Title: Sophia's Way Home
Series: Paradise, Book Two
Author: Natalie Monteiro
Publisher: NineStar Press
Release Date: 11/10/2026
Heat Level: 3 - Some Sex
Pairing: Female/Female
Length: 238
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, family-drama, new adult, horror, lesbian, vanlife, missing father, conspiracy
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Description
Sophia misses her family. Six years later, she can still feel the ache of the loss. A car accident with a drunk driver had taken them away, her mother and brother. And though she hadn’t escaped the pain, not fully, what she had escaped was Catherine, North Carolina. The place where it happened. The place where she was forced to move in with her aunt Olivia and cousin Cassie. People who made her life a living nightmare.
But none of that seems to matter now. Sophia is free. Traveling in her van with her girlfriend, Maria, and their two dogs. A trip to Baja Sur, Mexico with Maria’s family. A family that is just starting to feel like her own. But it isn’t long before Sophia gets a call from the past.
Sophia finds herself needing to cut the vacation short. She and Maria must travel back to the place she swore she’d never return. God damn North Carolina.
Soon, she is confronted with dynamics from the past, life-changing news, and a truth that must be uncovered. Sophia and Maria won’t be returning to vanlife travels any time soon. Not with something so important at stake.
The truth behind her mother and brother’s death.
Excerpt
Sophia’s Way Home
Natalie Monteiro © 2026
All Rights Reserved
“Sophia! Caleb! Your grandparents are here!” Amelia yelled to her children as she rushed to the front door of their home. The two of them were upstairs, playing with whatever their hearts desired. Legos? Toy cars? She couldn’t be certain, but she knew that whatever they were doing, they were having fun up there. The occasional screeches of laughter penetrating through the ceiling were a sure sign.
“There’s my Amelia! The light of our familia!” her father exclaimed as she opened the door, seeing her for the first time in what had been too long.
Amelia smirked, not particularly caring for the nickname. Mainly because her younger sister, Olivia, would make a fuss about it.
I have light too, Dad. She could hear the words of her sister ringing in her ear, spoken with so much jealousy that it made her quiver uncomfortably. But Olivia isn’t here right now, she reminded herself, so she began to let her guard down. Enough to finally feel some joy from hearing the endearing name.
“Mom, Dad,” Amelia gasped in loving disbelief; she had missed them just as much. She hated going this long without seeing them, but things changed as you got older. She stared into their eyes, seeing that it was true. Time had been catching up with them. Their faces were slightly more wrinkled, and their hair had even more pronounced hues of gray since the last time she saw them.
They stepped inside to be greeted with an ecstatic hug from their daughter. “I’m so glad you’re here,” she whispered into her dad’s ear and, “I’ve missed you so much,” she spoke into her mom’s.
“Us too, sweetie,” Barbra said with a warm smile as their embrace came to an end. Her daughter’s hand was firmly inside hers. She wasn’t even aware of it. Barbra just didn’t want their moment to end.
“Where are our beautiful grandchildren?” Michael asked, poking his head around the corner, but not seeing any sign of them in the living room.
Amelia didn’t need to answer as the sound of her children running emanated through the floors above. The thudding grew closer, until, finally, they appeared galloping down the stairs. Amelia smiled, seeing that they were holding on to the hand railing as she had told them to many times before.
“Pawpaw!” Sophia squealed.
“Mamaw!” Caleb followed suit.
“Oh, there’s our little bunnies!” Barbra said with a level of joy that had been clearly dormant until now.
“Hip-hop! Hip-hop!” the children sang in unison as they wrapped their little arms around their grandparents’ legs.
Amelia stood there, watching them. Soaking in the feeling of pure bliss that came with the reunion, not wanting the moment to end. She savored every second of it, before it inevitably did.
“We missed you!” the small children squeaked. It was simply impossible not to feel the emotion in their voices.
“We missed you too,” their grandparents answered.
“Okay, everyone, let’s mosey to the living room,” Amelia said, as she led them all there.
“Pawpaw, Mamaw, look! I lost my tooth!” Sophia said, climbing on top of her grandparents after they took a seat on the couch. She gave them the widest smile possible so that they could see the fullest extent of the loss. Though the gap would have been perfectly visible with just a normal smile. It was her front tooth after all.
“Oh, my. You sure did, sweetie,” Barbra said with a little giggle. “Did it hurt?”
