Page 59 of Her Wicker Guardian

“Tonight?”

“Tonight,” she repeats.

That is an answer I can use. I pick up the willow again.

The work moves faster now. Tom holds what I ask him to hold and leaves me alone when I don’t need him. By early afternoon, the shape is unmistakable. The bear stands upright on its hind legs, broad through the middle, with the shoulders and raised forelegs beginning to take shape. It still needs its outer weave, paws, ears, and face, but the difficult part is done.

Tom steps back beside me. “The five of you couldn’t get this done in four weeks?”

Shannon closes her eyes. “I regret telling you that.”

“Why?” I ask.

Tom laughs, and Shannon throws a small piece of willow at him. He catches it.

Later, the sound of Rachel’s car reaches me from the road. I turn toward the driveway at once. Then I glance down at the piece of willow in my hands. Tom notices. He says nothing. I finish fastening it before I step away.

Rachel comes around the side of the house, and I stay beside the bear instead of crossing the yard to meet her.

Her hair is still braided. I notice that first.

She catches me staring and touches the braid near her temple. “Held up all day.”

“Good.”

“Very good.”

Then she reaches into her shirt pocket and holds out one fingertip.

The tiny green leaf from this morning rests on it.

I look from the leaf to her. “You kept it.”

“Yeah.” Her fingers curl gently around the tiny leaf. “I wanted to.” She puts it carefully back into her pocket.

For a moment, Tom, Shannon, and the bear become less important.

Rachel greets Tom, but the bear quickly takes the rest of her attention.

She walks around it slowly, studying the legs, the broad body, and the unfinished shoulders.

“You did all this while I was carrying hamburgers?”

“Some of it. Tom helped.”

Tom lifts one hand. “Mostly I held things where he told me to hold them.”

Rachel looks at the bear again, then at me. “It’s beautiful.”

Warmth spreads outward from the center of my chest. “Not finished.”

“I know.”

Her fingers touch the braid near her temple. I remember the small green leaf caught there this morning and the careful way she tucked it back into her pocket.

She notices the willow scattered across the grass. “Anything else happen while I was gone?”

Shannon draws breath, but I answer first. “I told them I want to go to town.” Rachel’s attention settles completely on me. “I do not want to stay here only because people might be afraid.”