The Undertaker's Daughter (Ilka #1)(57)

She had the feeling Artie was about to protest but then changed his mind. They sat for a while in silence.

“He couldn’t have been more wrong.” Ilka spoke quietly as she pulled the blanket around her legs. “I’ve never really fought for anything. I can’t remember ever deciding to point myself in one direction. My life has been all these coincidences. My high school grades were good enough to get me whatever education I wanted. I took a year off after high school, and then I started law school, but after six months I found out I had cancer; they took out my womb and ovaries. The tumor was…bad; I didn’t have a choice.

“I was sick for a long time; then when they finally said I was okay I celebrated by putting on my backpack and traveling. First stop Argentina. I worked with cattle; then I went to Australia. I was gone for a year and a half, and when I got home my mother had moved in with another woman. That surprised me, but it was good for her. Then I met Erik, so instead of going back to law school I started working for him. As a school photographer, can you believe that!”

Ilka took a drink of root beer. She’d been aware for a while that she was running off at the mouth, but she didn’t care. She needed to talk, and he was a good listener. He opened another beer.

“Maybe it’s true that everyone has a soul mate. Erik was mine. After losing my father, it felt like I finally came home. He was fifteen years older than me, and I thought we’d be together forever. I took over his business when he died. I never took any photography courses, but he taught me what I needed to know. And I’m happy.”

She folded her hands. That last sentence sounded forced to her, but she meant it. She would never have chosen to be a school photographer, but now there wasn’t anything else she would rather do.

“And now it’s happened again,” Artie said. “Now circumstances have made you a funeral home director.”

Again, Ilka felt his eyes on her. She shook her head, though she wasn’t sure he could see. “No. I could have chosen to stay home; I could have let my lawyer handle everything. I told my mother I had to be here personally, though it wasn’t true. I’d needed to meet my father. Even though he wasn’t around anymore, this was my last chance to get closer to him. Missing him has been way too big a part of my life. Maybe I didn’t even know how much. And really, it’s not that he wasn’t around when I grew up; it’s more that I never understood why he left.”

Artie wouldn’t let it go. “But now you are a director.”

“Like hell I am. I’m just a daughter trying to sell her father’s business so his reputation won’t be damaged too much.” She snorted. “All right, that’s not exactly true. It’s probably more that I’m trying to pick up the pieces of a life I never really understood.”

Her phone rang several times before Artie suggested she answer.

“Aren’t you asleep?” Ilka said when she heard her mother’s voice. “Is something wrong?”

“What’s going on over there? I have a bad feeling about this. I can’t sleep. I’m worried.”

“That’s so nice of you, Mom.” Instead of being annoyed, she suddenly felt warm inside. Her mother had been through a hell of a lot, too, when it came to Paul Jensen. “Everything’s fine. I just need to take care of the last details before I can come home. And I would be very grateful if you’ll do the jobs for me. Of course I’ll pay you.”

“Come on! Money doesn’t matter; you know that, dear. I just don’t like you being over there. I can feel it in my bones, all this worry, and I don’t like it.”

“Mom, really, there’s nothing wrong. Everything’s just taking longer than I expected. That happens a lot with estates.” Ilka didn’t mention that she was the one who’d messed up a transfer agreement at the last moment. “I have to know what’s going on with the business before I can put it up for sale. By the way, I met my half sisters today,” she added, hoping the abrupt change of subject would distract her mother. “It doesn’t look like we’re going to be great friends, but both Leslie and Amber have inherited Dad’s height, and the youngest one has the same stringy Jensen hair. But honestly, it doesn’t look all that good on her.” As if it looked good on anyone! Ilka laughed to lighten the mood.

“Were they nice to you? What did they say?”

“Mom, I have to run—there’s someone at the door. I’ll call you tomorrow.” She hung up, hoping her mother didn’t hear her voice starting to thicken. She closed her eyes and sat for a moment, tried to swallow the lump in her throat.

“Are you okay?” Artie asked as she stuffed her phone back into her pocket.

“I’d better get back. Are you coming in tomorrow? McKenna’s daughter is coming to view her father.”

Ilka didn’t know what Sundays were like in the funeral home business. Many people were protective of their days off, but she had the feeling Artie wasn’t that way.

“See you tomorrow,” he said, sitting expectantly as she stood up and grabbed her sweater off the chair. He had another think coming if he thought she was going to kiss him! She nodded shortly before walking to the car.



The drive home was strange. She felt loose after sleeping with Artie, sad after talking to her mother, and tense after meeting her father’s new family. But most of all unsure of how things would turn out.