Bette took a deep breath, and said in a quieter, yet no less steely manner, “This is the part that we will want our adversaries to remember, and for you to repeat:”

“To strive, to seek, to find,” she paused, “And. Not. To. Yield.”

The audience repeated, “And not to yield!”

She gave the podium a satisfied thump. And then stepped back. After a moment, Bette bowed slightly and left the altar area. The audience stood as one and their applause thundered in the cavernous cathedral.

Bette felt that the applause was related more to how individuals in the audience were confirming their response to act against those who’d audaciously launched an attack on Peter and his friends, successfully taking his life and critically wounding others.

Nevertheless, after the service ended, there was a stream of people that made its way to where she and Tina sat. The crush of people crowding around the pew, from in front and behind them, and on the sides, was overwhelming her. Concerned that this was all going to be too much for Tina, she stood and asked that they reconvene outside the cathedral.

From the top of the steps outside of the cathedral doors, most who had sought to make their way to Bette or to where she and Tina had been sitting, waited for Bette, talking excitedly amongst themselves. They crowded around her immediately when she stepped outside, pressed calling cards to her palm as she shook the offered hands, shouted offers to help, references, even resources. She soon found herself handing the cards, notes, and other items being pressed into her hands to Jackson, who’d stood by her side, whispering into her ear bits of information about whomever was shaking Bette’s hand.

This continued all throughout the reception in the Mayflower Hotel’s ballroom after the memorial service. Bette had thought that the reception would be held at Skydance, since the police had released the site following the conclusion of the investigations, but Jackson explained it would be more convenient to hold the reception in the hotel since it was just blocks away from the cathedral. Besides, the hotel’s ballroom was also large enough to accommodate the crowd that he’d anticipate would come for the memorial.

More than two hours into the reception, Bette was feeling so tired she was convinced she would soon fall asleep standing up against the wall she was leaning against as she accepted the parting words of sympathy from the neighbors of Jancis. As soon as they exited the ballroom doors, she collapsed in relief on the sofa against a side wall. With a low moan, she removed her heels and started to massage her feet. She drained the glass of red wine that she’d been nursing for the last hour, and almost dropped the glass on the floor.