“Who brought all the food?” Cassie asked, turning to look at Steve.
He grinned and looked proud of himself. “Everyone contributed. This is a celebration, and we couldn’t very well let the day pass without—”
“Celebrating,” Amiee supplied.
“Exactly.”
Cassie had trouble believing this many people would take time from their busy schedules to share this moment with her.
“This was your doing, wasn’t it, Steve?”
“I helped. We all pitched in. We love you, Cassie. Each one of us in our own way. You’ve touched our hearts, given of yourself, and become an important part of our lives. A very important part of mine.” He raised her hand to his mouth and kissed her fingers. “I love you, Cassie. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you.”
“If no one thought of it, you could buy me a bucket of KFC,” Amiee told him, completely serious.
“I believe, my dear Amiee, that you’ll find several buckets waiting for you this very day. I’m not much of a cook, and when Shelly suggested a potluck, I knew exactly what you’d enjoy most.”
Steve parked the car and Cassie wiped the tears out of her eyes. Amiee opened the passenger door and climbed down, racing toward her friends and the food. Cassie followed, and as soon as her friends saw her, they applauded.
The prayer and ribbon-cutting ceremony took only a few minutes, and then Cassie was handed the keys to the home she had spent so many hours building. And there on the south side of the house was space for a garden. Cassie looked again.
“Steve, is that a gazebo at the side of the house?”
He grinned. “Could be!”
“But it wasn’t there two days ago. How did … When … Who?” Silly question. Cassie knew it had to have been Steve.
He grinned again. “I had help. Are you surprised? I remembered you telling me your parents had one.”
Later, as the keys were placed in her hand, Cassie closed her fist around the cold metal and smiled. Her family and friends gathered around her as she lifted her eyes toward heaven and thanked God for this moment. It was then that she realized that she was truly and finally home.