Page 70 of Sweet Home

“Delphine,” Dulcie cried.

Her sister ran to her, and they embraced. The moment Delphine was in her arms, Dulcie felt like her heart was finally back in one piece again.

“Hi,” Delphine breathed, pulling back a little to meet her eyes.

Dulcie was crying again. She tried to swipe the tears from her cheeks, but then she saw her sister was crying a little too.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” she told Delphine. “Hey, this is West.”

“You mean Superman,” Delphine said, grinning at him.

That earned her a surprised, deep laugh from West, and Dulcie knew their friendship was sealed.

“Welcome home,” West told Delphine. “I hope you’re hungry. My daughter is making lunch for us with her grandmother, and I have to warn you that you’ll hurt her feelings if you don’t go back for seconds.”

Dulcie’s heart ached with gratitude. The man clearly remembered how she had felt when she first arrived—anxious and ravenous. What he was actually telling her sister was that there were plenty of women on the farm, and as much food as she could eat.

Looking at Delphine’s slender form, she got the same hollow feeling in her chest she always had when she worried about her sister.

But it’s going to be okay now,she reminded herself.We’re all goingto be okay.

“Lead the way,” Delphine laughed happily.

She chattered all the way home about the bus ride, how the driver had shared her breakfast, and all the things she had seen out the window.

“And there are just so many trees everywhere,” Delphine said at last, sighing in happiness. “It’s like a movie.”

“Wait until you see the farm,” Dulcie told her.

When West stopped the truck and honked the horn before crossing the covered bridge Delphine was amazed.

“I didn’t know these things were real,” she whispered to Dulcie as they bumped through the darkness. “I thought they were just in the movies.”

A moment later, they were back out in the sunshine, and Delphine’s delighted giggle was like a rainbow in Dulcie’s ears.

“Cows,”Delphine yelled as soon as they pulled up the drive onto the farm. “Oh, wow,more cows.”

West chuckled and pulled up by his parents’ house.

“It’s like a fairytale house,” Delphine said as they climbed the steps.

West opened the door and Dulcie waited for everyone to yellshoes.

But although the air wafting out of the house smelled delicious, no one made a sound.

“Where is everyone?” Dulcie asked.

“We’d better check the kitchen,” West told her, kicking off his boots. “Let me just run and see.”

Dulcie and Delphine carefully removed their shoes and placed them on the mat by the door, next to what seemed like an awful lot of shoes for no one to be home.

When she straightened again, Dulcie realized West hadn’t come back or said anything.

“Come on,” she told her sister, wondering if he’d slipped out to the back porch or something.

They headed down the hallway, past the front parlor.

“Surprise,” a little voice yelled out.

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