
Manny stood up, proudly holding his new baby sister, as Kane spoke to the people gathered before him.
"Our seventh child will be known as Elizabeth Mary Parnell," Kane said proudly as he stood a little straighter.
"We can shed tears that Lizzie has left us, but she will live on in this child," he said.
Manny sat back down and Kane continued.
"In closing I want to read my wife's favorite poem to you. The author of this poem came from a very musical family, just like my wife did. As a young woman she loved playing the organ until severe arthritis took the ability to play away from her. Battered, scarred, and bound to a wheelchair for the rest of her life, she could have easily given up and become a bitter old woman, just like Sarah, Joseph, Emmanuel, and Elizabeth. Our children could be mad at the world, mad at their real parents, these four unwanted babies that no one but us wanted. Rather than becoming bitter the author chose to let her handicap make her better."
"She took one pencil in each of her badly deformed hands and using the eraser end she would slowly type. Her musical soul spoke through her poetry. Her words were a joyous expression of the wonders of her life."
"Lizzie often returned to his poem when she miscarried our children, in times of depression, or when she lost dear, close friends."
Kane took from his inside jacket pocket an old worn, laminated bookmark and a pair of reading glasses. Placing the glasses on his face he read the poem.
'Twas battered and scarred and the auctioneer
Thought it scarcely worth his while
To waste much time on the old violin,
But he held it up with a smile.
"What am I bid, good folk?" he cried
"Who'll start the bidding for me?A dollar, a dollar…now two…only two…
Two dollars, and who'll make it three?
"Three dollars once, three dollars twice,
Going for three"…but no!
From the room far back a gray-haired man
Came forward and picked up the bow.
Then wiping the dust from the old violin
And tightening up the strings,
He played a melody pure and sweet,
As sweet as an angel sings.
The music ceased, and the auctioneer,
With a voice that was quiet and low,
Said, "What am I bid for the old violin?"
As he held it up with the bow.
"A thousand dollars…and who'll make it two?
Two…two thousand, and who'll make it three?
Three thousand once and three thousand twice…
Three thousand and gone!" said he
The people cheered, but some exclaimed
"We do not quite understand…
What changed it's worth?" and the answer came:
"'Twas the touch of the Master's hand."
And many a man with soul out of tune
And battered and scarred by sin
Is auctioned cheap by the thoughtless crowd
Just like the old violin
A "mess 'o pottage"
A glass of wine
A game and he travels on
He's "going" once
He's "going" twice
And "going"…and almost "gone"
Then along comes the Master, and the foolish crowd
Never can quite understand
The worth of a soul or the change that's wrought
By the touch of the Master's Hand.
Tears fell from Echo's eyes and she reached out a hand towards her father. Daniel caught her right hand in his before she could go any further. Turning her face towards him she saw tears in his eyes too. Apparently the poem had touched everyone there.
Who couldn't compare their lives to that of the old violin? Once loved, played, enjoyed to be tossed aside, abused, battered, scarred, and unwanted.
Kane took the reading glasses off of his face and replaced them with the poem, back into his inside jacket's pocket. Producing a white handkerchief he wiped his eyes before he spoke again.
"Now we will be privileged to hear from our own Masters," Kane said. "My son Joseph, my granddaughter Echo, and her boyfriend Daniel will play their own version of "Amazing Grace" for us."
Echo knew that she was going to be playing at her grandma's funeral. Kane had asked her if she and Daniel would, but how could she follow something so tender as her grandmother's favorite poem?
Daniel helped her get to her feet, and Egon took her left arm and led her out of the row and to the aisle. As Daniel released her, and proceeded to the front of the church, Echo held back. She could see Sarah guiding Joseph, much like her father was guiding her forward. Stopping at the bottom of the stairs, that led up to the stand, Echo turned to her father.
"I can't do this," she whispered to him.
She had had stage fright before when she had first started playing the piano in front of an audience and now she was terrified. As a child her knees would shake so much that the whole piano would vibrate loudly.
Egon looked into her face and saw that she was frightened for some reason. Why now, after so many years of performing in front of people, would she be nervous? Frowning Egon asked her, "Why?"
"I can't compare to Grandmother's favorite poem," she whispered back to him.
