The Magic in her Gift Read Online Free Page A

didn’t want us to be a part of your
life.” Anger coursed through her with the thought that she’d been
denied her grandmother’s love. “I’m sorry, Grandmother. I really
did love you. I hope you knew that.”
    Sighing, Sara stood and walked over to
the closet. She reached out to open it and started at the sound of
knocking and a voice calling her name. Wiping the tears from her
face with her hands, she walked over and opened the door. “Hey,
Karl.”
    “ Sara, are you okay?” He
stared down at her as if he knew the emotional upheaval she was
experiencing.
    “ Sure, I’m fine. Just
looking around, thinking about Grandmother.” She glanced back at
the room and then up into his concerned face. “Do you think you
could tell me about her, Karl?”
    He smiled and reached to take her hand.
“Come with me, Sara. I’ll tell you all about Lizzie.”
    Sara allowed herself to be pulled out
into the hall. “Where are we going?”
    “ To Lizzie’s studio. It’s
the perfect place to tell you all about her. Come on, girl.” Karl
led her to the stairs at the end of the hall and began climbing to
the third floor. “There are two rooms upstairs. One is Lizzie’s
studio and the other’s mine.” Karl didn’t say anything else until
they reached the top and he’d thrown open one of the doors. “Step
inside, girl, and experience Lizzie’s magic.”
    Sara took a deep breath and stepped
into the room. That air rushed from her lungs as a tingling heat
rolled through her body. Then, almost as soon as it started, the
tingling morphed into a warm feeling of belonging. “It’s like
coming home,” she whispered.
    A smile crossed her face as Sara
inhaled the aroma of oil paints and turpentine. She walked slowly
around the room, letting her fingers trail over an easel with a
partially finished canvas. A table with boxes of colored pencils
and chalks sat in one corner with stacks of finished paintings
lined up on the floor next to it. The room was perfect for an
artist with windows all along one wall and a skylight for maximum
lighting. She quickly thumbed through her grandmother’s paintings,
most of which were landscapes of the island. “I’m an artist myself.
Did you know that?”
    Karl walked over and leaned against the
table. “Yes, I knew and so did Lizzie.” He covered her hand with
his own. “She was very proud of you, Sara.”
    Sara looked up and smiled. “Tell me
about her, about the two of you. When did you meet?”
    “ Lizzie and I were together
forty years, more or less. We met right here on the island.” He got
a faraway look in his eyes. “She meant everything to
me.”
    “ Why didn’t you marry
her?”
    He laughed, but it had a bitter sound
to it. “She wouldn’t marry me, Sara. She didn’t want to get married
again unless Gwen approved.”
    “ Mother didn’t like
you?”
    “ That child hated me from
day one and I never understood why. I always figured she wanted her
own daddy to come home to her.” He sighed. “She never gave me a
chance.”
    “ I’ve never heard my mother
speak of her father. Hell, I’ve never even seen a picture of
him.”
    “ Lizzie told me he ran out
on them right after she had Gwen. I don’t think the child ever met
him.” Karl slid down to the floor and leaned back against the table
leg. “She had just turned ten when Lizzie brought me here. That
child could get into more mischief than any kid I’d ever known. She
put everything she had into trying to drive me away, but Lizzie
would have none of it. That woman made it her goal in life to make
us a family.”
    “ What finally happened? I
mean, I know that Mother left to go to a boarding school when she
turned sixteen.”
    “ Yeah, she was one unhappy
young lady.” Karl looked up and smiled. “Not just with me, mind
you, but unhappy being on an island without any friends.” He
grinned wickedly. “Specifically, boyfriends. After talking it over,
I agreed with Lizzie that it might be best to give into her