Chapter One
It was dawn when she woke, the sky just beginning to brighten in the east,
night's shadows still draping the trunks and limbs of the big shade trees
in inky layers. She lay quietly for a time, looking through her curtained
window as the day advanced, aware of a gradual change in the light that
warmed the cool darkness of her bedroom. From beneath the covers she
listened to the sounds of the morning. She could hear birdsong in
counterpoint to the fading hum of tires as a car sped down Woodlawn's
blacktop toward the highway. She could hear small creaks and mutterings
from the old house, some of them so familiar that she remembered them from
her childhood. She could hear the sound of voices, of Gran and Old Bob,
whispering to each other in the kitchen as they drank their morning coffee
and waited for her to come out for breakfast.
But the voices were only in her mind, of course. Old Bob and Gran were
gone.
Nest Freemark rose to a sitting position, drew up her long legs to her
chest, rested her forehead against her knees, and closed her eyes. Gone.
Both of them. Gran for five years and Old Bob since May. It was hard to
believe, even now. She wished every day that she could have them back
again. Even for five minutes. Even fo ... read full excerpt from: A Knight of the Word ebook
