Overcomer - The Battle, Judy Colella [first color ebook reader .TXT] 📗

later propelled Eileen out of her chair. When she returned, she was accompanied by a blonde woman of about the same size as she, perhaps a little taller. Kristin Grandol was an attractive forty-something whose features were echoed beautifully in her daughter’s face. She was somewhat on the petite side, like Eileen, but looked slightly more athletic.

Mr. Croghan stood as they entered and Eileen introduced them.

“Her harp teacher? Oh, right. Katie told me Celeste had gotten a harp. Nice to meet you, Mr. Croghan.” She sounded almost interested, but then turned to Eileen. Trying to keep the irritation out of her voice she asked, “So, what’s going on?”

“Please sit down, Kristen. I have to get the muffins out of the oven.” Eileen grabbed the serving platter and took it to the stove.

Kristen gave her back a narrowed stare. Eileen always had things like muffins and other baked treats on hand when people came to visit, even when such visits were unexpected. But something about her friend’s body language told Kristin that this time the reason might be more of a way to artificially keep things on the lighter side.

And then she looked suspiciously at Croghan. “So, uh, the kids are at school. Is Eileen taking harp lessons, too?” Not that she suspected her friend of cheating on her husband – she knew the woman absolutely adored Donal – but she was wondering about the motives of this theatrically handsome individual sitting so comfortably in the Kelly’s kitchen.

“No, dear lady, she’s not,” he said, aware of her distrust. “However, I needed to speak with her on a subject that, uh, actually, it involves you as well.”

“Did she ask you to come over?”

“No.” He smiled broadly at Eileen as she placed the steaming plate of muffins on the table. “Ah, Mrs. Kelly, your culinary efforts should have made you famous long ago.”

Eileen huffed, “Oh, please. And be careful, they’re red hot.” She sat down opposite her friend, Croghan having taken her chair at the end of the table.

They all stared at one another for a moment, until Kristen finally sat back and said, “This is nuts. What’s going on, guys? Why is Katie suddenly acting like she’s so much older? And where, exactly, has she been rushing off to the past few days? Come to think of it,” she added, sitting straighter, “she’s spent more time here lately than at home.”

Eileen took a deep breath. “Okay. Remember that boy you saw at the school last Thursday? The one you told me about?”

Kristen’s eyes went a little glassy. “Yeah, that incredibly gorgeous…” She caught herself, blushed, and cleared her throat. “Right. How could I possibly forget him?”

“Well, he’s unusual in more ways than his looks,” Eileen told her. “On Saturday morning, he showed up here needing to talk to Celeste, and – you’re right: I honestly found myself wishing I were a whole lot younger – um, anyhow, Tara was taking her lesson with this gentleman, but was finishing up when Cian came in (that’s the boy’s name). Tara, of course, nearly fainted.” She gave an almost hysterical giggle, then quickly sobered. “But here’s where things got strange. When Mr. Croghan came out into the foyer looking for Celeste, he and Cian, well, they knew each other! And they started talking about Celeste, and how she was this person they’d been looking for, or at least Cian had, because Croghan here already knew where she lived and all that.”

Kristen put up a forefinger to stop her friend’s story and silently poured herself a cup of coffee, added cream and three sugar cubes, then took a muffin, split and buttered it, and took a bite. Then she took a long sip of the coffee. “I’m getting the distinct feeling that this story is not going to be anything I ever could have imagined. Am I right?”

“Yes.” Both the Croghan and Eileen uttered the word at the same time, looked at each other, surprised, and Mr. Croghan continued.

“Mrs. Grandol, I first have to tell you that your daughter is a delight. She’s one of the smartest young ladies I’ve ever met, matched only by Celeste, I’m sure, and her heart is, like Celeste’s, pure and good. You’ve done a grand job raising her, madam.”

“Gee, thank you!” said Kristen, genuinely astonished and flattered.

“And because you’re a good mother like Mrs. Kelly, here, I hope that what I’m about to tell you – if you believe it – will help you appreciate how special your child is and not be upset by what she’s doing.”

“Okay. You’re beginning to alarm me, Mr. Croghan,” she said lightly, but the look in her eyes boded thunder of the mother’s-wrath variety.

“Sorry. I’m hoping, dear lady, to achieve the opposite.”

Kristin took another, longer sip of coffee, set the cup gently on its saucer, and said, “Well, then, start talking.”

NINE

 

At the end of the school day, Cian, Celeste and Katie met at the bus area and decided it would be best for them all to go to Celeste’s instead of their respective homes. Cian called Mr. Geller, telling him he had some important extracurricular activity to see to, and asked if the man could call the karate school to let Sifu Chao know he wouldn’t be able to make it this evening. He knew Mr. Geller put education above everything else, and clearly assuming Cian’s “activity” was education-related, he had readily agreed to the request. Katie had decided to call her mother when they got to the Kelly’s, and the three got quickly off at the stop two blocks from Celeste’s house.

