“If you mean deep, passionate and detailed, yes.”
“This is—am I blushing? I feel like I should be blushing.”
Janice laughed. “They, unlike me, certainly seemed to have no trouble in expressing themselves.” She lightly touched her forearm. “I’m thankful that they could write so well, that they could tell each other how they felt because their feelings and their words helped put to voice just how much I feel for you. They said what I felt, what I wanted to say but wasn’t able to. Their love gave me the strength to follow my heart. To come to you. To find my way…home.”
Janice dipped her hand in her robe pocket and pulled out the gold necklace she’d brought with her. Carla eyed it and then eyed her. Janice unclasped it. “I want you to have this.” She wrapped it around her neck and fastened it. “It’s similar to the one Gale gave Liza. Like the one she’s wearing in all the pictures.”
Carla fingered the charm. “It’s a heart.”
Janice nodded. “It’s my heart. You now officially have my heart, Carla Sims.”
Carla placed the box back on the table. She slid her hand along Janice’s neck and buried her fingers in her hair. “Then you’re absolutely right. That box and everything it represents means so much more than any other gift ever could. It brought your feelings to light and it brought you to me.” She leaned in and softly kissed her. “It brought you…home.”
Janice began to tremble, like she had the night she’d arrived. Only now it wasn’t from nerves or from fear of rejection. It was from being gently pulled in and enveloped in love.
“Please tell me you’ll stay,” Carla said. “Not just for a while. Or an extended visit. But for forever.”
Janice smiled as a tear slid down her face. She nodded. “If you’ll have me.”
Carla grinned. “Oh, I’ll have you.” She tugged her closer, pulled her onto her lap. She traced her fingertip around Janice’s heart. “This doesn’t mean you’ll be anything less than who you are or in any way devalue where you come from. It won’t make you any less southern.” She squeezed her. “Well, maybe a little. But only as much as you allow. Only as much as you want.” She lightly poked her chest. “You’ll still have plenty of that red mud flowing through your veins.”
“I know. I realize that now. And I couldn’t, even if I wanted to, deny how much I love it here.”
“The desert, the dirt, and the heat?”
“Yep. Even the heat. I love it all. The raw, rugged beauty, the majesty of the purple mountains and the one other thing North Carolina doesn’t have.”
“What’s that?”
“You.”
“Oh, you’re laying it on thick now, Carpenter.”
Janice laughed and wrapped her arms around her neck.
Carla looked deep into her eyes and kissed her. And then she said the words Janice had only ever heard in her dreams.
“Then welcome home, baby. Welcome home.”
The End