Chapter 13

“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Let the mortal remains of Victoria Julianne von Greiner, Daniel Eduard Leopold von Greiner, Haley Jane Wilkes-von Greiner, and Michelle Carlota Rosario Velasquez-von Greiner be laid peacefully in the ground as they wished, even as their souls pass to their reward,” Red Marsh, as the officiator, intoned.

Red had long since found a second career as an ordained interfaith minister, performing all kinds of ceremonies from weddings to funerals to blessings to whatever occasion seemed to call for such. He was no priest, but Margie didn’t care. She kept thinking of how handsome he was, how dignified, far from the rumors that were often alluded to about him. He had matured and flourished in his golden years, a sweet, semi-retired quasi-clergyman who seemed wiser and more spiritual in his own way than most regular men of the cloth.

The ashes of Dan, Vicki, Haley, and Michelle were indeed mixed and placed inside a single urn together, per their unorthodox instructions. At last, they were completely mingled, united for eternity under the soft grass of their East Texas home. Yes, they were laid to rest at their very own residence, in a mausoleum.

The proclamation at the mausoleum declared, “Here lay the ashes, mingled together in death as their bodies were joined in life and their souls in the Hereafter, of Dan von Greiner and his beloved wives, Vicki, Haley, and Michelle. May they find peace in the world that is beyond. For, as Plato once wrote, ‘The soul takes flight to the world that is invisible but there arriving she is sure of bliss and forever dwells in paradise.’”

“Typical of Dad, of Mom, and, of course, Aunts Haley and Michelle. You’d have to have known them. They hated to be separated at all. That’s my one consolation about their death, tragic as it was. They died together. They would have suffered greatly if they were parted for even a day, even an hour. I’m glad of that much at least,” Cassie thought aloud as she held hands with an equally shaken Hector.

“Irony, that their mausoleum was barely finished when they perished. Almost as if our parents had a premonition of the future. And this monstrosity was perfect for them, too. Modeled after the Taj Mahal, not a Greek or Roman design as one might expect. All because Dad was so impressed by the romance between Shah Jahan and his favorite wife that he couldn’t resist that kind of style. Fitting, really, that Dad modeled his tomb after another polygamist, in this case one of the Mughal Emperors of India,” Hector fought his grief to say that much at least.

“Wow, he really did love your mother, didn’t he? When I learned that he was a polygamist, it caused me to doubt that love, but the more I see, the more evidence I find of their passion for each other. Them ... and the others. It’s so ... unorthodox, but it seems to really fit. All of the pieces of the jigsaw really belong together.

“Of course, I suppose that my own measure of these things is flawed, given how much I blew your grandfather’s revelation of his sexuality out of proportion. I just didn’t know how to cope with the fact that I had unwittingly married a homosexual. I was also ashamed and embarrassed that I was so easily fooled. I handled it badly and I have no excuse, other than being a product of my age,” Jordan told her grandchildren, particularly the younger twins.

“Well, some good even came of that, bad as it was. Aunts Jacqueline and Jeanette. I just wish that they could have known their big sister, but at least we got to know them,” Karl observed as he saw his aunts hugging each other.

“Believe me, they wish that they could have known Mom, too. You could see it in their eyes as they watched the placement of the urn. They were saying farewell to the sister that they never met. Hey, did you realize that fraternal twins run that much in our family? I wonder what happened with Trevor?” Kirsten mused as she kissed her brother softly on the lips.