Christmas in Sawyer Falls (3 page)

What they did find was the latest vi
deo game system hooked up to the television in the
living room and a pot of soup simmering on the stove.

“What’s all this?” Hannah asked cautiously as they walked in the front door. Once again, she hoped that the bad news was limited to not finding Shadow and didn’t include
finding him dead on the side of a busy road.

“This is an early Christmas present for Drew!” Tess said with a look that told Hannah they had not found Shadow and wanted to find a way to make Andrew not feel miserable about it.

“You didn’t find Shadow, either?
Why doesn’t he come home? I miss him
so much!
” Andrew cried
.

David and Tess looked helpless as they shook their heads. Tess started to help him take off his jacket and bent down to kiss the top of his head. “No, we didn’t find him yet. We’ll just have to pray harder. Don’t give up hope, Drew…don’t ever give up hope.”

Tears were trailing down Andrew’s pink cheeks
as he turned to look up at his grandmother
. “I’m tired of praying. God doesn’t even listen anyways! First he took my daddy and now he’s taken Shadow, he doesn’t care about me at all!”

Before anyone had time to respond, he was halfway up the stairs to his
bedroom, his sobs echoing down the stairs behind him, piercing the hearts of his mother and grandparents
.

“Poor kid!
I’ll go talk to him,
” David said.

“No, dad,” said Hannah, “I’ll do it. He’s usually so optimistic
, this is unlike him. It’s like
he’s going through the pain of losing Michael all over again.”

“Why don’t you bring him up a bowl of soup and crackers, I’ll go get it for you.”

As she walked upstairs, her mind was trying to recall a Bible verse, something about hope. She remembered that it was on a bookmark that someone had given her after the funeral. She used it when she was reading grieving books for widows.
Widow.
It was still hard to believe that
she was one. Old
women were widows. Not a twenty-nine
year old.
Maybe she could find that bookmark for Andrew.

She knocked on the closed door and after not hearing a response, opened it slowly.

“Hey Buddy, I know you’re sad. I’m sad, too. Is it ok if we be sad together?”

He was on his bed with his face turned away from her. At least he wasn’t crying any more, Hannah realized, thankfully. Hearing him cry was like a knife to her heart.

“
I know when I’m sad, I like to be alone, sometimes, so I understand if you’d like to be alone.
I wasn’t sure how long you needed to be up here, so I brought you a bowl of Grandma’s soup.” Andrew usually wasn’t allowed to eat in his room and she hoped this special gesture would encourage him to open up.

He turned his face towards her and shook his head. “I’m not hungry, Mommy.”

“Well, I’ll leave it here on your dresser, in case you change your mind
and get hungry later
. It should stay hot for a
while.” She set the soup down and then sat next to him on the bed and put her hand on his back.

“It made me really sad to hear you say that God doesn’t care about you, because God loves you more than words could ever
explain. But, I do know what it
feels like to be without hope and it’s not a good place. Grandma was right, you know, you should never lose hope. It’s something that can’t be taken away from you, no matter what happens.”

He didn’t say
anything
,
he just laid there looking at her with tear stained cheeks. She pulled
the
bookmark out of her pocket. It was
soft blue and green and the writing on the front was in a beautiful calligraphy.

“What you said, it reminded me of a Bible verse that brought a lot of comfort to me after Daddy died.
It was on this bookmark that someone gave to me.
I’d like to give it to you and hope that it brings you comfort, too, until we find Shadow. Would you like to see it?”

He nodded so she carefully put it in his hands. “It says, ‘
For I
know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord,
plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
’ Jeremiah 29:11.
”

She put the bookmark into his hands.

“
Isn’t that nice? Now, I totally understand that you are sad about Shadow being gone, believe me, I do. But you have to keep hope that she will be back. And until then, we can go downstairs and try out that new video game system your grandparents set up for you or you can lay up here and let the sadness and pain eat at you. What’s it going to be?
Are you going to kick my butt in
that new hockey game or what?
”

Andrew’s lip turned up in the faintest of a smile and he held out his hand
to her
.

“There’
s the Andrew I know
, who looks on the bright side of things.
We have all of those flyers out around town, now. Somebody is bound to see him soon, right?
We just have to put it in God’s hands and know that he has bigger plans for us.
”

David and Tess perked up when they saw Andrew with Hannah coming down
stairs but their attention was pulled away when
the doorbell rang. It startled them at first as they weren’t used to getting much company living out in the country.

Her
father opened the door
and
Hannah heard a man’s voice say, “I think I
may
have something that belongs to you,” and she
was surprised to see Shadow burst in the room
. W
hat she saw behind Shadow surprised her even more. It was him. The man she’d seen at the gas station
, standing there on the front step
.

He didn’
t see her right away
, he was busy smiling at Andrew
, who
was jumping up and down and hugging Shadow, saying, “I knew you’d come back, boy, I just knew it!”
.

“Thank you so much for bringing our dog home, you just made this little
guy
the happiest boy in the world. Please, come in. David Miller,” he
r father
said, holding out his hand.