“This one didn’t. But the one back here did!” She took a finger to her lip and aggressively pulled it as far back as it would go so that the missing molar could be seen.
“Well then, someone’s on a roll!” Michael said, sounding happy to see that his granddaughter was as animated as ever.
“Yes, Mommy says that pretty soon I won’t have any more teeth left to lose.”
“That’s right. Not until you’re my age,” Michael informed her, sparing them from any additional details.
“No way!” Caleb squealed. “I wanna see!”
Michael couldn’t deny the request. He seemed to figure that the children might as well learn the importance of maintaining good dental hygiene. So, he pulled away his own lip, revealing two missing teeth in the back.
“Woah!” Caleb screamed in amusement, while Sophia did nothing but tilt her head.
“Pawpaw, why do you have a golden tooth?” she asked.
“This is what happens when you don’t take care of your teeth,” Michael began. “A dentist will go in there with a needle to numb you out, then they’ll hack away at whatever is damaged before filling it back in with some kind of metal. And that’s only if it’s a lucky one. Otherwise, you’ll have a missing tooth forever. Like my other two.”
The children went completely silent. A look of nothing but horror washed over their faces. They turned to their mother, seeming to want reassurance. Some semblance of don’t worry, my hunnies, that’s not going to happen to you. Everything is going to be okay.
Amelia never took her gaze off her father. She patiently waited for him to catch on. Wanting him to offer them the reassurance that they needed, since he was the one who’d started this all.
Nothing but silence continued.
“Pawpaw, that’s scary,” Caleb finally said, turning back to look at him with a new rush of fear all over his face.
It was only then that Michael understood.
He let out a little chuckle, which in turn made Amelia release a little smile. “You have nothing to worry about, my darlings,” he said. “So long as you brush your teeth every day, this fate will not happen to you.”
Sophia and Caleb looked back at their mother, stone-cold. They needed further reassurance, and this time, Amelia happily gave it to them.
“Which you have both been doing,” Amelia said with a nod, and with that, her children became eased.
Amelia laughed to herself, knowing that she never would have predicted this was how their first conversation would have gone. In the silliness of it all, she knew that there were other, more pressing things they could be talking about.
At least for her, there were.
“How are Mrs. Rosy and Mr. Red Tail doing?” Barbra asked. They were the stuffed animals they had gifted the children this time just last year. A little puppy for Sophia and a curious fox for Caleb.
“Oh, they’re doing wonderful!” Sophia exclaimed.
“Yeah! We play with them every day and then tuck them in at night. Especially when we miss you,” Caleb added, but the sweetness of his comment lasted nearly a second. He turned to his sister, both of them wide-eyed.
Amelia knew what this was about. The same burning question that must be in each of their minds. It’s not polite to ask, she had told them. But how could they not when the perfect opportunity just presented itself?
Caleb looked at her mother, giving it a second. But this time, Amelia didn’t say anything.
“Are we getting presents again this year?” Caleb finally asked.
“Why, of course you are!” Barbra exclaimed.
“Yeah, it is that time of year again,” Michael continued, “ain’t it?”
“It sure is,” Barbra said, answering the question that had likely been for the children, but that didn’t seem to matter. This time, it was them who stared at each other wide-eyed, before turning to look back at the children.
Amelia could feel it in the air. That now was as good a time as any to give them their gifts. It was the main reason they had come to Vermont, after all. To spend time with and spoil their grandchildren for their birthdays. It was the annual tradition. They would stay for a whole week right in between Sophia and Caleb’s birthdays, having just missed Caleb’s on September 12th and it being a hair too soon for Sophia’s, which was on October 1st.
This was the best solution that they had found.
Yet, in reality, it was so much more than that. It was the single time they’d come to visit each year, making it the most special week.
“Come on, let’s go to the car!” Michael said, and the children didn’t need any more convincing. Sophia and Caleb jumped to their feet and ran eagerly to the front door. They stood there, bouncing up and down as they waited for everyone else to join them.
“We’re coming, we’re coming,” Michael said with a laugh.
Amelia stood beside her parents, making sure that they could get off the couch okay. To her surprise, they did. Even if it took a bit of extra effort. She led the way there, the three of them soon meeting her children at the front door.
Amelia finally reached to open the door. She watched as they became but a pair of puppies running toward freedom. An open door. A free world. Amelia’s smile deepened, knowing that there was so much to be savored.
