Excerpt of The Story Jar by Robin Lee Hatcher, Deborah Bedford, Angela Elwell Hunt

HEART RINGS

March 1986

Seated at the head table overlooking the banquet hall,
Leah Carpenter fought to keep her anger in check.

"Relax, honey," Wes whispered near her ear. "Give her some
time. Traffic's bad out there tonight. Shoshanna will be
here. She promised."

Leah glanced at the empty chair below the podium, then at
her husband. "She's doing this to spite me."

He shook his head, and there was sadness in his eyes.

She was thankful he didn't argue with her. Not tonight.
Not this night of all nights.

How many other women had been honored by the town of
Beaker Heights as Citizen of the Year? None. Leah
Carpenter was the first.

She'd been selected for this honor because of Together We
Can, a non-profit organization that helped homeless women,
especially single mothers, get on their feet and back into
the work force. In the years since it was founded,
Together We Can Leah's brainchild had become a model for
similar community programs around the country.

Leah had given countless hours to make certain her labor
of love succeeded. She had poured herself into it, giving
a hundred and ten percent. There had been times,
especially in the beginning, when others on the non-profit
corporation's board of directors had wanted to give up,
but she hadn't let them.

Tonight, the people of Beaker Heights were recognizing her
accomplishments.

And her daughter wasn't there to see it.

Why am I surprised? I should have known she'd do this.

She'd had a horrible argument with Shoshanna last night.
Her sixteen-year-old daughter had announced she wanted to
get her nose pierced, like her friend Krissie Jenkins.
Leah had exploded at the very suggestion. She had grounded
Shoshanna for a week and forbidden her to see Krissie.

A pierced nose? No child of Leah Carpenter's was going to
do such a thing. Leah had her position in the community to
consider. What would people think if she allowed her
daughter to parade around town with a ring in her nose?
She wouldn't be able to hold her head up in church for the
utter shame. No daughter of hers was going to do such a
thing.

It hadn't helped Leah's humor any when Wes suggested she
was overreacting.

"She's sixteen, for crying out loud," he'd said after
Shoshanna fled the room in tears. "She's supposed to make
outrageous suggestions. It's part of growing up and
pulling away."

He's always been too easy on her, Leah thought now, her
resentment increasing. I have to play the heavy, and he
gets to be the favorite adult. It isn't fair.

She picked up her fork and moved the food around on her
plate without taking a bite. Reluctantly she admitted she
wasn't being fair to Wes, her husband of three years. Wes
had entered her life and filled a place in her heart that
she'd thought could never be filled after twelve years as
a widow. He was good to her in countless ways, and he
loved Shoshanna as if she were his own daughter. The
feeling was mutual, too, so much so that Shoshanna had
legally changed her name to Carpenter last year.

Leah glanced at Wes. When their gazes met, she gave him a
tiny smile. In return, he squeezed her hand beneath the
table.

Maybe I did overreact, she admitted silently. Maybe
forbidding Shoshanna to see Krissie was a bit harsh.

Wes's grip on her hand tightened. "Look who's here."

She turned and saw Shoshanna being escorted to her table.
She felt a rush of relief. Thank goodness she was here.
Tonight meant so much to Leah, and if her daughter hadn't
come to share it with...

Her thoughts died abruptly as the small silver ring in
Shoshanna's left nostril glittered in the light of the
crystal chandeliers.

Something twisted in Leah's chest.

Something painful.

Her baby. Her beautiful, loving, sunshine girl. Her
precious child who for the better part of her sixteen
years had brought her mother nothing but joy had defied
Leah's wishes and had her nose pierced.

No matter what happened next, the evening was ruined.

****

"How could you do it?" Leah stood in the doorway to
Shoshanna's basement bedroom. "How could you embarrass me
in front of all those people? Did you see the way they
were looking at you?"

"There's no reason for you to be embarrassed, Mom. I'm the
one with the nose ring. Besides, it's no big deal."

"It's a big deal to me. Good heavens! Don't you realize
how you look? Don't you know what people think of kids who
mutilate their bodies like this?"

Shoshanna flicked a stray strand of long blond hair over
her shoulder. "You know what your problem is, Mom? You're
always worried about what other people might think. What
about what I think? Doesn't that count for anything in
this family? I think this ring is cool. I like it.
Besides, it isn't really any different than an earring,
you know."

"It is different, and you will remove that hideous piece
of metal from your face. I won't allow a daughter of mine
to have a pierced nose!"

"It's my face. I can do what I want with it."

"That's what you think, young lady. I'm still your mother."

"I wish you weren't!"

Leah was left momentarily speechless.

"Why can't you be cool like Krissie's mom?" Shoshanna
flicked tears from her cheeks with her fingertips. "All
you care about is your dumb job. You don't care about me
at all. You don't care if I'm happy."

The accusations stung. They weren't true -- nothing was
more important to Leah than her daughter -- but they stung
nonetheless.

Shoshanna's tactics changed abruptly. In a wheedling tone,
she said, "Please, Mom, can't I keep "

"No!" Leah clenched her hands into tight fists at her
side. Her voice rose sharply. "When I see you in the
morning, Shoshanna Marie Carpenter, that that thing will
be gone from your nose. We'll discuss your punishment
then. And mark my words, you will be punished." She turned
quickly and strode from the room.

"I hate you!"

