Girl in the Shadows (Shadows 2)

endless hole of pain and disappointment. The burdens

grew. Echo was enough of a responsibility and a

weight for young, healthy parents, much less an older

woman, a widow deserted by her daughter.

Nevertheless, her spirit was too strong, her

determination too fixed, to permit her to surrender.

She made do with what she had and she continued,

assuming the role of mother again, but this time far

more protective than she had been with Rhona. In a real sense Echo suffered for her mother's sins because she was being stifled, kept in this cocoon her grandmother had lovingly woven around her. Mrs. Westington saw hope and promise in Tyler Monahan's successes with Echo, and I. in my small way, looked like I would contribute in the areas that were still deficient. She truly believed I had been brought here not for myself so much as for her granddaughter's best

interests. There was new hope.

And then Rhona returned and the prospects of

what she had brought along with her-- not only in

Skeeter, but in her new determination to get what she

believed was hers. Including control of Echo-- was a

new weight on the frail shoulders of this heroic o

ld

lady I quickly had come to love.

More than ever. I was determined to help her. "I guess," she said. "I might just have to give

them the money."

"She doesn't have the legal right to make

demands on you," I offered.

"I don't have faith in the courts. I've seen too

much injustice signed, sealed, and delivered by greedy

lawyers. Rhona gets one of them legal criminals

working for her and we could be knocked into a

cocked hat. An old lady, who's already lived long past her due date with the Grim Reaper, and an old black

man won't suffice as a substitute family."

"But you have!" I insisted. "You've been more

than a grandmother. You've been a real mother and

you're providing for her and you've protected and