4. Teddy #2
Teddy watched the older woman, her chest tightening as she registered the deep gratitude in her tone.
It was a beautiful story of survival and generosity, the kind of narrative that would make anyone admire the late matriarch of the family.
But to Teddy's ears, it carried the hollow echo of a lifetime of exclusion.
She remembered the cold dinners at the farmhouse, the silent expectation for Rosalind's daughters to be self-sufficient, and the way her mother had always kept her own daughters at a functional distance.
She'd always assumed her mother was simply incapable of warmth, a stoic woman hardened by the struggles of managing the farm alone after the death of their father.
Now, seeing this cozy sitting room and hearing Hannah's confession, she realized her mother had possessed a capacity for deep affection; she'd simply chosen to spend it elsewhere.
"And you never questioned the danger of keeping those secrets?" Teddy asked, her words sharp and dry as she stared at the older woman. "You just accepted her terms and kept the silence?"
"I was a young woman fleeing for my survival, and my child’s safety was the only thing that mattered to me," Hannah explained, her tone quiet but unyielding.
"I didn't have the luxury of questioning a generous hand.
And why would I not? The silence kept women like me safe from the men hunting them.
I accepted the shelter, and I'd promised to keep the silence. "
"But who were you fleeing?" Teddy asked, as she kept her gaze absolute. "We know about your arrival in Harvest Hollow, but Kent refuses to say anything more. If there's a danger that drove you to this valley, we have a right to know if it's still here."
Hannah's face showed no trace of emotion, her features as solid as the iron grates on her windows. "The past is locked away, and the people we left behind have no power in this valley. But the safety we built here is fragile. It depends entirely on the silence we've maintained."
She paused, her hand smoothing the fabric of her cardigan before she gestured toward the wooden table where the faded photograph lay.
"Your mother kept a record," Hannah murmured, her words sinking to a low whisper that seemed to carry the weight of decades.
"She maintained a physical register of the women who passed through this valley, keeping their real names and their origins locked away in a hidden cabinet.
She did it to protect them, to ensure that if anything happened to her, there'd be a record of their survival. "
Teddy stiffened, the sudden realization that they had been right about that cabinet washing over her. "The hidden cabinet in the cider barn."
"Some of those women are still alive," Hannah warned, her gaze sweeping over the sisters with an intensity that was somewhat intimidating.
"They're living quiet lives under assumed names, some in this very state, believing their pasts are buried.
If you start searching for those files, if you ask the wrong questions or draw the attention of the town to that barn, you won't just be uncovering old history.
You could destroy the peace some people have spent decades building. "
The warning was clear, just like Nell’s had been.
Junie let out a soft breath, her hand reaching out to touch Dahlia's arm.
Teddy looked at her sisters, seeing the sudden hesitation in their eyes, but her own determination only hardened.
The secrets were no longer just a shadow over their mother's memory; they'd become an active current that threatened to pull them all under. What if the farm really was in danger because of her mother’s secrets?
She wasn't going to let the warning deter her.
If her mother had established that hidden system to protect strangers, Teddy was going to find the key to that locked cabinet and uncover the truth, even if she had to face the handsome, tight-lipped veterinarian again to do it.
Teddy broke the sudden silence in the room, her words carrying a sharp edge that cut through the lingering tension.
"Junie found a key in the same box that held the photo. We tried it in the cabinet last winter, but it didn’t fit.
It was very old. We think it might have been the key to the original lock, but the lock has been changed since then.
But we’ve seen Nell with a similar looking key.
Do you know if Nell’s key open the cabinet? "
Hannah rose from her rocking chair again. She approached the side table, gently sliding the photograph toward the sisters, keeping her gaze away from the three sisters.
"You can keep this. I have a copy of my own.
I won't speak of the others who stayed at the cottage, and I won't discuss who holds the keys to Rosalind's records," Hannah replied, her voice remaining resolute.