Leah winced but didn't look back.

Shoshanna slammed her door closed.

Wes was waiting in their second story bedroom. "How'd it
go?"

As if he hadn't heard with the two of them shouting like a
couple of fishwives.

Leah gave her head a slight shake, then went into the walk-
in closet and began to disrobe.

Her husband appeared in the doorway. "Leah?"

"You heard her. She hates me."

"No, she doesn't. She's angry, but she doesn't hate you."

"She thinks she does." Leah draped her tailored suit
jacket over a padded hanger. After releasing a deep sigh,
she answered his unspoken question. "I told her she had to
remove that ugly thing from her face. I told her we would
discuss punishment in the morning."

Wes was silent for a few moments before saying, "She loves
you, honey. Try to remember that."

"Well, this is a fine way to show it." With her back
toward him, she closed her eyes against an unwelcome urge
to cry.

"Didn't you ever rebel as a teen?"

You'll do no such thing. Her mother's voice was as clear
in Leah's mind as if Frances Anderson were actually in
this closet, speaking those words now instead of over two
decades before. No daughter of mine will appear in public
unless properly groomed. Certainly never in an outfit like
that. It may be good enough for other girls, but not for
you. Understood?

"No," Leah answered her husband. "I never rebelled." She
swallowed the lump in her throat. "How can you defend her,
Wes? If it was up to you, I suppose she could do anything
she pleased."

His hand alighted on her shoulder, and he gently turned
her to face him. "I'm not saying what she did was right or
that she shouldn't receive appropriate punishment. I'm
just asking you to think carefully about what you do or
say next."

Unable to reply, she pressed her forehead against his
chest. Anger, disappointment, frustration, and a host of
indefinable emotions roiled inside her.

When, she wondered, does it get easier?

Surely she'd had enough trouble and turmoil in her life.
She'd been widowed while still in her twenties. She'd
raised her daughter alone. She'd scrimped and saved and
struggled to get by and given up many things so Shoshanna
wouldn't feel deprived. Why did her once perfect child
have to suddenly turn against her? After all she'd done.
After all she'd given.

It wasn't fair.

Wes stroked her hair. It felt nice. If only she could let
him handle this. She was tired of always being strong. If
only she could.

But she couldn't. Shoshanna was her daughter and her
responsibility. She would have to decide on the punishment
and then see it through.

"She's a good kid," Wes said softly. "You've raised her
right. She'll come through this. What's the Bible say?
Raise up a child in the way she should go, and when she's
grown, she won't depart from it."

"Oh, Wes." She stepped out of his embrace. "That's no
help. Not now. I need real answers."

He shrugged. "Some folks think God's word is a real
answer, Leah."

She sighed as she turned away while unzipping her skirt.
The tension in her shoulders made her want to scream. She
knew Wes wanted to say something more. But finally, she
heard him leave the walk-in, his thoughts still unspoken.

She felt a sting of guilt. It wasn't that she didn't
believe the Bible was God's word, although she knew that
was how it had sounded to Wes. At one time, she'd found
comfort when reading the Scriptures, something she hadn't
had time for in ages.

She shook off the thought and her guilt. Right now she
needed to find a solution to her problems. God helped
those who helped themselves, and that's what she meant to
do. She had to have an answer tonight.

But none of it mattered by morning.

***

Leah had a white-knuckled grip on the telephone receiver
as she listened to Krissie Tombs on the other end of the
line.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Carpenter. I can't tell you where Sho
went."

"Can't?" she demanded. "Or won't?"

"I don't know where. She didn't tell me. All she said was
she was leaving town."

Leah sank onto the kitchen bar stool. "Please, Krissie,"
she whispered, fighting tears of panic. "If you know
anything "

"I don't. Honest."

Her gaze met Wes's across the room, and she shook her head
slowly.

"I gotta hang up now, Mrs. Carpenter. 'Bye."

The dial tone buzzed in Leah's ear, but she couldn't seem
to move. It was Wes who came to her rescue, taking the
receiver from her hand and setting it back in its cradle.

"We'll find her," he said as he gathered her into his
arms. "She can't have gone far."

I hate you!

Those had been her daughter's last words to her, and they
cut into her heart like a dagger.

I hate you!

Leah had known Shoshanna was angry, but they'd always been
able to iron out their difficulties and disagreements in
the past. Certainly it hadn't occurred to her that
Shoshanna might run away from home.

"Where would she go, Wes?" She pressed her face against
his chest. "How will she get by?"

"I don't know."

"She doesn't have much money." Her stomach clenched as she
gazed up at her husband. "She wouldn't be foolish enough
to hitchhike, would she?"

He didn't answer. What could he say? Both of them knew
that hitchhiking was the likely mode of transportation for
a runaway teenager.

I hate you!

The pain in Leah's heart was too great to be borne. She
was suffocating beneath it. She wanted to wail in grief.
She wanted to strike out, wanted to do anything that might
stop the hurt. She wanted to take back her ultimatums and
her threats of punishment. She wanted to erase the past
forty-eight hours. She wanted a chance to do them over.

I hate you!

The tears came then, like a flood.

"Oh, Shoshanna." She pressed her face against Wes's chest
again, gripping his arms, holding on lest the storm sweep
her away. "Oh, my baby girl. Don't do this. Don't do this.
Please don't do this."