Six Years Later
"Mind if I join you?"
"Of course not." She scooted to one side of the porch swing. He sat next to her and she cuddled up against him, draping her blanket over the two of them.
"Margaret's still pesterin' me about gettin' her a cat." He clumsily kissed her neck. "You don't mind, do you? Plenty of barn cats we can choose from."
"What, Thomas ain't enough for her?"
"She said she loves Thomas, but he oughta have a brother. And we oughta name him Bomas, so's their names'll match". He spoke softly, imitating that slightly clipped, solemn way their daughter had of talking.
"Oh, no," she laughed. "Did you tell her that ain't a proper name, even for a cat?"
"I did, but you know how stubborn she is. No matter what, we're gonna have another cat and his name's gonna be Bomas."
"Yeah, I know it." Laurey smiled. "Just pick a sweet one, all right? One that don't scratch too much?"
"I promise." He kissed the top of her head.
"What's that one?" She pointed to the stars. "Wanna see if you remember."
Curly had taught her all the constellations; she'd been charmed by the idea of finding home no matter what. She'd taught them to Jud when they were first married, mostly because she loved having any excuse to stay up late with him on the porch swing before she had a baby to care for all night.
"The jagged one? Cassiopeia."
"Where's, uh, where's Hercules?"
"Right around there." He pointed.
"Very good. I like knowin' you can always find your way home."
He stroked her cheek. "Never had a home 'fore you. Still dunno if I'm used to it."
She smiled and pressed her hand into his. She knew all the things that could happen; farms could go broke or burn down, people died, people changed. But in that moment, she was happy, and that was the only thing that mattered.
The End