“Oh, that’s a treat,” came David’s voice through the door.

Cara imagined him standing there, hand on the wood like hers, feeling the same mixed emotions about this farewell. Seeing her daughter’s enthusiasm, she knew the child didn’t understand what was really going on.

“Open the door, Daddy.”

“He can’t, sweetheart,” Cara said. “It’s the germs, remember?”

Hope nodded, but her face revealed both puzzlement and frustration.

“Good-bye Hope,” David called out. “I’ll call you every day. We can FaceTime. You’re going to have a lot of fun with Linnea.”

“Okay,” Hope said in a wavering voice. Suddenly she began to grasp she was leaving home.

“Time to go!” Cara exclaimed cheerily. “I’ll be back soon,” she told David. “Do you need anything?”

“I’m good.” He cleared his throat. “Just take care of Hope.”

She leaned forward, her gold band catching the light against the wood, and kissed the door. “I will.”

LINNEA WALKED FROM room to room of the beach house, turning on lights. The sky was overcast, making the day seem gloomy. She wanted the house to look cheery when Hope arrived.

As she bent to turn on the lamp in the living room, she caught the scent of Murphy Oil Soap and lemony furniture wax. She’d scrubbed and polished every inch of the cottage so it would be spanking clean for Hope. No germs welcome here. Cara was Linnea’s landlord as well as her aunt. She’d been so generous, and Linnea was glad to have this opportunity to do something for her.

On the coffee table she spied the new games she’d purchased to play with Hope: Monopoly Junior, Zingo!, Simon, Candy Land, and Chutes and Ladders. She and Cooper had loved board games growing up, and she had to admit she looked forward to playing again. She walked down the hall to Hope’s bedroom.

What a history this one room had, she thought, entering. This had originally been Cara’s bedroom, where she’d spent summers growing up. When Cara had returned at forty years of age to stay with her mother, she’d slept once again in this room. Then after her mother died, Cara moved into the master bedroom and in time, this became Hope’s room—all pink with white nursery furnishings. Now they lived across the street in their large home on Ocean Boulevard, but the pink walls of this room remained. Instead of nursery furniture, Cara’s old black-iron double bed was back. And now Hope was returning to visit. Cara had bought a new coverlet with a ruffled hem and shams covered with pink kisses and hearts.

She let her fingers glide over the black metal bed. This had once been Linnea’s room too, when she’d visited her grandmother and later, when she’d lived here with Cara. Oh the memories…

Across the hall a second bedroom faced the ocean. This had once been her daddy’s bedroom, back when he and Cara were the children. Years later, when Grandmama Lovie had left Charleston and moved back into the beach house, she’d hired Toy Sooner as her live-in caretaker. After Lovie’s passing, Toy married and became a Legare and had a house of her own. In a few weeks, this room would belong to Annabelle.