Heart's Reflection Read Free Page A

someone I care
about dying. I just can't."
    "What do you
mean again ? Who do you think you're
responsible for?" Confusion knit Gran's brow.
    Silence blanketed
the room for long seconds until I could force out a sound. "My
parents," I whispered.
    "Oh
sweetheart." Gran rose from her chair and then pulled me up and into a
tight hug.
    Blinking back the
tears, I allowed the words to spill out. "I saw what would happen. But I
didn't stop them."
    "You weren't
responsible for your parents. There was nothing you could do about that
accident."
    "I tried. I
told them, but they didn't believe me."
    "That was
more my fault than yours." Gran patted my back. "I should have told
your mother about the family gift. But I thought, since it would skip over her,
she didn't have to be troubled about it."
    "I coulda
tried harder to convince them," I said, leaning into her soft neck. The
scent of her lavender soap enveloped me just as her arms did.
    "Even if you
had convinced them, it wouldn't have changed anything. If they'd believed you,
what would they have done? Never drive a car again? Don't you think I've tried
to change fate in my seventy-two years? No, honey," she insisted with a
little shake. "And what if you did change Liam's future? How would that
change other events? Pull on one string and the whole fabric unravels, maybe?
Perhaps someone else dies?"
    What did I care
about that amorphous someone else? I needed to save my boyfriend. "There
has to be some way."
    "Your
parents' fate was not in your hands and neither is Liam's."
    Not in my hands?
Maybe not right now, but that didn't mean I couldn't try to grab onto Liam's
destiny and tug like hell. But if I tried and I failed, his death really would
be my fault.
    Did I have the
courage to take that chance?
    * * * * *
    Going to the
Ellsworth house that night was the first step in my campaign. But I soon found
that sitting through the uncomfortable tension between the brothers and their
parents was an almost insurmountable challenge. How successful would I be in
changing fate when I couldn't even manage to change the heavy mood of dinner
conversation?
    Keagan sat on one
side of the table opposite Liam and me. He scowled down at his plate as he
pushed the mashed potatoes around, trying to form a perfect circle with the
gloppy substance. With one turn of the fork, black ink peeked out from beneath
the cuff of his shirt.
    Omigod, he'd
gotten a tattoo circling his forearm a few inches above his wrist. I glanced
around the table, hoping that none of the others had seen it.
    Their father
loomed at one end of the table, stuffing his face. In between bites he sipped a
scotch. He wasn't drunk, just buzzed. Mrs. Ellsworth hovered about, mostly
occupying the space between her seat and the kitchen. And it wasn't only her
legs getting a workout. Whenever Mr. Ellsworth would make some nasty comment,
Mrs. Ellsworth would treat it like a turd in a cat box. She'd giggle nervously
and let loose a barrage of inane chatter as if she were trying to bury his
comment so deep beneath her own words that we wouldn't realize how stinky his
words were. The only blessing was that so far most of his jabs had been
criticisms of politicians and work colleagues. Only a few had been directed at
the family.
    At the moment we
were all sitting in a merciful pocket of silence between the turd laying and
the scratching.
    As Mr. Ellsworth
finished chewing a bite of the meatloaf, he glanced at Keagan and then at his
son's plate. He swallowed and his lips twisted into a displeased curl. He
opened his mouth and I knew we were in for a smelly one.
    "So Keagan.
Flunked any tests at the new school yet?"
    Keagan flinched,
the slight movement so brief I would have missed it if I hadn't been looking at
him. His eyes met mine and the corner of his lip curved upward into a wry smile
before he turned his head toward Mr. Ellsworth.
    "No," he
drawled.
    "Just no? Are
you disrespecting me boy?" Mr. Ellsworth picked at his teeth.
    "No...sir."
    "I see