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She’d fired up the flame under a cast-iron pan. “Bacon?”

“In my wildest dreams.”

Gerri laughed. “We’re all about making dreams happen here.” She pulled some bacon from the fridge, along with a couple eggs.

“How many kids do you have?”

“Orrin and I had five boys and a girl, and then Coco came to us as a foster child, in a way, and we adopted her. Lot of room for love on this place.” She set the bacon into the pan. “Orrin died in an accident far too early. My sons had to take over. It took a while, but we found our way through.”

She turned and glanced up and smiled. Selah followed her view.

RJ carried Joshua down the stairs, his hair wet. “Got all the manure off him,” she said. “This kid.” She shook her head good-naturedly, as if she hadn’t run for her life yesterday, hadn’t seen her home burn.

She set him down. “Stay away from the goats.”

“Aw, it’s hard to stay away from baby goats, Ruby.” Gerri crouched and held her arms open, and Joshua ran into her embrace. She swooped him up and kissed his cheek. “Grandma Gigi has cats in the barn. Maybe we should go find the kitties?”

Joshua clapped his hands.

“Mom, seriously. How many baths will this kid have to take?”

“Just one a day.” She stood up. “A little dirt isn’t going to hurt him.” She winked, cast a look at Selah, then turned back to the sizzling bacon.

Joshua scampered over to a pile of trucks lined up on the hearth.

RJ slid onto a high-topped chair. Reached for the basket of rolls. “I talked to the insurance guy. He’s going out to the house today. Apparently, Jethro called the fire department, but it’s a total loss.”

Gerri sighed, turned. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s just…stuff. I have all of our pictures on the cloud, so…”

Her mother reached across the island, touched her hand. “Have you heard from York?”

RJ shook her head. “I left him three messages.”

“I called Tate. He didn’t pick up either.”

“Tate is your son?” asked Selah.

“Yes. He works for the same organization that York—and sometimes RJ—does.”

“You work with the Caleb Group too?” She directed her question to RJ.

RJ had retrieved a cinnamon roll, began to butter it. “I did. I do—but mostly as an analyst, same thing I did in the CIA.”

“You were with the CIA?”

“A very long time ago. It’s how I met York, actually. It’s a long story. But when we left public service, we both started to work for the Caleb Group. We actually helped stop the assassination attempt on President White.”

“You mentioned that. At an inaugural ball. My brother, Jake, also told me about it.”

Recognition seemed to dawn on her. “I know Jake. And Aria. How are they?”

“Good. They live in Houston now. She works as department head of pediatric cardiothoracic care at Texas Children’s Hospital. He stays at home with their daughter. Although I think he still occasionally deploys for Ham’s international SAR branch.”

“It’s hard to juggle family and career. But frankly, I love being a mom. It might be all the adventure I need right now.” She glanced at Joshua. “He’s so amazing. And Hana…she still needs my full attention.”

Gerri plated the bacon. “Hana is from Russia. RJ and York adopted her a couple years ago. Sweet girl.” She cracked a couple eggs into a pan. “How do you like your eggs?”