Blue Stone
Chapter 2

Well, at least I’ll get some sleep tonight, or so I’d thought. All I could think about was my knight in shining armor that got out of the completely awesome car to help the maiden in distress. His eyes were so blue they were nearly clear, and his sun kissed golden blond hair hung perfectly in place. It’s a good thing he can’t read my mind.

With some energy to burn I started with what was my grandma’s room going through boxes and piles looking for hidden treasure. This is the room next to the living room and the only bedroom without a closet. It will be perfect for my computer, there’s already a phone jack in here. The gray carpet isn’t all that bad it just needs cleaned. I can see the front yard through the window in here. It will be a nice distraction when I’m supposed to be studying.

It didn’t take long; I found a small box with several old tin and black and white pictures. The box was hidden well in the back of the make-shift closet my Grandpa had made. I didn’t get a chance to look through them because the doorbell rang. My heart nearly leaped right out of my chest it had been so quiet. Nothing made a sound but an occasional bird and my light humming. “Coming,” I called getting up stiffly. The sun was already up; I had stayed up all night. “Roxie, you’re up early.”

“Good morning, how did you sleep?” She was appraising me as she walked in the door carrying a covered plate.

“I couldn’t, so I started going through grandma’s room. She was quite the pack rat, and the family ransacking the place didn’t help anything.” I commented as we made our way to the kitchen.

“She just didn’t like anything to go to waste. There have been many stories about your family and this town. The piles around you hold a lot of secrets.” Her voice caught abruptly as if she’d said something she didn’t mean to. Then, with a deep breath she started again. “Whose car was here last night?” She asked trying to distract me.

“A nice guy named Kayne saw me struggling with my bed and stopped to help. Do you know him?” Conflicting emotions played across her face as she spoke. “He does seem nice, but be careful things are not always what they seem.”

A subject change seemed in order, “My mom used to tell me stories about this place, most were like fairy tales and others were plain scary. Is there any truth to the legends?” It was quiet for a moment and then my stomach started growling.

“Oh, I forgot. I came to bring you some muffins since you didn’t have your kitchen in working order yet.” she explained making it obvious she wasn’t going to answer my question.

I rubbed my stomach and took one, “Mmmm, these are wonderful, fresh strawberries.” My manners were horrible, talking with my mouth full, but I was too hungry to care. “Your grandma’s recipe, I thought something familiar would be nice.” she said as she started back toward the door.

“Roxie, I found several pictures can you tell me about them?” As I started stuffing another muffin in my mouth. She smiled hesitantly “I’ll try, but I don’t know much about your grandma’s family.” Roxie is married to my grandpa’s brother.

“I’ll take what I can get; anything you tell me will at least give me a place to start. I want to make a family tree. It would be a nice Christmas present for the family.” Roxie smiled again and then walked with me back to Grandma’s room.

One of my favorites was pictures from a photo booth; she said it was at the county fair. There were a couple of my grandpa and his brother and one of him and my grandma before they were married. “Grandpa and Uncle Charlie look like movie stars,” I said kind of awe struck.

She laughed as she started the story, “they had let me and Evelyn curl their hair and we all got dressed up. Your Grandma wore a blue polka dot sleeveless dress, and I was in a solid red one. Your Grandpa and Charlie were so handsome, Bill wore navy slacks and a white, short sleeve button down shirt, Charlie had black pants and gray pull over. We had so much fun that night. Your grandparents really knew how to have fun. We went on every ride and the boys showed off their throwing skills winning us both a teddy bear. Bill and Evelyn loved to laugh.”

Then, she picked up another photo continuing her walk down memory lane. “Every Fourth of July we would go up into the field here and play baseball. That is, what those pictures are there.” She pointed to three more on the floor. “The whole family got together, we had the best time. It was funny watching them try to dodge the cow pies.” She smiled at the memory.

I picked up a picture, “Is this my mom? Her hair wasn’t blonde though.” confusion flickering across my face. “Your mom had blond hair like you when she was young, then in her twenties it started getting darker turning brown then almost black.” She picked up a strand of my hair. Mine was already turning, it looked like I needed my roots touched up.

“You could be Ceana Jüng’s twin though.” She was picking up a very old picture. The woman had a white lacy dress on with a high collar and long sleeves her hair twisted on top of her head neatly and the man was wearing a dark suite which made him very pale looking. They were holding hands, which for that time was probably risqué. “Who is this?” I was still staring intently at the photo when she finally answered. She looked at me for a moment more before she spoke. “It’s your great-grandma Ceana Jüng and her fiancé, Sean Gannon.” The hemlocks behind them look familiar to me but I can’t place them. I bet it is Ceana’s place. The next photo was a white house with a big wrap around porch and lots of flowers. It looked like it was probably in town. That’s where that kind of house is around here, but trees behind it so it has to be somewhere else.

