Free Echoes From The Past (Women of Character) by Grace Brannigan

repaired one leg with long, uneven stitches. One
ear was narrower than the other and it had stitches along the side. Had Judith
mended a beloved toy for her daughter?
    Christie left the kitchen and
walked down the hallway. Looking into the living room, she found Hannah lining
her dolls up on the area rug. Christie stepped back out of sight and knocked on
the door casing, holding the stuffed toy so all Hannah would see was the
rabbit. "Can I come in?" she said in a high, whiney voice.
"Somebody dropped me and I hurt my ear. Look, it flops."
    A small giggle from Hannah, then
silence. Christie wiggled the rabbit sideways. "Please? I want to play
with Hannah’s dolls."
    "You can come in,"
Hannah said quietly.
    Christie stepped around the corner
and entered the living room.
    Hannah solemnly accepted the
proffered rabbit and put it on the floor beside her dolls. Christie noticed the
dolls were arranged in order of size and hair color -- blondes, then brunettes.
    "Luckily your rabbit wasn’t
hurt so you won’t have to stitch him up. It looks like you’ve operated on him a
few times."
    Hannah nodded. "Daddy sewed
his ear here," she held the rabbit up by the ear, "and on his leg
when he broke it. See?"
    Impressed, Christie said,
"Your dad did that? Wow, I couldn’t sew a stitch if you paid me."
    Hannah looked down at the rabbit.
"Daddy can do all kinds of stuff."
    "I believe you. He seems
pretty smart." Garrett was mother and father all rolled into one, but he
had lied to her. A lie of omission.
    "Well," Christie said
cheerfully, "now that you and the rabbit are reunited I’m going back to
work. Maybe I’ll see you later, Hannah."
    Hannah didn’t say anything, but
for once her smile was sweet and unguarded.
    ###
    Hannah stared at her dolls after
Christie had left. Carefully, she rearranged them a bit. Christie seemed pretty
nice, but Hannah remembered Mommy saying you had to be careful of people.
Sometimes they acted all nice because they wanted something. Hannah chewed her
lip, wondering if maybe Christie wanted something. No, she’d brought her
favorite rabbit to her and she didn’t have to do that. Christie was nice. She
kept her from getting hurt the other day.
    Hannah held the rabbit tightly to
her chest and smoothed the soft old fur with one hand. She wondered if she
should be friends with Christie. Maybe she’d ask Daddy or she could just wait
and see if Christie did anything mean.
    "Sometimes people just need a
little rope to hang themselves." Hannah put her hands over her ears, but
she still heard Mommy’s voice. Sometimes it got in her head and wouldn’t go
away.
    She gathered her dolls in her arms
and climbed into Daddy’s chair. She stuffed the dolls all around her and sat
very still. On a table beside her was Daddy’s old baseball cap. She picked it
up and held it tightly. Daddy called it his lucky hat. As she stared at a
picture of Daddy and Uncle Randy on the wall, she began to feel better. Mommy’s
voice was gone. Hannah relaxed.
    ###
    Later that afternoon Garrett
stabled his gelding in the barn and strode down the newly raked barn aisle.
Another day come and gone. The barn smelled sweetly of hay and clean bedding as
he checked each of the box stalls.
    He’d spent the latter part of the
afternoon checking fence in the furthest pastures from the house. Some of his
young stock were out in those pastures and he liked to keep a regular eye on
them. He made a mental list of the chores he hadn’t been able to get to today.
    "Hi, Boss!" called out
Sue as he neared the end of the barn. Sue stepped out of the box stall next to
the doorway and into the aisle. It was the stall of the mare that had been
injured today. Garrett noticed the black jar of ointment in her hand.
    "Hi Sue. How’s Bridie’s leg
doing?"
    "It’s looking good -- no
swelling so far. I just cleaned it again and put on ointment to keep the flies
away."
    Garrett entered the large box
stall, the crisp shavings stirring underfoot. Birdie was one