Late Edition by Fern Michaels Read Free Book Online Page B

open mind. One just never knew about these things. She’d seen dear Toots through eight marriages. Mavis seriously doubted she’d live long enough to marry that many times. Toots was a lovable person. No wonder she’d had so many husbands.
    Mavis was excited as she logged on to the Internet and clicked on the URL that was exclusively hers. She knew Sophie suspected she was up to something, but Mavis wanted to keep it under her hat for a while. She needed to see if her enterprise was going to be a success or just something to while away the hours. She’d always been content living day to day when she was in Maine, watching her soaps and eating junk food. Now she felt as though she was being transformed with each pound she lost. And with every pound shed, she’d discovered she wanted to do something. Make her mark, even if it was just a tiny blip on the World Wide Web.
    A few months ago, she’d read an obituary that brought barrels of tears to her eyes. Knowing it was the right thing to do, she’d dressed in her latest design, a charcoal gray skirt that flowed over her hips like silk, topping it off with a light gray blouse and matching jacket. If asked, she would tell you this was her best design so far. Ida had complimented her, wanting to know when and where she’d purchased the stellar suit. Mavis had told a tiny white lie when she’d said she didn’t recall. It was too soon to reveal her plans. She would know when the time was right. If she had any success at all, she would share her new business with the girls.
    For now, she thanked Pearl Mae Atkins. It was Pearl’s obituary that sent her to her first funeral, if one wanted to call it that. Poor Pearl’s obit had said there was no one left; she had died at home alone in her sleep. The obit had said there would be a five-minute memorial service at Chasten’s Funeral Home. With no one to say a final good-bye, Mavis had felt compelled to make sure Pearl didn’t pass into the other world without someone to wish her a safe journey. She’d secretly made arrangements for a taxi to pick her up and wait while she attended the service, then return her home. The girls would laugh at her if they knew just how sad she’d felt. On the way, she’d had the taxi driver stop at a convenience store, where she’d purchased all the long-stemmed roses that sat in a dirty white bucket next to the cash register. Had time permitted, she would have ordered the biggest, brightest floral arrangement that was within her budget, but the roses were the best she could do.
    Other than the funeral director, no one else had attended Pearl’s quick send-off. Mavis had cried for the lonely old woman she had never met in life and placed the handful of roses inside a coffin that she knew had been used at many showings before Pearl’s. When it was time to bury her, the expensive-looking coffin would be replaced with an old pine box. Sadly, this happened to all the lonely Pearls of the world who had no one to give them a proper send-off.
    Clicking her way to her Web site, Mavis was thrilled when she saw she had sixteen orders for her latest designs for Good Mourning, her new line of clothes. After sending Pearl off, Mavis had become obsessed with reading the obits. There were many more like Pearl who had no family, no friends, not a single soul to care how they were laid to rest.
    For whatever reason, Mavis had felt compelled to try to change this for as many as she could. She didn’t want to ask Toots for help. She would simply ask how much she needed and write a check. Mavis wanted to do this on her own. That was when she’d come up with the idea to sell her clothes. She began attending large and small funerals, where there were often hundreds of people in attendance. She watched them, saw what they wore, and knew that most of the women’s clothing would be shoved to the back of the closet or donated to charity. Mavis