“I’m glad you like it.” The relief showed on his face. “I was kind of worried.”

“Like it? I love it! Why were you worried?”

He shrugged and grinned. “I’ve been married long enough to know how particular women are about their houses.”

“You shouldn’t have worried. I love every inch of it. I’m so lucky to have such a talented husband.” She kissed him again the way she had downstairs and threw her arms around him in sheer delight. “I love it, I love you, and I want to see it again.”

He leaned down for another of those kisses she was handing out. “All in good time,” he said, leading her back inside and closing the door against the December cold.

She put her hands on his chest to steer him backward to the new bed.

He fell on the bed, pulling her down on top of him. “You know, when they christen a new ship, they break a bottle of champagne over the bow,” he said with a glint in his eye.

She kissed him. “Yes, I’ve heard that.”

He wrapped his arms around her. “Do you know how new houses are christened?”

“I think I’m about to find out.”

Kate walked out the front door. “Mom?”

Clare shook her head and snapped out of her remembrance. “I’m coming.”

“Everything okay?”

“Yes, honey, everything’s fine. Let’s go in, shall we?”

Chapter 4

The house was more or less as she remembered it. Furniture had been moved, carpeting replaced, new photos hung, and plants had either died or grown beyond recognition. True to his word, Jack had made her a bedroom in the study, and the downstairs bathroom had been outfitted with handrails. The girls had brought her clothes down from the attic and hung them in the study closet.

Clare’s mother planned to spend a month with her, and Sally Coleman, the nurse who’d overseen her care during the coma, would be coming in every day to continue Clare’s physical therapy.

The girls had a welcome-home party and made her favorite dinner of steak on the grill with baked potatoes and salad. They were so delighted to have her home that Clare got caught up in their excitement. But as the evening wore on, it became clear to her that nothing was right.

She began to have trouble swallowing her panic. Where was Jack? Would he really never again come bounding in from work full of passion and excitement, bursting to tell her about a design he’d finished, a client he’d landed, or a laugh he’d shared with Jamie?