Healing Autumn's Heart

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Bless her little heart,” he whispered. “Bless her precious little heart.”

“I don’t know why she picked me to talk to, but I prayed to God to let me help her, and I think He is letting me do that.” She noticed her father’s face alter a fraction when she mentioned her prayer, but he didn’t say anything negative. “She’s going to start coming here every day to help me with the display.”

“I’m glad you’re able to help her, princess,” he finally said. “I just wish … I wish that no child had to go through that, and I wish you and your sister would have had someone to help you cope with everything back then. The way you’re helping this little girl.”

Hannah edged toward her father and took his hands in hers. It didn’t take but a moment to realize his were trembling. “Daddy, we did have someone to help. We had God, and we had you. And we made it through.”

Mr. Feazell’s voice grew louder as he directed the Grahams back to the front of the store. “Well, I think Hannah’s been working on a section of the town square today that you should all enjoy, the Sweet Stop. It’s the candy shop straight across the square, you know.”

Hannah gave her father a smile, released his hands then turned in time to see Mr. Feazell slide the curtain open and the trio of customers come into view. The woman with them appeared to be in her late forties and was very pretty, petite with short, wavy auburn hair. She tenderly patted Autumn’s shoulder as they neared.

Autumn stood between her father and the woman, but she stepped in front of them as soon as she saw Hannah. “We came back,” she said, her smile stretching across her face and her dark brown eyes growing wide with excitement. She had her hair pulled up in a high ponytail with a navy bow. A waterfall of long brown curls trailed past her shoulders, and she wore a plaid navy-and-green jumper over a white shirt. Even her Mary Jane shoes were navy leather, cute over white kneesocks.

She was absolutely adorable, and Hannah fought the urge to reach out, pull her into her arms and simply hold her, to let her know that everything would be okay again. She didn’t want to scare her away, but she truly wanted Autumn to know how much she cared. Eventually they would work their way to a hug greeting. Hannah hoped so, anyway.

“Hello, Hannah,” Matt said. “I had a patient to see this morning, or we’d have been here earlier. Still okay for us to help you out today? I think Autumn’s been looking forward to it ever since we left yesterday.”

“Of course it’s still okay, and I’ve been looking forward to it too,” Hannah said, smiling at Autumn.

“This is my mother-in-law, Maura,” Matt continued, indicating the woman beside him.

“Nice to meet you,” Hannah said.

“Wonderful to meet you,” Maura replied. “Really wonderful. Matt told me about yesterday, and well, I wanted to come too. I hope that’s okay.”

“It’s fine,” Hannah said. She touched her dad’s hand. “This is my father, Bo Taylor.”

Maura and Matt exchanged greetings with Hannah’s father, while Autumn’s attention zeroed in on the dollhouse that Hannah had pulled out from the remainder of the display.

“Is that the candy store?” she asked, pointing to the dollhouse in progress.

“It sure is.”

Maura’s hand moved to her mouth and she shook her head in apparent awe at Autumn’s communication with Hannah.

“That’s GiGi,” Autumn said, pointing to Maura.

And at her granddaughter’s words, Maura’s eyes trickled silent tears. “She couldn’t say grandma when she started talking,” Maura explained, “and I became GiGi.” She smiled warmly toward Autumn. “But I haven’t heard her say it in a long time.” Her voice broke with that declaration, but Autumn didn’t notice, still smiling at Hannah.

Hannah wasn’t sure what to say in response to Maura’s statement, so she instead spoke to Autumn. “I put that awning on a couple of minutes ago.” She pointed to the newest addition to the structure. “Do you like it?”

Autumn followed Hannah’s finger and grinned. “Yes.” Then she looked over Hannah’s shoulder to gaze out the window and across the square. “It looks like that one.”

Hannah followed her line of sight and saw that she’d spotted the Sweet Stop and the red-and-white-striped awning covering the entrance. “That’s right. And I want this little shop to look just like that big one.”

“I can help you do that,” Autumn said.

Maura moved her hand to Matt’s arm and gently squeezed. Then Hannah heard her whisper, “It’s a miracle.”

Hannah reached for the bag of candy she’d tucked beside the dollhouses. “You know, I also need someone to help me eat the treats Mr. Feazell brought in from the Sweet Stop today.”

The doorbell sounded, and Mr. Feazell laughed. “Well, you guys eat the sweets, and I’ll go check on the other customers.” He released the curtain and returned to the store.

“You have candy?” Autumn asked, peering over Hannah’s shoulder as she reached for the bag.

“I sure do.” Hannah held the sack open so Autumn could see inside. “And I have enough for everyone.”

Hannah’s father patted his hand to his stomach and smiled. “No sweets for me today,” he said, “and I’m going to head on out.” He looked back at Matt and Maura. “Pleasure to meet both of you.”

“And you,” Matt said.

Then Bo looked at Hannah and Autumn, and Hannah noticed how his attention focused on the little girl, fingering through the sweets in the bag.

“I’m going over to Mitch and Jana’s house later,” he said to Hannah. “She said she’s cooking lasagna and wants us all to come. I think she got some new pictures of the baby yesterday at her ultrasound appointment. You coming?”

“She asked me as well,” Hannah said. “And she told me about the ultrasound pictures. I wouldn’t miss it.”

He nodded, glanced again at Autumn. “Nice to meet all of you,” he repeated, then left.

Autumn looked up from the bag, where she’d found a fluffy piece of divinity wrapped in pink cellophane and tied with an orange ribbon. “Do you get candy every day?” she asked, tugging on the bow and opening the candy. She took a small bite and grinned. “Because I think I’d like to come back, every day.”

Hannah laughed. “I don’t get candy every day, but I get a bag of treats fairly often. Life’s a little better when there’s sugar in it, or that’s what my mama always said.” She heard Matt’s chuckle.

“I think I’d have to agree with that,” Maura said.

“Well, I’d like to come every day anyway,” Autumn said, her words a little muffled with more of the sweet white candy in her mouth.

Hannah grinned. “Good, because that’s what I’d like, too.”

“I believe that’s a great idea,” Maura said. “Absolutely wonderful idea.”

“You want one?” Autumn asked, holding the bag toward Hannah.

“I never turn down candy from the Sweet Stop.” Hannah pulled out a piece of divinity, this one wrapped in blue cellophane and tied with a yellow ribbon.

“You want one, GiGi?” Autumn asked, and Maura nodded enthusiastically, her happiness at hearing her name from her granddaughter evident in her smile.

“Do you, Daddy?”

“Yes, precious,” he said, and withdrew a green-and-white-striped candy apple stick.

While they enjoyed the candy, a few people stopped at the window and waved. Hannah and Autumn waved back, while Matt and Maura smiled from the small visitor’s bench. Then Hannah passed out some hand cleaning wipes to get the stickiness off before she and Autumn continued working on the newest dollhouse addition to the town square display.

“Okay, here’s our plan,” she said to Autumn, while she ran the cool wipe over her fingers. “I’m going to work on the outside of the store, paint the name on the building, place the patio arrangements, put flower boxes beneath the windows and all of that. Your job is to go through these things that Mr. Feazell brought us and pick what you want to put inside the store. It doesn’t have to be exactly like the candies in the store, but we want it to be as close as possible, okay?”

Autumn nodded, intently listening to every word. “Okay.”

Hannah held up a tiny glass case. “This display case looks like the one in the store. You’ll want to put some of the tiny candies inside, and we’ve got plenty to choose from. Mr. Feazell even found small pictures that look like the paintings that hang in the Sweet Stop. I’ll let you pick which ones to hang on the walls.”