Hope Harbor by Irene Hannon

Author:Irene Hannon [Hannon, Irene]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FIC042040, FIC027020, Farm life—Oregon—Fiction, Man-woman relationships—Fiction
ISBN: 9781441228031
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2015-05-14T16:00:00+00:00

14

“Are you sure you want to let him go?” Cradling Thumper in her arms, Grace nudged the sliding door open with her shoulder.

Anna moved past the teen, onto the patio. “Yes. He’s old enough to survive on his own. I should have set him free a week ago, but I got pretty attached to him, despite all the mischief he caused.” She stroked his soft fur as Grace drew up beside her. “Love can survive setbacks, you know.”

It was a gamble to introduce such a sensitive subject—but the girl needed to talk to someone. Burying her nose in a book in the corner of the living room, as she’d done for the past three days, wasn’t going to solve her problems.

Ignoring the overture, Grace nestled the rabbit closer. “Where do you want me to put him?”

“At the end of the yard. He’ll find some friends in the woods beyond, I expect. I’ll walk back with you . . . but let’s take it slow. I don’t want to fall again.” Anna shortened her steps to buy the two of them a few extra minutes together. Once they got back inside the house, the taciturn girl would no doubt retreat to her book until summoned for another chore.

After several attempts to engage her in conversation produced monosyllable responses, Anna fell silent until they reached the end of the yard. “You can set him down over there.” She pointed to a bush at the end of the property. “We’ll wait here until he gets acclimated.”

Grace did as instructed, then returned to her side.

A full minute of silence ticked by while the rabbit remained motionless.

“Why isn’t he moving?” Grace picked at her peeling nail polish.

“I expect he’s scared. This is strange, new territory for him.”

“Yeah.” She sighed. “New stuff can be scary.”

Anna peeked at the teen. Her face was scrunched up, like she was trying not to cry.

Half a minute later, Thumper lifted his nose, surveyed his surroundings, and took a tentative hop.

“That’s a positive sign.” Anna cupped her elbow, taking some of the weight of the sling off her neck. “Once he gets a feel for his surroundings and knows what to expect, he’ll be fine.”

He took another hop. Another. Finally he squeezed through the fence and scampered off into the woods without a backward glance.

“Well, that’s that.” Anna watched him disappear. “I’ll miss that little guy, though.”

“Then why didn’t you keep him?” Grace turned, the only evidence of her almost-meltdown a faint shimmer in her eyes.

“You can’t nurture and protect little creatures forever. At some point, you have to set them free and hope they don’t get into trouble.” A principle as applicable to children as animals . . . and perhaps Grace would pick up her double meaning.

The teen fell in beside her as she walked back toward the house, but the girl didn’t speak until they were nearing the patio. “How come you haven’t asked me anything about . . . anything?”

Anna stopped at the table and motioned to the chairs.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.