NO ENGAGEMENT RING

Chapter 21

The next evening, she brought Clare along to the year end production. They sat quite a

distance away from the stage. Emily and Derrick had been only too glad to fetch Clare on the

way to church. Caroline and Denise were not able to attend but they were glad that Clare was

going to be there and grateful that Hannah fetched her.

As soon as they got to the church, Clare showed a few signs of anxiety, especially going

through the doors. Supportively, Hannah put her arm around the girl's shoulders. They were

the same height. She was glad that Jonathan had warned her to expect these sort of things for

a while.

Going further into the church, Clare calmed down sufficiently. Awed by everything

around her, the young girl stayed close to Hannah, who squeezed her hand reassuringly.

When Meredith's family sat in the same row as theirs, Hannah was especially glad. It was an

opportunity to introduce Meredith's adopted sister who came from the same background as

Clare. The girls bonded immediately, sitting together for the entire duration of the

performance.

The performance was amazing but Hannah was too nervous to catch most of it, waiting

for her song to come on. Finally, it did. Instead of feeling insecure, though, she was in awe of

it. This was the first time she heard it sung by someone else and the band did an extremely

good job. She was lost in the beauty of their rendition.

Everyone clapped loudly, bringing her out of her enchantment and causing her to blush.

"That was something new, as I am sure you are all aware of," Troy said from the stage

once the applause died down. "So I think we should give the team another big applause for

that."

Another clap went up from the congregation, a deafening sound to Hannah. She couldn't

believe that they liked the song so much. The team did deserve praise for that but she knew

the real praise went to God. The song had come to her when she had wept for forgiveness.

Wow! she thought with tears in her eyes which she had to get rid of quickly as they ended the

evening.

"That was awesome!" Meredith's adopted sister, Julia, said. "Maybe next year I can

participate."

"I don't see why not," Meredith encouraged.

Clare didn't share anything about her experience of the performance and no one pushed

her for opinions. Julia and Clare continued to discuss other things.

Since Clare and Hannah were going back with the Garricks, they had to wait for them.

There was plenty of time to chat with each other during the wait. It was also an opportunity

for Meredith and Hannah to catch up as there had been no group meeting that day due to the

evening's event. It wasn't much later that the took their leave of each other. Julia and Clare

promised to keep in touch, getting permission from Meredith's family to visit each other