Sierra's Homecoming by Linda Lael Miller Page A

climax. The light dazzled her, and the muffled silence seemed to fill not only her bedroom, but the world beyond it.
    She lay still for a long time, recovering. Listening to her own quick, shallow breathing. Waiting for her heartbeat to slow down.
    Liam peeked through the doorway linking her room to his.
    â€œMom?”
    â€œCome in,” Sierra said.
    He bounded across the threshold. “It snowed!” he whooped, heading straight for the window. “I mean, it really snowed!”
    Sierra smiled, sat up in bed and put her feet on the floor.
    A jolt of cold went through her.
    â€œIt’s freezing in here!”
    Liam turned from the window to grin at her. “Travis says the furnace is out.”
    â€œTravis?”
    â€œHe’s downstairs,” Liam said. “He’ll get it going.”
    A dusty-smelling whoosh rose from the nearest heat vent, as if to illustrate the point.
    â€œWhat’s he doing here?” Sierra asked, scrambling through her suitcases for a bathrobe. All she had was a thin nylon thing, and when she saw it, she knew it would be worse than nothing, so she pulled the quilt off the bed and wrapped herself in that instead.
    â€œDon’t be a grump,” Liam replied. “Travis is doing us a favor, Mom. We’d probably be icicles by now if it wasn’t for him. Did you know that old stove downstairs works? Travis built a fire in it, and he put the coffee on, too. He said to tell you it will be ready in a couple of minutes and we’re snowed in.”
    â€œSnowed in?”
    â€œKeep up, Mom,” Liam chirped. “There was a blizzard last night. That’s why Travis came to make sure we were all right. I heard him knock, and I let him in.”
    Sierra joined Liam at the window and drew in her breath.
    The whiteness of all that snow practically blinded her, but it was beautiful, too, in an apocalyptic way. She’d never seen anything like it before and, for a long moment, she was spellbound. Then her sensible side kicked in.
    â€œThank God the power didn’t go out,” she said, easing a little closer to the vent, which was spewing deliciously warm air.
    â€œIt did, ” Liam informed her happily. “Travis got the generator started right away. We don’t have lights or anything, but he said the furnace is all that matters.”
    She frowned. “How could he have made coffee?”
    â€œOn the cookstove, Mom,” Liam said, with a roll of his eyes.
    For the first time Sierra noticed that Liam was fully dressed.
    He headed for the door. “I’d better go help Travis bring in the wood,” he said. “Get some clothes on, will you?”
    Five minutes later Sierra joined Travis and Liam in the kitchen, which was blessedly warm. Her jeans would do well enough, but she’d had to raid Meg’s room for socks and a thick sweatshirt, because her tank tops weren’t going to cut it.
    â€œAre we stranded here?” she demanded, watching as Travis poured coffee from a blue enamel pot that looked like it came from a stash of camping gear.
    He grinned. “Depends on how you look at it,” he said. “Liam and I, we see it as an adventure.”
    â€œSome adventure,” Sierra grumbled, but she took the coffee he offered and gave a grateful nod of thanks.
    Travis chuckled. “Don’t worry,” he said. “You’ll adjust.”
    Sierra hastened over to stand closer to the cookstove. “Does this happen often?”
    â€œOnly in winter,” Travis quipped.
    â€œHilarious,” she drawled.
    Liam laughed uproariously.
    â€œYou are enjoying this,” she accused, tousling her son’s hair.
    â€œIt’s great! ” Liam cried. “Snow! Wait till the Geeks hear about this!”
    â€œLiam,” Sierra said.
    He gave Travis a long-suffering look. “She hates it when I say ‘geek,’” he explained.
    Travis picked up his own mug of coffee, took a