Unfinished Symphony (Logan 3)

Everyone nodded with appreciation.

"Melody, you have already met Congressman Dunlap and his wife."

"Yes, how do you do, Congressman, Mrs. Dunlap," I said, stepping forward. They nodded, smiled and Grandma Olivia looked pleased.

"This is Mr. and Mrs. Steiner and Mr. and Mrs. Becker," she added. I smiled and greeted the other couples. Then I quickly excused myself and hurried up the stairs.

I washed and got into bed, my fatigue now settling into my body firmly. Despite that, I felt wonderful. When I closed my eyes, I saw Cary's loving face before me and imagined his lips on mine again and again. Across the dunes he was most likely in his attic hideaway, thinking about me, gazing out at the same ocean I saw through my window, the water dazzling under the starlight, each whitecap looking like a string of pearls cast back at the shore.

Below me, the voices grew softer until they drifted out of my hearing and I was left with nothing but my own thoughts, whispering promises, counting dreams that took me softly into sleep.

Over the next month, Cary and I were able to meet secretly twice more, each time as wonderful as the time before. His progress with Kenneth's boat continued and it soon began to take shape. Kenneth brought some friends out to see Cary's work and one of them seriously considered hiring him to do a custom sailboat for him as well.

One early spring afternoon after I picked up May and we both peddled out to Kenneth's, I heard a small bark and saw the most beautiful golden retriever puppy poke its head out of the front door of the beach house. May and I ran to pick him up.

"I'm calling him Prometheus," Kenneth announced. "I figure I'll stay with mythological names."

"He's beautiful, Kenneth."

"I thought you'd like him."

May held him and he licked her face, making her laugh.

"She's growing up, too," Kenneth said. "Starting to look like a young lady."

"I know."

"She'll need you around more," Kenneth warned. "Big sister stuff."

"She already has," I said. His eyes widened.

"Oh? Well, urn, that's great that she has you to confide in. I have a second surprise for you," he declared, obviously eager to change the subject. "I'm putting Neptune on display . . . finally. We're going to have a showing at the gallery and a pretty big party afterward."

"Where?"

"I suppose this is the third surprise," he said. My heart began to thump. "Your grandfather's house."

"Judge Child's house? Really? Kenneth that's wonderful!"

"He volunteered our home when he heard about the opening at the gallery and I decided, why not? He couldn't even begin to pay me what he owes me. If I don't take what I can, my brother and sister will anyway," he said.

I didn't like his cynicism and he saw it in my face. "I don't have to love him to let him do things for me, do I?"

"Yes, you do, Kenneth. You have to love him. He's your father, no matter what," I lectured.

"My father . . . died a long time ago in the aftermath of a confession. This stranger with the same name and resemblance is just some old, rich man," he insisted. "Anyway, I'm not doing it for myself. I'm doing it for Neptune's Daughter. I think that has a certain sense of irony, don't you? Sure you do," he said before I could reply. "You're one of the brightest young women I've known, Melody. You understand much more than you pretend to understand."

"But Kenneth--"

"Let it be, Melody," he said. "Just let it be."

He smiled at May cuddling Prometheus. Then he looked toward the boat and Cary.

"We'll all take a maiden voyage in a month and celebrate the birth of something very beautiful. Right?" he asked me.

"Sure, Kenneth," I said. "Maybe you should invite Holly to the opening," I suggested. I wanted him to have someone at his side.

"I already did," he said.