The Legacy of Eden Read Online Free PDF Page A

cherry-patterned dress were still covered in her mother’s blood. He stared into the calm brown eyes of his child and had known then and there what death really was, and also, that at the tender age of three, she now knew it, too.
    That was why he let her come upstairs with him to see his father when they first arrived at the house, even though his sister, Piper, had protested.
    “It ain’t right,” she had called after them both from the bottom of the stairway.
    “What isn’t?” their brother Leo had asked, coming in to take the lunch she had laid out for him on the kitchen table.
    Piper turned. “He’s taking Julia up to see Pa.”
    Her brother had humphed as he tore into a cold beef sandwich with mustard. “So they’ve arrived, have they? Anyway what do you care? It’s his kid.”
    “Would you let yours come up?”
    “I don’t have none so I wouldn’t know. Anyway, I’m thinking that’d be more along the lines of their mother’s call. She don’t have no mother.”
    Piper jutted out her chin in irritation. “Still ain’t right.”
    “He say how long he staying for?”
    Piper watched her brother as he stared at her over his plate.
    “I didn’t have time to ask. He just dropped his bags and went straight up.”
    “No sense beating ’round the bush, I guess. He’s only here for one reason and we all know it.”
    When Cal came back downstairs, he paused at the bottom step at the sight of his younger brother. Piper ignored them both and, bending down low, she faced the silent unflinching gaze of her niece.
    “Do you want some lunch Ju-bug?”
    Julia looked up at her father, who stared at her in silent agreement.
    “She’ll ask for it when she’s hungry,” he said.
    He looked at his sister. She was still as she ever was: thin, wiry, her hard jaw and her overly inquisitive eyes searing everything with their gaze. He looked at his brother sitting at the table, staring at him thoughtfully as he ate. Already he could feel the enmity wash over him. Suddenly he was incredibly tired, and he longed for the silent confines of his small apartment back in Oregon.
    He nodded in greeting.
    “Long time,” he said. Leo raised his eyebrows; Piper looked at the floor.
    “Could say that,” Leo replied.
    “I heard you got married,” Cal said.
    “Yeah. Just before the war.”
    “You fight?” Cal asked, suddenly curious.
    Leo used the last of his sandwich to mop up the mustard sauce on the plate.
    “Yeah.” He looked up and stared at his brother. “I did my time.”
    Cal looked away, as if lost in thought, before he cleared his throat.
    “Did you see any action, Cal?” his brother asked softly.
    Cal met his brother’s unflinching gaze.
    “I saw plenty.”
    “Pa’s glad to have you back,” offered Piper, the light notes of her voice grating against the air in the kitchen.
    “Pa barely knows his own name,” Cal snapped. Piper looked away out onto the porch and sniffed.
    Julia frowned and began to swing against the grip of her father. Cal looked down at his daughter as if he had forgotten she was there.
    “Julia, this is your uncle Leo,” he said, raising a finger. “Remember the pictures I showed you?”
    Julia looked at her uncle and then shook her head.
    “Well, it don’t matter,” said Cal. “He was much younger in them than he is now.”
    “Hi there, girl,” said Leo and gave her a halfhearted wave. He turned back to his plate. “You both gonna be here long?” he asked sharply, without looking up.
    Cal gave him a level gaze and then shrugged.
    “Don’t think so. Got to get back to work, for one thing.”
    “Didn’t you tell them the circumstances?” asked Piper, shocked.
    “Of course I did. They said I could take as much time as I needed but, uh, I just don’t think I’ll be needing that much time.”
    Piper’s eyes slid away from her brother to the floor. Leo paused and then pushed back his chair before wiping his mouth on the back of his hand.
    “Well then,” he said,