The Brushstroke Legacy Read Online Free PDF

what’s going on in my miserable life? If You cared, why would You saddle me with Erika for two whole weeks? I thought this trip was to be a turning point for me.
    She paused, as if waiting for an answer. Even the silence felt empty, just like she did.
But then why am I even going on like this if I don’t believe You are who You say You are? All the years I’ve gone to church and Sunday school and memorized my verses and studied Your Word seem like such a waste.
She leaned her head against the bank of pillows.
But then, like Mom said, this might be my chance to get to know my great-grandmother, as much as I can all these years later. Is that important, Lord?
She closed her eyes, the better to think ahead.
    The house of confusion was not a comfortable place to live.
    Oh, shoot, I didn’t call Mother.
She’d not had it on the list. Promising herself to call from her cell phone once they were on the road, she rolled to her side and let sleep take over.
    Somewhere between sleep and dawn, Ragni jerked awake, the terror of a nightmare setting her heart pounding and her lungs pumping. Something black—its breath hot on her back, the stench still in her mouth—chased her, reaching for her neck. She scrubbed her eyes with balled fists and forced herself to take a deep breath. She could still feel, hear, and smell the beast, whatever it was.
    She reached for the glass of water she kept on her nightstand and chugged half of it. Did everyone have dreams as vivid as hers? At least whatever it was hadn’t caught her. What did chase scenes mean again? She’d taken a class once on the meaning of dreams so that she could make some sense of her own. Promising herself she’d write it down in the morning, she snuggled down and floated back to sleep. When the alarm rang at five, she punched the Snooze button. Surely there was no need to leave quite so early. Besides, the chances of Susan and Erika being on time were slim to none.
    By six-fifteen she was ready, the car loaded with the final thingsand the sun jumping higher in the hazy sky. Six-thirty. She dialed Susan’s cell.
    “We’re just going out the door.”
    From the tone, she knew there’d been fireworks already. And it would take them half an hour to get across town to Ragni’s. She hung up and dialed her mother.
    “Good morning.” The tone said it was anything but.
    “Bad night, Mom?”
    “You could say that. Are you already on the road?”
    “Nope.” She explained the delay. “So how’s Dad?”
    “Sleeping now. He’s getting more restless—up and down all night, it seems. Susan says I should put him in a secure unit, but I just can’t. This is his home, and he gets fretful when he’s away from it. Enough of that. How are you?”
    “Raring to go. Just pray I don’t kill your granddaughter before we get back.”
    “Oh, I think once she’s away from her mother, she’ll settle in. Susan does err on the side of perfectionism. Erika has a good heart in spite of all that black she wears.”
    Ragni thought back to her dream, something black chasing her. Hmm. Perhaps she had no further to look than reality for an explanation. “Spoken like a true grandmother. I’ll keep in touch. We should still be there by dark if we don’t have any more delays. I made reservations at the Bunkhouse Motel. Finding the cabin will be much easier in the morning.”
    “It’s not hard to find. You have the map and directions. I remember all those times going out there when I was little. Grandma had already passed away, but Uncle Einer still lived there. Mother hadgood memories of growing up in Medora. Oh, the stories she would tell.”
    “Shame she didn’t write them down.” Ragni barely remembered her grandmother, who had died when Ragni was a child.
    “True. I know I have some of her letters here someplace. Oh, Ragni, how I wish I was going with you.”
    Ragni could hear her father calling in the background. “Talk with you later, Mom. Give Dad a hug from me.”
How could