Dragon Gate Read Free Page B

and tears streamed down her cheeks too. They embraced and he kept holding her while she cried. He stared at the tiled ceiling, focused on a water stain and how the tile warped around it. His father was dead, and that was awful, but worse was seeing how it affected his sister. She practically worshipped their father.
    He glanced at his watch: 3:15. Their mother should have been here already. She’d been at the hospice, which was only five minutes away, while Rayna had been hiking. Graham pulled out his phone and, still holding his sister, placed a call to his mother.
    The phone rang.
    And rang.
    Then went to voice mail.
    Graham didn’t leave a message. Could the Marshall Clan have already found his mother too? Why were they starting with his parents when they should have gone after his uncle Lucas first? All of this began with Lucas.
    Rayna pulled back and looked up at Graham. “Did Father suffer?”
    Graham shook his head. “It was a clean death. An honorable death.”
    Rayna nodded. “I’ll attend to him.”
    “Very well.”
    She hugged him again then turned to the attendant. “I’m Rayna Noble. Please take me to my father. I must prepare his body.”
    “We have people to do all that. He’s in good hands. We’re very sorry for your loss.”
    “You’ll be sorrier if you don’t take me to my father.”
    Graham loved his sister more than ever at that moment. In spite of her own pain, she remained focused on the important rituals. It didn’t matter so much here. The attendant was right. They had people who would take care of the body. However, he knew Rayna saw it as her duty. Graham turned to the attendant.
    “Our religion requires the female relatives to prepare the body for its journey to the afterlife,” he lied. They had no religion, but the attendant would honor religious beliefs without question while pragmatic family customs that let children understand that all life ends in death and that bodies must be cleaned and either burned or buried to avoid disease would be a bit harder to sell. The ritual helped daughters, wives, and mothers get closure. If the women weren’t there, the men would simply burn the bodies and move on.
    The attendant nodded.
    Graham knew they dealt with various religions, all of which seemed strange and rather silly to him, but he didn’t mind using it to make things easier for Rayna. She needed the ritual, and this was the fastest way to guarantee that. His mother would need it too. Where was she?
    “While my sister attends to our father, perhaps you and I can go over the . . . what did you call it? A dignity package? ”
    “Yes, sir. We have a variety of options. Please wait in my office. I’ll take your sister downstairs, and I’ll be right back”
    “We want the best for our father,” Graham said, and the attendant’s eyes lit up a bit at the prospect of a high-dollar sale. To his credit, he quickly reined it in and remained respectful and professional.
    “We have a variety of options that will reflect the depth of your love for your father.”
    The price would reflect it, Graham thought, but as money didn’t matter, he would let the attendant make the expensive sale. The paperwork would keep him busy and would give Rayna time. For now, that was all he cared about. His sister needed closure, and he would buy her the time to get it. Then they could move on.
    RAYNA NOBLE
    Rayna wasn’t used to death. She’d seen plenty of it back home, but she’d been a mere child at the time. Sure, she’d helped prepare her younger brother’s body when a sudden illness stole him away, and she’d helped Vanessa Marshall when her parents were killed, but those events seemed like two lifetimes ago. She hadn’t thought about Vanessa since Uncle Lucas killed her. Pushing the thought aside, she set down her purse and bag then approached the body.
    “We’ll be all right, Dad,” she whispered, wishing she could believe it.
    Rayna had a job to do, so tears were not an option. She