Chapter 23: Recovering

I helped Grace to make arrangements to have the body picked up by a nearby funeral home. We set up a date and time for services and she picked out a burial plot. I made sure all the requisite paper work was completed and that she got copies of everything. The service was held in the cathedral in downtown Houston. The procession to the cemetery was a somber affair with not a word being spoken. I had hired a stretch limo so we could all go together. I held my arms around both Grace and Janet as they wept on my shoulders.

At the cemetery a short eulogy was given by the priest and the casket was lowered into the grave. I had handed out yellow roses to all the ladies to place on the casket as it went down. I then took a garden trowel and had each of them put some dirt on the casket as the priest recited "Ashes to ashes – dust to dust. As Grace dumped her trowel of dirt she broke down again and I had to catch her to keep her from falling. I picked her up in my arms and carried her to the limo for the ride back to the funeral home. Once there I got everyone into my SUV and we headed home with Kim driving and me in the back seat still comforting Grace and Janet...

Back at my house there was a steady stream of friends and family coming by offering their condolences. A few of them had prepared dishes of food for us which I put in the refrigerator. I noticed that both Grace and Janet were gradually calming down to only an occasional sob. They both spent the night at my house. For the first time since Robert's passing they made it through the night sound asleep. They were still quite somber in the morning but they managed to eat breakfast quite well.

Later that day I contacted my attorney and gave him the go-ahead to settle the estate and work with the insurance company to get the claims started. Robert was a plan-ahead kind of guy and had not only a double-indemnity life policy but also a policy that would pay off the home loan and car loans in the event of the death of either husband or wife. Being that Robert was on the job at the time he was injured, Workers Compensation insurance covered the medical costs. After a few days Grace went back to work as did I also. All three girls started back to school. I was advised by my attorney that the best way to deal with a loss like this was to keep busy. I understood that completely, having gone through it myself when Chris was killed. Grace and Janet eventually move back over to their house but maintained close contact with us. As a minimum we talked every day and a few times all five of us would go to dinner some place nice.