Mom Over Miami - By Annie Jones Page 0,44
might just be the thing to appeal to his vanity to know he was in the company of kings.”
“If nothing else, it would give him a terrific lead-in for the epic tale of Moonie’s Medical Miracle.” Hannah dropped to her knees to better roll up the heavy old carpet. “Way better than that taking-the-cat-to-the-vet story.”
“I don’t think so. After that experience?” Phiz did her bit by nudging the musty cylinder along with her foot. “Not even for the sake of telling a great story will your daddy get inside of one of those closed MRI machines.”
“I don’t know about that. You’ve never gone up against Sadie once she’s made her mind up.”
“She’s a stubborn one, I’ll give you that. But where do you think all that mule-headedness comes from?”
“Let me guess, from Moonie, the Mule King?”
“Moonie the Miracle Boy.”
“Is this the story about how he got lost in a cave and lived on his own for days and everyone gave him up for dead, then miraculously he came wandering out without a scratch on him?”
“Is that how he tells it now?”
“He hasn’t talked about it in years and years. I’ve probably got it all wrong.”
“It’s worth hearing to get it right. Might help you look at your dad in a new light.” The tight coils of bright red hair bounced slightly as she cocked her head. “I’ll make it quick if you promise to listen—to really listen.”
“Okay.” What was it with everyone suddenly picking on her listening skills? “But quick, right? We don’t know when the sisterhood of the splattered paint might up and return.”
Phiz made a seat of the lump of carpet and patted the spot beside herself for Hannah to join her.
“He couldn’t have been more than three. Darling child. Charming. Well, you know how he musters up that spark in his eyes to get himself out of trouble now?”
Know it? Hannah sometimes wondered if it was the reason her mother had run off in the night leaving only a note. How could anyone look into those eyes and still have the strength to walk away?
“Imagine all that charming power in the hands of a rosy-cheeked imp.”
Hannah held up her hand. “I’ve seen the photo of him when he won the beautiful baby contest at the county fair.”
Phiz tipped her head back and laughed. “Beautiful baby? Is that what he told you that ribbon was for?”
“Wasn’t it?”
“One day I’ll tell you about your daddy, a daring escape from a droopy diaper, a mud field and the greased pig contest.”
“I’ll remind you.” And she would. It sounded like something she could definitely use against her father the next time he acted out. “But you wanted to tell me about the Miracle Boy?”
“Yes. Yes. He did not come by that name undeserved.”
“He performed a miracle?”
“Darling, he was a miracle.”
“Beg your pardon?”
“Like I said, he couldn’t have been more than three when he wandered off. It was an unusually warm spring day, and our parents were having one of their regular knock-down-drag-out rows.”
Hannah crossed her legs at the ankle. She knew her aunt Phiz and her father’s childhood was less than idyllic. In fact, she’d often wondered if who they had become—Phiz someone who never stayed put, and Moonie, a man who would do anything in the world to lighten a loved one’s day—had sprung from the roots of their dark youth.
“Now, on this particular day, I was supposed to be keeping an eye on Moonie. While, in fact, I was keeping both eyes on Judd Harkner.”
Hannah raised her eyebrows.
“Another story for another day,” Aunt Phiz demurred. “But on this day, the day I was supposed to be watching Moonie, I took my eyes off him, and the next thing I know—whoosh.”
“Whoosh?”
“Moonie vanished!”
“Vanished?”
“I was near frantic. Judd rounded up the boys, and everyone searched and searched. Afternoon turned into evening. No Moonie.”
Hannah’s thoughts went to Tessa and Sam. Just the suggestion of them lost and her not able to get to them, to comfort them. A cold, hard lump clenched tight in her chest.
“Got too dark to keep on looking. And cool. Not cold, but too cool for a little child like that left out without any cover. And there was the threat of wild animals.” Even all these years later, her old aunt’s face went pale. A little shiver worked through her broad body.
“But you found him.”
“Honey, of course we found him. You wouldn’t be here today to hear this story if we hadn’t found him.”
“Oh. Of course.” Hannah blinked