“You’ll be in your bed?”
“Yes.”
“And Granny, she’ll be in the spare room?”
“Yes.”
“And Dad, he will be in your bed?”
Hannah smiled. “I think so. You okay with that?”
Danny grinned over the top of his duvet. “I’m okay with that. Can you call Dad now, to tuck me in?”
Rex climbed the stairs to say good-night to his son, his large frame silhouetted against the light in the stairwell. As Hannah watched him, he turned and blew her a kiss. She smiled. She felt a spurt of warmth in her chest that radiated out through her body, like ripples from a pebble cast into a pond. If Daniel’s wish had come true, so had hers. She had her own little family, and they were going to build on pillars of love. It had taken six years to get here, but it was worth every minute of it.
She turned into the kitchen to put the coffee on. Al touched her arm. “I’m happy for you, Hannah.”
“Thank you, Al. You were always there for me. You helped me cope during the dark times. If it wasn’t for Amy, we might never have come this far.”
“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I feel like I can finally put her soul to rest. Her work has been done.” Al paused for a moment. “Will you come up to the glacier with me tomorrow? I want to scatter her ashes. I haven’t been able to do it until now. I thought I’d have a little ceremony. She would want it that way, for the wind to carry her ashes over the distant peaks. It’s where her spirit will always be.”
Hannah felt tears prick at the back of her eyes. “Of course I will, Al. I would be honored to.”
“And I’d like Danny and Rex, your family, to come, too.”
“Thank you.” She kissed Al’s crinkled cheek. “We’ll all say goodbye. We will set her free.”
Al helped Hannah carry the tray of coffee into her sunken living room. Through the large picture windows, the town of White River was a sparkling jewel nestled between the two mountains on the opposite shores of Alabaster Lake. She smiled inside as she handed Scott his coffee. She had vowed to have things under control by the time she returned to her home, her sanctuary. And she did. But not in her wildest dreams had she thought things would turn out the way they had. She’d laid solid foundations for herself and her son in White River. And now they were going to build on them, together, as a family.
“Where’s Rex?” Scott asked over the rim of his mug.
“He’s still with Danny. I’ll go get him.”
Hannah climbed the stairs, softly pushed open the door to Danny’s room. And her heart cracked. The man she loved was bending over their son, kissing him on the forehead.
“Night, my boy.”
“Goodnight, Daddy.”
She felt tears slip down her cheeks as Rex tucked the duvet tight around Danny’s little frame.
“I’ll always be here for you, you know that now, don’t you?”
Danny nodded his dark head and snuggled against his teddy bear.
Rex stood, flipped off the light and moved to join Hannah in the doorway. He lifted his hand and gently wiped the moisture from her cheeks.
“No more tears,” he said.
“They’re happy tears.”
He nodded, bent to kiss her mouth. Before his lips touched hers, she felt the warm whisper of his breath. “We’ve got a lot of catching up to do, Mrs. Logan.”
“Yes.” She whispered against his mouth. “But we’ve got a lifetime to do it in.”
ISBN: 978-1-4268-8099-5
MELTING THE ICE
Copyright © 2003 by Loreth Beswetherick
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Melting the Ice Page 22