WHAT GOES AROUND, PART FOURTEEN

     The day of the two funerals dawned. 

   " I did have a doctor's appointment," said Carl, "But I shall cancel it, so that I can be by your side at Joe's funeral, Paulina."

    "Oh no!  Please don't do that!" said Rachel.

    "Rachel's right," said Paulina, "I'll be okay; Rachel and Amanda will be with me."

    "You don't need me, when you've got the Corys - is that it?" said Carl.

    "Carl, you know that's not what I meant!  Taking care of your health is more important than going to Joe's funeral!  You go see your doctor, and don't worry about me."

    "I suppose Matthew will be meeting us at the church." said Rachel.

    "Actually, I don't think Matt is going to attend." said Amanda, "He said he had something he had to do today."

                                                       ******

    "You don't mind not having a big fancy wedding, do you ,Lila?" Matthew asked, as they stood in the hallway at City Hall, outside the office of the Justice of the Peace.

(Note:  There's probably some special name for the place where you get married, but I can't think of it.  If they were in England, it would be the Registry Office, but this is the USA.)

    "No, it doesn't mattuh." said Lila.

    The office door opened, and a young couple came out; neither of them could have been older than twenty; he wore a blue suit, she a simple white dress; they were both so happy that they seemed to float several inches above the floor.

    "We just got married!"  they said, holding up their left hands to show the wedding rings.  They stopped to kiss, and then kissed again as they waited for the elevator.

  "She looks at him laik he hung the moon." Lila murmured.  That was how it ought to be; Lila had felt the same way, when she and Shane had first gotten married  That had been a civil ceremony too; now she was about to enter into a loveless marriage with a man she hardly knew.

    Lila pressed her hands against her abdomen. "Ah'm doin' it fo' you, Baby." she murmured, "All fo' you!"

    "C'mon Lila - let's do it." said Matthew.

    "Ah'm comin'."

                                               *******

    Since Grant had been Mayor of Bay City, Cindy made sure that he had the most lavish funeral  possible.  She had cast herself in the role of Chief Mourner, wearing a long black veil.

   Grant's one true mourner, Kirkland, clung to his mother's side.

    "Hello."

    "Shane - I mean, Bobby!" said Vicky, "I thought you'd be at Joe Carlino's funeral!"

    "Ah didn't really know Joe all that well," he replied, "Ah thought you could use some moral support."

    "I'm glad you're here."

  Bobby looked down at the little boy in her arms. "Kirkland, Ah'm sorry you lost your daddy, but you've still got a lot of people who love you - your Momma, your brother, your grandparents - and me."

     The funeral proceeded , until the moment when the minister said, "Would anyone care to say a few words about the deceased?"

    Dead silence.  No one could think of anything good to say about the late Grant Harrison.   (This is embarrassing!) Cindy thought.  Finally she stood up . 

    "I want to thank you all for being here today." she said, "Grant would be pleased to know that so many people came to say goodbye to him." (They probably want to make sure that  he's really dead.)  Grant may be gone, but his memory will linger (like a bad smell).  He will be remembered as a (psychopath)  unique individual, who touched the lives of everyone he knew.  We will never know anyone like him again." (Thank God!)  Cindy bowed her head and touched a handkerchief to her eyes.

    Cindy and the rest of the  congregation followed as six of Grant's former Senate colleagues carried the coffin up the aisle.

                                        ******

    Joe's funeral, by contrast, was a private affair.  Since his death had not been in the line of duty, Paulina was spared the ordeal of sitting through a formal Police Funeral, with the entire BCPD in attendance in dress blues, a twenty-one gun salute, Amazing Grace on the bagpipes and the rest of it.  Of course, many cops did attend, but as private individuals.  One of them was someone Paulina hadn't been expecting to see:  Toni Burrell.

    "Paulina, I - I just want to say that I'm sorry."

    "Sorry that you were sleeping with my husband, or sorry that he's dead?"

    "Both!"

    "Tell me, how long had the two of you been carrying on behind my back?"

    "It started just after I was raped." Toni admitted, "Joe made me feel like a woman again.  But I never meant to hurt you!"

    "You didn't hurt me." Paulina assured her.

    "Can you ever forgive me?"

    "Joe took advantage of you when you were vulnerable." Paulina said, "He's the one who needs forgiveness."

   That wasn't the end of the day's surprises; next it was Sofia's turn.

    "Paulina, I wanna apologize." she said.

    "For what?"

    "For the way I treated you.  You gotta understand, I thought Joe was perfect!  So when your marriage started goin' bad, I thought it must be all your fault.  But Joe can't have been easy to live with; he had a lotta anger in him."

