Free All Is Bright by Colleen Coble Page A

with her hands clutched together. “Do I know you?” Something about him reminded her of her father, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.
    Tom shoved his hands in his pockets. “Delilah, this is Adam.”
    Adam who? Delilah frowned and stared harder at the man. Then Tom’s words took root. Her Adam? “A-Adam? You’re not my brother.”
    â€œYou look just like Mom.” His voice was hoarse, and he took another step closer. “I thought you were dead, Delilah. They told me you died too.”
    She took it all in, the curve of his jaw, the cleft in his chin that was like Dad’s, the dimple in the left cheek. “Adam.” She barely got the word out.
    He opened his arms and she went into them. The cologne, Tommy Hilfiger, was the same one he’d worn when he left home. Twenty years had passed, but they all vanished in a moment.
    She pressed her face against his shirt and let the tears fall. “Adam, oh Adam.”
    His hug was fierce, and she could feel the tremble in his arm. A sob escaped him, and she heard him gulp back any more sounds. Lifting her head, she saw him swallow hard, then send an appealing glance toward the woman.
    Delilah turned her attention to her new sister-in-law. And nieces. The girls were her nieces. She saw the resemblance now. They looked like miniature versions of Delilah herself when she was that small.
    She had family, nieces, a new sister. And Adam. She buried her face back in his chest.
    â€œT-This is my wife, Hannah. And our girls, Clara and Eloise.”
    Delilah lifted her head again but she couldn’t speak, couldn’t force a single syllable past her tight throat. Tears blurred her vision, and she looked at Tom, who was beaming brighter than any Christmas light.
    â€œYou did this?” she managed to choke out.
    He shrugged. “Merry Christmas.”
    She wanted to sweep them all into a hug and hear every single thing that had gone on in her brother’s life. Leaving the shelter of his arms, she knelt to talk to her new nieces. Family. What a precious word. Tom had changed her life in so many ways. She glanced back at him and saw his tender gaze filled with so much promise. She was ready to take the next step.

E PILOGUE
    Three Years Later
    T HE COTTAGE T OM HAD BOUGHT D ELILAH WAS JUST DOWN the road from Tidewater Inn, so she’d been able to continue her job. From the kitchen window at the inn, she could see the slashes of color from her rose garden while she prepared meals for the guests. With the window open on this late-September day, she could smell the scent of the sea and hear the waves rolling to shore.
    She touched the swell of her belly and smiled. She wouldn’t be able to work much longer. The baby was due anytime, and Libby only let her cook dinner now. The new girl they’d hired was working out well, and knowing that relieved a lot of Delilah’s stress.
    Her back ached a bit and she rubbed it.
    â€œYou doing okay, honey?” Tom touched her on the shoulder.
    She turned and smiled at him. “I didn’t hear you come in. I’m fine, just a little backache. Dinner is in the oven and I’m ready to go home.”
    Home. Who would have thought she would have a real home with a loving husband and a baby on the way? God was so good. He’d been good before he gave her such an awesome gift as Tom, but every day she was thankful for his gifts.
    A sudden cramp hit her in the back, harder this time, and she nearly cried out as her legs gave out under her.
    â€œDelilah?”
    Before she could reassure him, Tom had swept her up in his arms and was carrying her out of the kitchen.
    â€œIt’s nothing, Tom. Just a cramp.” But as he reached the parlor, she had to bite her lip to keep from crying out. “I-I might be wrong. I think maybe I’m in labor.”
    Panic flared in his brown eyes, and he laid her gently on the sofa. Thankfully, the parlor was empty of guests, who