"The decisions made in that farmhouse belong to a past that has been purposefully sealed by your mother.
She had her own reasons. If you're looking for the files, you'll have to find your own way to them. "
"You're protecting a silence that's keeping us locked out," Teddy countered, her chin rising as her resolve hardened.
"You're keeping us on the outside of our own legacy.
She spent her life's energy building a fortress for others, while we were expected to manage the farm and ask no questions like obedient little girls. "
"You were still young and even though you may not understand her reasons, know that Rosalind did what was necessary to protect lives, including yours," Hannah explained.
"She gave us a sanctuary when there's nowhere else to go.
She'd been the only one who offered a harbor, and she had a right to protect the safe place she constructed. "
Sensing the unyielding boundary, Dahlia rose from the chair, her posture rigid as she adjusted her bag. "We should be getting back to the farmhouse. Tomorrow is going to be demanding, and we won't find any more clarity here tonight."
Junie stood beside Dahlia, her fingers twisting the hem of her woolen sweater, her eyes soft with compassion as she looked at Hannah. "Thank you for sharing what you could. We didn't want to cause any trouble."
"You aren't a trouble," Hannah murmured, her eyes softening slightly as she looked at the three sisters. "I understand why you want to know. But the silence we've maintained is the only thing that keeps this valley safe. I hope you'll understand that before you open doors that can't be closed."
Teddy didn't answer, her pride tightly coiled as she turned toward the hallway.
Hannah led the way as they crossed the threshold of the sitting room back to the entry.
They reached the heavy front door, where the brass locks clicked back with a solid sound as Hannah opened it.
The cool evening air rushed to meet them, carrying the earthy scent of wet soil and bruised apples from the dark orchard.
They walked to their farm gate and made their way up the driveway in silence, the yellow lights of the farmhouse shining through the pine trees ahead.
Teddy looked back once, watching the silhouette of the neighboring cottage fade into the dark indigo of the night.
The fortified windows were dark, but she knew the secrets behind them were still active.
When they entered the farmhouse kitchen, the warmth of the woodstove did nothing to ease the chill gathering beneath Teddy's ribs. She stood by the oak table, her keys heavy in her palm, while Dahlia and Junie collapsed onto the wooden chairs.
"Hannah's warning was absolute," Dahlia said. "If there are women still in danger, we can't risk exposing their pasts just to satisfy our own curiosity. Fulfilling the terms of the will shouldn't mean putting lives at risk."
"We can't manage this property while living in a house built on secrets," Teddy countered, her voice dropping to a low whisper that carried her deep-seated frustration.
"Mom is still managing us. She's been gone for two years now, yet we're still following her rules, still keeping her secrets, and still locked out of our own home. "
The realization brought a heavy ache to Teddy's chest, the pain sharp and sudden.
Staring at the familiar kitchen cabinets, she understood that her mother's emotional distance hadn't been an inability to love, but a deliberate choice of where to spend it.
She'd known how to create a vibrant, welcoming refuge; she'd simply built it on the far side of their farm for strangers, leaving her own daughters to freeze in the drafts of the old farmhouse.
All those decades of trying to be perfect, of working in silence to earn a single scrap of notice, were spent chasing a warmth that was being poured into the dark next door.
"But she is right about the danger," Junie added, her hand reaching out to touch Teddy's arm. "If we open that cabinet, we don't know what we'll unleash. We've to be careful."
Teddy didn't reply. She turned toward the window, her hand resting against the cool glass as she stared out into the dark night. Across the driveway, beyond the sleeping orchard, the distant yellow lights of the Hannah’s cottage flickered through the pine trees.
Teddy’s focus locked on the bright window across the dark field.
She wasn't going to let the heavy silence of this valley bury the past, nor did she plan on letting the fear of old dangers keep her from the truth.
She needed that key. She knew that the steady veterinarian was the only one who could give her the answers she demanded, and she'd resolved to not give up her quest to get answers from him.