that I wasn't wrong to have that hope.
I followed Echo up because I saw in Mrs.
Westington's face that she would like me to do so to
be sure Echo didn't burst into tears and cry herself to
sleep. One of the most moving things I saw and
probably would ever see was when I stood off to the
side and watched Echo signing her bedtime prayer.
She did it slowly enough for me to understand she
was praying more for her mother than for herself. After she crawled into bed. I hung her dream
catcher and she smiled. Of course, she wanted to
know why her mother had not come home.
I explained that to be fair to her, she didn't
know her grandmother had made such a wonderful
dinner.
"If she had called, she would have known," she
correctly reminded me.
I nodded and, struggling for some excuse, came
up with the idea that she probably had met many of
her old friends again and wanted to renew her
friendships and catch up on the news. For now. Echo
accepted that. She gazed up at the dream catcher again
and closed her eyes with an expression of comfort and
self-assurance on her face. She hugged Mr. Panda.
too. I watched her for a while and then I went
downstairs. Trevor had zone to his own quarters. Mrs.
Westington was alone. She was listening to music and
knitting.
"I do it just to keep the arthritis at bay," she told
me. There was still a half hour to go before I would
meet Tyler at the motor home. so I sat with her. She