Southern Lights

“You’re sick.” Julia

Daisy was the next member of the interrogation team.

“Who was that boy who picked you up last night?” she asked casually over pancakes in the kitchen.

“Just a boy from school.”

“That’s all?” Daisy asked, looking disappointed. “Is he in love with you?”

“No,” Sava

“Are you in love with him?”

“No. I don’t know him either,” she said, her feet firmly on the ground.

“Then why’d you go out with him if you’re not in love with him?” Daisy asked, looking disgusted.

“Because we wanted to eat di

“Was that one of the Ashby boys I saw you leaving the house with last night?” he asked with equal interest. Clearly, her dating life was the hot topic in town.

“Yes.”

“Nice kid?”

“I think so. He seemed like it,” Sava

“I play te

“He didn’t say anything about it. We just talked about school.” Tom nodded, and told her that Henry was coming in from New Orleans that afternoon.

“He’s anxious to see you. He’ll be home for di

She and Daisy left the house at eleven o’clock, walked all over the aquarium, and had lunch there, and came back at three in the afternoon. Tallulah said their father had just left to pick up Henry, so they played Go Fish and War and Hearts and Gin Rummy, and shortly after five o’clock Tom and Henry walked in. Daisy flew down the stairs to greet her brother. He was a year younger than Travis and was a handsome young man with a powerful athletic build. He had played football in college and instead of UVA had gone to Duke. Sava

After Henry had lavishly hugged his younger sister, he looked up the stairs and saw Sava

“I am sooooo happy to see you,” Henry said softly, as he came up the stairs to where she stood and folded her into a bear hug. “I am so glad you’re here. Travis and Daisy already told me all about you. I came home this weekend just to see you.” And the way he said it, she believed him. They walked back down the stairs and into the living room. Fortunately, Luisa hadn’t come home yet, or she would have objected to his making a fuss over Sava

They sat down and talked for a while, and he asked pertinent questions, what she liked, what she did, what her favorite music was, her favorite books and movies, the names of her friends. He wanted to know all about her. And his eyes grew sad when he asked about her mother.

“I didn’t like to write when I was a kid, so I didn’t. But I always thought about her, and about you. Your mom did something very special for me when she was married to our daddy,” he said solemnly, as though he was about to share an important secret. “I’m dyslexic, and your mama tutored me for all those years. I hated the tutor I had, so she did it. I think she took classes to learn how to do it. Anyway, thanks to her, I got through school. I never forgot it. She was the kindest, most patient woman I have ever known, the spirit of compassion and love.” Tom had been standing in the doorway and heard Henry say it, and walked away with a pained expression. Neither Henry nor Sava

“She never told me,” Sava

“It’s a good school,” he confirmed.

They went on talking, and eventually Luisa came home from her spa day. She came to kiss her son, and then rapidly went upstairs to change. She wasn’t happy to see him talking to Sava

“What’s wrong with you?” Luisa asked him, noticing how unhappy he looked.

“Nothing. Just thinking. How was your spa day?”

“Very nice, thank you,” she said coolly. She had no intention of warming up to him again until Sava

The atmosphere at di

With Henry in charge of most of the conversation, everyone was in a good mood, even his mother. She asked him at the end of di

“She’s fine, Mama. She just got engaged.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” she said, gushing sympathy for him, and he laughed.

“I’m not.” Henry talked a lot about someone called Jeff who was his roommate. Apparently he was from North Carolina, and they had taken several trips recently. Luisa didn’t ask about him.

By the time they finished di

Luisa would have liked to keep Henry away from Sava