Home Before Dark

She Left Her Child Behind, But Couldn't Let Her Go As An Irresponsible Young Mother, Jessie Ryder Knew She'd Never Be Able To Give Her Newborn The Stable Family That Her Older Sister Could, And The Security Her Child Deserved. So Luz And Her Husband Adopted Little Lila And Told Her Jessie Was But A Distant Aunt. Sixteen Years Later, Having Traveled The World With The Winds Of Remorse At Her Back, Jessie Is Suspending Her Photojournalism Career To Return Home—even If It Means Throwing Her Sister's World Into Turmoil. Where Life Once Seemed Filled With Boundless Opportunity, Jessie Is Now On A Journey To Redeem Her Careless Past, Bringing With Her A Terrible Burden. Jessie's Arrival Is Destined To Expose The Secrets And Lies That Barely Held Her Daughter's Adoptive Family Together To Begin With, Yet The Truth Can Do So Much More Than Just Hurt. It Can Bring You Home To A New Kind Of Honesty, Shedding Its Light Into The Deepest Corners Of The Heart. In her career as a photojournalist, free-spirited Jessie Ryder has seen the world through her camera lens. But she's never traveled far enough to escape a painful moment that has haunted her for the past sixteen years: the day she gave her baby daughter away. Now, facing a life-altering crisis, she's decided to fix the broken pieces of her heart and seek out Lila, even if it means she has to upset the world of Lila's adoptive mother. . . her very own sister, Luz. Like a Technicolor tornado bursting into Luz's picture-perfect life, Jessie returns to her Texas hometown with a shattering request. She wants to tell Lila the truth. As Luz and her husband struggle with what Jessie's return may mean to the rebellious Lila, their seemingly solid marriage falters. Old secrets are exposed. Then, just as Jessie comes to terms with the past, life's bittersweet irony plays its hand. She meets Dustin Matlock, a young father who has survived a devastating loss. And Jessie begins to see the hopeful possibilities that lie buried in the most wrenching tragedies. Though she aches to reach out to those she loves, Jessie stands at the crossroads. She is leaving behind the only life she knows and leaping blindly into the unknown. Now the choice she makes will affect the life of her daughter and challenge the meaning of sisterhood. As Jessie and Luz examine the true meaning of love, loyalty and family, they are drawn into an emotional tug-of-war filled with moments of unexpected humor, surprising sweetness and unbearable sadness. But as the pain, regrets and mistakes of the past slowly rise to the surface, a new picture emerges - a picture filled with hope and promise and the redeeming power of the human heart. After being away for fifteen years, photojournalist Jessie Ryder returns to her childhood home in Texas to finally meet the daughter she gave up for adoption, but secrets from her past threaten to destroy their newfound friendship