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Chapters (62)
  1. Cover
  2. Half Title Page
  3. Books by Katie Powner
  4. Title Page
  5. Copyright Page
  6. Dedication
  7. ONE
  8. TWO
  9. THREE
  10. FOUR
  11. FIVE
  12. SIX
  13. SEVEN
  14. EIGHT
  15. NINE
  16. TEN
  17. ELEVEN
  18. TWELVE
  19. THIRTEEN
  20. FOURTEEN
  21. FIFTEEN
  22. SIXTEEN
  23. SEVENTEEN
  24. EIGHTEEN
  25. NINETEEN
  26. TWENTY
  27. TWENTY-ONE
  28. TWENTY-TWO
  29. TWENTY-THREE
  30. TWENTY-FOUR
  31. TWENTY-FIVE
  32. TWENTY-SIX
  33. TWENTY-SEVEN
  34. TWENTY-EIGHT
  35. TWENTY-NINE
  36. THIRTY
  37. THIRTY-ONE
  38. THIRTY-TWO
  39. THIRTY-THREE
  40. THIRTY-FOUR
  41. THIRTY-FIVE
  42. THIRTY-SIX
  43. THIRTY-SEVEN
  44. THIRTY-EIGHT
  45. THIRTY-NINE
  46. FORTY
  47. FORTY-ONE
  48. FORTY-TWO
  49. FORTY-THREE
  50. FORTY-FOUR
  51. FORTY-FIVE
  52. FORTY-SIX
  53. FORTY-SEVEN
  54. FORTY-EIGHT
  55. FORTY-NINE
  56. FIFTY
  57. FIFTY-ONE
  58. FIFTY-TWO
  59. Acknowledgments
  60. About the Author
  61. Back Ads
  62. Back Cover

Hunter nestles into me, forming to my body. He smells of grass and Cheerios and sunshine. I put my hands on his sides to steady him, and he pokes at them. His fingers are wet with drool.

“Almost done, Miss June,” Amber says.

I say, “Okay,” though I wish this could go on forever. Wish I could always remember everything about this day, down to the tiniest detail. But it’s like I told Bea. Wishing doesn’t change what you have. And what I have is limited time.

I don’t remember when Bea’s baby is due, but I know I won’t be around to see it. Not around like this, anyway. I’ll be someone else by then. This is as close as I will ever get to being a great-grandmother. I don’t know how I know exactly, but it’s as sure and inevitable as an early season snowfall in September.

I gently pinch Hunter’s thighs, and he giggles. It’s the sound of happiness and regret.

“There.” Amber pulls the towel from my shoulders and steps back. “You look beautiful.”

“Thank you.” I pull the baby a little closer with a smile. “Feels good.”

FORTY-ONE

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Mitch stared straight ahead down the gravel road as he drove away from his parents’ house, but he could still see the look on his daughter’s face from the corner of his eye.

She raised her eyebrows expectantly. “So? How did it go?”

He cringed. It had been torture trying to get his father to admit he couldn’t be responsible for his mom by himself. Even harder for Mitch to admit that he couldn’t take her in, either. He had to work. In the end, he’d been forced to remind his father how horrible it had felt when his mom went missing and how they couldn’t afford to allow that to happen again. It was too dangerous.

“We agreed to look into assisted-living homes in Ponderosa.”

“You’ve got to be kidding.”

“There are a lot of nice places, B.B. Bea. I’ve looked at some on the internet and—”

“No.” Bea’s voice rose with her indignation. “There’s no way you’re sticking her in some nursing home somewhere.”

“Calm down. It’s assisted living, not a nursing home. And it’s Ponderosa, not somewhere.”

“Same thing.” Her voice was thick with emotion.

He grimaced. It wasn’t like he wanted to move his mother out of the house she’d lived in her entire life. It felt like giving up—like failure—but he was backed into a corner. He still had twenty-some years before he could retire, and Caroline was gone.

“No, it’s not the same.”

Bea smacked a palm against her leg. “I’m not going to let you do this.”

Mitch wiped a hand over his face. “It’s not up to you.”