The dessert experiment turned out to be a smashing success. The concoction was a layered affair; the main sections were somewhere between really rich cake and a dark chocolate fudge, with the filling layers a heavy chocolate ganache. James drizzled raspberry sauce onto the chilled plates before arranging the perfect chocolate wedges on top.
"That was a nice service. Didn't you think?” Harold said when they had finished the dessert and were sipping cups of dark coffee.
"I don't think it's possible to have a nice funeral service. Maybe if you die at home at the age of a hundred and five. But I'll bet your children are still sad."
"Your children will be in their eighties by then, and their sadness will have more to do with what implications your death has for their own mortality."
Harriet actually smiled at this. “Good point."
"Of course, there won't be any children at my funeral,” Harold said.
"Mine, either, it would seem.” She sighed. She tried not to think about Steve, but it was impossible. They had made plans for a family. Of course, that, too, had been a lie. He knew he wouldn't live to have children, and if he did he had a fifty percent chance of passing on his disease to any offspring.
No, there weren't children in her future.
"Did I say something to upset you,” Harold asked and took her hand across the table.
She pulled it away. “No, it's not you. It's been a hard day. Would you mind if we went home now?"
He glanced at his watch.
James came to the table before Harold got up.
"How did you like it?” he asked.
"It was wonderful,” Harriet said. “And believe me, I know my chocolate."
"Okay, Miss Expert, what's your favorite chocolate candy."
"Are we talking high-end or grocery store?"
"Your choice."
"High-end, I like Ethyl M's, but they're hard to find here. In the northwest, I like Moonstruck and Dagoba."
He looked at Harold. “The woman has taste."
"Grocery store, I go for Lindor Balls, the blue wrapper. Seattle Chocolates, pink wrapper, are good when you can find them, too."
"You come here any time you need a chocolate fix.” James put his hands up in a gesture of rejection. “Tonight's on me,” he said as Harold went for his wallet.
"Thank you, this was a perfect end to a hard day,” Harriet told him.