Miracle M.E.

Chapter 1

Hannah Peters pulled up into the driveway of the one story house she shared with her husband Christopher. She drove a white Toyota Corolla sedan with close to 100,000 miles on it. She prided herself on taking care of the car that even with the high mileage, still ran smoothly. Knowing how to change the oil without taking it to a dealership or a gas station that specialized in that sort of thing, made Hannah feel like she could conquer the world. As she hopped out of the car, it was warm outside. Living in Plano, Texas; a suburb of Dallas made for nearly yearlong hot weather. It was November and thankfully she could now open the windows instead of just blasting the a/c.

Grabbing her purse from the backseat, she straightened out her shirt, and smoothed her skinny jeans before popping open the trunk of her car. As she looked inside, she shook her head and giggled to herself. Being in a hurry to get home from the grocery store, she had forgotten to stick the watermelon into the backseat and instead had put it in the trunk where it rolled around like it was on speed with every turn, jolt, or bump the car had made. She just hoped that it didn't squish any of the food.

Juggling all of the bags and the watermelon, she closed the trunk with her foot just as her neighbor Scarlett Johnson walked out of the house next door to get the mail from the mailbox by the edge of her driveway. Their houses stood on Four Seasons Lane, an ironic name for a location that only maybe had one and a half. The street was not a cul-du-sac but instead formed the letter "U". There were two entrances/exits onto the neighboring road; so though it wasn't exactly a dead end street, it felt like one.

Because just about every limb was buried to the gills with bags and that giant watermelon, she couldn't wave hello to Scarlett but just smiled and nodded as Scarlett waved and smiled in return. They did not know each other well but all of the neighbors were friendly and courteous. As Hannah, dropped some of the bags so she could fish her house keys out of her purse while juggling the watermelon, she thought about first moving into the house on Four Seasons Lane and how her husband carried her over the threshold. Once in the house, she carried all of the bags and the watermelon into the kitchen and set everything down on the counter. She made quick work with putting everything away.

Afterwards, she went around the house to make sure all of the windows were open so that the fresh air could come through. She knew she had to cook dinner but she was just too tired. Hannah had noticed that she had been incredibly tired recently and didn't know what to attribute it to; she wasn't working at the moment as the money Chris made was enough to pay for the mortgage as well as all of the bills they had which weren't many.

As Hannah walked through the living room, she stopped at the bookshelf and smiled as she looked from one photograph to another. The first one was of her as a young girl standing with other young girls in uniforms with nuns surrounding them. The nun standing right next to Hannah was Sister Grace; considered by Hannah as being her savior, mentor, and friend. She remembered the dorm and school at Saint Bernadette's as being a safe haven for her.

Hannah Peters was born Hannah Mira Shifford to Gregory (a banker) and Angela (a school teacher) Shifford in nearby Garland, TX; an only child in a conservative Christian household, she thrived through the love of God and her parents. Her parents had made a Will when Hannah was born that should anything happen to them, she should be sent to St. Bernadette's which was a boarding school/foster home for children without parents. Sadly, when Hannah was just 5 years old, both of her parents were killed in a car accident and that's exactly where she was sent. All of their assets were sold or liquidated and the money from that went toward paying for Hannah's new living location. Sister Grace was the first one that Hannah saw when she walked into St. Bernadette's, with a warm smile.

The rest of Hannah's childhood passed quietly as she learned the values of the world and pushed herself in school. She remembered very little about her actual parents other than the fact that they were very loving individuals to her. She kept most of their photos in the attic except for one of the three of them together. Sister Grace had acquired what wasn't thrown out and kept it for safe keeping until Hannah was 18 years old and gave them to her as a going away present when she went to college. Hannah had a near perfect GPA when she graduated from High School and therefore was one of the few students in her class to receive a full scholarship to Southern Methodist University or SMU in Dallas proper. It was there that she met her future husband.