The Road Back Home — Jean Brashear

---- originally published as --- Forgiveness


Can her family forgive what she can't forgive herself?

Ria Channing ran from a tragedy of her own making six years ago, a pariah in the family and home that were once perfect…until she destroyed them.

But a deathbed promise to her only friend forces her to return for the sake of the grandson her parents have never met. Homeless, hungry and worn out from fighting for survival, she carries with her no expectation of forgiveness -- only heartfelt hope that the house that love built will welcome and care for her child, if not his bad seed mother.

Sculptor Sandor Wolfe owes his career and his future to Ria's mother. There is nothing he wouldn't do to protect Cleo from the thankless daughter who has hurt her so deeply and now threatens the life she has rebuilt from the ashes of the old.

What he doesn't expect, however, is to find a vulnerability and a courage that touch him as Ria tries to make up for all she has cost the family she destroyed.

The battle is one she seems destined to lose, and Sandor finds himself torn between love and loyalty, with the stakes being his friend's broken heart and a valiant, fragile woman's survival.

(A companion to The House That Love Built, a different perspective of the story seen through Ria's eyes and going beyond)