Dear Reader,

      I’ve always loved stories of second chances, of lovers or siblings or parents and lost children reunited long after hope was lost of a successful reunion. There is something about severed bonds that the mind keeps turning back to in quiet moments, probing the wound the way one might check an empty socket for a missing tooth.

      Maybe because we’ve all pondered impossible reunions I was drawn to this story of a “lost soldier,” Ian Rayford, who, long after having been presumed dead, miraculously finds his way home, his journey made possible by the memory of the woman he loves. But so many other memories are missing, from those of what really happened during a torturous period of confinement to an earlier breakup with his love and the estrangement with his proud but troubled ranching family.

      Finding his way back home from hell required one miracle. But finding his way back to his grieving family and especially to Andrea, who believes she has moved on with her life since Ian’s death was initially reported, may take the greatest miracle of all…especially when it’s clear that someone—perhaps the government itself—is willing to go to almost any lengths to stop Ian from remembering the secrets still locked up inside him.

      I hope you’ll enjoy this story of a true Lone Star survivor and take a moment to appreciate the sacrifices of so many still struggling to find their own way home.

      Colleen Thompson