Heartsong (Logan 2)

"I couldn't go anyway," he said. "I couldn't get myself to go chasing after her. Not anymore."

"You're not just going to put her on an airplane and send her to Los Angeles, Kenneth Childs, are you?" Holly said.

"No. It's not my decision anyway. You had better talk to Olivia about this first, Melody," he said.

It was as if I had swallowed a rock.

"Don't look at me like that. I can't be the one who sends you off looking for your mother. I'm not one hundred percent sure it's your mother."

"It's like ninety-nine percent," Holly quipped.

"I can't just forget about it, Kenneth. I won't," I insisted. "I don't care what you or Grandma Olivia say," I shouted, tears burning under my eyelids.

"Don't get yourself upset, sweetheart," Holly said putting her arm around my shoulders. "We'll figure out what to do. Won't we, Kenneth?" she asked sharply.

Kenneth nodded.

We were all silent a long moment and then Holly sighed.

"I'll call my sister and tell her to meet you in Los Angeles if you go. She'll do me a favor and look after you. I'd go, but I have to get back to the store."

"You have a sister in Los Angeles?"

"Dorothy Littlefield is her married name. She and I get along as well as oil and water, but she's very well off. Lives in Beverly Hills, drives a Mercedes, shops on Rodeo Drive, eats nouvelle cuisine, but probably knows a lot about models and fashions. Her husband is an accountant. She's an Aries, born March twenty-second. As an Aries," Holly recited, "she has a quick temper, is inclined to hold a grudge, which she has against me for about twenty years, is aggressive, self-willed, and determined. But she's very intelligent and was always an A-plus student with little effort. She is really a good businesswoman. They have no children," Holly added. "Thank God. But I know she would do this. She likes to be needed."

"Debbie Novell is out there, too," Kenneth said. "I think she just got divorced, didn't she?"

"That was five years ago, Kenneth. Debbie Novell is a ditz anyway. I wouldn't trust my cat with her. Remember when she left her car running all night in front of the dorm? What am I talking about? That's not the worst of it. She left her four-year-old at the pharmacy and didn't realize it until they called and told her hours later."

"Yeah," Kenneth said, smiling. "I remember now, but I thought she was a big deal in California real estate."

"So?"

Kenneth shook his head. Then he turned to me and nodded softly.

"Okay,I'll make the call and find out what I can about this so-called Gina Simon. What do you want to do now?" he asked.

"Go see Grandma Olivia," I said. "I'm going to ask her for the money I'll need to make the trip."

"Olivia? You expect her to fork over the money?" Kenneth asked. He was about to smile.

"When she finds out what it's for, I think she might double the amount," I muttered.

Kenneth thought about this and then laughed.

"I think Melody's capable of taking care of herself,. Holly," he said. Holly raised her eyebrows.

"I'll take her to Grandma Olivia's, Ken. In fact," she said, turning to me, "I'll take you to New York and get you on the plane, if you'd like."

"Would you?"

"It's the least I can do. We'll leave tonight," she added.

"I could," I said thinking about it. "I'm already packed."

Loretta nearly smiled when she opened the door this time. I wondered if that meant she had accepted the fact that I was to live in this house.

"I had your suitcases taken to your room," she said. Then she saw Holly standing just behind me and her eyes widened. Holly was wearing one of her tiedyed dresses, a pink and yellow headband, and John Lennon sunglasses. Her lipstick was tangerine.