Sylvester opened his laptop and the video chat program he used for weekly calls to his parents-in-law in Ireland. After chiming for a few moments, the chat window popped up with Louise's smiling face in it, gesturing for Sean to join her. He walked into the camera's range a moment later and Louise spoke, "Hello, Sylvester. Hello Paige. What a lovely surprise! How is my beautiful girl, Megan, doing? She's growing up so fast. She's not there with you, is she?" Louise's eyes scanned the room behind Sylvester and Paige.

Paige laughed. "No, not this time, Louise. She's at home with her dad today. Sorry to disappoint you, it's just me and Sly. But she does keep us on our toes, this week she's trying to convince Walter to buy her a horse."

"Well, why doesn't he?" Louise asked, a bit testily. Anything to do with Walter always made her seem a bit frustrated. "Girls that age love horses."

Paige felt her usual surge of exasperation at Louise's casual dismissal of anything to do with her son's feelings. "Walter is quite right in not giving in to this. We don't have the land or the time for a horse and Megan's whims shift like the wind."

"I'm sure that's not right, Walter should–"

Paige broke in. "I'm sorry Louise. I know you have your issues with Walter and I disagree with your assessment of him, but there was a reason we wanted to talk today." Paige turned her gaze to Sylvester.

Sylvester cleared his throat and spoke for the first time. "We called to ask you about Dad's paternal grandmother, Aveline. We discovered some old photos of her with the family in Megan's things."

"We also found some of Megan's retellings of the old bedtime stories she told Megan." Paige supplied. "We were hoping that you might tell us what you know about her."

Sean's face clouded. "I don't speak about her." He stood and gave Louise a look that communicated something between them. Something that made Paige and Sylvester deeply uncomfortable. It was clear there was something Sean didn't want Louise to say. "There are chores to be done," he told her. "I don't have time for this. You don't need to waste your time on this either, but if you do, I have no interest in listening to it." Paige and Sylvester exchanged glances as Sean stalked out of the camera's view.

Louise watched him go, then turned back to face them. Paige and Sylvester weren't sure if she would answer any of their questions or just decide to hang up on them. "Sean's father, James, had a difficult relationship with his mother, and his attitude toward her colored the way Sean thinks about her as well. I can tell you what I know, though I don't know how much help it will be to you. I didn't know her well."

"We're looking for any information we can get. So whatever you can tell us would be appreciated."

"I'm surprised you're not asking your husband, Paige."

"I would, but Walter doesn't have many memories of her."

If Louise had any thoughts on that statement, she didn't share it, instead she pasted a smile on her face. "Patrick and Aveline O'Brien. I haven't thought of them in years. Walter was named after him, you know. Aveline insisted, swore he was the spitting image of his great-grandfather, even as a baby. I was quite ill after Walter was born and didn't have the energy to argue with her. She cared for Megan and Walter when they were small children. But I'm sure you already know that." Louise paused, as if searching her mind for more she could tell them. "Let me think, let me think. Patrick died an untimely and tragic death after a fall from a horse when Sean's father was only thirteen years old. After that, Patrick's father and brothers worked to keep the farm in the family so James could take it over when he was old enough to run it himself. Such a tragedy. I always wondered how different Sean's father and even Sean's life would have been if his grandfather had lived."

"Do you know anything else about Aveline?" Paige prompted.

"I think there was a journal of Aveline's once upon a time, but it's long gone." Louise's eyes widened as if she had said more than she meant to say. Quickly recovering, she continued, "From what I remember, Aveline, the daughter of an Earl, ran away from her family to marry Patrick. She was never particularly liked by the residents of County Kilkenny and after Patrick's death was rarely seen in the village again. The family preferred it that way, I suppose, and eventually, most people forgot that she had ever existed. I was surprised after Sean and I were wed to find that his grandmother was still very much alive and lived with him on the farm."

"Is there anything you can tell us about her before Megan and Walter were born?" Paige asked.

"Well, she was always quiet and kept to herself as much as she could, though she was always helpful to me and a good worker, surprisingly enough. But after Megan was born, it was as if she came alive, she loved Megan so and cared for her night and day. I was grateful for the help. Aveline caring for Megan gave me more time for the neverending chores that are part of life on a farm. Megan loved time with her Granny." Louise sighed. "Then Walter was born. It had been a difficult pregnancy and labor and I was grateful for Aveline caring for newborn Walter around the clock as I recovered."

Louise's demeanor stiffened as she began to speak about her son. "Right from the beginning his father and I could tell that Walter was different and we had nothing but trouble with him. But with her, it was different, it was almost as if from the moment he was born, Aveline understood him. They bonded immediately. He cried whenever anyone but her tried to hold him." Paige felt her stomach turn listening to the way Louise spoke about Walter. It was almost as if she were irritated by the memory of her child's cries. "It made my life easier not to have to deal with such an odd young one. He seldom left her side."

