Healing Autumn's Heart (Love Inspired)

by Andrews, Renee

  “Good thing, since there isn’t a single parking space available anywhere near here, and I imagine the majority of the town is waiting for that display lighting.”

  “It may not be that big a deal,” Hannah said. “But I’m flattered that you think so many people would be interested. I’m sure it’ll be a good showing and all, but I’m sure they are looking at other things if the display isn’t ready yet. Come on, we’ll go through the back door.” Hannah indicated a small set of stairs leading to a door with a chest and the words Tiny Tots Treasure Box painted in the center. “This is it.”

  Matt followed Hannah through the chaos of boxes in the back storage room and continued through the semi-orderly rows of toys forming the main portion of the store until they spotted Mr. Feazell standing near the display area. He had a hand over his eyes and was searching the street crowd on the other side of the glass. Hannah gasped as they neared. She couldn’t see the end of the crowd.

  “Are they all waiting to see the display?” she asked, and Mr. Feazell whirled around then sighed with relief.

  “Oh, Hannah, Autumn told me you would be here, that Matt was bringing you, but I was starting to get worried. I’m so glad you are here. You’ve got more people around the store than I’ve ever seen, and I’m anxious to light the display and let them all come inside and shop! Imagine how many dollhouse kits I’ll sell tonight. Sure hope I ordered enough. But maybe if I run out of dollhouses, they’ll want the marionettes.”

  Hannah laughed. “I can’t believe how many people are out there.”

  “Is she here? Is that Miss Hannah?” Autumn eased from behind the display curtain. She had on a navy knit shirt with red trim, blue jeans and short red suede boots.

  Hannah glanced at Matt. “You pick that outfit?”

  “Of course.”

  She smiled. “Can’t wait till tomorrow.”

  “They’re all waiting, Miss Hannah,” Autumn said. “Come on, so I can flip the switch.”

  Hannah and Matt moved past the curtain barrier so they could stand behind the tiny town square. Hannah immediately noticed that Bo, Maura, Jana, Mitch, Chad, Jessica and Nathan were all on the other side of the glass and clapping with the remainder of the group. Nathan waved wildly when he spotted her through the window, and Hannah waved back.

  On Wednesday, Hannah had put the final touches on each dollhouse, making certain every detail was correct on each storefront and then adding real water to the town square’s tiered fountain. She also tacked miniature lights along the eaves of the shops and strung them throughout the oak trees that Mr. Feazell had found to place on both sides of the little fountain. The lights added appeal to the display but also made it realistic, since lights actually bordered Claremont’s storefronts throughout the year, and since the town covered those big oak trees with lights each month for the First Friday event.

  And right now, those lights were what Hannah anticipated would transform the display from pretty to magical.

  “Now?” Autumn asked.

  Mr. Feazell looked at Hannah, winked and said, “Yes, Autumn. Now!”

  Autumn flipped the switch.

  Even Hannah was amazed at the beauty of the miniature town square coming to life before the crowd. She’d tested the lighting on Wednesday, but seeing it lit in the day didn’t compare to all of the glittering lights at night. The storefronts on the dollhouses reflected the light and the illumination only drew more attention to each tiny detail. Water glistened from the waterfall, and the geese almost looked real, with tiny bits of bread tossed around the ground in front of each bird.

  Outside, the crowd cheered and clapped and yelled. And then instantly, they began coming inside, asking where the dollhouse kits were located and which kit was used to make the barbershop, which one to make the candy store, the consignment shop, and so on. Hannah, Autumn, Matt and especially Mr. Feazell were thrilled.

  “Thank you, Hannah,” he gushed. “It’s exactly what you promised!”

  After the excitement died down a bit, Hannah told Mr. Feazell that she and Matt were going to take Autumn out to see the children’s booths, and he nodded his approval. “Have fun,” he said, as he rang up another sale on the old-fashioned cash register. “And Hannah, thanks again. I’ve never had anything quite like this. It’s wonderful!”

