What Happened to Hannah by Mary Kay Mccomas

Author:Mary Kay Mccomas
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: HarperCollins US
Published: 2012-04-20T08:08:39.664000+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

The silence that followed Hannah’s announcement dropped loud and heavy, and it was Mrs. Steadman who broke it first.

“Oh, my.” In her distress she turned to Grady, whose expression had turned to stone; not even his eyes revealed his reaction to her words. It still took the young people several more seconds before they took action.

“Yes!” Lucy squealed, jumping up and down in place until her brother elbowed her off balance and she bumped into Biscuit. “What? This is great. Let her go back to where she came from. Anna doesn’t need her. She has us.”

“Lucy.” Grady’s voice, low and lethal, had Lucy’s attention immediately. “Keep your mouth closed and stay out of this.”

Right away Hannah could see that Lucy had gotten the wrong impression and that Grady’s anger wasn’t directed at Lucy but at her. Oh, them of little faith! So easy to jump to all sorts of wrong conclusions when you don’t know someone; when all you hear was what you want to hear, isn’t it?

But she and Anna were family. They were getting to know each other and bonding . . .

Hannah looked to her niece, expecting to see wonderment and excitement at the prospect of staying, but instead she found confusion and concern and clear, true-blue eyes blinking back tears. Anna shook her hands loose from her aunt’s and turned them to fists at her sides.

“Why? Why don’t you want me? What did I do?”

“What?” In shock she watched the tears spill over onto the girl’s cheeks. Anna looked first to Grady in disbelief and then at her friends, utterly mortified, before she turned back to Hannah. Heartbroken, she did what she did best—she ran. “Oh, God! Anna, stop. Please. You don’t understand.”

No way could she catch up with her, but she broke free of the hold Grady suddenly had on her arm and ignored whatever he was saying and followed the girl as fast as she could. They all did. Hannah, though, was only marginally aware of the others.

She chased Anna and Grady chased her; the three teens jogged along behind him as Janice Steadman took the rear, huffing and puffing and shouting, “Let’s all sit down and talk about this.” They were a gaggle of awkward, honking geese chasing a lovely, graceful swan.

Anna went around the side of the house and slipped in the back door, off the porch, through the kitchen, down the hall and up the stairs to her room—no doubt in record time. She didn’t slam the door in Hannah’s face, but it closed as she arrived seconds later, out of breath and trying to swallow her thrashing heart.

“Anna,” she gasped. “Please, can I come in? Or will you come out and talk with me? Anna?” She tapped on the door as the others gathered at the bottom of the stairs. Janice kept the teens at bay as Grady moved halfway up the steps toward her. She held up her hand to stop him. “Anna?”

“I thought we were becoming friends,” the girl called through the door, her voice hoarse with emotion.

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