Heartsong (Logan 2)

some pay them off and send them away, some deny

having ever known them, if they can. The fortunate

rich and powerful stuff their lovers into rest homes

where they can be kept institutionalized, medicated,

and humored. Everything Belinda said after that was

just fantasy or lunacy.

"And you want me to forgive him," he said. He

lay his head back again.

"That's because I see him now, Kenneth," I

replied in a small, trembling voice. "I wasn't there

from the beginning and I didn't know the details as

you do. What did my mother do when he finally

brought her back to shore?"

"She got away from him as quickly as she

could. At first she called him a liar, thinking Olivia

had put him up to it to keep her and me from being

together."

"Why?"

"That's something only Olivia can answer. She

and Haille never got along, and I think--" He

hesitated and gazed up at me, deciding whether or not

I was old enough to understand or whether he had a right to say it. He decided to continue. "I think Olivia always loved my father and was jealous of her own sister. That jealousy manifested itself in her relationship with Haille. Olivia treated her like

Cinderella, the beautiful but inferior step-daughter. "Anyway, Haille came home and shut herself in

her room. No one knew why yet, I suppose. When I

got home that night, Dad called me into the den and,

fortified with a half dozen bourbon and waters, told

me what he had told Haille.

"Now it was my turn to call him a liar. Who

wanted it to be true? I, too, was hoping it was just a

&nbs