A broken-hearted Ward Cartwright left town to join the army when his boyfriend Tyler Hughes turned his back on their love and married a woman. Ten years later, Tyler is a widower with two young boys, and Ward has returned home. He is hopeful he can re-establish his relationship with Tyler. Even though a decade has passed, Tyler still feels tied to the family-owned feed mill. He has folks depending on the mill for employment, there are his children to consider, they live in a small town, and ... But despite this, Tyler finds there are plenty of benefits to giving Ward a job in the mill -- lots of out-of-the-way places to explore Ward’s army-honed, muscular body. Just when Tyler resolves to live more openly with Ward, rumors begin to surface, not just at the mill, but at his sons’ school. Ward knows the upcoming battle is just as serious as anything he’s faced in Afghanistan. Instead of fighting for his country, the soldier is fighting for his lover’s heart. Will Ward finally emerge victorious, or will Tyler’s self-doubt and fear of prejudice win out again?

Welcome Home, Soldier

“So I don’t know what else to do. Tyler can’t bring himself to accept who he is and deal with the consequences. It happened like this ten years ago and it’s happening again. I guess I feel the only way for either of us to get a life for ourselves is for me to be out of the picture. Truth is we do love each other. And our being in the same town and not able to be together is only gonna be torture for both of us.”


Joe was quiet for a while. Then he said, “There’s gotta be a way to make Tyler see he’s being an asshole.”


Ward sighed softly. “If there is, I sure wish I knew what it was.”


They sat together for a bit longer, then Joe said, “We better get to bed. Cows are gonna be ready in a few hours even if we aren’t.”


As Joe got to the door, Ward said, “You won’t say anything to Mom and Dad will you? I don’t want to worry ‘em.”


Chapter 57