Of course, Bella didn’t know that. Because if she did, she would never have made the effort to find him. More likely, she would have been grateful that he’d left town, and happy he’d stayed away. But she deserved to know the truth—all of his brothers and sisters deserved the truth. A truth that Luke had been too ashamed to tell them, and the grief and remorse weighed on him still.
Although a dozen years had passed since he left Montana, in all that time, he’d never forgotten—or stopped missing—the family he used to have. Since he left Rust Creek Falls, not a single day passed without him thinking about the family he’d walked away from. Bailey and Daniel had gone with him, and the three oldest brothers had stuck close together—at least for a while.
Over the years, he’d lost count of the number of times he’d thought about going home—only to remember all the reasons he’d left. For Luke, “you can’t go home again” was more than a catchphrase—it was the reality of his life.
So why was he trying to change that reality now?
Because Bella wanted to see him.
He’d finally called her from the motel the night before to tell her that he was on his way. Partly because he was desperate to hear her voice and partly because he knew that if she was expecting him, he’d be less inclined to turn around and head back to Wyoming.
He’d let her down once, but he wouldn’t do it again.
Now he was finally going home—a prospect that filled him with anticipation and more than a little bit of trepidation. As a result of one foolish, youthful error in judgment, he’d lost them all: his parents—Rob and Lauren, and his six siblings—Bailey, Danny, Jamie, Bella, Dana and Liza.
His error.
He tried to push the painful memories aside, because he knew that there was no way to go back in time and do things differently. But sometimes, late at night and deep in dreams, he allowed himself to make a different choice. A smarter choice. And in those dreams, he woke up in the same house he’d lived in for the first twenty-one years of his life, his mother making breakfast in the kitchen while he crawled out of bed, grumbling about the early hour as he dressed in the dark and headed out to the barn to help his father and brothers with the chores.
And every time he dreamed about them, he awakened with such a huge, heavy weight on his chest, he wondered how it was possible that his broken heart was still beating. Then he’d grab a granola bar or pour himself a bowl of cereal and head out to the barn at whatever ranch he was currently working and throw himself into the physical labor, as if successfully wrestling bales of hay would somehow help him overcome the grief and guilt.
His foot eased off the accelerator as he approached the town limits, doubts again battering at him from all directions. Was he really going to do this? Was he, finally, after so many years, going to see his sisters and brothers again?
He’d programmed his GPS to take him to Just Us Kids—the day care facility owned by Hudson Jones’s family and where Bella was employed as a manager. The day care hadn’t existed twelve years ago, which made him wonder how many other businesses had come and gone in that period of time. Was Crawford’s General Store still the only place in town to buy a quart of milk? Did the Ace in the Hole still have the flickering neon sign that beckoned local cowboys with the promise of cold beer and pretty girls? Was the coffee at Daisy’s Donut Shop still always hot and fresh?
He could use some of that coffee now. Especially when he glanced at the display on his GPS and saw that his ETA was less than fifteen minutes.
Less than fifteen minutes after more than twelve years.
His fingers tightened on the steering wheel as he drove down Cedar Street, the winter finery on display reminding him that Christmas was less than three weeks away. Garlands and twinkling lights festooned all the storefronts, and a dusting of fresh snow on the sidewalks added to the holiday atmosphere.
Even in Wyoming, he’d heard about the flood that had devastated Rust Creek Falls a few years back, but the community had obviously come together to rebuild. He’d expected—maybe even hoped—that the town had changed, but everything looked very much the same.
He impulsively turned the corner toward Daisy’s Donut Shop, desperate not just for a quick cup of coffee but also a few extra minutes to regain control of his emotions before facing his sister.
He pushed the door open and joined the line at the counter. An elderly man, headed to a table with a mug of steaming coffee in his hand, nodded in his direction.
Just a friendly resident greeting a stranger in town—or so Luke believed until the man said, “Nice to see you, Luke.”
The gruff voice was as familiar as Old Gene’s face. “Good morning, Mr. Strickland.”
“You home for the holidays?” the old man asked.
Home.
The word tugged at something inside him.
Was this his home? He’d been wandering for so long, never setting down roots in any one place, that the word was almost unfamiliar to him.
Unfamiliar and yet oh-so-inviting.
“Just here to visit my sister,” he said.
Gene nodded. “She’ll be glad to see you.”
Luke hoped he was right.
The old man carried his coffee to a booth, where a group of his contemporaries was already seated and waiting for him.
A middle-aged man with graying hair and a much younger blonde woman stepped up to the counter next to place their order. Luke recognized the man as Ben Dalton—the only attorney in town. Ben spotted Luke when he turned to speak to his companion and his eyes widened in obvious surprise. After shaking Luke’s hand, Ben introduced his female companion.
“This is my law partner, Maggie Crawford.” Ben winked. “I stole her away from a big firm in Los Angeles.”
“Then you’re a long way from home,” Luke said to the woman.
She shook her head. “This is my home now.”
“Maggie’s married to Jesse Crawford,” Ben told him.
“Jesse went to school with my brother Bailey,” Luke explained the connection to Maggie. And he’d gone to school with Ben’s daughter, Paige.
“Small world,” she murmured.
“So it would seem,” Luke agreed. “Although Rust Creek Falls has grown even more than I realized if it’s able to support two lawyers now.”
“Four,” Ben corrected. “My daughter, Lindsay, has been working with us since she passed the bar last year. And Maggie’s brother, Ryan Roarke, hung up a shingle after he married Kristen Dalton.”
“Good to know there are options if I find myself in need of legal services,” Luke said.
“Speaking of legal services,” Maggie said. “We’ve got to get to Kalispell for a settlement conference.”
Ben nodded. “It was good to see you again, Luke.”
“You,
