Chapter 21: Hearth, Show Everyone

Mara's POV

The steps up to the stage were black, with a strip of white tape on the edge of each one.

I climbed all five of them in heels I had borrowed from my sister.

The spotlight hit me, and the room went white and roaring.

I couldn't see anyone past the third row, only shapes, and the green light of a camera on a tripod.

Neil took my hand.

His palm was dry and warm, and he squeezed it exactly the way he used to squeeze it at his mother's table.

"There she is," he said into his headset mic, fond and soft. "My wife."

The applause came in a wave.

He leaned toward my ear, with his smile still fixed for the cameras.

"You look wonderful," he whispered. "Now do exactly what I said in the text."

"You didn't tell me to do anything in the text."

"Take the bow, Mara. Then come home with me."

He turned me by the elbow toward the model living room.

"Why don't we show them how it feels," he said to the crowd, "to come home to a house that knows you?"

He lifted his voice for the room.

"Hearth, welcome my wife."

The white front door sat in its frame, with the little camera over it and the lock beside the handle.

For one second I felt my old body come back.

I felt the three years of rain, the cold step under my knees, the dark entryway.

My hand actually shook in his.

Then the house spoke.

"Welcome home, Mara," it said.

It said it warm and clear, in the voice I had begged to hear.

The lock clicked, and the door swung open an inch on its own.

Neil's smile stayed where it was.

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