Return by Sea (Glacier Adventure #3) - Tracey Jerald

The Glacier Adventure Series

In my twenties, I flew to Alaska determined to change the world. I returned home devastated, filled with fear and the kind of heartache it takes years to overcome.

Now, sixteen years later, as I hurl through the sky on the wings of heartbreak and despair, I’m desperately trying to hold myself together. Not just because of why I’m flying back, but because I know he’ll be waiting.

John Jennings — the man who made me realize I could fly without my feet ever leaving the ground.

The promise I returned to keep will change our lives irrevocably.

We’ve been separated for years by more than air; there’s a secret that stands between us.

Only the time has come to reveal it.

I never expected my life to take the turn it did. I planned to raise my children surrounded by family and love.

But plans, and people, change.

As I began to pick up the pieces of my life, I found myself confronted with a wealth of memories tucked away inside me I’d long buried. Especially when I came face-to-face with the ones of Kody Laurence from summers long ago.

When we land together thousands of miles away from where we first met, can we return to the friendship we once had?

Or is it our time for something more?

I lost my heart to a man who walked away without looking back. Over the years, I dealt with the hand life dealt me, slowly shutting down my soul.

For twenty years, I’ve loved Nicholas Cain. He’s returned but neither of us are the same people we were back then. We’ve been polished, punished by life’s harshest seas.

My heart is torn between what was and what could be, but I can’t turn away. And despite everything, the choice to love him both thrills and terrifies me.

Just like my brother predicted it would years before it actually happened.

Prologue

Maris - Sixteen years earlier from present day

“I’d endure any pain for those I love. If only they’d let me.” - From the journals of Jedidiah Smith.

“Maris!” I hear my name being shouted above the cacophony of sound as I’m being escorted by a tall, handsome black man into the VIP area. My brother, Jed, face flushed, swings me around to face him. “What the hell are you doing here?”

The guy, whose grip on my elbow makes the bouncer at my father’s bar who caught me trying to sneak in when I was eighteen appear useless, raises a brow in a silent question.

I just flap a hand at him. “It’s fine. This is my brother. He’s one of Nick’s best friends.”

The impassive face clears, and he winks down at me. “Then you’re in good hands, Ms. Smith. The Champ is just beyond those doors. I’m sure he’ll be awfully glad to see a woman who could knock someone out as hard as his last punch.”

I blush even as Jed drags me closer toward my final destination—Nick. “Thanks for helping me through the crowd!” I call over my shoulder graciously.

He flicks out a two-finger salute before he goes back to guarding the entrance of the hall that I just passed through.

My mind is still down at the arena where Nick pulled out a win no one expected—not the sports reporters, nor the announcers based on the way they were screaming into their microphones. But in my heart of hearts, I knew he had it inside him. He always did.

I dig my nails into Jed’s arm. “Can you believe it? I thought I was going to lose my voice I was screaming so hard.”

“What are you doing here, Sunshine?”

“I got an invitation from Nick.”

Jed’s face turns a furious shade of mottled red. “I’m going to kill him,” he bellows.

More than a few heads of people passing by the mouth of the hallway hear him and turn toward us at the angry sound. I’m a little confused myself. Reaching into my purse, I pull out the letter that came with the credentials I have slung around my neck, identical to the ones my brother has on. “See? This came in the mail a few days ago.”

“So you dropped everything and flew here?” Jed’s voice holds a note of frustrated bitterness I don’t understand.

“It’s Nick,” I say as if that explains it all, and maybe it does. Of all my brother’s friends, the moody, irreverent Nicholas Cain has always been different. Maybe it’s because I know deep inside there’s something between us that’s always been different. There’s something between us that heals the pain in the other.