A new hope Caine O'Halloran had been a hero. A husband. A father. Now he was none of those things. His career as a baseball pitcher—all but over. His marriage to Nora Anderson—history. The son he loved—gone. And now, as he returns to his hometown to regroup, he finds instead that every familiar corner, every familiar face is a reminder of what he has lost. Except for Nora. Because with her he has a second chance. A chance at forgiveness, redemption and hope. But after all the golden opportunities Caine has squandered in his life, can he believe he deserves another chance? Bonus book included in this volume! Hard Choices by USA TODAY bestselling author Allison Leigh When the daughter she'd given up appears on her doorstep, Annie Hess knows it's time to reconcile her past—with her daughter, and the one man she can't forget. Dear Reader, I’ve always enjoyed writing stories about reunited lovers. So much so, I drew from my own reunion romance while writing The Return of Caine O’Halloran, and although the book was first released in 1994, Caine and Nora remain very close to my heart. Long ago, in a small coastal town on the Oregon Coast, my high school sweetheart bought me a white paper bag of taffy, then proposed to me at the sea wall. A few months later, I was a teenage bride. Nine years after our wedding, I was a divorced single mom. Although the reasons for our breakup were not as tragic as Caine and Nora’s, they were, nonetheless, painful. We were apart for two years, during which time we both grew up and changed a great deal. Back then my husband’s career involved a lot of traveling, but he returned to town frequently to visit our son. It was during those visits that we realized that we each liked the person the other had become. That awareness, coupled with a very strong love that never died, made us decide to try again. We’ve never had any reason to regret that decision and last summer, in that small coastal town we still love to visit, we celebrated our forty-seventh anniversary. And yes, that taffy store is still there! In our case, as in Caine and Nora’s, love truly is better the second time around. I hope you enjoy their story. xo, JoAnn