Let me look at the sky once more."
I stared at her. The doctor- "
"Please, Jonas."
I looked down at her and she smiled.
I smiled back and pushed the oxygen tent aside.
I scooped her up in my arms and she was as light as a feather.
"It feels good to be in your arms again, Jonas," she whispered.
I kissed her on the forehead and stepped out into the sunlight. "I'd almost forgotten how green a tree can be," she whispered.
"Back in Boston, there's the greenest oak tree you ever saw in your life.
Please take me back there, Jonas."
"I will."
"And don't let them make a circus out of it," she whispered. "They can do that in this business."
"I know," I said.
"There's room for me, Jonas," she whispered. "Next to my father."
Her hand fell from my chest and a new kind of weight came into her body.
I looked down at her. Her face was hidden against my shoulder. I turned and looked out at the tree that had reminded her of home. But I couldn't see it for my tears.
When I turned around, Ilene and the doctor were in the room.
Silently I carried Rina back to the bed and gently laid her down on it.
I straightened up and looked at them.
I tried to speak but for a moment, I couldn't. And when I could, my voice was hoarse with my grief.
"She wanted to die in the sunlight," I said.
7.
I looked at the minister, whose lips were moving silently as he read from the tiny black-bound Bible in his hands.
He looked up for a moment, then closed the Bible and started slowly down the walk.
A moment later, the others began to follow him and soon Ilene and I were the only ones left at the grave.
She stood there opposite me, skinny and silent, in her black dress and hat, the tiny veil hiding her eyes.
"It's over," she said in a tired voice.
I nodded and looked down at the grave marker.
Rina Marlowe.
Now it was nothing but a name.
"I hope everything was the way she wanted it."
"I’m sure it was."
We fell silent then with the awkwardness of two people at a cemetery whose only link now lay in a grave.
I took a deep breath. It was time to go.
"Can I give you a lift back to the hotel?"
She shook her head.
"I'd like to stay here a little while longer, Mr. Cord."
"Will you be all right?"
I caught a glimpse of her eyes beneath the veil.
"I’ll be all right, Mr. Cord," she said.
"Nothing more can happen to me."
"I'll see that a car waits for you.
Good-by, Miss Gaillard."
"Good-by, Mr. Cord," she answered formally. "And – and thank you."
I turned and walked down the path to the cemetery road.
The morbid and curious were still there behind the police lines, on the far side of the street.
A faint sound rose up from them as I came out the cemetery gate.
I'd done the best I could but somehow there are always crowds of people.
The chauffeur opened the door of the limousine and I got in. He closed it and ran around to the driver's seat.
The car began to move. "Where to, Mr. Cord?" he asked cheerfully. "Back to the hotel?"