My Hand, My Song, My Freedom

---- Chapter 3 "Scarlett, you have to help your sister," Mary-Lou said a few days later, her voice firm. "The doctors said a skin graft from a twin, even a non-identical one, might take better. You have to donate skin for Lila." | looked at her, then at Hank, who was nodding eagerly. "Actually, Mom," | said calmly, "the risk of rejection from a non -identical twin is still quite high. Modern synthetic skin is far superior, with fewer complications.

Besides," | added, my eyes flicking towards Lila' s heavily bandaged form in the next room, "we still don't know who was careless around that faulty wiring, do we?" The fight went out of them. A week later, the Beaumonts, Mr. and Mrs., visited our cramped little house. Lila, propped up on the sofa, her face a patchwork of ointments and bandages, was in a foul mood. Mrs. Beaumont, her eyes red-rimmed, tried to offer comfort. "Lila, dear, Jax is asking for you. He..." Lila cut her off, her voice raspy but cold as ice. ---- "I never loved Jax. He was just a rich fool who fawned over me.

| wouldn't tie myself to a... a cripple. Tell him to leave me alone." Mr. Beaumont' s face went from tired grief to cold fury. Hank, ever the opportunist, shuffled his feet. "Mr. Beaumont, sir... as a token of our... our sorrow... I' d be willing to offer you a partnership in my bait and tackle shop. A fine business, really..." Mr. Beaumont looked at my father as if he were something slimy he' d found on his shoe. The contempt was a physical force in the room | stepped forward, my expression carefully arranged into one of remorse. "Mr.

Beaumont," | said, my voice soft, "| am so, so sorry for my sister' s cruel words. She' s... not herself. May I... may | visit Jax? To offer some comfort? To apologize for this?" Mr. Beaumont looked from Lila' s sneering, bandaged face to mine, apparently so full of compassion. His expression softened almost imperceptibly. "Yes, Scarlett. You may. Perhaps you can talk some sense into him about... her." A stark change from the man who, in another life, had called me a viper and barred me from ever seeing his son.