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7/11/08
2:19 PM
Page 2
Lora Leigh
blue eyes, just like Nathan’s, brighter than Nathan’s father’s and without the hints of green his father’s had. Grandpop smiled. A strange, sad little smile. “Because my Erin is here.” He pointed to the small graveyard. There, Nathan’s grandma, Erin Malone, was buried. On one side of her were buried the two sons they lost in Vietnam, his uncles, Riordan and Rory Jr., and the daughter that had died of a fever, Nathan’s aunt Edan. “Grandma wouldn’t want you to leave?” Nathan frowned. His grandma was dead, what would she care? “Oh, now my Erin, she’d smile down on me no matter where I walked.” Grandpop smiled that little smile again. “But I’d be separated from her, and I’d feel that separation in my soul, you see?” Nathan shook his head. Grandpop sighed. “You have the Irish eyes, boy. One of these days, you’ll see from eyes, not your own, feel with a heart outside your chest. Wild Irish eyes, Nathan. When you love, love well and love true, and take care, lad, because those Irish eyes are windows into not just your own soul, but the soul of the one you love.” Grandpop looked out at his Erin’s grave. “And when you lose that heart, you can’t leave the places where your memories are the best. And if I left her, I’d not be buried beside her.” Grandpop stared back at him then, and Nathan felt his chest grow tight at the thought of ever burying his grandpop in the hard, bleak soil. “Wild Irish eyes,” his grandpop murmured then. “My father gave me the same warning I give you now, boy. Don’t lose the one you love. You lose a part of your soul when you do. The legacy of those eyes will ensure it.” Nathan frowned. That didn’t make much sense, but maybe he’d ask his uncle Jordan about it later. Uncle Jordan still remembered his mother. He had been five when she died, just before Nathan’s birth. But Uncle Jordan was in Houston right now on summer break with Nathan’s older uncle Doran and his family.