Miriam listened with her head bowed, wondering if anyone else noticed the spaces between the lines, the silences no eulogy could reach. Elise wept openly, her handkerchief pressed to her face, while Daniel stood stiff at her side, his jaw set in a way that suggested endurance rather than grief.
They accepted condolences, thanked neighbors for the casseroles and sympathy cards, and then, almost as quickly, began to talk about flights back to their lives. Their father’s absence, for them, seemed like something to move through, not dwell on. Miriam lingered. She couldn’t leave so easily.