Page 6 of Homecoming

Dan put their suitcases in the back of Bertha’s beat-up old Ford pickup that’d once been white but was now more rust than anything. “This truck issick,” Dan said. “What year is it?”

“Seventy-two and still purring like a kitten.”

“Amazing.”

Kara sat in the middle between them and dug around for a seat belt that probably hadn’t been used in years. As she fastened it under her baby belly, she hoped there wouldn’t be any sudden stops.

When Bertha fired up the truck, Kara laughed for the first time in hours. “It’s purring like a kitten with bronchitis.”

Bertha barked out a laugh that was among Kara’s favorite things. “She’s got a few rough spots here and there.”

“Renata said we can stay with her,” Kara said in case it might be too much for Bertha to have guests.

“No way. I want you with me.”

Kara withdrew her phone to let her cousin know she’d been claimed by Bertha.

Not surprised,Renata replied with laughing emojis. Even though she and Renata were paternal cousins, Renata loved Kara’s maternal grandmother as much as Kara did.I’ll check in tomorrow.

Can’t wait to see you.

Same, girl—and to finally meet your MAN in the flesh!

Thank goodness for Bertha and Renata, who were among the people Kara had surrounded herself with when she’d lived in Maine. Her “found family,” as she referred to them along with her friends, Jessie and Ellery, and her uncle Buster, who had autism and still lived with Bertha. As he was nearly fifteen years younger than Kara’s mother, Buster had been more like a cousin than an uncle to her growing up, and she loved him dearly.

Kara received another text, this one from her mother.Are you coming? When will you arrive?

“Ugh.”

“What?” Dan asked.

She showed him the text. “My mother is losing it asking when we’re getting here.”

“I’ve got this.” He handed her phone back to her, took out his and started typing. A minute later, he said, “All set.”

“What did you say to her?”

“I told her we’ve just arrived in Maine, that I’ll check in tomorrow morning and that no one from the family is to contact you about your brothers’ case. They’re to come right to me with any questions or concerns.”

“My hero,” Kara said softly.

“Mine, too,” Bertha said.

“Don’t worry about anything. I’ll take care of it.”

“Have I mentioned that I really,reallylove your husband?” Bertha asked Kara.

“I do, too.”

“Aw, you ladies flatter me.”

“It’ll go straight to his fat head,” Kara said with a smile for him.

“It’s already there.”

Bertha laughed as she took the last turn toward the true home of Kara’s heart. The large, chaotic house where she’d been raised had nothing on Bertha’s tiny shack by the sea, as she called her simple six-room ranch house with one bathroom and a million-dollar view of the water.

“Here it is, home sweet home,” Bertha announced as they pulled into a driveway behind a pile of lobster traps so high they nearly blocked the view of the house.

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