When He Returns
by
Copyright ©2019
Kimberly Rae Jordan
ISBN-13: 978-1-988409-28-3
A man, a woman & their God.
Three Strand Press publishes Christian Romance stories
that intertwine love, faith and family.
Always clean. Always heartwarming. Always uplifting.
Cover designed by AMYGDALA DESIGN
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic or mechanical without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations being used in reviews or articles about the book.
This is a work of fiction. The situations, characters, names and places are products of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to locales, events, actual persons (living or dead) is entirely coincidental.
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Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
EPILOGUE
FAMILY TREE
Dearest Reader:
It is bittersweet to write this note as I prepare to publish WHEN HE RETURNS, the tenth and, at this time, final book in the CALLAGHANS & MCFADDENS series. I am so grateful for each of you who have followed me through this family saga. At this point, I have no plans to write further books in this series, but that doesn’t mean I might not return to them in the future—either in this series or in another one. You just never know!
I’m preparing a new series that will debut in the summer. If you haven’t signed up for my newsletter, please make sure you do so that you will be notified when it is available. I look forward to stepping into a new world and getting to know a new set of characters and families. I hope you will join me on this new adventure!
Thank you again for your support of my stories, and I hope that you enjoy Dalton’s story as he returns home to his family. Happy reading!
~Kimberly Rae Jordan
As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
I Peter 4 10-11 NKJV
PROLOGUE
Dalton Callaghan stared at the gleaming wood casket at the front of the chapel, the profile of his friend just barely visible over the edge as he lay there. Murmured conversation floated around them. People moved quietly about, lingering briefly at the casket to look at Angel before moving on. Soft music drifted from hidden speakers somewhere in the room.
Angel would have hated all of it.
Dalton clenched his hands together to still their shaking, to stop himself from scratching at his arms or rubbing his palms on the smooth material of his pants. His skin felt like it was too tight. The outfit Jesse had gotten for him looked okay, but it was still uncomfortable, something he would never have chosen to wear himself if not for the fact they were attending a funeral.
Tremors shook his body periodically, and he shot a glare at Jesse. The man sat next to him, his expression set in stone as he stared straight ahead. If only he’d let Dalton have just one more hit. Getting through this without the help of drugs to calm his nerves felt like an impossible task.
As the service began, Dalton was again struck by how much it didn’t suit his friend. To him, he’d always been Angel. To the fans who’d loved him, he’d been Angel. To his friends, he’d been Angel. But to this group of people gathered to mourn him, he was Steven William Hensley.
When they’d first arrived at the funeral home, and Dalton had seen the information on the bulletin they’d given him, he’d been positive he was in the wrong place. The picture on it was at least ten years old and looked nothing like his friend and bandmate. Even the memories that were being shared were nothing recent. It was like they’d decided to just ignore the past ten years of Angel’s life.
Was this what his family would have done if he’d suffered the same fate as Angel?
The only positive side to this mockery of Angel—because that’s what it was when they were ignoring the man he’d become—was that the paparazzi hadn’t been able to track down the information for the funeral. They’d been able to get into the funeral home without being accosted by questions and flashing cameras.
Oh, there was one other positive thing to all of this, he and the other band members had been completely ignored from the moment they’d walked through the door. That was just fine with him. He wasn’t interested in making nice with the people who had turned their back on Angel.
Tuning out the service, Dalton tried to blank out his thoughts, but they were moving a million miles an hour. He was trying not to regret his decision to go to rehab. And more than that, his decision to allow JD to be the one to take him. Jesse and the doctors had basically given him no choice, and he was only allowed to leave the hospital after agreeing to enter a program.
Dalton could only think he’d still been suffering effects from the overdose when he’d agreed to go to a program back in Manitoba…so close to the family once again. But the decision had been made. Plans were in place.
His gaze focused in again on Angel’s profile, so still as he lay in the casket, and Dalton knew that even though rough times lay ahead, it was the right decision. It could have been him laying there, his family sharing memories from over a decade ago because they had no more recent ones.
Yeah, it was time for a change.
CHAPTER ONE
Dalton Callaghan stared out the window of the SUV at the passing scenery, wi
shing for something to distract him from his thoughts. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to see beyond trees, trees, and more trees. Not that he minded them, but they did little to disguise the absolute flatness of the prairie around him.
He hadn’t been much interested in his surroundings until the past few months. These days he was noticing the green of the trees, the blue of the sky, and the sounds of nature in a way he never had before. With the haze created by his drug addiction gone from his mind, he was now aware of a whole lot of things, and not all of them were pleasant.
Taking a quick breath, Dalton tugged at the hem of the vest he wore. He was trying his best to keep himself grounded and to not let his nerves get the better of him. What awaited him at the end of this journey was something he hadn’t allowed himself to think about for a long time: a reunion with his family.
Dalton reached up to run a hand through his hair, his fingers reaching the end of the strands in a way he was still trying to get used to. A month ago, a new arrival at the rehab center had shared that she was a hairdresser, there to kick an addiction to pain meds following a car accident. Given all the other changes he’d gone through over the past few months, it had seemed fitting to make one more.
