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Chapter 76
DECKER STOPPED THEtruck, got out and hurried around to the other side, and helped Zoe Mitchell out.
He closed the door.
She reached up for his large hand, which he took.
In her other hand, she held a small arrangement of flowers.
In his other hand was a folded blanket.
They walkedalong to where they were going.
The sky was clear with not a single cloud intruding upon it. The wind was light but crisp. It was the most perfect day Decker could recall while he’d been in Baronville.
“Thanks for coming with me, Amos,” said Zoe.
“No place I’d rather be,” replied Decker.
“It’s really pretty today,” she observed.
“I think somebody’swatching out for you.”
Zoe glanced at the sky and then at Decker.
“You really think so?”
“Yeah, I really do.”
They reached the spot and Zoe looked at the raised mound of dirt. There was no headstone there yet, but her mother had told her that it was coming soon. It would attest to Frank Mitchell’s being a good husband and father. Decker knew that it wouldbe a place that Zoe would be drawn to for the rest of her life, even if she ended up moving far away.
For her, Baronville would always be a touchstone, a place she would want to forget, and also a place from which she could never separate herself.
Decker knew this from experience.
With Zoe’s assistance, he carefully laid out the blanket on the ground next to the grave.
He helped her position the flowers at the head of the mound, and then they sat on the blanket.
Zoe was in her best dress and her hair was done in the pigtails that she had told him her father had loved.
Decker was dressed in the best clothes he had brought with him. They weren’t fancy, but they were freshly laundered and ironed.
Zoe looked at him anxiously.“Now what do I do?”
“You can talk to your dad.”
“What do I say?”
“What did you used to say to him?”
“I told him what I did at school and what Mom and I would do while he was at work. And about a book that I really liked.”
“Well, go ahead and do that. I’m sure he wants to hear all about it. You can catch him up on things.”
Zoe droppedher voice and looked anxiously around at the other graves. “Do I whisper? I don’t think you’re supposed to talk loud here.”
“That’s fine, Zoe. Your dad will be able to hear you no matter what.”