Louise glanced over her shoulder, nervously, as if she expected Sean to appear out of thin air. "Walter was almost four years old before he said his first words. It was as if he didn't want to. We could see that he understood everything going on around him. That he was choosing not to speak. Once he started, he never seemed to stop butting heads with his father. Aveline was always his protector and champion when he and Sean argued."

"Did Megan and Aveline have a close relationship like that?" Sylvester asked.

Louise relaxed just slightly, now that Walter was not the topic of conversation. "They were close, of course, Aveline cared for them so often in those early years. But it was nothing like Walter and Aveline's bond."

"We know Megan and Walter were quite young when she passed. Do you know what happened to her?" Paige was eager to end this conversation.

"The winter when Walter was six, Aveline passed in her sleep. She'd had a weak heart for years and it was finally her time." The odd note of relief in Louise's voice set Sylvester and Paige's teeth on edge. "Megan mourned her beloved Granny, of course, but Walter was inconsolable. Neither Sean nor I could do anything for the boy. I had no idea how, but somehow Megan managed to comfort her little brother, and eventually, he seemed to put Aveline behind him. I was relieved when Walter seemed to move on from his fixation with Aveline. I could never quite put my finger on it, but Walter was always a little different after that. More reserved, less emotional, I guess." Louise paused. "No memories of Aveline, you say? Sean will find that quite interesting."

Paige and Sylvester exchanged a glance at that tidbit of information. "Very few memories," Sylvester told her, "Do you have any idea why?"

Louise shrugged. "I don't know why a genius wouldn't remember his great-grandmother. Heaven knows he remembers everything else. I'm sorry that I don't have more to tell you. It was a long time ago and she kept to herself during those last years." Louise looked like she would like nothing more than to end this call quickly.

"No need to apologize, that was so helpful, Mom, we learned a lot that we didn't already know. Thank you so much for taking the time with us." Sylvester assured her.

"Of course, I should probably go though, make sure that Sean's all right. Bringing up his grandmother's name puts him in a mood for days sometimes."

Paige couldn't believe how casually Louise talked about her husband's disdain for his grandmother. A grandmother, who by Louise's own account, loved Walter in a way even his parents didn't. She opened her mouth to fire off a rude retort, when Sylvester, recognizing what his sister-in-law was about to do, cut in changing the subject. "Thank you so much for your time, Mom, but I promised Paige I wouldn't keep her too long today, and here it is, nearly noon here in California. We really should let you go."

Louise nodded and looked into the camera at Paige. "I understand. I was so disappointed not to talk to Megan today. I'd love to chat with her soon. Will you tell her I'd love to hear from her when she has a chance?" Paige nodded reluctantly, she wasn't sure when Megan would be talking to her grandmother after this conversation. Louise turned to Sylvester. "Son, when are you going to bring your niece to the farm for a visit? It's been so long since we've seen either of you in person."

"I'm not sure, work is keeping us all quite busy these days, but we'll figure something out soon."

Louise smiled, looking satisfied. "Sean is no doubt lurking around here, somewhere waiting for me to get off this video chat and get ready for bed. We'll talk again soon, about happier matters."

Paige and Sylvester both bid Louise goodbye before Sylvester tapped the button disconnecting the video feed. Once Louise's face disappeared from the screen, he and Paige both looked at each other for a long moment without speaking. At last, Sylvester broke the silence. "I don't know why I didn't bring up finding Megan's re-creation of Aveline's journal entries."

"I don't blame you, I didn't bring it up either. There was just something about her body language, her tone, the way she talked about Walter and Aveline that made me reluctant to share those journal entries that Megan so carefully hid. We still don't know who she could have been trying to hide them from. Could it possibly have been Sean and Louise?"

Sylvester visibly shuddered. "That's almost too terrible to contemplate. I feel like we are left with more questions than before we started. I just wish we could convince Walter to talk with us. I'm certain his memories of the bond he had with Aveline are still there. We just need to find the right key to unlock them."

"Louise is hiding something, but is it what we're looking for, or is it something else? I hate this! Family secrets inevitably come out and people get hurt. I'm afraid the person most likely to get hurt in this situation is Walter. I just have this feeling that Louise doesn't want to tell us what happened to Walter when Aveline died."

Sylvester's shoulders slumped in dejection. "I think you're right. Thank you for trying, Paige, but it feels like we've hit a dead end for the moment. I don't have any more ideas of where to look."

"Me, neither," she looked at her watch. "I do need to get going, I promised Megan that I would be home in time for lunch." She gathered up her purse and turned the knob of the door to the apartment. "If Walter says anything, I'll let you know."

"And if I discover anything else in Megan's things, I will too. But for now, I'm just not sure where any answers are going to be found."