Love Comes Home Read Online Free

the head. He fell, cradling the camera, even as he died. So Jay had picked up Artie’s camera and taken his place, seeing the war through the lens of the camera.
    That was war. A matter of inches. A man stepped on a mine or didn’t. He was in the way of shrapnel or dived into a foxhole before it hit. Many times Jay had been next door to death, but here he was, still breathing as he walked through the rubble of Germany with his mind on home.
    Home. After his mother died when he was a kid, no place had felt like home until he got to Rosey Corner and met Kate Merritt. Kate Tanner now.
    It seemed like a lifetime ago he’d kissed her goodbye and climbed the gangplank to go to war. In a matter of weeks, he would climb another gangplank to leave war behind. He could hardly wait. But under the eagerness to be back in Kate’s arms, to have the welcome of her family at Rosey Corner, was a quiver of worry. He loved Kate. She loved him. But what did either of them know about being married? About being a family and raising kids? Kate wanted kids. She’d been disappointed she didn’t get in the family way before he went overseas.
    Her little sister had beat her on that. Tori had a baby eight months after her husband shipped out. Then Sammy had checked out for good in a Japanese prison camp.
    The poor kid. Barely nineteen. So young it hurt to look at him. Like dozens of others Jay had met since then. Boys holding the fate of the world in their hands. Kids flying bombers. Jumping out of airplanes behind enemy lines. Charging pillboxes. Starving in prison camps. Dying to win the war.
    Now the war was won. Those like Jay who’d made it through just had to wait for a spot on a ship to take them home. Home. Jay looked out past the buildings to the trees on the horizon that had survived the bombs. Trees much like those in Rosey Corner. Could that place possibly be as beautiful as he remembered? Soon now he’d walk back up that road. Kate would hold on to his arm. Birdie would run out for a hug. Mrs. Merritt would bake him a brown sugar pie. Maybe it could all be as good as he remembered.

4

    M ike made it home first. The end of October. A much thinner Mike. His brown hair streaked with gray. Deep creases around his mouth and eyes that had nothing to do with smiles.
    But he was smiling now. Very glad to be back in Evie’s arms. Kate drove to Louisville to take Evie to meet the train. Evie had refused to let Kate teach her how to drive. Instead if Kate mentioned driving, Evie informed her that riding the bus supported the war effort. Evie had a way of turning on the guilt faucet, but Kate kept saving up her gas rations. A newspaper reporter needed a way to follow a story.
    Taking her sister to meet her husband at the train station had “story” written all over it. Whether she ever wrote it or not. When Mike grabbed Evie in an embrace, Kate stepped back to give them some privacy. Happy reunions were happening all around her. Soon Jay would be the one climbing down from that train. Her heart skipped a few beats at the thought of his arms around her again. It had been so long that sometimes she wasn’t sure if she remembered real embraces or only those in her dreams.
    Mike got home on a Monday. Evie took a week off work for them to get caught up. On everything, she said with a blush. Tuesday afternoon she called Kate at the newspaper office to ask her to drive them to Rosey Corner on Wednesday. Mike was restless. The late October days were wasted in the city. He wanted to see the rest of the family. Kate heard the edge under Evie’s words, so she dared her editor’s ire by asking for another day off.
    “I can’t believe this old heap is still running,” Mike said when she showed up at Evie’s apartment. He’d hardly noticed the car on Monday. His eyes had been too full of Evie.
    “It’s got a few miles on it for sure.” Kate ran her hand down the rusty gray fender. “But it gets me where I need to go.”
    “Jay will want a new