Holiday Homecoming by Jillian Hart Page A

not anymore. Good changes, don’t you think?”
    It was the same—the house, the sense of family and the feeling of home. But time had changed the details, added texture. Little kids ran around the living room, now scattered with colorful plastic toys. A baby drowsed in her swing, her blond curls glistening.
    Kristin leaned just enough to see through the archway into the living room. The back of Dad’s head, his hair thinning and graying, was visible over the back of the couch. But he wasn’t alone. Gramma’s new husband, Willard, had claimed the recliner. Michelle’s and Kendra’s husbands flanked Dad on either side. Karen’s and Kirby’s husbands took up the sectional in the corner.
    It was weird to think all her sisters had married. Were wives and mothers.
    And mothers-to-be.
    â€œYou have another good change coming.” Kristin nodded toward Michelle’s thickening waist.
    â€œI know! Gabe and I weren’t planning a second child so soon, but, oops!” Michelle stole a chip from the heaping bowl and crunched on it. “During the ultra-sound, we accidentally found out if we’re having a boyor a girl. No, I’m not going to tell you. It’ll, like, ruin the surprise for everyone else.”
    â€œHow am I going to know what color stuff to buy for your shower?”
    â€œOoh, and you buy good stuff, too. You’re the only sister I have with any fashion sense at all. If I give you a hint, then it’s not like really telling.”
    â€œExactly. I’m a great secret keeper. You know that.”
    Michelle pushed a lock of hair behind her ear and stole another chip. “Let’s just say I’m not going to be able to use Emily’s baby things for this little one. I’m going to need all new stuff.”
    That could only mean one thing. A little nephew was on the way. “Michelle. Lucky you. Congratulations.”
    â€œThanks. I am pretty lucky.”
    There was no mistaking her happiness. Now. But what about down the road?
    Troubled, Kristin grabbed a bowl and flicked off the plastic wrap. “Hmm, French onion. Gramma’s secret recipe. I’m glad some things never change.”
    â€œThe best stuff just keeps getting better, don’t you think?”
    â€œYeah. I know what you mean.” For all her sadness, there was gratitude, too, for the blessings surrounding her. Home and family, health and hope. Everything good in her life was because she’d grown up here, because of the people in this house.
    Michelle lifted the tattered lid of their old Monopoly box. “Kirby and Karen are planning on rounding up thekids and bedding them down in my old room. Once everyone’s napping, we’ll get started. Sound like a plan?”
    â€œA good one. Are the husbands going to join us, or will it be just us girls?”
    â€œHmm. Let me think.” Michelle turned to study the strapping men clustered around the television, leaning forward, attention one hundred percent on the game. The big screen showed the quarterback passing the ball to a wide receiver, and the men leaped to their feet, shouting and cheering.
    The baby woke up and sniffled.
    â€œHmm, I don’t think we should let dudes who act like that near us,” Michelle decided with a twinkle as she went to rescue her little one in the swing.
    â€œGood decision.”
    Kristin considered her brothers-in-law. They all seemed like good men. She hardly knew them, having spent bits and pieces of time with them through her visits home. What mattered to her was how those men treated her sisters. As long as her sisters were happy, then she liked her brothers-in-law just fine.
    But marriage was marriage—inevitably love faded, problems and hardship broke the best of relationships. Diminished the greatest romance. Men let women down; yeah, she got that. That’s why she was way too smart to ever get married. To put that much trust in anyone. Sisters