As she took her first steps off the porch, the blazing sun hit her face. Although it was finally fall, the summer’s heat still managed to hang on. Most evidently during the afternoons like today. Amelia allowed herself to bask in it.
This was her favorite time of year.
The transition between summer and fall.
Maybe because of the happiness it brought her children. A fresh start to the school year, filled with sports and being able to see their friends again every day.
Maybe it was as simple as having to do with the weather itself. It was the best temperature that the year had to offer. Cool mornings, pleasant evenings, and days where you could do whatever you wanted since it wasn’t too hot.
Of course, there was also the ever-present feeling that her parents would soon be visiting, as well as the anticipation of holidays just around the corner.
There were just so many things to love about this time of year. So, she soaked in the sun, knowing that she wouldn’t be feeling it against her skin for much longer.
Not like this.
Michael popped open the trunk. The sound of the hatch bouncing up and down was enough to take Amelia out of her daze. She was standing on the lawn, alone, but not for a second longer. She hurried to the car to help her parents unload their luggage. Peering inside the back window, she noticed that they had certainly brought a lot of stuff for just the two of them.
Though that wasn’t necessarily unusual.
Sophia and Caleb came around the other side and helped to unload the car by conveniently removing the one thing they were interested in. The gift bags.
“Don’t open them without us! Make sure you wait!” Amelia shouted as her children ran back toward the house.
“We will!” their high-pitched voices sang in unison.
It took a second trip out to the car to bring all their bags inside. Amelia elected to do that one all by herself, telling her parents to join her children in the living room. Not because she didn’t trust Sophia and Caleb to wait to open the presents, but purely because she wanted her parents to be with them as much as possible while they were here.
After putting the last bag down by the stairs, Amelia made her way into the living room. She couldn’t help but smile at her children who were sitting crisscross applesauce on the floor, patiently waiting with gift bags on their laps. They smiled back at her, perhaps the biggest smile Amelia had ever seen, as she took a seat beside her parents on the couch.
“Okay, open them!” Barbra announced.
With Amelia’s nod of approval, tissue paper was flung high into the air. Blue out of Caleb’s dinosaur gift bag, and red out of Sophia’s Spider-Man one. The sound of crinkling paper was soon replaced by oohs and aahs. Caleb held out a white airplane while Sophia held on to a black one.
“You can actually fly them!” Michael said, sounding as excited as the children looked.
The crinkling resumed as they reached back into their bags to pull out remote controllers. “Wow!” the children gasped, followed by a resounding, “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
They ran over to hug their grandparents.
Amelia watched the moment unfold before her. And all of a sudden, she could feel it. She knew this was the right moment to tell them. To reveal a secret that she had been holding on to for far too long.
“Can we play with them now?” Sophia asked, excitedly turning to her mom.
“Yeah! Can we?” Caleb echoed.
Her children looked up at her with the eyes of two happy-go-lucky puppies, the freedom of outside and playtime waiting. Amelia knew there could only be one possible answer.
“In a minute,” she said with a laugh of pleasure that surprised even herself. “I have to tell you something first.”
Caleb looked at her with newfound excitement. “Do you have presents for us too, Mommy?” he asked.
“No, it can’t be that.” Sophia was quick to reason. “You already got your birthday present from Mom.”
Amelia’s smile deepened. She was always delighted to hear her daughter speak in ways that showcased her natural set of detective skills. Apples didn’t fall far from the tree, after all.
She remained quiet, failing to confirm or deny the suspicion and waiting for them to throw out more guesses. Are we going to Disney World? Are we getting a dog? she was almost certain her children would ask. Are you having another baby? she thought her mother might say.
Yet, with anticipation in the air, she was met with even more silence.
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Meet the Author
Natalie Monteiro lives in Central Massachusetts where she enjoys embracing her creativity in whatever form it takes. From writing, to singing, to painting. Natalie also works as a biological research scientist in her daily life. She achieved a Master of Science in Pharmacology from the University of Minnesota and a Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience from the University of New Hampshire. Throughout her years of schooling, her creative roots never stopped calling to her, which ultimately resulted in her debut novel Vermont Paradise. It is her hope that her books can serve as a reminder for all to follow their passions. May the process bring much happiness.Website | Facebook | Instagram
