Heartsong (Logan 2)

number of times during the night I had wakened from

sleep, nudged by a troubling image or the memory of

harsh words. I would lie there staring into the darkness, listening to the creaks in the old house as the

wind blew in from the sea. Even on the brightest of

days, there were too many shadows in this home, I

thought, and the wind sounded more like whispers on

the stairs or just outside my door.

I wasn't the only one struggling with the past.

There was a silent war being conducted here, a war

with no guns, but fierce battles nevertheless, with the

casualties being truth, happiness, and contentment. "Don't want to talk about, it?" Kenneth finally

asked.

"I visited Grandma Belinda," I said.

"How did it go?"

"She said many things, some silly, I suppose,

but some that infuriated Grandma Olivia."

"I bet," he said with a smile.

"She said Grandpa Samuel liked her more and

she said your father was one of her boyfriends and

that made Grandma Olivia jealous," I blurted. His smile froze first and then metamorphosed

into a hard, deep expression of pain.

"That's why she's in a rest home," he mumbled. "She looks healthy and she's sweet, gentle,

childlike," I continued. He drove his face sullen. "I'm sorry about what she said about your

father."

"It doesn't surprise me," he replied. He turned

to me with a smirk on his face. "I've heard such talk

about him before. Dad was always what is euphemistically referred to as a ladies' man," he said, sarcastically. "He can be very charming," I admitted. Kenneth looked at me askance.

"You too?" He shook his head. "As long as it's

in a skirt, he can't resist, no matter what the age." "Is that why you don't get along?" I asked

quickly, trying not to be offended by his callous