&urnedame,takiwisterthatIwasn'talone。IlookedatDad'sface。Hestaredatthedogandforanawfulmoment,Ithoughthewasgoiher。ButDadeverbecruel…hestretchedouthishandaoher。
"eon,lass,"hesaidsoftly。"Iwon'thurtyou。"
Atlast,sheveohimahisbla。
"What'sher;Dadaskedme。
"Sadie。"
"Hello,Sadie。"
&besidehim,pressingagainsthislegswhilehestrokedherhead。He'diredofdoingthat,justashe'dingMeg。
"Sheoflove,"Isaidandexplainedwhy。
Dadlryforamoment。Heeverstandanykioanimals,oreves。
"Well,"hesaidsoftly。"We'lljusthavetomakeituptoher。Whatmadeyougetan?"
"Well,I…"
"No,it'sallright。"Dadpattedmyhand。"IknowhowyoumissMeg。Thedo,too。She'llbepanyforyouandyou'llbeabletogofornigerhapsI'llbeabletotakeaturnwiththewalks。Idon'tiospeofmylifesitti;
Itwasthefirsttimeinmonthshe'dgivenanythoughttothefuture。Itwarmedmyheart。
"I'tgofaratfirst,"hewenton。"ButifIgraduallybuildupmystrength…"
Mattheearedthenaenedup。Sherahemasiftheywerelong-lostfriends。WheDad,hewaslaughing。
IthoughtofthepeoplewhohadabandonedSadieaheyreallykwhattheyweremissing。Itwastheirlain。Wewereherfamilynowandwe'dherdown。Ithi。
Infaastrangeway,Sadieseemedtotakeleftoff。
Daddidn'ttakeheroutofthegarden,buthe'danddowiime。She'dgazeupathim,entranced。
&erdaymarkedtheanniversaryofMeg'sdeath。Ayearhaspassed。Anewerahasbegun。
Theplantedsomesnowdropsberee,determiMegshotten。Weallshedafe>
&hemiracleI'dwaitedsolongforhappened。DadwalkedslowlyidtookSadie'sleaddownfromitshook。
Sadiebarkedmerrilyandturnedroundandroundiilshealmostfellover。Sheseemedtosehisecialo。
&quht,anyoneingforawalk?"
He'sonlyeverwalkedherroundthegardenbeferwalkswerelefttomeorthe。Iheldmybreath。
"I'llatthewgrabbedforhiscoat。
"A;LauraushingherarmsintothesleevesofherJacket。
Istoodattheatchedtheirslressdowntheroad,DadinthemiddleholdingtighttoSadie'slead,aeithersideofhim。Hegothalfwaydowhenstopped。Myheartstoppedwithhim。
Iheldmybreath,thenrealizedhe'dstoppedbecausehewaslaughing?HelaughedsoloudthatIhearhim。Tearsranfreelydo
Ihurriedtothehall,pulledmythepegandranoutside。
"Dad?"Iyelled。
&oppedandturned。
"Dad,"Icalledagain,feelingallofsixyearsold。"e?"
"Themorethemerrier,"hecalledbadheldouthisarms,justlikeheusedtowhenIwasalittlegirl。
Irantohim,heartpounding,knowingthatthistimehewouldn'tbeabletoliftmeandwhirlmeround。
Butasheenfoldedmeinhisarmsandhuggedmeclose,thefeeliasgood。
"Weleback,Dad,"Iwhispered,andhehuggedmeeventighter。