The Memory Keeper: A Heartwarming, Feel-Good Romance(39)

Hannah tipped her head up to the ceiling, closing her eyes, the fluorescent hospital lighting making white rectangles in the blackness of her thoughts. Her chest ached and her heart felt as though it would break in half. She turned back to her mother. “Can we just not tell her yet?”

Her mother’s shoulders rose and she shook her head, unsure.

“I know it has to be done, but can we do it tomorrow?”

“Every day we wait is heightening our financial risk if something were to happen to her, and it’s ridiculous to keep that old place open. At her age, she should be resting at home.”

“Give her some time. Perhaps me being here will make her feel more like herself, and she’ll eventually sign the papers.”

“All right. I need to be at home with your dad anyway. He noticed Gran’s gutters are full of leaves, and I’ve got to call someone before he tries to get on a ladder.”

Hannah let out a huff of disbelieving laughter. “Yes, get home to Dad. I’ve got this.”

“Okay, but Hannah. We have to get her to sign the papers.”

Hannah kissed her mother goodbye and headed back into Gran’s hospital room.

“There’s my girl,” Gran said, as she handed Ethan a cup of water with a straw. He set it on the counter at the other side of the room. “Always looking out for your gran,” she said, and blew Hannah a kiss.

Hannah plopped down in the visitor’s chair by Gran’s bed, happy she had settled the issue for now. “Finally, we can chat,” she said, taking Gran’s hand. “I’ve been reading your journal,” she told her. “I’m dying to know about Charles.”

“Ah,” Gran said fondly, putting her hand on her heart. “Lovely, lovely Charles.”

“In the journal, you mention him a lot.”

“I was smitten with him. He planned to marry me after the war,” she said, a distant look settling over her as she tapped into the memory.

“What happened?” she asked.

“It’s all there, Hannah,” Gran told her. “I’ve already lived it once. I’d rather focus on right now, but it’s important that you read it. I’m hoping it will shed some light on life for you.”

“Okay,” Hannah said, not wanting to push her.

“Besides, I want to hear about how many arrangements you planned for on those purchase orders.”

Hannah couldn’t deceive Gran much longer, because eventually she would see through it. She had one day to figure out how to tell Gran the news. She needed to get over to the shop so she could see firsthand what she was dealing with. It would be a whole lot easier for Gran to take the news about closing The Memory Keeper if Hannah could be the one to tell her, and she needed to build her case right now.



It wasn’t long before Gran had fallen asleep. Ethan took Hannah into town on his way to work, so she could check on The Memory Keeper. While she was near Main Street, she also planned to stop by the boutiques to buy a few winter outfits to wear, since all she had in her suitcase were beach clothes.

On their way, she checked her work email. IT was asking for one of her department’s program passwords, which she didn’t know. She’d written it in a notebook that she kept in her desk at work, so she’d asked Amanda to find it for them. She’d also had another suggested layout change from her design team for the major spread they were working on. The team was proposing to use only a few larger photos from old stock in the spot where she’d had a montage of images from her last cross-country photo shoot, which was odd because Hannah had gotten all of that nailed down before she’d left. She’d have to make a call to Amanda about that at some point.

“You’re missin’ it,” Ethan said, drawing her eyes up from her phone.

“What?”

“The green space,” he replied, waving one hand in the air. “I read an article once that said natural green like these here fields lowers your stress.”

Hannah grinned. “I didn’t know you could read,” she said, picking up their usual banter of throwing out jabs until they both fell over in fits of laughter.

“Only when I have to,” he shot back with a grin.

Hannah laughed and looked out the Bronco’s window as the early afternoon sun sent its beams down through the clouds that were rolling in. It looked as though the heavens were combing the fields with their long golden fingers.

“Ain’t it nice?” he asked. “Not much longer and we can start up the bonfires again. I think there were some kids messin’ around in the old field last weekend already.” He pointed toward the lane that led to the field where they’d all gathered in high school to park their trucks, dance on the tailgates to music, and socialize. “Damn hot shot kids, always jumpin’ the gun. I don’t know anyone in their right mind who would try to start bonfire season weeks early.” He wrinkled his nose playfully at his joke.

In the early days, Ethan had dragged Hannah out to the fields every year in the freezing cold, trying to get the season going after the long winter. Sometimes it had just been the two of them out there, and she’d had to convince him to put out the fire and head home before they turned into ice cubes. Once the kids from the neighboring schools started to come, he’d gotten less excited about going, and Hannah wondered if he’d preferred the smaller crowd of locals.