Egon gently helped her climb the four stairs to the stand and guided her to her chair. Helping her to sit down, he handed her the cello that Daniel was holding out to him. Bending down to his knees, Egon spoke to his daughter.
"Echo, close your eyes."
Echo did as she was told as she felt her father's hand on her right knee.
"Empty your mind," Egon told her, as Daniel was heard tuning up his violin to match that of the piano.
With Egon's left hand still on Echo's right knee, he took his other hand and pulled her long hair to hang over her right shoulder. Echo always did this before she played the cello, it kept her hair away from the strings of the cello.
"Don't think about whether the audience will like you or your playing," Egon told her quietly as he finished placing her hair in place. "Focus on reaching out to Lizzie and play solely for the pleasure of her."
Echo felt her father take away his hand from her knee and hair. She opened her eyes wishing he could stay with her. She watched as he walked away from her and back down the stairs to take his seat once again. Daniel placed his right hand on her shoulder, holding his bow, and nodding his head released her to play an A on his violin.
Echo thinly smiled and followed suit, fine tuning the cello until it matched Daniel's own. As she finished with her low C pitch, Daniel nodded at Sarah to let Joseph know that they were ready. Sarah placed a hand on Joseph's shoulder and he placed his hands on the piano. Feeling the keys and playing the middle C, to make sure he had his hands in the correct position, Joseph started the song.
Echo had nineteen measures before she was to come in and her anxiety only increased. Her heart was pounding, she had butterflies in her stomach, and she was sweating so much she felt that her bow would slip from her right hand.
Closing her eyes Echo breathed slowly, deeply, and calmly but it wasn't helping as she heard Daniel come in on his violin. She only had seven more measures now before it was her turn and she felt as if she couldn't do it.
Suddenly she felt a presence by her side and opened her eyes. No one was there, but Echo could have sworn that she felt something, someone watching her. Echo closed her eyes again and got ready to draw her bow across the cello's strings.
There it was again! The feeling that someone was watching her. Echo was now becoming scared until the presence whispered into her ear.
"Don't be afraid," the voice said oddly familiar, "You are the touch of the Master's Hand."
She knew who the voice belonged to. It was her grandma. Lizzie had come to listen to her play. Keeping her eyes closed, Echo came in now while Daniel had a series of rests in his piece. It was just four measures of her and Joseph, and she expressed herself through the cello to her grandmother, who was listening next to her right side. Daniel came in on the last stanza and all three played together until the next verse.
Joseph had written the next two verses based on the third and fifth verses of the song. Daniel carried the leading melody while Echo played a counter melody, flowing in and out of Daniel's held doted half notes. Joseph played cords under them. As they finished the verse and repeated it again Echo felt her mother's presence now and then heard her singing by her left side.
"Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess within the veil,
A life of joy and peace."
Echo's Mother's voice died out as she drew her bow across the double stop D and G strings. Echo had seven measures of rest while Joseph continued on alone. She sat there, with her eyes closed, as she felt her mother and Grandmother embracing in front of her.
As Echo raised her bow, to come in with Daniel, she felt the pair start to fade away from her. Echo vibrated the last note, holding it out until Joseph came in, before she lifted her bow off of the cello's strings. She had felt forgiven by her grandmother in the short time she had been by her side. Tears fell from Echo's eyes as she knew Lizzie was in a better place and with her mother now.
Joseph rolled the last cord of the song and lifted his hands from the keyboard. As he went to get up from the piano bench Sarah held him back.
"What?" he signed to her.
Sarah signed into his open palms, "Echo's not moving."
"Where?" Joseph signed back.
"Two o'clock," Sarah signed into his open palms once again.
Joseph slid to the end of the piano bench and held out his right hand until he felt Echo under his touch. Taking her shoulder, he stood up and walked the couple of steps towards her.
What Joseph couldn't see was his niece crying, bent over the borrowed cello, still sitting in her seat. Daniel was kneeling by Echo's right side, trying his best to comfort her.
"Come Echo," Joseph told her lifting her up from her seat, "let's talk out in the foyer."
Daniel watched amazed as Joseph carefully guided Echo to the steps. Stopping and feeling for the first step, he led Echo carefully down them as she clutched the cello in her trembling hands. Daniel followed behind the pair. Joseph seemed to know the layout of the church as they walked past the rows of family and friends to turn right at the end. Stepping ahead of them, Daniel held open the door and let the pair go through first before he followed and shut the door quietly behind him.