  “Yes, it is,” she agreed, leading Matt and Autumn out of the store.

  “Wow,” Autumn said, eyeing all of the colorful displays around the square. Bands played at sporadic intervals on the sidewalk, street performers were set up occasionally as well, with some of them dancing, some juggling and some singing. The Sweet Spot had huge candy-shaped decorations covering the entire front of the store, so that it looked like a glowing gingerbread house. “Let’s go there!”

  Matt grinned. “Sounds great.”

  They followed Autumn across the square until they ran into Hannah’s father and Maura by the Sweet Spot.

  “Hey, Daddy,” Hannah said, kissing his cheek and then hugging him. “I’m glad to see you here.”

  “Not nearly as glad as we are to see you here,” he said.

  Maura looked at her granddaughter and said, “Autumn, would you like GiGi to get you some candy while we’re here?”

  “Sure!” Autumn took Maura’s hand and headed inside, but Hannah’s father remained near the entrance with Matt and Hannah.

  He stood there for a moment, looking at Hannah, then Matt, and softly smiling. “Everything is going to be great.” He looked to Matt. “Did you tell her the news?”

  Matt shook his head. “No, but I will.”

  “He’s got it all worked out, honey,” he said, pointing to Matt. “And I trust his judgment completely.”

  “Has all what worked out?” Hannah asked.

  “I’ll tell you in a little bit,” Matt said, kissing her cheek then wrapping an arm around her while Autumn and Maura exited the candy store with huge swirled candy suckers in each of their hands.

  “GiGi said I can go on home with her, if that’s okay. She said we’re buying a new game at the toy store and then going home to play it.”

  “That sounds fine,” Matt said. He turned to Hannah.

  “Coffee?” he asked, pointing to The Grind, Claremont’s new specialty coffee shop.

  “Sure,” she said.

  They sat at one of the patio tables and waited for a waitress to take their order. Hannah ordered a white chocolate mocha, and Matt ordered an espresso.

  She’d barely sipped her delicious drink but she couldn’t wait to find out what her father had been talking about. “Okay, that’s as patient as I’ve got. What news?”

  He laughed. “Okay, I get it. You don’t keep me waiting long while you get ready, so I shouldn’t keep you waiting long when there’s something you want to know.”

  She took another sip of the thick, rich liquid and smiled over the rim of her cup. “Yep, that’s pretty much the way it goes.”

  “Okay. I talked to Bo and Maura today about some calls I made this morning, some arrangements for you, if you want them.”

  “What kind of arrangements?”

  “I called my old research team in Atlanta and asked them to take your case, if you’re interested. It’d mean switching doctors, but from what I understand, your oncologist is an affiliate of the research center and should be completely on board with you changing over. If that’s what you want.”

  “And the benefit of changing?” she asked.

  “Well, this is going to sound like I’m patting myself on the back, but that research team really is the best in the country at all treatments, traditional and experimental. I’d like for them to take a look at your test results from last week, maybe run a few more tests, and then handle your treatments in Atlanta. I can arrange my schedule so that I can go with you for the treatments.”

  “They could be daily,” Hannah reminded.

  “And if they are, I will handle that however I need to. I am kind of the boss of my office, you know.”

  She’d
taken another sip of coffee, and she nearly spit it out when her laugh caught her by surprise. Finally, she swallowed and said, “Yes, I know.”

  “So,” he said, “I kind of made the appointment for Monday afternoon, in case you say yes. And just so you know, I had Bo, Maura, Jana, Mitch, Autumn and myself all praying today and asking God that you would. So basically, I guess I’m asking if you—and God—will say yes.”

  She took another sip, marveled at how much he’d done for her over the last week. Yes, she’d helped him get his little girl back, but look at what he was doing for her. Giving her the love of her life…and trying to save her life in the process.

  Hannah smiled. “Yes. Definitely yes.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  The research center ran additional tests and Matt’s old team decided to try a combination of radiation followed by hormone therapy. Hannah completely agreed with their recommendation, not necessarily because she knew whether one treatment was better than another, but because they were Matt’s former team, and because he trusted them to do what was best.

