Heartsong (Logan 2)

p; connivance to keep Haille and me from becoming

boyfriend and girlfriend and eventually marrying, but

he broke down and cried and confessed and blabbered

like I had never seen.

"I was stunned. I rushed out of the house and

over to see Haille. That was when she described the

sailing and the way Dad broke the news. She was

already different," Kenneth said, nodding to himself. "How?"

"I sensed this abandon, this feeling that

whatever had been keeping her in check was gone.

She was like a kite whose string had broken and she

was being tossed about, but not minding it. She was laughing a lot, acting like the daughter of a mentally disturbed woman. I got frightened, especially when she embraced me on the beach and said, 'Let's not care. Let's do what we want and let's do it right now,

right here.'

"I panicked. It was as if a vampire had asked

me to become a vampire with her. I broke her hold on

me and ran from her, hearing her laughter trail after

me. I still hear it sometimes.

"Anyway," he said, "the rest you know. Haille

became the woman Olivia accused her of always

being: promiscuous, uncaring, indifferent, reckless,

and wild. The rest is as I told you. Oh, I tried to be

friends anyway, tried to give her good advice, come to

her aid whenever she needed me, but it was like

holding back the tide, the inevitable disaster. Dad was

right. It wasn't very long afterward that she became

pregnant with you and then Chester came to her

defense. Blindly in love with her, he stood by while

she accused Samuel of unthinkable things. Maybe that

was her way of getting back at my father, attacking

his close friend. To her, they were all the same: