A Soldier Comes Home (Harlequin Superromance) (Mass Market Paperback)

by Cindi Myers (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
No one is waiting for him when Captain Ray Hughes returns from his tour of duty. With his soon-to-be ex-wife gone, it's just him and his little boy now creating their own version of a family. Although he faces a lot of uncertainty, Ray is determined to raise his son the best way he knows how.

Chrissie Evans is a complication Ray didn't expect. Almost against his will, he's drawn into a relationship with his widowed neighbor. Chrissie is everything he could desire in a woman and he wants a future with her. But can he promise her what she needs to hear?

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Homecoming ought to be as sweet as candied cherries,

so the bitter regret that filled Chrissie Evans caught her by surprise. She'd expected to be past those feelings by now, to be able to join in the general jubilation over the return of another group of soldiers to Colorado Springs. She forced a smile to her lips, and a cheerfulness into her voice when she faced Allison O'Reilly, the petite blond receptionist at the dentist's office she managed.

"What are you doing here?" she asked. "You should be home getting ready to welcome that soldier of yours." Members of the Sixth Cavalry, who'd been stationed in Iraq for the past year, were coming home today.

"I've been ready for days." Allison grinned, the dimples on either side of her mouth deepening, her blue eyes shining. "The house is as clean as it can get. Once I'd put on my new dress and done my makeup, there was nothing to do but sit. I figured if I came in to work I could at least be with people until it was time to drive to the base."

"Then sit down and get to work." Rita Red Horse, the dental hygienist, patted Allison's shoulder. "You might as well take it easy while you can. That man of yours isn't likely to let you sleep for at least a week."

Allison blushed, but sat. "I'm so nervous," she said. "I can't wait to see him. And then, part of me is nervous about that, too. A year is a long time. What if he's different?"

"He'll be different," Rita said. "Paul says you can't go to war and not come back different." Her husband was a sergeant with the 10th Special Forces, on his second tour in Iraq. "But he's still your Daniel. The man you love who loves you."

"Yes," Allison said, looking reassured. "He is. And he sounds the same in his e-mails, so that's good." She shuffled folders on the desk. "Oh God, I'm so nervous!"

Smile fixed in place, Chrissie turned away and walked back into the procedure room. Only when she was alone did she allow the mask to slip, and give in to the sadness that dragged at her. She would have thought by now the grief would not be so sharp, the pain not so fresh. She'd had three years of homecomings to practice hiding her feelings, which made the intensity of her emotions now that much worse. When everyone around her was rejoicing, why was it so hard to pretend she wasn't missing out?

Trying to shake off the feelings, she began prepping for a crown Dr. Foley would install that afternoon. Keeping busy was the only way to get through this. Tomorrow would be a little better, and the day after, better still.

The door opened and Rita stuck her head into the room. "You okay?" she asked.

Chrissie nodded. "I'm okay."

"Memories are a bitch sometimes," Rita said. Chrissie let out a shaky sigh and nodded. "Not memories, exactly. I mean, Matt never had a chance to come home."

Rita walked over and patted her shoulder. Paul had served with Chrissie's husband, Matt, and the two women had shared a bond ever since those early days when the men had shipped out for their first tour of duty together. "You want to go out later?" Rita asked. "Maybe get drunk?"

The invitation surprised a laugh from Chrissie. That had to be a good sign, that she could still laugh. "You don't drink," she said.

Rita shrugged. "I can be the driver."

Chrissie shook her head. "Thanks, but I'm okay. Just a little…melancholy, I guess."

"If you change your mind, let me know. I promise not to take pictures and use them for blackmail or anything."

Chrissie laughed again, and waved Rita out of the room. All mirth left with her friend, buffeted by memories of the only homecoming Matt Evans had had. He'd arrived in a flag-draped coffin, accompanied by an honor guard of solemn young soldiers who had avoided meeting her eyes. Twenty-five and married only eleven months—only two of those before Matt had shipped out—Chrissie had worn a black dress that was too big for her to the funeral and mutely accepted the folded flag and the medal, a Purple Heart awarded posthumously. She had been too numb and scared to feel anything.

The numbness had been a way of coping that she could appreciate now. She'd been a widow longer than she'd been a wife, Matt having been killed in the very early days of the war. Some had questioned her decision to stay in the Springs, a military town where she was surrounded by reminders of her loss. But Colorado Springs had been her home for long before she'd met and married Matt. Her parents were here. Her memories were here. The little house on Kirkham Street that she'd bought with Matt's life insurance money was here. Her job and her friends were here.

