I scrambled off the mattress and across to the window, yanked the white curtain aside, and looked down at the driveway, and my heart nearly stopped.

Jacqueline’s silver sedan was rolling to a slow, deliberate halt directly behind Zachary’s parked truck.

And through the windshield, in the passenger seat, calm as anything, I could see Theodore, my father-in-law, adjusting his reading glasses on his nose and gazing mildly up at the house, for all the world like a man arriving for a pleasant Saturday visit.

The small bag I had been clutching in my hand slipped through my numb fingers and dropped softly to the floor.

They were back.