Lightning Strikes (Hudson 2)

"It was home to you once, wasn't it?"

"Yes," she said, nodding. "Though it seems like that was another life now. I'll call you," she promised. She attempted to hug and kiss me. I stood like stone and she turned and left.

I went out front and watched Jake drive them off. The sky had become quite overcast. Low clouds rolled in from the east and the wind grew stronger and stronger. I could see how it made the water ripple on the lake. I wasn't chilled, however. It all smelled fresh and made me feel good. I was even looking forward to the downpour that the clouds promised. I expected it would wash away the sadness and the sorrow and make tomorrow look even brighter. I was thinking I would return to the cemetery myself when the weather cleared and say my own final good-bye to

Grandmother Hudson.

Just then a door slammed on the side of the house and Victoria came around the corner, her arms full of folders. She stopped when she saw me.

"These are mine," she said. "They have to do with my business."

"Don't you mean our business?" I asked.

She glared at me and stepped closer.

"What do you think you will get out of all this defiance?" she demanded.

I looked away and smiled.

"My name," I said, turning back to her. "Nothing more and nothing less."

"We'll see," she said.

She walked away.

The two crows I had often seen before soared over the lake and toward the house, veering to the right, toward the sea.

They flew as if they believed the future always held promise for them, I thought.

I hoped and prayed I was right in thinking it did for me, too.