And once again, she’d picked herself up from the ground, leaving town once more. Broken, Cara couldn’t bear to stay where once she’d found happiness. She’d loaded up her car and this time headed for Chattanooga, Tennessee, a town filled with welcoming people, great art, a heart for environmental protection, and a world-class aquarium. She’d started again, day after day making the effort to craft a new life at age fifty. And then, when least expected, another miracle had happened. Cara found hope in the form of the infant she’d prayed for and had given up believing would ever happen for her. A little girl named Esperanza was made available to her for adoption, and Cara, shaking in her boots at the thought of being a mother at age fifty, doubting her abilities, took a leap of faith and said yes.

Cara had returned home with her baby girl, back to the beach house that had always been a sanctuary for Rutledge women. This new journey had not been easy either—but by now, she didn’t expect it to be. Cara was older and wiser. She had a better résumé. She found work, support from her family and friends. She also found love again. Another miracle.

But it seemed fate was not yet finished testing her.

The wind gusted, shaking the palm fronds outside the house, tossing cushions off the porch furniture to points unknown. Cara rubbed her arms and rose from the sofa, chasing away the memories. She felt a wave of despondency that put her feet in motion. She had to move, pace, cast away the worries as chilling and fierce as the wind outdoors. She had thought she was safe at last. She’d married, moved into this beautiful house. Foolishly, she thought she could let down her guard and just be. She was grateful, even humble, thinking she’d been given so much happiness and, too, wealth with David, that she wanted to share it with the next generation of family who were struggling, as she had struggled. Playing matriarch was one of the greatest satisfactions she’d ever known.

Her lips trembled. And now, again, illness threatened all she held dear. First, her mother. Then Brett. And now… David was in the other room, and though he was getting better, they were still awaiting the all-clear. She missed her daughter. Hope was just across the street, yet she could be a thousand miles away, for all that Cara could not visit her.

As well, tonight Cara had received a phone call from Linnea reporting that Hope was sneezing and coughing, likely allergic to the dog. Cara brought her hand to her forehead. What an idiot she was to have bought the dog. She should have waited until Hope came home, should have made sure that all was well before impulsively buying a puppy with as much forethought as she would a stuffed animal. What if the allergies compromised Hope’s breathing? Her lungs were still recovering from the serious pneumonia she got from the measles.