A TANGLE OF LIGHT 

By Tessa Harvey


    "I will send divorce papers," Jack continued. "I am leaving." He repeated the words loudly. He threw a card across to Ava. "My lawyer's contacts. Goodbye. Sorry I ever met you and you certainly took me for a ride. I should have left years ago!" Turning away from four stunned adults, Jack walked to the far door and left. They heard his footsteps receding. It was clear he had packed his bags already. They heard them rolling over the wooden hall floor.
    But Ava had heard another sound. A cry of anguish. She leapt up and ran to the door, flying once as she had once raced down a hockey field, a star player as a young adult.
    She ran as never before. That desperate cry had rent her heart, flying after her broken granddaughter. Racing into the driveway, passing James, angrily reversing his car, Ava was just in time to see Adrienne grab the car keys from her bag. "No," she cried, "Adee, wait!"
    Her precious grandchild looked at her scornfully. "I am going to Jonathan's," she declared, "he is helping me. He really cares. He wants to be my family and he has all I need. Dad cares but not enough. Anyway he is NOT MY DAD! You all heard him.
    "Please," Ava was begging, leaning against Adrienne's bright red car. "We all still love you." She suddenly felt strange, waves of intense pain moving into her arms. Her breath caught. It seemed hard to inhale. "Help me," she whispered, pain so immense, she fell. 
    Angrily, Adrienne got into her car. "Move," she said coldly. "I don't need this family."

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