  And more than merely putting her trust in that team of research analysts and oncologists, Hannah put her trust somewhere else—in God. She prayed, every day, all day. And she knew those around her, those who loved her, prayed too. Bo, Maura, Mitch, Jana, Matt, Autumn, and the entire Claremont community prayed.

  By the time that her family and Matt’s family gathered together at Jana’s house for Christmas, Hannah had completed her treatments and was amazingly feeling very well. She hadn’t received the final results yet, but she’d get those in early January, and in her heart, she believed that she’d get good news.

  Then again, feeling so well might have been because her life was so unbelievably perfect, with a man that she loved completely, a little girl that she adored, and a family who had supported her through what could have been some of the worst weeks of her life.

  Instead, they’d been the best. And this Christmas proved to be one of her best as well, because she had even more family to love. She had Matt, Maura, Autumn…and baby Dee, the beautiful addition that joined the family the day after Thanksgiving and was named after Hannah’s mother.

  They all ate together, laughed together and then gathered by the tree to exchange gifts. There were several “Baby’s First Christmas” gifts for Dee and way more toys than a one-month-old could ever need, which caused everyone to laugh. And Autumn got two dollhouse kits, one from Bo and Maura and one from Hannah, as well as an American Girl doll from Matt. She immediately hugged the doll close, which caused Matt to look at Hannah and mouth a silent “thanks.” She’d seen the way Autumn looked at those dolls at the store and had also mentioned to Matt that his pretty little girl reminded her of the American Girl dolls.

  Jana and Mitch exchanged silver bracelets engraved with Dee’s birth date. Bo and Maura laughed when they opened their gifts from each other; both had purchased craft supplies for their scrapbooking hobby.

  When the excitement of the gift opening started to die down, Hannah edged to the tree and withdrew a slim package. She handed it to Matt.

  He lifted a brow. “What’s this?”

  “Open it and see,” she teased, sitting beside him on the floor in front of the couch.

  “I think it’s a tie,” Autumn said, which made Hannah smile.

  “We’ll find out in a second,” Hannah said, then tweaked Autumn’s nose.

  Everyone got quiet to see Matt’s gift, and when he pulled the paper away and opened the box, he laughed.

  Two long, slender nameplates, one for Matt’s desk and one for his door. Both had his entire name and title.

  Dr. William Matthew Graham

  “No more going incognito for my former profession?” he asked Hannah.

  “After everything I’ve read about you at that research center, all of the news articles and awards I’ve seen, there’s no way you should hide that past.” She smiled. “We have a star in town, and I’m proud of him.” She reached out and touched her hand to his on the floor. “I’m thinking that he may have saved my life, in lots of ways.”

  Matt turned his hand so that he could clasp Hannah’s. “I love you,” he whispered.

  “I love you, too.”

  “And I love you both,” Autumn said, scooting toward her daddy and hugging him, then hugging Hannah just as enthusiastically.

  Mitch and Jana emitted a combined “Aw.”

  Maura, who also must have heard their tender declarations, sniffed.

  Bo, his arms filled with baby Dee, smiled and said to Matt, “Hey, can you go grab our presents for the girls from under the tree?”

  Matt gave Hannah’s hand a squeeze. “Sure,” he said, then released her hand and moved to the tree to withdraw two thick boxes that were undeniably the size of scrapbooks. He handed one to Jana and the other to Hannah.

  “Me first?” Jana asked.

  “Sure,” Hannah said, and she waited while Jana opened the box and then took her hand to her mouth in awe at the cover of the scrapbook. “Oh, Daddy,” she said, and Hannah leaned forward to see that the front of the album was a collage of Jana at all ages, and she saw that many of them contained photos of the entire family, including their mother. “I thought you were doing a track scrapbook.”

  “Your track stuff is in there,” he said. “But once Maura and I got started, well, there was so much that deserved to be featured in a book, so we decided to start from the beginning.”