So she stayed, and she coped. She made friends with other servicemen's wives, and a few people like Rita knew her story. But mostly she didn't volunteer the fact that she was a widow. Doing so forced other women to acknowledge the same could happen to them, and that was too cruel.

On days like today, when a unit returned home or shipped out, or worse, when another funeral was held, she stayed busy and focused on other things. She took long walks, watched movies and read books. She went out with friends. She didn't read the papers or watch the news.

She dated some, but never another soldier. It was her one firm rule. Why take a chance on falling for someone else who could be killed? Why go through that particular pain again?

HOMECOMING OUGHT TO FILL a soldier with warmth—the

warmth of firelight and candles. The warmth of a woman welcoming her man back into her arms.

But all Captain Ray Hughes felt now was cold, as if his chest was filling up with ice. He stood in the Special Events Center at Fort Carson, Colorado, surrounded by men and women embracing, by groups of schoolkids waving signs, by other children squealing with delight and mothers sobbing quietly with joy. He was the calm, cold center around which they all swirled.

Occasionally someone would break from their celebrating long enough to glance at him—a brief look of curiosity or pity. He looked away from them, toward the doorway, then snapped his eyes back when he realized he was looking for her, some small stubborn part of him hoping she'd show up, even though he had her letter in his pocket, telling him she wouldn't be here. That she'd never be there for him again.

He clamped his jaw shut, hard. There was a bad tooth on the left side. It didn't usually bother him too much, but biting down hard sent a sharp pain through his head, enough to momentarily distract him from the deeper pain that sliced through his chest as the seconds ticked by.

"Hey, Captain, do you need a ride somewhere?" Corporal Daniel O'Reilly stopped in front of him. His arm was around a young woman with blond curly hair and dimples on either side of her pink-lipsticked mouth. Dan had some of the same lipstick smeared on his cheek. His eyes had the glazed look of a man who had had too many beers, but Ray knew the corporal was drunk on the joy of finally being home after a year in Baghdad.

"No, I'm fine," Ray said automatically.

"This is my wife, Allison. Allison, this is Captain Hughes."

"Pleased to meet you, Captain," Allison said. The dimples deepened when she smiled at him.

"Is someone coming to meet you?" Dan asked. He looked around the room. The other men and their wives and girlfriends and parents and children were starting to filter out of the place now.

"I'll get a taxi," Ray said, answering—and not answer-ing—the corporal's question.

"Let us take you wherever you need to go." Dan's wife put a gentle hand on his arm. Her eyes were blue, her lashes heavy with too much mascara that somehow made her look even younger, like a girl playing dress-up.

To say no to her would have been too rude. Instead, he let his shoulders relax a little and nodded. "Okay. Thanks."

He collected his duffel and followed them out of the Events Center, into air so brittle with cold and dryness he half expected it to crackle with each indrawn breath. The sky looked cut from a single piece of deepest turquoise, not a cloud in sight. A blinding sun reflected off the snow heaped around them in drifts, still pristine white and soft on top.

"The snow, can you believe it?" Dan grinned at him.

"Back in the summer, I used to hallucinate about days like this."

"That's April in the Rockies for you. We had a big storm yesterday," his wife said. She fished the keys to their car, a navy-blue Subaru Outback, from her purse and handed them to him. "I was worried it would delay your flight."

"Nothing was gonna keep me from getting home on time, if I had to fly the plane myself," he said.

Ray looked away while they kissed again, then climbed into the backseat of the Subaru, moving aside a plastic grocery sack full of fabric to do so.

"I'm sorry about that," Allison said, leaning back to slide the bag over even farther. "They're some clothes a coworker gave me." She smiled at her husband. "The cutest things."

"Allison is the receptionist at a dentist's office," Dan said.

He didn't know what he was supposed to say to this, so he remained silent. Dan pulled out of the parking lot. "Where to, Captain?" he asked.

Ray gave the address to the house he'd bought last year, in a neighborhood near the base.

"I turn at the light here, right?" Dan asked.

"The next light," Allison said. "They put this new one in just a couple months ago."

They'd been warned about this kind of thing in debrief-ing—that things would be changed from how they remembered them. It wasn't that different than if they'd been in jail. Normal life had gone on without them. Now they had to catch up.

Ray's jaw tightened again as they turned onto his street. Without even realizing it, he had scooted forward in the seat. He stared out the windshield, watching for the house. It was a brick ranch.A nice enough place when he'd bought it, but now it had the neglected look of an unoccupied building—the driveway unshoveled, blank windows staring out at them.

