Read The Summer Solstice ~ Enchanted for Free Online Page A

inside to figure out what was going on and he got caught
between some shelves in the library. Thank heavens help arrived and found him
in enough time to pull him out and revive him. But he was never the same. His
lungs were severely damaged.”
    Rose looks at me before continuing. “One year
later, on the anniversary of the fire, he had a heart attack. Old man was just
tired of fighting it.”
    My breath catches in my throat. “My mom had a heart
attack.”
    Rose is saddened by my words, but I can see that
the coincidence has already played on her mind.
    “Yes, the same way your mother died. If it weren’t
for the fire – there was just too much smoke. He wasn’t ready to die.”
    “My mom wasn’t ready to die either. Young, healthy
people shouldn’t have heart attacks.” The thought angers me. “What does it
mean?”
    Rose gives me a half-hearted smile and closes her
eyes. “I’ve been trying to figure that one out too. Our family – there
are many attributes that come with the Summer family name.” She pauses, as if
considering carefully what she’s about to say. “I’m not sure if their deaths
are related but I do know that you are a part of it.”
    A
part of it? Part of what? “What do you mean?”
    Charlotte chooses this moment to enter the great
room, carrying a second tray. “Would you like your tea in your den now, Rose?”
    “Yes, please.” Rose stands. “Katrina will have a
cup as well.” She looks at me now. “Follow me.”
    Speechless, I stand and follow my grandmother down
the hall to the corner most part of the house. There, a den is tucked away
under a smaller set of stairs.
    She sits behind the desk, and then gestures for me
to take a seat on the opposite side. A quick glance around the room tells me
everything in it is hundreds of years old. The room is filled with statues and
glass cases holding all sorts of objects that I can’t make out from where I
sit. The ceiling is high; a glittering chandelier hangs from the middle of the
room.
    “This side of the house is definitely the most
lived in.” She laughs. “I just can’t stand all the stairs so I tend to keep to
this one area.”
    I nod. “I wondered about that. It’s not every day a
15 year old gets handed a master bedroom of a mansion.”
    Rose grins. “I hope you are enjoying it. It’s a
beautiful room but it’s just not for me.”
    It doesn’t make sense to me but nothing about a lot
of this makes sense so I decide to postpone the subject. “It’s different. But
it’s quickly growing on me. It’s nice to wake up to the beach every morning.
And the rest of the house is something else. Charlotte gave me the tour. The
place is so tidy that it looks like you just moved in.”
    “I don’t know what I’d do without my Charlotte.
She’s like a daughter to me now. It’s just too bad her and your mother never
met. I think they would be the best of friends.”
    “You spent a lot of time with my mom then?”
    Rose nods, grinning now. “She lived with me all
through her high school years. She loved Apollo Beach. She loved the water and
the small town. She had so many friends.”
    Listening to Rose speak of my mother so fondly
brings an ache to my heart. After all of these years, I had no idea that my mom
and Rose were close. I had always assumed that my mom hated Rose for the same
reasons she hated my father. And I just never thought to question it.
    “Do you have pictures from back then?” I sit
forward, anxious to learn more of their lives here in Apollo Beach.
    The photo albums are sitting in front of me now,
dusty from their lack of care. I make a note to myself to fix that when I have
the chance. Memories deserve to be taken care of – especially memories of
my family.
    Rose gives me silence and respect, allowing me to
take my time, while flipping through each page with a thoroughness that could
kill the impatient. The first album I look through holds pictures of Rose and
my grandfather in their young