The Bishop’s Wife (Linda Wallheim Mystery, #1)(105)

“Oh,” said Kelly. Her lips turned downward for just a moment.

“But remember, after we see the new house, we’re going to McDonald’s,” said Alex Helm.

“McDonald’s! Yay!” said Kelly. She looked at me, and for a moment, I thought she was going to ask me to meet her there, too, and I would have to tell her no again.

“Go on and check your room one more time. Make sure that your dolls are all safe,” said Alex Helm.

Kelly trotted up the stairs obediently, and I was left alone with Alex Helm.

“They are marrying in the temple next Friday,” he said. There were no rules about waiting to be married in the temple for a certain period of time after a death, like there were with divorce. You just had to get a special temple recommend from your bishop to do living ordinances for yourself. And Kurt hadn’t told me that Jared Helm had come to him in the last week. Maybe it had been even earlier.

“If you would like to come—” Alex Helm added.

It was an olive branch, but I shook my head. It wasn’t as if Kelly would be there, and I didn’t feel that comfortable with Jared or Alex Helm in any case. “But thank you. Give him my best, if you will.”

“He’s at the office today. He’s leaving the moving to me and Ginny.”

Ginny was to be Kelly’s new mother, it seemed. I nodded.

There was a honk, and I looked over my shoulder. A woman with short dark hair had pulled into the driveway.

“There she is. Ginny,” said Alex Helm.

I had a few moments to stare at her. She seemed completely different from Carrie Helm, who had been beautiful and so very feminine. Ginny seemed more no-nonsense, capable. She was small, but sturdy. I liked her immediately, and that surprised me. I hadn’t expected Jared Helm to choose a woman like that. Except—she was different from Carrie. It made a kind of sense that he would want that.

“I told him not to pick someone who needed rescuing this time,” said Alex Helm in my ear, the intimate understanding of my thoughts uncanny enough to make me shiver. Then he moved around me and went to speak to Ginny.

She turned off the car and came in.

“This is Linda Wallheim, Jared’s bishop’s wife,” Alex Helm introduced us. But not his? He lived here now, didn’t he? But if he owned another home, that would count on church records.

Ginny held out a hand, and I shook it, impressed with her firm grip. She had an unabashed way of looking at me, straight in the eye. “Thank you for taking care of my family until I could find them,” she said. I had the feeling it wasn’t just words to her, that she meant it.

Alex stepped into the house and called for Kelly, who bounded down the steps and threw herself into Ginny’s arms.

“I’ve got your car seat already buckled in, so you can do the rest yourself,” said Ginny.

Kelly ran to the car and got inside.

Ginny turned to me. “So nice to meet you and thank you for all you’ve done.”

“I’m not sure it was much, but I am glad to meet you. Take care of Kelly for me, will you?” I asked.

“Of course,” she said. “And Jared and Alex, too.”

Of course, Jared and Alex, too. Later that afternoon, I heard the moving van and let myself look out the window just once. Six men in worn clothes were packing the last of the Helms’ belongings into a huge truck. Then the house would be empty. It was time to move on.

I went home and began planning a special family dinner. Because they were my family, and that was the only reason I needed for a celebration.





CHAPTER 36




By June, a new family quickly moved in to the Helm house. They had three young children and the mother seemed very frazzled.

Later that summer, I knocked on Anna’s door for our daily walk, but she held car keys in her hand.

“It’s Helena’s birthday today,” she said. “I thought we would go visit her grave. And Tobias’s. Do you mind?”

I knew she hadn’t been to the cemetery since Tobias was buried.

We drove down to the city cemetery. Helena’s remains had finally been released to her family, and then buried beside Tobias, in the plot where Anna had always imagined she would be.

“Have you decided what to do yet?” There wasn’t a plot directly next to Tobias’s on the other side, but she could buy another plot nearby.

“The cemetery said that I could be buried on top of her. They’d be willing to rebury her further down.”

“And do you feel good about that?”

“I don’t know,” said Anna. “Maybe that’s another reason why I’m here today. And why I wanted you to come with me.” She leaned over and gripped my hand tightly. She had already turned off the engine and was staring at the expanse of green grass.

It was a beautiful day in Utah, one of those summer days when the sky seems endlessly blue and you can’t imagine that winter will ever come again. There is no hint of cold in the air. It is all dry, scorching heat trying to turn you into a desert stone.

Anna took a deep breath and reached for the door. I stepped out with her into the shimmering heat.

We walked in silence over to the left, where Tobias was buried. The last time we were here, there had been no headstone. Now there were two.

BELOVED WIFE AND MOTHER was carved under the name Helena Torstensen. I pointed at it. “Did you choose that?” I asked Anna.