funeral director recommended a closed casket.
The officers said it would be kinder that way.
So every Sunday, I knelt beside Maya’s grave and repeated the same words.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart. I should have come for you.”
My husband, Jordan, joined me twice.
Then he stopped.
“It’s not healthy, Jackie,” he said one Sunday morning. “You can’t keep doing this.
“She’s my daughter.”
“Then stop falling apart every weekend.”
At the cemetery that day, rain soaked through my coat while I placed roses beside her headstone.
“Maya,” I whispered. “I’m sorry.”
Behind me, boots scraped against gravel.
“Ma’am?”
I turned and saw Otis, the cemetery groundskeeper.
He glanced at the flowers, then at me.
“Can I ask you something?
I nodded.