Despite his determination never to ride the bus again, Cian knew he had no choice, but that didn’t mean he had to take his time getting away from it. As the three teens walked down the sidewalk, Cian unabashedly in the lead, every girl on the bus pressed her face against the windows on the side where they got off. It was probably a good thing he didn’t feel the need to look back.

As they approached the house, Katie noticed her mother’s car in the driveway. “Uh-oh,” she said, pointing. “Wonder what that means.”

“Yeah, and I wonder what that means,” added Celeste, pointing at Croghan’s car in front Mrs. Grandol’s.

“What what means? That there are cars in your driveway?” ventured Cian, who had only briefly seen Katie’s car the week before.

“No, not just cars – my Mom’s car. It means that my Mom is here, and so is the Keeper, and who knows what’s going on in there.”

Celeste shrugged. “The roof is still on.”

The girls laughed at the comment, once again mystifying Cian, perhaps more than usual, as her words appeared to have no connection with anything at all in the whole universe as far as he was concerned, but he was hesitant to ask, afraid the reply might be even more bizarre. When they came inside, the kitchen was empty, but they could hear voices in the family room.

“Here we go,” murmured Celeste, leading the way.

Her mother was sitting sideways on the loveseat; Mrs. Grandol was sitting back on the sofa, looking highly uncomfortable.

The Keeper was standing in front of the fireplace, waving his hands around as they caught the end of what he was saying. “. . .no reason to make any of this up, Mrs. Grandol.”

Celeste cleared her throat delicately from the doorway and both mothers jumped. Croghan, who had already seen them standing there, simply acknowledged them with a nod.

“Katie!” Kristin struggled to her feet – the sofa was incredibly soft and squishy from Tara jumping on it when no one was looking.

“Mom!”

“What are you doing here?”

“What am I doing here? What are you doing here?”

Cian cleared his throat. “We needed to spend some time here this afternoon.”

Mrs. Grandol almost gasped. She’d not been close to the boy that day last week, and had therefore gotten the impact of his looks from a distance. Now that he was only a few feet away, she nearly lost her composure altogether. Sure that she would start babbling if she tried to speak, the woman nodded instead.

“Cian, my boy, your timing is impeccable,” said Croghan, “and your instincts pure genius.”

“What?” said the three teens simultaneously. They looked at each other and burst out laughing.

Croghan, somewhat amused but a bit exasperated, shook his head. “Listen, you three, Mrs. Grandol is having a hard time grasping what’s been going on, not that I blame her, but it occurred to me that if you could prove it to her – ?”

“Well,” Katie started, giving her mother an I’m-so-sorry look, “we actually came over to recite the Scroll together.” She glanced up at the Keeper. “Maybe if she heard it? I mean, I doubt she’ll want to sit here for six hours, but at least she could listen to some of it.”

“‘She’ is right here,” said Kristin, finally finding her voice. “Talk to me, please.”

“Sorry, Mom. Did Mr. Croghan tell you about the Scroll?”

“He told me a lot of things that sound absolutely nonsensical and quite insane, if you want to know the truth,” she answered, trying with every ounce of self-control not to look at the devastatingly handsome youth standing behind her daughter. “But no matter how crazy it sounds, I can’t deny that you’re different, and that the change seemed to happen overnight. And yes, he told me about this Scroll thing, so...”

The three looked briefly at each other, an unspoken communication flashing among them, then Katie said, “Sit down, Mom. This is going to take a while.” She closed her eyes, putting her hands out to her sides; Cian took one, Celeste the other, and they began.

After nearly a half hour, Mrs. Grandol, mouth open in disbelief both at what she was hearing and the clear, steady manner in which the three of them were speaking, glanced at Eileen who, it appeared, was equally amazed.

Mrs. Kelly knew what they’d done, now that the Keeper had explained it, but simply hadn’t realized the extent of their knowledge. Were they really going to recite an entire document, the length of which was equivalent to the Bible, or maybe even longer?

Someone’s cell phone started to make jingly sounds, but no one acknowledged it. Later, the house phone rang, but again, it went unnoticed. Mr. Kelly came home, and without even removing his coat, sat down next to his wife and listened. Tara, having gone to a friend’s house after school, wasn’t due home until nine o’clock, but no one was thinking about her anyway. The cell phone went off again, several times, in fact, but no one moved – they were too flabbergasted. The Keeper had heard the recitation before, but the second time was no less awe-inspiring. And what truly amazed him was how the three of them never moved from where they stood. Six hours of standing still in one spot – only people so young could pull that off. In the Hub, at least, Time was, by its lack of presence, on their side, but here, he knew they had to be getting tired.

Tara was a little late getting in, so she only caught the last fifteen minutes and thought they were reciting lines for a school performance or something.

And then they said, “So Be It,” and fell silent.

Katie blinked a few time, shook herself, squeezed her friends’ hands and let go.