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Lucy sits beside Laurel, clutching her stuffed rabbit so tightly I'm surprised the thing still has stuffing. Every few minutes she asks if we're nearly there, and every time Laurel gives her the same answer.

"Almost."

The kid spends most of the drive bouncing between excitement and nerves. One minute she's staring out the window. The next she's asking questions Laurel can't really answer.

When we finally turn into the driveway, every light in the house is blazing.

Lucy spots it immediately. "We're here."

The front door swings open before I've even shut off the engine.

Maggie appears in the doorway.

Time stops.

Lucy sees her mother and freezes halfway through unbuckling her seatbelt.

Maggie makes it to the top step before she forgets how to move.

"Mama?"

Maggie lets out a broken sound and presses a hand over her mouth.

That does it.

Lucy scrambles out of the truck before Laurel even has time to open her own door. "Mama!"

I've seen kids run excited before. This is different. Every ounce of her is aimed straight at Maggie.

Maggie drops to her knees just in time.

Lucy slams into her hard enough that they nearly topple over together, and then they're wrapped around each other so tightly it looks almost painful.

Neither of them seems to care.

Laurel and I slowly get out and stand watching.

Maggie's crying openly now. Tears stream down her face as she buries her nose in Lucy's hair and holds her daughter against her chest. "I missed you so much."

Lucy nods frantically. "I missed you too. I missed you every single minute."

The words keep tumbling out of her, tripping over each other as fast as she can get them free.

"Don't go away again, okay? You have to stay. I want you to stay."

"I'm staying." Maggie's hands shake as she cups Lucy's cheeks and kisses her forehead, her nose, the top of her head. She keeps touching her as though she's reassuring herself Lucy is really here. "I'm staying, baby."

I glance at Laurel.

She's staring at her sister and niece with an expression I've never seen before. The strain that's been riding her for weeks has eased. It's still there around the edges, but it no longer looks like it's carrying her away.

Over the past week we've chased leads across states, searched shelters, made phone calls at all hours, and followed every thread we could find. Sitting in the truck, I thought bringing Maggie home was the finish line.

Standing here now, watching Lucy curl against her mother's chest while Maggie holds her like the most precious thing on earth, I realize this is what we were really trying to reach.

This family.

This chance to start rebuilding.