Free The Way Home by Jean Brashear

Utah.”
    “Never heard of it.” What on earth was she doing that far away? Had she really been planning to leave him?
    “Few have. We’re not a ski resort. This is hard country. Old mining towns. Folks who have to fight to survive.”
    “I’ll find it.”
    They spent a few moments discussing logistics in a calmer fashion, then the doctor chuckled. “You call her Bella?”
    “I do,” James said. “It’s my name for her.” Only mine. “Why?”
    “I was just thinking that my housekeeper will get a kick out of knowing that. She’s Italian, and she kept calling her bella, which is Italian for beautiful. It seemed apt, and for a while I wondered if that might be a solution when Jane was auditioning names.”
    James found himself smiling. Only Bella, the woman who saw the world differently from anyone he’d ever met, would insist on giving names a trial run.
    Then the man’s words sank in. “Your housekeeper? Where is Bella staying?”
    “With me.”
    “Why?”
    “She had nowhere to go, Mr. Parker. No money, no family.”
    Every word was a nail in his heart. To think of Bella so alone, hurt and afraid.
    “She’s staying in the garage apartment, if that makes you feel any better.”
    “Nothing will make me feel better until I can be with her. Bring her back home.”
    “That may not happen soon, Mr. Parker. Please understand that.”
    He didn’t want to. Everything in James longed to race to her side, hold her tight and steal her away. Watch over her every second and make sure she never suffered again.
    She was so far away from him. Mentally and physically. Disheartened, James finished the conversation and hung up, but he was reluctant to release the receiver, his only link to the woman he’d loved most of his life.
    He drew himself straight and turned to his children, reminding himself that they were adults, and he didn’t have to sugarcoat anything.
    “Your mom doesn’t know she has a family,” he began. “But let’s get packed and go remind her that there are people who love her very much.”

CHAPTER NINE
    “H OW FAR IS IT to his house?” Cele asked as she paced the dining area of Lucky Draw’s lone café.
    James stood at the window, staring outside. Wishing that he’d been unfair and asked the kids to stay home until he’d had a chance to test the waters.
    What if she remembered why she’d left? Blurted out something in front of Cele and Cam? Not that he didn’t deserve the humiliation. But he wanted a chance to explain.
    You tried that already and look what happened.
    He’d never been this nervous, not the first night they’d made love, not before their wedding.
    “Daddy?”
    James steeled himself not to bark at her. They were all worried. “What did you ask?”
    “I said—”
    Just then, Cam snapped to attention. A smile, that goofy one Bella loved, spread over his features. “Mom. It’s Mom—” He sprang into motion.
    “Cam, don’t.” Though James understood the impulse.
    Cameron’s shoulders sank. “Yeah. I know, I just—”
    “Mama,” Cele whispered, and approached her brother’s side, blocking James’s view.
    He caught only the merest glimpse of curly hair before Bella passed out of sight.
    But his heart knew.
    Thank God. Oh, thank God. He closed his eyes. She’s here. She’s safe. Everything else can be worked out.
    A tiny sound from his daughter had him reaching for her, but he could focus on nothing else but the woman walking through the doorway.
    Bella. Oh, my love.
    The best part was that this was the Bella he’d loved so fiercely, her jeans dirty, her hair windblown. A smile was blooming up out of him. Bella the gardener, the digging-in-the-dirt-makes-me-happy woman who’d made his life a roller-coaster ride of unexpected and offbeat pleasures.
    His feet began to move, and his heart raced. “Bella—” Despite his cautions to the kids, he longed to grab her, swing her around as he had so many times. To kiss her until neither of them could breathe, to