I suddenly recalled that Ceana never married, “Wait I thought she never married, and isn’t my Great-Grandpa’s name, Hamilton?” My curiosity peaked.

“Well, Sean died on Christmas day 1917 before the wedding. I don’t think she ever really got over it. It was like she had died with him. Hamilton’s family bought that house and the land. That‘s how your family ended up with so much land.”

“Oh, so how did Ham happen?” I said still trying to keep the stories together. “Well, Ceana, and Ham were best friends; the relationship just grew so they moved in together about three months later. She would never marry him though, because she felt like she was betraying Sean. I really believe she died from a broken heart. Nothing or no one could ever completely make her whole again.” We sat in silence for a while that was a lot to absorb. Setting there I realized my Grandma was born June of 1918. That means Ceana Jüng was pregnant before she and Ham got together. That must be why there is such a gap in the kid’s ages. This was obviously something Roxie didn’t want me to know. So, finally breaking the silence and changing the subject, “I’m going to go to town for some supplies and groceries. Do you need anything while I’m there?”

“No you have fun.” She said sensing I had done the math. With that she was gone and I was left to get cleaned up for my outing.

My stomach started cramping again as I started toward the door. When I looked up there Kayne stood in all his glory about to knock. He was wearing worn out jeans, a dark blue t-shirt, and dark brown hiking boots. He had a black truck with chrome roll bars in the back very redneck, but very sexy. In the back was everything I was going to town for. This left me wondering what this was going to cost me. “Hey, Kayne what’s all this?”

“Saving you the trip. I was also hoping you were more of a country girl than you appear and maybe you’d like to go for a ride” he was pointing at the four wheeler buried under my supplies. He smirked just asking for a smart remark from me. “Since I did your shopping for you, it’s the least you could do.” Now, he looked down right evil.

Of course I couldn’t resist, “Hmm, you see the problem is I don’t really know you, and you might be planning to take me off somewhere to murder me or something. He thought for a moment, “Okay, how about we just ride to the park. plenty of people and a nice place to talk.”

“I’ll go with one condition; you have to help me work on the house tomorrow or I’ll never get done.” Crossing my fingers for a little luck. “Sounds like a plan, but you might want to change into some old clothes we might get a little dirty.” I went back in and found some old, holy jeans, a black shirt, boots, and a baseball cap. I helped him bring in the stuff out of his truck. “Do you know the back way down the mountain?” I looked at him sideways trying to see his reaction without him seeing me.

“To the park?” scratching his head in confusion. “Let me drive and I’ll show you.” He thought for a second. “Okay, but I thought you were worried about being murdered or something?” Ugh, my words always come back to bite me. “Maybe you should be the one worried.” with a wicked smile I started the four wheeler and spun out of the driveway spraying gravel everywhere

He pretended to shudder, took a deep breath, and held on tight to the rack. I revved the engine again and took off down the road toward the saw mill. I didn’t feel him breathe until I slowed down to turn off onto a one lane road. “Problem? You look scared.”

Kayne shook his head. “No, I just didn’t expect that.”

Turning my attention back to the road, I noticed the upgrade. “Wow, they’ve paved it since I was here last.” With surprise coloring my tone, we took off again. I love taking this road, one side is mountain the other is a shear drop. The trees are so thick all you see is green.

“I thought we were going to the park?” He moved his mouth closer to my ear so I could hear him, but all it did was send a shiver down my spine.

“We are this is just a remote part of it. People like to come here to fish because it’s so quiet and peaceful.” It only took about five minutes and then the trees opened up to the most magnificent sight. Kayne’s breath caught a little at the site. He likes it too. The pond a dark green, with hues of gold shimmering on the surface from the sun and edged in towering pine trees and carpets of moss covering boulders except for the one spot where the dock is inviting you to sit and lose yourself in the majesty.

“The next time we come down here we’ll come in from the main road and bring my dad’s fishing boat.” He said half daydreaming as we were coming to a stop at the edge of the water and the engine went silent. The sudden silence was deafening, but nice. We sat there for at least ten minutes in complete silence, just staring at the scenery. It is so peaceful and calming here.

Setting on the ground watching Kayne take in the view, I began to wander sure if he were even breathing. So, I finally got up and gently touched his arm to see if he was okay. It took me by surprise how cold he was, but he gave me a warm reassuring smile that made my heart react, thumping as if I had ran a marathon. “What do you think of my spot?”