Joseph lead Echo over to a couch, and carefully felt to make sure no one was there, before he sat down dragging Echo with him on his left. Daniel placed his violin on the end table nearby before coming back for Echo's cello. Carefully taking it away from her, he laid it down on its side, out of the way, and laid the bow across its side as he had seen Echo do so often in the past.
"Echo," Joseph said, "I know this is hard on you right now because you feel responsible for my mother's death but you're not. It was just her time to go."
"Although it is true that some accidents can be prevented," Joseph continued, "they are nevertheless a part of everyday living. No one is immune to accidents. Echo, you yourself have had your fair share of them, but no one should be required to carry a heavier burden of responsibility than is necessary."
"Lizzie is gone now," Joseph stated, "but the beautiful memories we shared with her will be ours forever, and we can look forward to seeing her again with outstretched arms welcoming us back into her life."
"Death is not what some people imagine. It is only like going into another room. In that other room we shall find women, men, and sweet children we have loved and lost. We know that life is a mixture of bitter and sweet, but despair is never the answer Echo; hope is."
"Hope is the anchor for our soul. When my mother was having trouble with a pregnancy before Eden was born she went to the doctor and was told that she would probably lose the baby. My mother came home and told us: But I can't give up until all reason for hope is gone. I owe this much to my unborn child."
"I was one at the time and still remember the incident well to this day. Three days later Mother miscarried and wrote in her diary about the experience."
Joseph tipped his head up slightly as he recalled the words for his niece.
"For one long moment, I felt nothing. Then a profound feeling of peace flowed through me. With the peace came understanding. I knew now why I couldn't give up hope in spite of all the circumstances: you either live in hope or you live in despair. I had looked for an answer to my prayers and was not disappointed. I was healed in body and rewarded with a spirit of peace. Never before had I felt so close to my Maker than at that moment in my life."
Joseph brought his head back down and turned to look at Echo with sightless eyes. Even though he couldn't see he knew how people were feeling. Echo had lost hope and he felt and heard her crying next to him.
"Mother became pregnant again after that and when my sister was born she named her Eden meaning paradise. Lizzie felt a state of supreme happiness that she had been blessed with this child to care for."
"Echo, time never stands still; it must steadily march on and with the marching comes change. Opportunities come and then they are gone. Please Echo, don't let the most important things pass you by as you plan for a nonexistent future when you will have time to do all that you want to do. That future doesn't exist. Rather than dwelling on the past, we should make the most of today, here and now, doing all that we can to provide pleasant memories for the future."
"My favorite quote is "You pile up enough tomorrows, and you'll find you are left with nothing but a lot of empty yesterdays"."
"That sounds familiar," Daniel said as he stood before the pair.
"It should," Echo replied wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her jacket. "I was in that musical last November."
Daniel thought back and then remembered where he had heard the line from.
"Of course," he said, "It's from 'The Music Man'. Professor Harold Hill said that to Marian Paroo."
"Correct," Joseph said. "Echo I know that both you and your father have seen a part of heaven. You must know deep down in your heart that Lizzie lives on."
"Yes," Echo replied, "I felt her next to me while we were playing."
"I heard someone singing to me," Daniel said quietly. "It sounded like Echo, only older."
"That was my sister Eden," Joseph replied. "I heard her singing to my right side while I was playing."
"Joe, I heard Mother too," Echo said, "but then towards the end of the song they both went away."
Joseph nodded his head in agreement.
"I had a feeling that Eden would come to help Mother along. Lizzie missed her something terrible when she was killed on 9/11."
"I felt that Grandma had forgiven me," Echo confided to Joseph.
"Then if you felt that, know that Lizzie has and move on," Joseph said as he reached out with his hand to find Echo's face.
Turning her face towards his own, Joseph moved his head forward until it touched Echo's forehead. After that he tenderly kissed Echo as Daniel watched on. Breaking away, Joseph released her face.
"I love you Echo," he said, "Your father and Daniel love you. And know that Lizzie loved you too."
The trio could now hear the sound of a piano being played. Echo knew the melody only too well. It was Auld Lang Syne.
"Let's go," Joseph told Echo rising up from the couch. "Father is going to kill me if I miss this part of Mother's funeral."
