Echoes From The Past (Women of Character)

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Questor Books, P.O. Box 100, East
Jewett, New York, 12424 USA

About Echoes from the Past

On the verge of a nervous
breakdown, Christie reacts by running away, emotionally and physically. Down to
her last twenty dollars, she’s determined to fulfill her dead sister’s last
wish -- to locate their sister Judith who left home twenty years before. Her
quest brings her into the lives of Garrett, Judith’s husband, and the
emotionally fragile Hannah, Judith’s daughter. Christie is devastated to learn
Judith died two years before. When Christie insists on getting to know her
niece, Garrett agrees on the condition she doesn’t reveal her identity. He
hires her to work at his horse farm but what he doesn’t count on is the turmoil
and hope Christie brings into their lives.

Christie’s own emotional journey
forces her to come to terms with her family’s alcoholism and her perception of
herself.

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter
Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter
Seven

Chapter
Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter
Eleven

Chapter
Twelve

Chapter
Thirteen

Chapter
Fourteen

Chapter
Fifteen

Chapter
Sixteen

Chapter
Seventeen

Chapter
Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter
Twenty

Epilogue

Find Me

Whisper Me

Hear Me

Once and
Always

Heartstealer

Wishing on a
Rodeo Moon

Deception

Two Babies,
a Cowboy and Sara

Once Upon a
Remembrance

Soulmates
Through Time

Treasure So
Rare

Christie Jenkins once again
counted the bills in her pocket. Seventeen dollars. The gnawing hunger in her
stomach attested to the fact that she hadn’t had a decent meal in two days.

Shading her eyes against the
bright sun, she let her duffel bag slide to the cracked pavement and stared at
the royal blue sign at the beginning of a long, curved driveway.

Winding Creek Farms

Emerson, Kentucky

The same address as her sister
Judith’s letter.

Christie stuffed the crumpled
bills back in her pocket and looked up the curved driveway lined with dusky pink
Dogwood trees. Various barns and sheds sat at the top of the drive where gently
rolling hills and ribbons of white fence seemed to go on forever. Horses grazed
lazily in fenced paddocks and a short distance from the barns stood a house,
the midnight blue roof and cupolas lending it a fairytale look. Pure heaven.
The sharp nag of pain in Christie’s gut cut such thoughts short. Given the
events of this year, she was certain there was no heaven on earth.

As she reached for her bag
Christie suddenly noticed a movement in the tall grass beside the driveway. A
child of about eight or nine, creeping on her hands and knees, pushed her way
through the grass. Long blond ponytails fell across her pink shirt. When the
child’s feet cleared the grass, Christie smiled to see that red cowgirl boots
peeked beneath denim overalls.

"Here, Albert." The
child’s voice was coaxing. "Come on, now."

That’s when Christie noticed the
small gray kitten near the driveway’s edge. A sudden swipe of the little girl’s
hand as she tried to grab the kitten sent the animal darting out onto the dirt
driveway. With the unpredictability of cats, it just as quickly stopped in the
middle of the driveway and hunched its back upward. Cautious again, the child
slowly rose to her feet to follow the kitten.

Christie heard a new sound and
noticed a large hay truck pull away from one of the barns and start down the
driveway. The child didn’t seem aware of the vehicle as she continued to coax
the kitten toward her.

"Hey!" Christie waved
her arm at the child.

The little girl stopped abruptly
and looked toward Christie, her eyes wide with alarm.

"Get out of there!"
Christie called. The hay-laden truck sounded like it was slowing down, but it
didn’t stop moving toward them. The little girl finally looked at the truck,
staying almost frozen in the driveway. Afraid, Christie raced toward the little
girl.

###

Garrett McIntyre heard his
daughter’s scream and spun from the barn doorway. Hannah! He ran toward the
driveway, fear a tight fist gripping his throat when the sound of grinding
metal followed Hannah’s scream. The hay wagon that had just loaded up at the
barn veered off the driveway. He saw a dark-haired woman pull Hannah into the
grass. Garrett ran hard. The truck rolled past the woman and Hannah into the small
gully beside the driveway. It rocked to a drunken stop.

A trail of smoke. The little
sports car tilted nose down into the ditch. The unending blare of the horn.

When he reached Hannah, the woman
had her arms around his little girl. Hannah’s eyes were closed, her skin stark
white. Terror pulled his breath away and he dropped to his knees in the tall
grass. He couldn’t pass out.

Garrett met the woman’s dark eyes,
reflecting the terror he was sure was in his own. His gaze jerked immediately
to his child, then the truck sitting at an angle behind them.