    "I think I always knew that, deep down inside." said Paulina, "That's why I was so desperate to have Joe's  approval that I did and said and thought whatever he wanted.  Anything so he wouldn't get mad at me."

                                                    *****

    While this was going on, Carl was keeping his doctor's appointment.

    "Heart, lungs, blood pressure are all fine."  the doctor assured him, "In general, you are in good health."

    "Good.  May I go now?"  said Carl.

    "Tell me about the headaches."

    "You've been talking to my wife."  Carl winced. "Could you close the blind, please?"

    "Is the pain bad?" said the doctor, as he dimmed the lighting.

    "You'd be doing me a favour if you amputated my head."

    "Painkillers don't help?"

    "Nothing helps."

    "I'm going to refer you to Dr Bodin."

    "I suppose  he's a psychiatrist?"

    "No, a neurologist."

                                             *******

    As they walked away from Grant's grave, Vicky suddenly said , "Marry me, Bobby!"

    "You know Ah will!"

    "I mean - right away!  As soon as my divorce becomes final!  The same day!  I nearly lost you and Michael, Nick's in the hospital, Grant's dead - people die all the time!  Ryan and I put off getting married, until it was too late.  I don't want to make that mistake again."

    "You know Ah'll marry you whenever and wherever you want."

    Meanwhile, the Widow Harrison was receiving a shock:  "I'm Trent Forbes, Mayor Harrison's attorney.  We need to arrange a time for the reading of his will."

   (His will?  The rat must have made two copies of it!)  Aloud, Cindy said, "I'll have to arrange a time with Vicky Hudson, Grant's ex-wife.  As I'm sure you know, she's the mother of Grant's only child.  Give me your card and I'll get back to you."

    The card would have his address on it.

                                           *****

     That evening, Carl, who was having a glass of cognac, as usual, set the glass down on the coffee table - or tried to; he misjudged the distance, and missed the table entirely.  The glass shattered, spilling cognac all over the carpet.

    "Oh dear!" said Rachel.  Carl looked at the mess without speaking, then left the room.  Rachel rang for the housekeeper.

    "Claudia, clean this up, please." she said, "Carl - where did he go?"

    She found him in the study, holding a pistol

    "Darling?"

    Carl looked, not at her, but through her.  "What do you know about devotion?" he said, "Do you know about caring, about trust?  Taking the future into your own hands, gambling on your instincts, and losing - everything?  The devoted son, courting death?  Is that why you've come, Carl?  Is it?  That's the last thing my father said to me, just before he shot himself."  He raised the gun to his temple.

    "CARL! NO!"  Rachel's scream brought the rest of the household running.

    Carl seemed to focus on her for the first time.  "There's something wrong with me, Rachel - here!"  He tapped the gun against his forehead.

    "Patti, get my medical bag." Bobby whispered.  His sister nodded and scurried off.

    "Mom-" Amanda began; Bobby scowled at her.  "Keep out of this!  If anyone can get through to Carl, it's Rachel."

        "Darling, please put the gun down." Rachel was saying, "Please!"

    "What if I'm mad?" said Carl, "If I'm mad, you couldn't trust me to be around the children."

    "Carl, no matter what's wrong with you, I would never deprive our children of their father!  I would never abandon you!  You're my husband, in sickness and in health!"

    "Do you mean that?"

    "Yes!  Please, Darling, think of our children!  Your father's suicide devestated you!  It took the whole rest of your life for you to get over it!  Do you want to inflict that kind of pain on Cory and Elizabeth?  On me?  Carl, we need you!  We'd be lost without you!  Please, put the gun down!"

    There was a long moment of silence, then Carl laid the gun on the desk.  Rachel crossed the distance between them with one bound, and flung her arms around him.  Carl wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and buried his face against her bosom.

    "Carl, lemme give you somethin' to make you sleep." said Bobby, holding up a hypodermic needle.

    "So, I'm to be drugged, am I?"

    "Do you really think I'd want to hurt you, anymore than Rachel would?"

    "Very well," said Carl, rolling up his sleeve, "Lay on, MacDuff."

    As Rachel helped Carl upstairs to their bedroom. Amanda ran to the telephone.  She could hardly wait to tell Matthew about this!

                                       *******

    Meanwhile, a figure clad in black spandex entered the law offices of Forbes, Winslow and Yaxley, located Grant's will, substituted a copy, and took the original.

    When Cindy arrived home, she burned Grant's real will, and flushed the ashes.

    "This time, stay burned!"  she admonished it.

To be continued.