Page 40 of The Moment He Couldn’t Walk Away

She wanted to call him back, just to keep him close, but she didn’t do that. Nina’s mom had raised her to be strong, and today she’d need to be that more than ever.

Cill came close, sliding an arm around her waist. “How are you?”

They both worked in The Gnat, a one-stop beautifying shop that JD Hopper had created here in Lyntacky.

“Okay.”

“I know that’s a lie.” Cill hugged her close. “It’s time now.”

They had placed chairs in rows for those who wanted to sit. Others stood, all somber and dressed in their best to pay respects to a woman they had cared about.

Nina moved to stand beside Tripp, who wore a black satin square-dancing shirt and matching trousers. His hair was braided.

“Ready?”

Nina nodded, and he began to speak.

“We are here today to celebrate the life of Shirley Leanne Winter. She came to Lyntacky many years ago and instantly became a treasured member of our community. If you want to know the essence of who Shirley was, you only need to look at the many people who have come here today to celebrate her life.

“She was someone whose door was always open to anyone who needed advice or just to sit and talk. She was kind and giving, and raised her daughter Nina, to be the same.

“Her love of color was legendary, as was her love of bingo.”

Nina heard the soft laughter and felt the tension inside her ease a little. Tripp was right—today was a celebration of her mother’s life. Nina shouldn’t spend it thinking about what she had withheld from her.

Tripp talked about his memories of her mother and those others had given him to share. Cill kept an arm around her waist from the right, and JD and Zoe stood to her left. In fact, her people surrounded her.

She looked for Finch and found him a few feet away, his eyes on her.

“Shirley, this place will hold your memory the way it held you. Gently, and for a long time,” Tripp said, drawing her eyes back to him, and the tears that hadn’t been too far away began to fall again. “Just as it will hold your daughter close when she needs us the most. Rest easy now, our friend. Nina is in good hands.”

“Oh God,” Cill whispered, crying hard like Nina now too.

“We’re glad Shirley was here. We’re glad she was ours for as long as she chose to be.”

Nina had been to a few services. They were somber and respectful, and she’d never heard clapping after a speaker, but that was exactly what everyone did.

“And now Nina would like to say a few words,” Tripp said.

She’d written her speech with mixed emotions. The love she and her mother shared was never in doubt, but there was now so much more to think about. Later.

Nina shot Finch another look, and he winked at her. It was so at odds with the man who had come home to Lyntacky, it made her feel better. If he could be here for her today, even though it was hard, she could get up there and talk about her mother.

Wiping her eyes, she drew in a deep, steadying breath.

“Firstly, thank you all for coming,” Nina began. “I’ve been trying to work out what to say today ever since Mom died. I kept writing things down and crossing them out because nothing felt right or expressed just what my mom meant to me. She would have told me to stop overthinking it and just speak from the heart.

“My Mom worked harder than anyone I have ever known. She didn’t acknowledge it, just got on with it every single day. ‘For you and us,’ she used to say when I asked her why she worked so hard.

“Mom had dreams that unfortunately we couldn’t fulfill. Dreams to cruise the Mediterranean and see the world. But her illness took that from her and us.”

Nina thought about the money her mother had kept and why. With it, she could have fulfilled some of her dreams, but instead, she had chosen to save the money for Nina.

Looking up from her phone where she had written her notes, her eyes connected with Finch. He held her gaze briefly, then mouthed the words, “You’ve got this.”

“Mom had a plan for me,” she continued looking back down at her phone. “I was going to be a doctor, you see, and everything was mapped out from the start. Clearly she thought I’d overcome both my hatred of study and blood, but that was my mother. Determined. She used to say, ‘Nina, you have good hands and a good head. Don’t waste either of them.’

“So I became a beautician, and she was in the front row when I got my diploma. After that, she would tell me about every young single doctor that she came into contact with, which thankfully was not many.”