The knot in his throat restricted
his voice, but he tried again, his first fear for his daughter. He touched her
cheek, then the dark blond hair that was so much like his own. "Hannah,
are you all right?"

She gave a quick nod as a tremor
shook her body.

"She was suddenly in front of
me, Boss!" Emmet blurted, dropping from the driver’s seat to the ground.
"I couldn’t stop. The brakes!" Emmet was barely out of his teens and
right now his face was drained of all color. Droplets of sweat beaded his
forehead as he rushed on, "This woman pulled Hannah out of the road -- God
Almighty! I thought I was gonna hit ‘em both."

"Sit down, Emmet."
Garrett thought the young man looked ready to fall down.

Emmett pushed his lank dark hair
from his forehead and dropped to the grass. "Yeah. I feel sick." He
put his head against his up-drawn knees.

"Come here, Hannah."

The dark haired woman removed her
arms from around his daughter. Hannah leaned toward him, her deep blue eyes
awash with tears. "I’m sorry, Daddy. I know I’m not supposed to be down
here. I was trying to catch Albert. I didn’t want him lost."

Garrett sucked in a deep draft of
air. "Albert the cat? He’s long gone." The animal was nowhere in
sight.

"Oh! Albert is gone!" Hannah
launched herself into Garrett’s arms and began crying loudly. Garrett quickly
checked her legs and arms for injury, all too aware of how his hands shook.

"You could have been hurt
bad." His jaw hurt from holding it clenched. "Darn it, Hannah, I couldn’t
take it if something happened to you, too."

"I’m not hurt Daddy, but
Albert’s gone forever!" Hannah wailed, tears now streaming down her face.

Garrett felt the back of her head
carefully, making himself stay calm for her benefit. No blood, no bumps. "Hannah,
barn cats aren’t used to being carried around. Anyway, he takes better care of
himself than you seem to be doing lately. Come on, we’ll go to the house and
have Ruth check you and this young lady out." He stood and held his hand
out to the woman who’d saved his daughter. "Thank you." Quickly, he
added, "Are you all right?"

She nodded, taking the hand he
held out, letting him help her to her feet. She pushed the hair back from her
forehead. "I’m okay. At least nothing hurts."

Taking stock, he noted she wasn’t
very big, maybe five feet six inches, well under his six-one height. She looked
to be in her mid-twenties and had a slim, athletic build. He knew most of the
people in Emerson, so she wasn’t a local. Deep brown eyes framed by dark lashes
watched him warily, and he muttered a curse when he suddenly noticed a slight
purplish bruising over her eye.

"You’ve hurt yourself."
Concern made him gently touch the slight swelling about the size of a quarter. She
gently moved his hand and explored the bruise with her own fingers.

"It’s nothing." She
dismissed the injury with a lift of one shoulder as she stared at Hannah.
"I don’t think your little girl got hurt, a bit shaken maybe. I’d
definitely have her checked out."

"I intend to," he said.
"It’s inadequate as hell but I’m sorry you’re hurt but darn happy you were
on the spot." How had this happened? Garrett hated the unaccustomed moment
of helplessness. She was a stranger on his property and she’d been hurt because
of Hannah. For a brief moment he thought of the ramifications of a lawsuit.

"I didn’t see Hannah until
the last minute," Emmet muttered, still sitting on the grass. He lifted
his head. "I’m sorry Miss, for the scare you had."

"It appears no one’s hurt
seriously. Thank God," the woman said. Looking into Hannah’s red,
tear-streaked face, she asked gently, "Are you okay, honey?"

"I had my cat and now he’s
gone," the child muttered. "You scared him away."

Garrett sighed with impatience.
"Hannah, I can’t believe you were down here by the road." He kept a
tight rein on the worry riding him. "This woman very likely saved your
life. Don’t you think you should say something to her?"

Hannah jutted her lower lip and
hunched a shoulder. "I was going to get out of the way by myself,"
she muttered sullenly, but not before Garrett had seen the flash of fear.
"I wasn’t going to die!" Hannah pulled her hand from his and ran
several feet up the driveway.

"Hannah!"

She stopped in her tracks but did
not come back toward him. "Albert is gone." Her voice rose in pitch.
"I’ll never see him again!" She pointed her finger at the woman.
"It’s her fault!" Hannah turned away, ponytails flying out behind
her. Garrett resisted ordering her back, knowing it would make the growing rift
between them worse. But dammit, he couldn’t let her ride roughshod over him,
either.