title: The Homecoming
author: Wylde, J.D.
description: Hayden Michael Roark came home a decorated war hero. But no amount of medals, or commendations, can make up for the fight he lost to save his family and his Appalachian hometown from the greed of big coal and the environmental hazards of mountaintop removal mining.   It has cost him everything. His reputation. His home. The life he wanted. And Elsa Billings, the woman he loved.   He’s done fighting. All he wants now is peace. A place to come home to heal his wounded spirit. And mend his battered soul. Instead, he finds Elsa Billings McCreary and her seven-year-old daughter living in his house. On his mountain. Leaving him without a home. And, whether he wants it, or not, with one with more battle to fight. Convincing Elsa to leave Roark Mountain and Cooper Falls, Kentucky, before bad air and polluted water sicken her. Or worse.  Elsa Billings McCreary has fought her entire adult life. With Hayden’s coalition to save their town. For her husband, lost in the darkness of anger and depression. And for her daughter, an innocent casualty in her less-than-perfect marriage.   She’s lost every fight. But she won’t lose this battle to heal her daughter’s spirit. Even if it means going up against Hayden Roark. The man she once loved with all her heart. The man she never thought she’d see again. But he is here. On her doorstep. (His doorstep, if she wants to split hairs.) Bringing with him the promise for the future she’d always prayed she’d have with him.   But it comes with a price she's not willing to pay.   When her life takes an unexpected turn, Elsa’s faith is tested. She soon finds herself in the fiercest fight of her life. Physically, and spiritually.  Can she beat the terrifying hand Fate has dealt her to have The Homecoming she and Hayden both desire?