Serena shook her head, still crying. “He’s mine?”
“He’s yours. Well, actually, he’s ours.”
Serena looked at Jonny and thought about how incredibly lucky she was to love a man like him. She looked up at the two girls grinning at her from the front door and felt love for them, too. She looked around at the cottage, and she also loved this place and all of its memories. And it occurred to her that none of this love would be in her heart if her life had gone differently, if she hadn’t suffered, if she hadn’t run away. She wouldn’t be here at all to savor this moment without Samantha. For better and for worse, every twist and turn, every pain and regret, had led her here.
Serena fingered the locket under her shirt.
“Well, come on,” she said to the girls.
With squeals of excitement, Cat and Delaney ran across the room, and then everyone was laughing and hugging Elton, and the dog was wagging his tail like a tornado. He let loose a loud woof that Serena had no trouble translating, because she was thinking exactly the same thing.
I’m home.