Free Heart of the Family by Margaret Daley

at heart. The laughter and ribbing filled the cool fall air. Before she knew it the sun began to slip down the sky toward the western horizon.
    “Shouldn’t Mom be here by now?” Andy asked as the losing team shook hands with the winners.
    Hannah checked her watch. “She’s only a few minutes late.” Please, Lord, let Lisa show up. If she doesn’t… Hannah didn’t have any words to express her regret if the woman didn’t come.
    Jacob jogged toward her, his shirttail hanging out of his jeans, some dirt smudges on his face, his hair tousled even more than usual where some of the children tackled him to the ground at the end. Gabe and Terry had hung back until all the bigger kids were on the pile then they joined the others on top.
    Jacob peered toward the road that led to the cottages and mouthed the words, “Not here?” so that Andy, who was staring at the same road, wouldn’t hear.
    She shook her head. “Everyone needs to clean up. Dinner is in an hour.” She eyed Jacob and his smudges. “Including you.”
    “I brought an extra shirt in case something like this happened, which it does every time.” With a wink, he loped toward his car.
    “What if something happened to Mom?”
    Hannah put her hands on Andy’s shoulders and pulled his attention away from the road by blocking his view. “We have an hour until we eat. Don’t you know women are notorious for being late to important events. We have to make our grand entrance.”
    “Ya think that’s it?”
    I hope so. “Yes,” she said, and sent up another prayer.
    She and the children walked toward the cottage as Jacob joined them, carrying his clean shirt. He slipped into the house ahead of them and made his way to the bathroom off the kitchen. The kids dispersed to their bedrooms to clean up. Hannah stood in the foyer with Andy, Nancy and Susie.
    The boy glanced back at the front door. “I’m gonna wait out on the porch.”
    After Andy left, Hannah said to Susie, “Will you make sure everyone really cleans up? I’ll be outside with Andy.”
    “Sure. I hope his mother comes. He’s been so excited.” Susie took Nancy’s hand to lead her back to the bedrooms.
    Nancy stuck her thumb into her mouth and began to suck it. Hannah watched them disappear down the hall, wondering why the five-year-old was sucking her thumb. She hadn’t seen that before, and it now worried Hannah.
    Out on the porch Hannah eased down next to Andy on the front steps. He cradled his chin in his palm and stared at the road. Her heart contracted at the forlorn look on the boy’s face. Maybe Jacob is right. I should have left well enough alone.
    She searched her mind for something to make the situation better when she heard the door open and close. She glanced back at Jacob, who came to sit on the other side of Andy. She saw no reproach in Jacob’s expression, which surprised her. Lisa was a half an hour late, and a lot of people would now be gloating about how she had been wrong.
    “You know, I want a rematch tonight. I can’t let Gabe’s win stand. Want to join us in the game, Andy?” Jacob lounged back, propping himself up with his elbows and appearing as though he had not care in the world.
    Until you looked into his eyes, Hannah thought, and glimpsed the worry deep in their depths.
    “Can Mom play, too?”
    It took Jacob several heartbeats to answer, “Sure.” But again nothing was betrayed in his expression or tone of voice.
    Andy jumped to his feet. “Look! She’s coming.” He pointed toward a woman walking down the road toward the cottage.
    Before Hannah could say anything, the boy leaped off the steps and raced toward his mother. Relief trembled through Hannah at the sight of the woman. Lisa scooped up Andy into a bear hug, then looped her arm around him.
    “She came,” Hannah murmured, tears smarting her eyes.
    The silence from Jacob electrified the air. She resisted the urge to look at him and instead relished this step forward in Andy and his mother’s