Robin Lee Hatcher | Veterans Way

Veterans Way
Hart's Crossing #2

Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. — 1 Cor. 13:7

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Compelled to move back to the comfort of his home town, Jimmy Scott returns to Hart's Crossings, a small town with a big heart. And it's just as he remembered. Then he bumps into an old friend--Steph Carlson, a childhood sweetheart he had once dreamt of spending the rest of his life with. Those dreams went unrealized when he went off to the Korean War, and they both ended up marrying others.

Now Jimmy and Steph are both in Hart's Crossing. And when Jimmy realizes that they've both survived the deaths of their spouses, he begins to wonder what might have happened if only . . . As memories of their first kiss and innocent courtship flood back, Jimmy finds he still has feelings for this woman. Does she feel the same about him? Will they be able to rekindle what they had so many years ago? Or is it too late for a second chance at romance?

"Robin Lee Hatcher has a way of touching the heart and mind. Her tender stories of love and faith go a long way in soothing the soul and the senses. And can't we all benefit from that from time to time?"
— Once Upon a Romance

"In this second installment of Hart's Crossing, Hatcher writes a heartwarming story of unexpected love in the senior years. In Stephanie, the reader feels like they're visiting a favorite aunt. Great characterization is always one of this author's strong points." (4 Stars - Compelling, Page Turner)
— Romantic Times Bookclub Magazine

"Veterans Way is a sweet, adorable romance; one that shows love is not just for the young, but also for the young at heart. I couldn't stop smiling over this story as I watched these two mature people find love and struggle with the right or wrong of it. Ms. Hatcher has once again given us a truly wonderful tale full of love and faith. I found the overall story to be a fast read, with loveable characters and a believable plot... This is book two in the Hart's Crossing series, following Legacy Lane, but can stand-alone... If you want a truly enjoyable story of finding love again, then don't miss Veterans Way."
— Romance Readers Connection

"The second novella in the Hart's Crossing series, Veterans Way, is a fantastic and interesting read, and while part of a series, can also stand alone. The reader is taken on a fast-paced journey of love lost and refound many years later. Jimmy and Steph are endearing, upbeat characters that will have you very fond of them by the end of the short novel. I enjoyed their attitudes that even though they are senior citizens, they still have minds of their own and can make their own decisions about what they want to do with their lives. Sometimes we do get a second chance at love, even if it waits until our golden years to make its appearance. I am looking forward to the third book in this series."
— Romance Junkies

"Robin Lee Hatcher can touch the heart like no other author. Veteran's Way is a charming story that proves love isn't reserved for the twenty-somethings and that it's never too late to open a new chapter of life. I couldn't put it down."
— Colleen Coble, author of Distant Echoes

"An endearing love story, Veterans Way explores the complications that arise when grown children watch their widowed parents rekindle a childhood romance and move toward marriage. The conflicts are genuine and heart-tugging, and the resolution delightfully satisfying — especially for those of us with silver in our hair!"
— Liz Curtis Higgs, best-selling author of Thorn in My Heart

"In this charming second book in the Hart's Crossing series, I read with tears in my eyes and a full heart as James and Stephanie discovered that love isn't only for starry-eyed teens. I can't wait to go back to Hart's Crossing again."
— Deborah Raney, author of A Nest of Sparrows

PROLOGUE

August 14, 1945

Stephanie would never forget the jubilation that raced through Hart’s Crossing, Idaho at the end of World War II. People danced in the streets and blew horns and whooped and hollered and set off fireworks. As a nine-year-old, she couldn’t quite grasp the significance of everything her parents and other adults said about V-J Day, but she understood something wonderful had happened.

So did ten-year-old Jimmy.

Maybe that’s why he gave Stephanie her first boy-girl kiss right there outside the Apollo Movie Theater on that warm August night. The kiss might not have been as dramatic as the photograph she would see later on the cover of LIFE magazine, the one of that sailor bending a nurse over his arm and kissing her on the lips. But that didn’t stop Stephanie’s heart from racing, and it didn’t stop her from deciding, right then and there, that she was going to marry Jimmy Scott when she grew up.

CHAPTER 1

Stephanie Watson loved autumn, especially the warm and hazy butter-yellow days of Indian summer.

For what seemed the first time since her husband Chuck’s death last year, she took pleasure in the beauty of her surroundings as she walked along the street toward town. The leaves on the trees that lined the thoroughfare were beginning to turn yellow, gold, orange, and red, and flowerbeds wore a spectacular coat of riotous colors.

Why, she wondered, did nature’s palette seem more vibrant in autumn?

Next year, she would plant chrysanthemums along the front of her house. And asters. She was partial to asters. She hadn’t gardened this year. Last spring, the idea of watering and weeding all summer long seemed far more than she could manage. But next year? Yes, next year she would be ready.