Dan pulled the car to the curb. Before he'd cut the engine, Ray grabbed his duffel and slid out of the seat. "Thanks for the ride," he said. "Have a good night."

Not waiting for an answer, not wanting to risk questions,...

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Harlequin (June 10, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 037371498X
• ISBN-13: 978-0373714988
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 3.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,451,263 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful book!, November 4, 2008

By	D. Mayne (Palm Harbor, FL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A Soldier Comes Home is one of those books that'll grab your heart and not let go from the beginning to the end.

4.0 out of 5 stars I enjoyed it!, June 23, 2008

By	Ratmammy "The Ratmammy" (Ratmammy's Town, CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

A SOLDIER COMES HOME by Cindi Myers
June 23, 2008

Rating **** (4/5 Stars)

Captain Ray Hughes has just come home from a tour of duty in Iraq. But no one is meeting him. Unlike most of the other soldiers who have spouses or other family members waiting for them, his wife had decided before he came home that she wanted a divorce. And, she had left their son behind, a toddler that hardly even remembered him.

Chrissie Evans happened to live next door to Tammy Hughes, the young woman whose husband Ray had gone off to war. Chrissie befriended Tammy, seeing that she was lonely and needed support. The two would occasionally go out to bars, where Tammy would flirt and try to pick up other men. Chrissie soon tired of the outings, but would often end up babysitting Tammy's young child TJ when she went out on the town alone. Chrissie wanted out of this friendship, but she continued to baby-sit TJ.

By the time Ray had returned from Iraq, TJ was living with his grandparents while Tammy had moved in with the new boyfriend. Ray was obviously bitter about what had happened, but he also blamed his neighbor Chrissie for Tammy's wild ways. He thought that it was Chrissie who had influenced Tammy to hang out in bars. The Tammy he thought he knew was a lot more conservative and would rather stay at home.

Chrissie had initially shown some interest in Ray, despite many years of fearing any involvement with a military man. She had lost her husband years ago in combat and did not want to go through that pain again. She felt safer staying away from any soldier. Both are attracted to the other, but both are wary about starting anything new.

I found A SOLDIER COMES HOME to be a very captivating read. I hadn't read a SuperRomance in a while, so this was a treat. Secondary characters Rita and her husband Paul, who was also about to sign up for the war in Iraq, had a story line that was equally as important as that of Chrissie and Ray's. Often times too many characters can bog down a story, but Rita and Paul's struggles with issues related to the war kept my interest. The two story lines meshed well, with Rita being Chrissie's best friend, as well as the fact that both stories focused on some aspect of the war.

Another important subplot involved Ray's young son TJ, and how he dealt with his parents' separation and divorce. At the same time, Chrissie comes to love the boy and his father, and it almost seems natural that they become a family. But what happens when Tammy returns, asking for full custody of the son she had abandoned?

SuperRomances don't always deal with serious subjects, and I think this is the only romance in the SuperRomance line of books that I've read that has incorporated the Iraq war as the main theme of its story, and Cindi Myers did a good job with it. She showcased the problems and issues that the military have to deal with once they return from war, and how the war affects their loved ones, in a way that will have any reader relate to and empathize. A SOLDIER COMES HOME is recommended and is a good start for those who are new to the SuperRomance line of books. - Courtesy of Loveromances and More - M. Lofton

5.0 out of 5 stars engaging look at the problems facing the soldiers, June 7, 2008

By	Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews (#1 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

In Colorado Springs, Captain Ray Hughes returns from a deployment in the war zone to no wife and little left behind in their house. Worse his spouse dumped their young child Thomas James on his parents in Omaha. Ray vows to bring his son home and be the best single dad in the world; he also swears no more female entanglements.

Widow Chrissie Evans still grieves the death of her husband in combat. She vowed no men especially military ever again. However, she finds herself attracted to her neighbor, a single dad raising a child by himself while on leave from the war.

A SOLDIER COMES HOME is an engaging look at the problems our military confront with constant deployments especially when a single parent has a child to raise. The story line is character driven as Chrissie fears a relationship with a soldier since her Special Forces spouse died in action and Ray distrusts women who cannot adapt to being a soldier's wife as he refuses to let another female hurt him and especially harm Thomas. Although the climax feels too rushed and simple, fans will appreciate the deep look at a single soldier's relationships with his son, his parents, and the neighbor next door that he loves.

Harriet Klausner