Once the coffin was placed on the catafalque, the vicar stood at the lectern; his neat, dark, slender figure a total contrast to Meg’s tousled, bright voluptuousness. He began reciting the same words as at her mother’s funeral, yet, strangely, they had changed their tenor: consoling and serene now, instead of cruel and harsh.
After the opening prayers and readings, he gave a brief address. There was no one but her to listen; no one but her to join in the responses, but her father would undoubtedly be gratified that all the due formalities were being so punctiliously observed. Indeed, when it came to the hymns, both she and the vicar sang with power and resonance, to compensate for the lack of other voices. And, once again she noticed that, instead of sounding wrathful and morose, they seemed solemn and majestic and thus appropriate.
‘May our brother rest in peace,’ the vicar concluded and, as he bowed towards the coffin, she realized, with a jolt of mingled solace and surprise, that guilt and grief, uncertainty and worry, had all disappeared entirely. Now there was only peace – peace soothing like a balm; peace unforeseen, unprecedented; peace restorative and rare – peace not simply for her dear departed father, but for her, as well – at last.
By the Same Author
Absinthe for Elevenses
Cuckoo
After Purple
Born of Woman
The Stillness The Dancing
Sin City
Devils, for a Change
Bird Inside
Michael, Michael
Breaking and Entering
Coupling
Second Skin
Lying
Dreams, Demons and Desire
Tread Softly
Virgin in the Gym and Other Stories
Laughter Class and Other Stories
Little Marvel and Other Stories
The Queen’s Margarine and Other Stories
Broken Places
Copyright
© Wendy Perriam 2012
First published in Great Britain 2012
This edition 2012
ISBN 978 0 7198 0604 9 (epub)
ISBN 978 0 7198 0605 6 (mobi)
ISBN 978 0 7198 0606 3 (pdf)
Robert Hale Limited
Clerkenwell House
Clerkenwell Green
London EC1R 0HT
www.halebooks.com
The right of Wendy Perriam to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988