Christmas Homecoming. Lenora Worth

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      “Isn’t life always tough for the working man—or in my case, the working woman?”

      Jeremy caught a hint of some deep sadness in her eyes as she voiced those words. Did this pretty woman in the flowing skirt and warm green sweater have problems, too?

      He couldn’t imagine that. Gabi’s smile was too bright, her walk too proud. She obviously had a strong faith, since she taught Sunday school here at the church. But he supposed a lot of people put on a happy face over their worries, faithful or not. His parents had certainly been doing that for years. For all of his life.

      “Thanks for helping me out. Maybe I’ll see you in church.”

      Jeremy couldn’t muster up another smile. “Maybe.”

      He watched as Gabriela Valencia disappeared into the room down the hall. And took all the light with her.

      DAVIS LANDING:

       Nothing is stronger than a family’s love.

      LENORA WORTH

      grew up in a small Georgia town and decided in the fourth grade that she wanted to be a writer. But first she married her high school sweetheart, then moved to Atlanta, Georgia. Taking care of their baby daughter at home while her husband worked at night, Lenora discovered the world of romance novels and knew that’s what she wanted to write. And so she began.

      A few years later, the family settled in Shreveport, Louisiana, where Lenora continued to write while working as a marketing assistant. After the birth of her second child, a boy, she decided to pursue her dream full-time. In 1993, Lenora’s hard work and determination finally paid off with that first sale. “I never gave up, and I believe my faith in God helped get me through the rough times when I doubted myself,” Lenora says. “Each time I start a new book, I say a prayer, asking God to give me the strength and direction to put the words to paper. That’s why I’m so thrilled to be a part of Steeple Hill’s Love Inspired line, where I can combine my faith in God with my love of romance. It’s the best combination.”

      Christmas Homecoming

      Lenora Worth

      To anyone who has ever been away from home at Christmas. I hope this story helps you find your way back.

      I will lift up my eyes to the hills—from whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.

      —Psalms 121:1–2

      Contents

      Chapter One

      Chapter Two

      Chapter Three

      Chapter Four

      Chapter Five

      Chapter Six

      Chapter Seven

      Chapter Eight

      Chapter Nine

      Chapter Ten

      Chapter Eleven

      Chapter Twelve

      Chapter Thirteen

      Chapter Fourteen

      Chapter Fifteen

      Chapter Sixteen

      Epilogue

      Letter to Reader

      Questions for Discussion

      Chapter One

      Swish. Swish. Swish. Jeremy Hamilton lifted the paint brush over his head, thinking his neck would be permanently damaged if he didn’t get this room finished soon. The cream-colored paint refused to stick to the wall. Most of it was all over him—in his hair, on his old shirt and splattered across the aged, spotted drop cloth underneath the rickety ladder. Groaning out loud, he almost threw down the brush in defeat.

      But Jeremy had never been a quitter.

      Well, not until a few months ago, at least.

      He stopped painting and held the dripping brush over the bucket perched precariously on the ladder, memories swirling through his mind just like the paint pooling under his soggy brush. Outside the wide double windows, a December wind howled and fussed, causing leftover fallen leaves to dance across the parking lot.

      How had December come so quickly? And how had his life taken such a turn that even now, all these months later, he was still spinning in the wind just like those leaves?

      With just a few words from his powerful father, Wallace Hamilton, Jeremy’s whole life here in Davis Landing, Tennessee, had been turned upside-down. He’d gone from firstborn heir and vice president of a vast publishing conglomerate to being someone he didn’t even know himself.

      He wasn’t really a Hamilton. His biological father, Paul Anderson, had died in a motorcycle accident before Jeremy was born, before his mother Nora could even tell her fiancé she was pregnant with his child. So for thirty-five years, Jeremy had been living a lie.

      Worse, his parents, Wallace and Nora Hamilton, had also been living with that lie, even though they’d done their best to make a good life for their family. They’d worked hard to become pillars of the community, they’d been faithful to their church, and they’d done everything in their power to love and protect their six children, including him. Especially him, Jeremy reminded himself now.

      Wallace Hamilton, once a wild playboy with a string of conquests, had fallen in love with delicate Nora McCarthy, and he’d married her knowing she was carrying another man’s child. That endearing act and the devastating secret behind it had been the foundation of their marriage—a good, solid union in spite of its beginnings. But finding out the truth had rocked Jeremy’s safe, secure world and shaken his own faith to its very foundations.

      Wallace had been so ill with leukemia, and so unreasonable because of his helplessness, that he’d turned on Jeremy, taking out all his frustrations from his sickbed. How long has he secretly resented me? Jeremy wondered now, and not for the first time. That had been the burning question in Jeremy’s mind since he’d learned the truth. How long had his adoptive father wanted to tell Jeremy that he shouldn’t be a part of Hamilton Media? That he didn’t really belong, after all?

      Probably since the day I was born.

      Which was why Jeremy had left Davis Landing a few months ago to do some soul-searching, and to find out more about his biological father’s family. That long journey hadn’t brought him any answers, just more questions and more doubts. So many doubts. His paternal grandparents down in Florida had welcomed him, but they’d obviously had mixed feelings regarding his existence. After all, they’d been estranged from their only son when he’d died. Jeremy felt the parallels of that clear truth as he now thought about his estranged relationship with Wallace.

      Did he really want to stay away, knowing his father might not make it? He’d never forgive himself if that happened, and yet, he hadn’t been able to go and see Wallace since coming home a few days ago.

      Knowing that Paul Anderson had died away from his family made Jeremy feel petty and small. Especially after he’d tracked his grandparents down. It had been an awkward reunion, but Jeremy was glad he’d made the effort. At least it had brought the Andersons some sort of comfort and closure. And maybe, a new beginning.

      “You come back anytime,” his grandmother Thelma had told Jeremy the morning he decided to leave Florida. She hugged him tight. “You don’t know how much it means to me, to see you, to know I have a grandson. Your father…well, he was a rebel, a real handful. I wish I could have told him how much I loved him.”

      Jeremy had seen pictures. He looked just like Paul Anderson—dark-haired,