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to his mouth, silencing him. “Don’t. Please, don’t.” She pressed her lips tightly together and swiped at the tears, then continued. “You want me to quit my job and come back here, right?”
    He nodded. Of course he wanted her back here—as his wife. He wanted them to work together to build their marriage and their business. He needed her, wanted her, loved her. That had never changed.
    â€œI’ve heard all this before. My mother heard it from my father, too. She loved him. She believed him every time, and he led her down one garden path after another.”
    â€œKaren, I’m not your father.”
    She looked away. “I’m not my mother, either. I can’t—I won’t do what you’re asking. My future is with Paragon. My home isn’t in Alaska anymore, it’s in Oakland. Don’t you realize how many times you’ve said almost those identical words to me? Six months from now, you’ll be bored again and you’ll have some other wonderful dream to follow. I can’t live that way. I tried. I honestly tried.”
    â€œBut—”
    â€œMatt, stop, please. The bottom line is that I’m not willingto throw my career down the drain for another one of your reckless schemes, no matter how promising it sounds.”
    Matt stood, his mind racing frantically as he tried to find a reason that would convince her to stay.
    â€œI have my own life now,” she said. “I won’t give up everything I’ve worked to achieve. Not for your dreams. Because for the first time in years, Matt, I have dreams of my own.”
    He was fighting a losing battle and he knew it.
    â€œI’m going to find a man with a steady job and a savings account. I’m going to settle down in a house with a white picket fence and raise a bunch of children.” A sob shook her shoulders. “And I’m going to do everything I can to put our marriage behind me.” Having said that, she reached for her suitcase and rushed out the door.
    Â 
    â€œMom!” Ten-year-old Scott O’Halloran burst in the front door with Eagle Catcher, his husky, trotting behind him.
    Abbey looked up from the magazine she was reading.
    â€œSawyer—I mean Dad—let me fly his plane this afternoon,” her son announced proudly.
    Abbey’s gaze instantly connected with that of her husband as he followed her son into the house.
    â€œI didn’t actually fly the plane,” Scott quickly amended, “but Sawyer let me hold the control stick, and he told me all about the different instruments on the panel.”
    â€œIt’s time, honey,” Sawyer said, kissing her on the cheek.
    Abbey wasn’t so sure of that. “But, Sawyer, he’s only ten.”
    â€œAw, Mom, you gotta stop treating me like a little kid.”
    Abbey swallowed a laugh. She recalled the day she’d arrived in Hard Luck with her two children in tow. She’d been one of the first women lured to town with the promise of a job, a house and land. She’d come hoping to make a new life for herself and her children.
    Neither she nor Sawyer had been looking for love. But they’d found it, with each other. They must’ve had the fastest courtship in Hard Luck’s history, Abbey mused. In retrospect, she wouldn’t change a thing. Not only was she deeply in love with her husband, but Sawyer had legally adopted Scott and Susan, and he worked hard at being a good father.
    â€œMy dad was teaching me the basic elements of flying when I was ten,” he assured her. “Trust me, I’m not going to do anything to put either of us in danger.”
    Abbey knew that went without saying; nevertheless, she couldn’t help worrying.
    â€œI’m gonna find Ronny Gold,” Scott told them. “I’ll be back before dinner.” He was out the door with another burst of speed. The silver-eyed husky raced along at his side.
    â€œI wonder what