  The entire group gathered around Jana and watched the pages play out the story of her life. Baby photos of her trying to eat dirt, then photos of her first skinned knee. Occasional “princess” shots in full dress-up gear, tutu and all. And then, as Jana turned the pages, the entire family photos changed a bit. There were fewer and fewer photos of their mother during the years she was sick, and then they disappeared completely. But there were no photos from the funeral. Instead, Jana’s life after, once they actually started living again, filled the remainder of the book. High school track meets, pep rallies before football games, school banquets. Her first date with Mitch. Graduation night. And then the wedding photos. After that, their father had devoted an entire section to pink paper, and these were the photos of Jana going through treatment.

  “Because it was a success, and it’s something to celebrate,” he said.

  “Yes, it is,” Jana whispered, while Hannah felt the emotion of his words to her heart, and everyone else must have done the same, because the room grew quiet, with only a sniffle every now and then punctuating the silence. She continued through the book until she got to the most recent pictures, the ones of baby Dee. “Daddy, this is the best gift ever.”

  “Well, it’s still in progress, you know,” he said, kissing Dee’s forehead from where she still slept in his arms. “I’ll be continuing with this little girl’s accomplishments.”

  “Or maybe she can have her own book,” Autumn said, “like the one GiGi is doing for me.”

  Bo grinned, winked at Maura. “Well now, I think you’re right. Baby Dee should have her own book.”

  “And he’s actually already started it,” Maura said, which caused them all to laugh. He’d been taking photos of Dee—and everyone else—all day.

  Jana hugged her father then turned to Hannah. “Okay, Sis, your turn now.”

  Jana, Mitch, Hannah, Matt and Autumn were all seated in the floor, while Bo and Maura sat on the couch. Autumn seemed to enjoy the tight family huddle, and she hopped up on her knees and started clapping as Hannah unwrapped the box, identical to Jana’s except with Hannah’s name on the tag.

  Like Jana’s, the front of the album was composed of a collage of Hannah’s photos, baby pictures through adulthood. And like Jana’s, several of the pictures included their mother. Hannah’s eyes were drawn to one in particular, when her mom was serving duty as snow cone mom on the blacktop behind the elementary school. Having your mother as snow cone mom was a big deal, because everyone knew that the snow cone mom always put a couple of extra squirt
s of flavored syrup on their child’s snow cone. Or mixed it with more than three flavors, which was supposed to be the limit. In the picture, Hannah’s mother was handing Hannah a snow cone that almost looked tie-dyed it had so many colors, which meant that many flavors. Hannah had begged for a little of everything, and her mother had obliged. And then, as each of the other kids asked for the same, she also gave them the “rainbow” cone. Hannah’s friends had dubbed her mother as the coolest, and Hannah had agreed. She still did.

  “Daddy,” Hannah whispered.

  “Snow cone day, huh?” he said. “You know it took her three baths to get the stickiness off her arms, but she never stopped smiling and laughing about all of the fun she had with you and your friends.”

  Hannah nodded. “I remember.”

  She turned the page and flowed through memory after memory, her baby photos, little kid pictures, and then right on into junior high and high school. Teeth missing, then reappearing a little bigger.

  “Wow, you had really long hair,” Autumn said, pointing to a photo of Hannah in her track uniform with a long ponytail dangling well past her shoulder.

  “Yes, I did,” Hannah said. She’d actually had long hair right up until it fell out with the first round of chemo. Her short hair now didn’t have quite the same color as it did back then, and the texture wasn’t the same. But she’d gotten used to the short “do” and thought she might even like it better. Matt had mentioned he found her cut sassy and fun, saying it suited her. Hannah hoped her hair would stay throughout all treatments this time. So far, so good.

  “It’s pretty there,” Autumn said, still looking at Hannah’s long hair, “but it’s pretty now, too.”

  “Thank you.” Hannah continued through the book until she got to the pink section where she was going through treatments.

  “We needed to include that, too,” her father said softly, “because you’re a survivor.”