He returned from Vietnam with ghosts in his chest, hands that would not still, and a mind that refused to rest.

She carried a bouquet of regrets and the weight of a lifetime’s duty.

For Frank Briggs, the war followed him home to the dust of his family farm. For Laurie Crayton, her future was already spoken for—penned by her father’s sermons and the relentless eyes of a small town.

When a thunderstorm cracks the sky, Laurie sees the truth of Frank’s haunted heart—his panic driving him into the woods, his shame swallowing him whole. Convinced she deserves better than a broken soldier, Frank exiles himself, trying to bury his longing along with the life he believes he cannot offer her.

But Laurie cannot look away. His hands seem to steady when she sits beside him on the porch in silence, sketching dreams she shares with no one else. And on her wedding day, her stomach heavy, eyes filled with tears that are not joy, she finds his gaze in the back pew—the soldier with haunted eyes, the only one who makes her wonder if love is worth defying everything she’s been told to choose.

Sometimes the heart must risk everything to find where it truly belongs.

A historical sweet smalltown romance.