“Welcome home,” she tells them, before they keep her mouth too busy for talking. They hold her tight and squeeze her against them like men who’ve been out to sea for a couple of years.
“We missed you so much,” Trevor tells her.
“I’ve missed you too. We all have,” she says, pulling away just enough to turn toward Duke and me.
“Welcome home,” I tell them.
“Welcome home for good,” Duke says, sounding like he never wants them to move away again, even though I know he’s incredibly proud of the work they’ve been doing.
“I won’t say long distance relationships suck,” Autumn says, “because nothing in our year together has been bad, but it has been challenging. Sometimes I felt like this day would never come.”
“It’s here,” Adrian says. “We’re here.”
Autumn’s face glows with happiness as she gestures to Duke and me. “Come here. I want all of you around me.”
We crowd in without hesitation, all of us surrounding her, hugging her, holding her.
This is where she wants us, and this is where we’ll always be.
* * *