Home Again By Kristin Hannah Novels & Stories

I glanced sideways and saw Isabella desperately trying to hide her face behind my shoulder, yet her hand clung to mine with a strength that surprised me. Amid the deafening cheers, I looked at my family in the front row. Their faces were almost ashen. In that moment, I felt no vindication or even hatred. Because at last, in this reckoning 20 years overdue, I'd taken that scarred little girl by the hand and led her home. I finally understood that home wasn't where one was born, but where the love was.

Something that looked, more than anything, like anger finally finding somewhere safe to live. “I built a bed and breakfast,” Hannah said slowly. “Eleven rooms. I have given thousands of strangers somewhere to land, because nobody ever did that for me.” She looked up, and her eyes were bright, fierce in a way Cloe hadn’t seen from her yet. “I am not going to let a company that’s never once asked how I’m doing tell me I’m not allowed to talk about the one good thing that’s happened to me in fifty years.” Daniel, beside her, reached over and took her hand.

She quickly grabs the glass and gulps down the juice without a break. "Some more please?" I pour her some more without hesitation. This time she takes it sip by sip. I take a sip of my drink, staring sharply at her. "I thought I told you never to come back." "That was the plan." "Then?" "Warren and I decided to move to this town." I gasp. "What!" "Warren's dad gave him an abandoned beautiful bungalow which is now getting refurnished as we speak. It should be ready by the end of this week."

I was silent because I was a coward. Hannah seemed to sense the wall I’d built. She wiped her eyes and took a step back, her posture regaining some of its usual Carter steel. "I’m traveling home for the holidays tomorrow," she said, her voice stabilizing. "My parents want the whole family there. Luca is driving me. We’ll be gone for the break."

She drove around the city aimlessly, unsure where she should go. The Sherwood residence? That was out of the question. She figured Elijah had probably married Juliette by now. Maybe they even had a child together, making Coby's wish come true. The family portrait that helped her make up her mind most likely featured a family of four now. As for the Graham residence, Maya had enough self-awareness to know that Jerry and Bertha wouldn't acknowledge her as part of the family. Thus, when Lawrence suggested restoring her identity as Julia Graham, she said, "Forget it. I quite like the name Maya Jamison. Let's leave Julia in the past."

Hannah’s POV Returning to my family home was always the hardest part of any day. It somehow almost felt like walking back into a war zone where the enemy already knows all my weak points. Or more like the weak points I had grown so used to getting attacked that now when they did it, it didn't hurt anymore. It was just any random day. A usual thing. The gate opened with its usual quiet whine, the iron bars sliding apart like the mouth of a beast that had swallowed too many of my secrets. I stepped inside, the familiar tiled walkway stretching ahead of me like a corridor into everything I used to try to forget.

he smiled at her. Rebecca could feel her eyes filling with tears. The Banks' had always been the best second parents a girl could ask for, but this was more than she would have ever expected. "It's already furnished too. You're welcome," Joni smiled, proud of herself. Rebecca looked at her smiling. Rebecca could only guess that Joni was the one to decorate the place she loved to "make things pretty," as she always told people. "And it's right across the hall from Isaac and I's, so we can still see each other all the time." She couldn't help but laugh. Everyone in their little, blended family believed that Joni had a slight dependency problem when it came to Rebecca. They all hoped that it wo

"Daddy, are you at home? I missed you so much! Are you preparing a big table of delicious food for us at home? I missed Daddy's cooking." "I am so hungry, Daddy. Daddy, I missed you so much." Ethan heard Gemma's voice and almost cried out. "Okay, I will go home right away and prepare dishes for you. I also missed you, Wait for me." Ethan rushed back home. As he arrived home, the car that sent Anna back from the airport also arrived at the gate of Hamilton family mansion. Ethan was really happy not to see Liam. He felt in a trance that Anna and Gemma had just gone for a travel and now they were back.

"Make it the most guarded secret. Also, with the crystal heart and your blood in it, here they wouldn't be able to invade the mansion. "But the crystal doesn't cover the whole of the pack," I replied. "Hannah, Helena and Kiara might outside of its range and even if they're within it, they aren't soldiers nor are there any soldiers around them. How would they survive?" She finally looked away from her work and stared at me for a few minutes. "Are we ever going to go back home?" "Yes, we are," I assured her. "We already made a promise and are getting paid for this. We would go home once we see this through."

Hannah opened the door and went straight into the house. Hannah’s house was indeed fabulous. It was a two-story light blue house with a stoned walkway and a black car parked outside. Luke was laughing when Courtney and Mila pulled up. Johnson was grumbling to himself, storming into the house behind his sister. “What’s up with him?” Mila asked looking towards Johnson’s direction. “Hannah called his house a “humble shack” in comparison to her fabulous home,” Luke explained, making the girls laughed while I cracked a smile.