“Ben
Murphy, nice to meet you,” the man said as he shook David’s hand and stepped into the foyer. Once in
side his eyes met Hannah’
s
. S
he could tell that he recognized her
too.

“You look familiar, have we met?” he asked her.

“The gas station the other day.
I was the klutz who emptied her purse.”

“Oh yeah, I remember now. Hannah.”

He remembered her name.
Suddenly Hannah was painfully aware of the fact that she hadn’
t yet had a chance to even shower
, she was in sweats with her hair pulled back into a ponytail. If only she’d known he’d be coming over.

She smiled at him and nodded. “Sh
ado
w belongs to my son, Andrew. He
wandered off from us when we were on a walk yesterday. We’ve been worried sick about him.” Then, to An
drew, she added, “Andrew, why don’t you
come here
, please,
and thank Mr. Murphy.”

Andrew remembered his manners, walked over to Ben and like a little gentleman, held out his hand. “Thank you, Mr. Murphy! You’re even better than Santa!”

Ben chuckled. “Well, that’s the best compliment I’ve received in a long time.”

“Where did you find him?” David asked

“Wel
l, actually I saw him last night out trotting
along highway 12. I stopped and tried and called for him but he wouldn’t come near me, he took off. Then, this afternoon, I found him at my place in the
barn.
I saw that he had a collar with
tags on but the phone number was worn off, I could only read the address. He looked like he was well-loved so I thought I’d just drive him over.
”

“Highway 12? You wouldn’t be the new
vet
who bought the Foster farm, would you?”

“I am him, indeed. I’
m a veterinarian
now
, but
with more
room in the barns at the new place
, I’m focusing more on raising and showing horses. That’s my true passion. But I guess if a dog out wandering the country had to pick a barn to crash in, he picked the right one. I checked him over and he seems to be in perfect health. Maybe just a little tired. ”

“Highway 12?” Hannah asked, her voice shaking slightly. She could feel the color draining from her face. “He was heading home. To our old home, that is. Andrew and I moved in with my parents after my husband passed away.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.”

He said it in a way that was truly kind and not the uncomfortable, awkward way that some people respond at hearing that her husband was dead. She hadn’t even meant to open up to this stranger before her, but the thought of Shadow out in the woods heading for the direction of their old home tugged at her heart.

“Thank you. And thank you, again, so much, for bringing Shadow back. We just put up flyers all over town today. In fact, we’re offering a reward for his return. And it looks like that should go to you.
Let me get my purse, and this time I’ll try not to drop it,
”
she said as she headed to the closet to grab her checkbook.

“Oh no, I couldn’t take any money from you.
I didn’t even know there was a reward out
for him.
Seeing the look on your son’s face is payment enough.” He looked kindly down at Andrew and then back to Hannah.

She tried to control the butterflies that fluttered in her stomach when he looked at her, but it proved too hard a task. She felt hot and flustered and did not like the feeling of not being in control. He was just a man.
Just an incredibly h
andsome man looking at her with piercing green eyes.

Andrew looked up at Ben and then to Hannah with a twinkle in his eye.
Oh, please don’t say anything about Santa bringing you a new daddy
, she silently pleaded. “Um, Andrew, why don’t you take Shadow i
nto the kitchen and make sure h
e
has plenty of food and water. H
e’s probably hungry.”

Thankfully, Andrew obeyed
without so much of a word about Ben being a gift from Santa.

Tess walked over to stand next to Hannah and smiled politely at Ben. Hannah noticed that she had a bit of a twinkle in her eye, too,
and wondered if she sh
ould send her off an errand as well
.

“Hi! I’m Hannah’s
mother, Tess.
We’d love to repay you for bringing Shadow home and if you won’t take any money, maybe you’ll take our food. Why don’t you come by for dinner tomorrow night?
” Then she quickly added, “
Please say yes, it’s the least we can do.”

Hannah laughed softly to herself. Leave it to her mother, she thought. Tess must have seen the way that Ben and Hannah looked at each other, must have felt the electricity between them and she wasn’t going to give up this opportunity so easily.

“Uh, I guess I could do that. I don’t have plans tomorrow night and I’ve never been known to turn down a home cooked meal.”

“Wonderful! Why don’t you be here around
six.
”

“Six it is. You folks have a good night, I’m glad I was
able to bring Shadow back to his
boy.”

*

The door had barely closed behind Ben Murphy when Tess let out a whoop. She couldn’t hold her excitement in any longer.
You’d think she’d just won the lottery.

“Did you
see the way he looked at you?” She started clapping her hands like a tween at a slumber party. “Just yesterday I was wondering to my
self how you’d ever meet a man
to date when God answers my prayers by bringing one right to our front door!”

“And my prayers, too, Grandma!”
Andrew yelled out from the kitchen.

“Slow down, you matchmakers!
First of all, I’ve already told you that I’m not interested in dating right now and second, we don’t know anything at all about this man that you already have me married to!” Hannah said, exasperated.

“
Well, darling, that’s exactly why we’re having him over for dinner-so we can all get to know him better. And what I do know about him is that
he
couldn’t keep his eyes off of you!”