Winter's Destiny Read Online Free PDF Page A

you’ll see her again.”
    “Are you saying you know who she is?” Amy sat down in front of him, watching him, waiting out his silence.
    He twisted uncomfortably in the stainless steel chair. “I’m not sure who you saw, Amy,” his voice was barely a whisper, “but I know you have to be extremely careful now. You and Jamie.” Their eyes locked. Neither moved. Finally, the old man reached for her hands. “Amy”, he paused, struggling to find the right words. “I can’t tell you much, but what I can say is this. Horrible things have happened to our family in the past. Accidents. Y our parents’ death, my fall at the cabin…other things…” he struggled, agonizing over how to explain.
    Amy squeezed his hand. “Gramps, those were accident s. Accidents happen to people now and then. What do they have to do with this?”
    He rubbed the back of her hands with his thumbs and when he looked up, Amy saw the pain in his eyes. “Please, Amy, take Jamie and go somewhere safe.”
    She stared at him, and then pulled her hands from his grasp. “I’m not going anywhere. Jamie’s in school and I’ve got a big project to finish. I need to find out who this woman is.” She searched his weathered face knowing he was holding back. “I need answers, Gramps. I came here for your help.”
    The old man leaned back in the chair and rubbed his leg with gnarled knuckles. He always did that when she asked him for something he wouldn’t, or couldn’t, give. Recognizing the motion, she sighed and pushed herself off the sofa. He could be so damned stubborn. There was something he wasn’t telling her. “Damn!” Her arm flew out, sending a golf trophy crashing to the floor. “How can you just sit there after what’s happened and not help me? You’re holding back. Whatever it is, I need to know. Gramps, please!”
    His determined expression hurt. She didn’t understand it, but she knew it was pointless to pursue it right now. Reluctantly, she gave in. “All right, I’ll make coffee,” she said, picking up the bronze trophy and placing it back on the shelf.
    Handing Gramps his mug a few minutes later, Amy sank back into the couch. They sipped in silence, each deep in thought.
    Gramps spoke first, “What’s Dan say about all this?”
    “He’s worried about bad publicity.”
    “Asshole.”
    Amy added, “And he wants me to go away for a while.”
    Gramps’s eyebrows shot up, “First thing he’s said in years that makes sense,” he scratched his chin and added under his breath, “the egotistical prick.”
    “Don’t get started on Dan. You two never did like one another, but this isn’t the time to get into that.”
    “Well, I’ve got my reasons,” he said peering over his glasses.
    Amy never did know what those were and Gramps never did tell her. She had always assumed in was simply a mutual dislike between the two men.
    Gramps continued, “I keep telling you to stand up to him. He pushes you around. Talks down to you. Treats you like live-in help. You deserve better than that, Girl.”
    Amy stood abruptly. She didn’t want to hear anymore. “Enough of this,” she said. “Want to come with me?”
    “Where to?”
    “We’ll go see Grams.” She saw his face fall. Grams was the love of his life. They’d been together forty-five years when Alzheimer’s—at least that’s what they thought it was—took hold of her. Amy knew it pained Gramps to see her like that.
    “What would I want to see her for?”
    Amy tipped her head sideways and frowned.
    He leaned forward in the wheelchair. “Now don’t you go giving me that look of yours. You know darned well the woman’s lost her marbles. She doesn’t know who I am anymore. Last time I was there she thought I was the janitor. Told me to stop gaping at her and start sweeping.”
    “Maybe it was a hint.”
    “Now don’t go getting surly. She’s best left alone.”
    “That’s the last thing she needs, Gramps, and you know it. If there’s even a chance for