Page 47 (1/2)

"Losing him nearly killed her" He paused "Nearly killed e where he was beginning to discover the world, when everything’s new and exciting As the baby, he used to try to keep up with the bigger kids He was always chasing after them in the yard And he was healthy, too Never had so ot sick That’s why it was such a shock One week he was playing in the yard, and the next week, ere at his funeral After that, Allie could barely eat or sleep, and when she wasn’t crying, she just sort of wandered around in a daze I wasn’t sure she’d ever get over it That’s when she told , knowing it wasn’t possible to fully i a child

"Why didn’t you?" I asked after a while

"I thought it was just her grief talking," he said quietly, "and I wasn’t sure if she really wanted me to do it, or just said it because her pain was so awful that day So I waited I figured if she asked me a second time, I would do it Or I’d offer to remove just the outer heart, if she wanted to keep the rest of it But in the end, she never did And after that? Even though she used it in a lot of her paintings, she never felt the sa a happy thing for her Even when Kate got s about it"

"Do the kids knohy there are five rings?"

"Maybe in the back of their ure it out on their own It wasn’t so Allie or I liked to talk about After John died, it was easier to think about the garden as a single gift, rather than five And so that’s what it becaot around to asking about it, Allie just told them that I’d planted it for her So to theesture"

Frolide toward us It was curious that it hadn’t appeared before now, and I wondered where it had been I thought that Noah would toss a piece of bread immediately, but he didn’t Instead, he simply watched it paddle closer When it was a few feet away, the swan seemed to hover briefly, but then, to my surprise, it approached the bank

A moment later it waddled toward us, and Noah stretched out his hand The swan leaned into his touch, and as Noah spoke quietly to it, I was suddenly struck by the thought that the swan had actually missed Noah, too

Noah fed the swan, and afterward I watched in wonder as--just as he’d once confided--the swan settled down at his feet

An hour later, the clouds began to roll in Dense and full bellied, they portended the type of summer storm common in the South--intense rain for twentyskies The sas back-paddling in the pond, and I was about to suggest that we go back inside when I heard Anna’s voice behind us

"Hey, Grampa! Hey, Daddy!" she called out "When you weren’t in the rooht find you out here"

I turned to see a cheerful Anna approaching Jane trailed wearily a few steps behind Her smile seemed strained--this, I kneas the one place she dreaded finding her father