Her widowed friends had told her things would get better, that even though she continued to miss her husband of fifty years, time would dull the pain. She hadn’t believed them at first. She hadn’t believed them for a long while. But it seemed they were right. The pain in her heart was less and the memories in her mind were sweeter.

Stephanie was thankful to God for that.

Bells chimed overhead as she opened the door to Terri’s Tangles Beauty Salon. Terri Sampson glanced over her shoulder, her hands busy with blow dryer and brush as she finished styling Till Hart’s silver-gray hair.

“Please tell me you’re early, Steph.” Terri’s gaze darted to the clock on the wall.

“I am. It’s such a beautiful day, I hated to stay indoors another minute. So I decided to walk over.” Stephanie met Till’s gaze in the mirror. “Good morning, Till. How are you?”

“I’m dandy, thanks. And you?”

“I’m good, too.”

Till and Stephanie had known each other since they were girls. Both of them had lived their entire lives in this sleepy little town on the plains of southern Idaho. The two women had many things in common, many of the same beliefs, likes and dislikes. But while Till, the granddaughter of the town’s founder, never married, Stephanie had been married nearly all of her life.

Memories of Chuck flashed in her mind, and she felt a bittersweet warmth in her chest. How she missed him. Missed his wry sense of humor. Missed the gentle touch of his hand beneath her elbow as they crossed the street. Missed his grumpy complaints as he searched for his ever-misplaced eyeglasses.

Terri turned off the blow dryer, bringing a sudden silence to the beauty shop.

After a moment, Till said, “Steph, you’ll never guess who’s returned to Hart’s Crossing to live.” She didn’t wait for an answer. “James Scott. Can you imagine? After all of these years, he’s decided to move back to Idaho.” Till looked at Terri. “You know the big blue house on Horizon Street?”

“The Patterson house?”

“That’s the one. Only the Pattersons didn’t own it. It’s belonged to the Scott family since it was built back in the late thirties. The Pattersons rented it for twenty years.”

Stephanie sat on one of the chairs attached to a hair dryer. “I didn’t know the Scotts still owned that house. I thought it was sold after Mrs. Scott went to live in Seattle with James and his wife.”

“No.” Till shook her head. “Betty Frazier has been managing it for them for at least a decade. She was chomping at the bit to sell it, too. It would have brought her realty firm a very nice commission. I can tell you, she never expected James to return to live in it. Who would? Not after fifty years.”

“Fifty-two years,” Stephanie corrected. “He was eighteen when he went into the Army.”

Till leaned toward Terri and, in a stage whisper, said, “Steph and James were sweet on each other when they were kids. Everyone except his mother called him Jimmy back then. My, oh my. What a handsome fellow he was.”

Terri’s eyes widened with interest. “Is that right, Steph? You had a boyfriend before Mr. Watson? I can’t picture that.”

“After fifty years with Chuck, it’s hard for me to imagine it either.” Stephanie smiled. “But it’s true. Jimmy Scott was my first love.”

Terri sat on the second dryer chair. “Tell me more. You know there’s no keeping secrets in a hair salon.”

Stephanie allowed memories to drift through her mind—sweet, innocent, misty. Goodness, who was that girl she’d been and when did she become the white-haired woman she saw in the mirror today? It seemed only yesterday that Jimmy Scott kissed her outside the Apollo Movie Theater. But yesterday was actually sixty years ago.

“Well?” Terri prompted.

“I was his best friend when we were in elementary school, and when I was nine, I decided I was going to marry him. That was the night he gave me my first kiss.” She laughed softly. “We dated all through high school, and by then everyone else expected us to get married, too.”

“So what happened? Why didn’t you marry him?”

“For one thing, he never asked me. He meant to, I think, but he never did. After he went into the Army, we corresponded, but then I met Chuck and he stole my heart.”

“And you had to write Mr. Scott a dear John letter?” Terri looked from Stephanie to Till and back again. “How awful for him.”

Stephanie shook her head. “Actually, he’d met someone, too. It all turned out for the best. If he hadn’t gone away, I might not have married Chuck, and James might not have married Martha. They were together almost as many years as Chuck and I.”

“James lost his wife about three years ago,” Till told Terri as she rose from the styling chair, patting her hair with her right hand. “To cancer. I heard she was ill for a long time before passing. Must have been terribly hard on him and their children, losing her that way.”

As difficult as losing Chuck was for Stephanie, she was thankful her husband hadn’t suffered. He’d enjoyed good health right up to the end. On the day he died, he’d played a round of golf, come home, sat in his easy chair, and slipped into the presence of Jesus.

Till stepped toward the cash register. “What’s the damage, Terri?”

“Fifteen today, Miss Hart.”

“You need to raise your prices, young lady.” Till placed two bills on the counter, a twenty and a five. “A worker is worthy of her wage, you know.” She gave a farewell wave to Stephanie, then left the salon.

“Just give me a minute to sweep up, Steph, and then we’ll get you started.”

“No hurry. Take your time.”

Time was one thing Stephanie had plenty of these days.