Echo smiled and reached a hand out to Daniel. He pulled her up from the couch and hugged her before releasing her. Turning to offer Joseph his right arm, Daniel waited while Joseph placed his left hand above his elbow. Joseph placed his fingers on the inside of Daniel's arm and his thumb on the outside. This placed him half a pace behind Daniel, so that Joseph could detect any changes that Daniel was going to make. Joseph let Daniel lead him back into the funeral, leaving their musical instruments where they were.
Echo opened the door and the three of them entered back into the services. They walked back down the aisle to the front of the church. Egon smiled up at his daughter and slid over to allow the trio room to sit down without having to climb over him. When the song was finished, Benjamin's oldest daughter closed the services with a prayer.
Daniel held Echo tightly, around her waist, and pulled her closer to his side as the prayer was being said. Echo buried her head into his left shoulder as the tears came freely.
Daniel knew that Echo was hurting. She had lost both of her grandmothers in a short period of time. Lizzie had been her last living link to her mother. Echo had told Daniel how she would listen for hours as Grandma told her stories about her mother as a child.
Daniel also knew that Echo was trying to find out where she belonged. Echo felt that the musical side of her mother wanted to come out, but the science side of her father was begging for attention too. That was one of the reasons Echo had gone back to school to become a doctor of reproductive endocrinology. She had felt that she needed to find out why her mother and her grandmother were always miscarrying children. In a way, if and when Echo ever decided to have children, she was going to have to go through the same thing she had told Daniel. Echo wanted to find an answer to that question.
Now Echo just had her residency to do, but she had hated her internship. Echo had wanted to deal with the research end of her field, but the doctor she had been assigned to, had her working the Emergency Room and delivering babies at all hours of the day and night.
Daniel knew that was why she was stressed and on the brink of a mental breakdown. Now that her grandma had died, Daniel saw the woman that he loved crumbling before his eyes.
The prayer was finished now as Daniel helped Echo to her feet. They waited while the casket was wheeled out of the church towards the back; where Daniel, Echo, and Joseph had just been. Kane followed, and his children according to birth, followed behind him.
Ben, his wife, and their four children were next. There were two great-grandchildren in this group with their parents.
Ruth's husband, Tommy followed with his son, his son's wife, and his son's daughter.
Sarah and her husband followed with two children of their own. Sarah's one son had a set of twins in each arm.
Joseph was guided by his wife as five children and three great-grandchildren followed behind their Father.
Egon took his cue and let Echo and Daniel walk ahead of him as Manny followed behind, holding the baby. Manny had not married yet. He had preferred to live at home and help his parents with the ranch.
Lizzie had left behind a loving husband, seven children, thirteen grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.
Outside the church building Lizzie's body was being loaded into a hearse to be taken back to the funeral home. Kane had a burial plot in Cedar City, Utah and Egon had figured on staying until Echo's grandmother was buried.
Peter, Dana, and Oscar were going back home with the twins and the Rivera's tomorrow, but Egon had extended his, Daniel's, and Echo's plane tickets out another week.
Egon felt Kane come up to him, and place his arm across his shoulder, as the hearse pulled away and the crowd started to break up.
"Kane," Egon said, "are we leaving for Utah tomorrow?"
"No," Kane replied, "there has been a slight change of plans."
"What happened?"
"Well son," Kane replied, "it seems that Lizzie changed her wishes right before she died. She left me a letter on my pillow. I found it when we got back from the hospital after she died. Lizzie wants to be cremated and have her ashes mixed with Ruth's."
"And," Kane continued, "she would like me to spread both her and her daughter's ashes in Grand Teton National Park."
"Can you do that in a National Park?" Egon asked Kane.
"Yes," Kane replied. "I just had to complete a special use permit application and file it at work. I did that the day after Lizzie died. As long as the scattering of ashes results in their complete dispersal with no obvious piles remaining behind we are good."
Kane squeezed Egon tighter before he spoke again.
"So, when's the last time you went climbing?"
"Kane, I haven't done that since I was in college."
"Oh, so only a few weeks ago huh," Kane teased.
"I wish," Egon replied, "I'm going on fifty-eight years old Kane. I'm getting to be an old man."
"Yeah, so I'm pushing eighty," Kane said as he took and walked Egon towards where his jeep was parked. "So come on 'old man' let's go climb a mountain together."