He slowly turned to look at me and said, “This is one of the most beautiful places I’ve seen. I can’t believe we hadn’t found it. I love the outdoors and have been hunting the woods a lot.” Then, he went back to staring at the pond.

I laid back taking in the silence watching the clouds float by and sneaking glances at Kayne‘s expressions as he stared out at one of God‘s masterpieces. The next thing we knew the sky was beginning to darken. “We need to get back; I have a lot of work to do before classes start Monday.” With that we were on our way back up the mountain.

Roxie was waiting by the door when we pulled up. She just glared at Kayne and without a sound he loaded the four wheeler and left.

“What was that look about?”

“You need to be more selective of your friends.” She looked like she smelled something rotten. That didn’t sit well with me.

“Well, besides you he’s the only person that has acknowledged my existence. It’s sad when you consider the fact that my mom’s entire family lives within walking distance.” She handed me a plate of food and disappeared into the night.

I went inside and thoroughly enjoyed the meal Roxie had left. The day had been exhausting, but I was too worked up to sleep. Reading a little will calm my mind. However, my material was limited to school books and my Grandma’s Bible. The Bible it is. Most of Genesis was familiar until the first part of chapter six; “...the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.” The Nephilum or the fallen had children with human women. A person has to wonder if the vampires, werewolves, and other myths could be what this union produced. Maybe what we consider fantasy actually existed in ancient history.

At some point while lost in thought I fell asleep. My dreams were full of angels and human women with their strange children. Some could pass as human others were variations of the creatures from our nightmares and horror movies.

Suddenly there was a banging noise on the roof and a motor started up in the distance. It startled me; I jumped up so fast it made me dizzy. Once my feet were steady I went to the front door and there sat two trucks and Kayne’s car. He can’t see me like this. In the bathroom I quickly ran a brush through my hair and teeth not really looking in the mirror until I was done. That’s when I noticed my hair looked like it had gotten even darker overnight. Old jeans a t-shirt and I was ready. Just then my stomach started cramping again but this time some dizziness. “It is me Kayne. Are you up yet?”

I moved toward the door fighting the whole way to get a handle on my sudden illness. “Sorry, we didn’t mean to wake you. I thought you’d be up already, and I did promise you help in exchange for our outing.” He had a warm smile but there was hesitation in his eyes.

How can he possibly be that sexy in dirty clothes and this early. Great, nervousness added to the dizziness and stomach issues didn’t help anything. Get it together girl, he is waiting for a response. “I wasn’t serious about that, but I’ll take it. Who did you sucker into helping?”

“Your cousin Billy is mowing the field for the hay, and on the roof are a couple of local boys, Micah, and Paul. They are good at doing odd jobs, and were willing to do it in exchange for food.” Kayne ran his fingers through his golden hair with a sense of pride.

“Wow, men really are slaves to their stomachs.” Whatever came over me was starting to subside.

Kayne rubbed his stomach and laughed. “You know it. There is an ulterior motive though. They’ve been curious about who would be brave enough to live in the old witch’s house” he said making quotes with his fingers. “From what I hear your grandma was a wonderful person, it’s awful how some folks act when they don’t understand something.”

“And you do?” A little mystified and offended at the same time. My Grandmother was a strong person, and one of the nicest and giving people I’ve ever known. How could they think she was a witch?

“Wow, have you looked at yourself?” Kayne suddenly went silent like he wasn’t sure if he should say anything else. Suddenly I fell to my knees clutching my stomach, probably looking as sick as I felt.

It passed after a few seconds, so I stood up and quickly distracted him from the dramatic scene. “Since Billy is mowing the field, we can have a cookout at the barn and a baseball game in the field. Does that sound good? It would be nice to bring back a family tradition my Grandpa loved.” The distraction worked.

“You’re kidding that’s perfect. So, are you cheering or playing?” Wide eyed with surprise and bouncing with excitement.

“Playing of course, you don’t think I’d just let the boys have all the fun do you?” I playfully punched him in the arm and he gave me a blinding smile.

“Aren’t you full of surprises? He looked at my feet and then reached for my collar, looked at my neck. I must of had a crazy look on my face because he finally spoke. “I was just checking to see if you had more red on your neck than tar on your heels.”

“I’ve been told I’m a complicated old soul.” Kayne thought that was hilarious.

“There’s a lot to do if we’re going to have this game. The barn needs cleaned out and the field marked. Do you want cow patties or tree stumps for bases?” His expression made me laugh so hard I nearly cried. His eyebrows crumpled down, lips mashing in a line, grabbing his stomach like he was sick. “Preferably tree stumps.” He looked completely disgusted. “Now, who is the city slicker?”

That day went by so fast, but we accomplished so much. I had no trouble falling asleep tonight.

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