The resident hairdresser had been more than happy to help him out though they’d had to make special arrangements to get her the tools she needed to do the job. It felt weird to have short hair after having had it long for so many years, but it had been time for a change.
When he’d arrived at the center four months ago, Dalton had assumed he’d be out in a month, but that hadn’t happened. After completing the medical detox he’d undergone when he’d first arrived, other issues had surfaced as the staff had worked with him to begin the journey to a healthy life. So his stay had stretched into two months. Then the strong recommendation had been for him to continue to work with their staff as he considered returning to his regular life, though he’d had no clue what a regular life actually was like for him.
Four months later, he was finally leaving the center. His suitcases with the clothes and books he’d accumulated during his stay were in the back of the SUV he’d hired for the trip into Winnipeg. His guitar was there too, but he’d barely touched it over the past four months. The only music he’d played on it had been the song he’d been rehearsing for JD and Danica’s wedding—one he’d written a lifetime ago.
He was struggling to write music—had been since he’d gotten sober—and that was a huge concern for him.
Dalton had no idea what life beyond the center, as a sober musician who could no longer write music, held for him. All he knew for certain was that he had an apartment waiting for him and an appointment at the rehab center’s office in Winnipeg.
But first, he had a reunion to get through.
When JD had asked him to be his best man, Dalton had wanted to say yes, but he felt that his presence would be a distraction because he hadn’t taken the time to initiate contact with his family sooner. He hadn’t wanted to bring them into the mess that his life had become, even though his counselors and JD had tried to convince him that he needed to do just that.
JD had told him that his family wouldn’t care, and deep down, Dalton knew he was right, but no matter how much money he had in the bank, no matter how many awards he’d won, no matter the level of fame he’d achieved, at the end of the day, he’d felt like a failure. If he was going to reconnect with his family, he wanted to do so from a place of stability and sobriety.
Dalton leaned his head against the window of the SUV and watched as the trees began to thin out, allowing sporadic glimpses of houses. Slowly, the houses began to appear more closely together as the SUV entered the northern part of the city. It was just past eight in the evening when the driver finally pulled to a stop in front of Dalton’s family’s apartment complex.
Given that the days now stretched out longer with the arrival of summer, Dalton could see the building clearly. It was brick, three stories high with floor to ceiling glass windows centered on each of the floors. He sat for a moment, staring at the building, wondering what lay ahead for him there.
When Dalton had expressed a tentative interest in leaving the center, JD had quickly offered to prepare one of the apartments for him. Apparently, one of the two-bedroom apartments had been sitting empty for ages, although both the one-bedrooms and the other two-bedroom were occupied. JD had said that he and Danica would be moving into the three-bedroom apartment on the third floor once they were married.
At his request, the driver helped him get his suitcases up to the apartment JD had told him was his. Dalton wasn’t sure how his friend had carried out getting it ready for him, but when he walked through the door, the apartment felt like a home. It lacked the view of his Toronto apartment and was definitely more cheaply furnished, but it still felt enough like a home that he knew he’d feel comfortable there for however long he chose to stay in Winnipeg.
While the driver went back down to wait in the SUV, Dalton took a few minutes to freshen up then rejoined him. It didn’t take long to get from the apartment building to the hall where JD and Danica’s wedding reception was taking place. The building had an understated elegance about it that Dalton was sure would be replicated inside its doors since his sister wouldn’t have accepted anything else.
As Dalton sat waiting for JD’s text letting him know that it was almost time for his appearance, he mentally ran through the song he planned to sing. Though he was using the guitar as an accompaniment, his fingers tapped against his thigh as if he had the keys of a piano beneath them.
In the front seat, the driver was focused on his phone, aware that he was going to be waiting until Dalton got the signal before his job was done. JD had assured Dalton that he’d make arrangements for him to get back to the apartment after the wedding was over.
Dalton was a bit nervous at the idea of being on his own without JD and Danica around. No doubt his folks would have liked him to stay out at the family home, but he wasn’t a child anymore and living with his parents the way they would want him to just wasn’t possible any longer.
Blowing out a breath, he tugged at his vest then ran his fingers through his hair yet again. The feeling of ants marching beneath his skin increased as his nervousness grew. Other people might have different descriptions for the antsy-ness that reared its ugly head when put in stressful situations, but for him, it felt like tiny feet strumming across his nerves. Ants’ feet. And they were all headed for that spot in his brain that said that drugs would make this whole situation—the performance and the reunion—so much easier.
When he found himself longing for the things that had helped him deal with nerves before a performance early on with the band, Dalton felt queasy. In recent years, the nerves before performances hadn’t been an issue any longer, but the desire for the drugs and alcohol had remained.
This was what the counselors had talked about. Learning how to handle familiar stresses in new ways. Unfortunately, he hadn’t had many opportunities to put into practice what they’d worked on at the center.
He glanced at the driver, hoping that his nervousness wasn’t as palpable as it felt. Dalton wasn’t sure that the driver knew who he was. His appearance had changed a fair bit since the day he’d arrived at the center. Not only was his hair shorter, he’d gained a bit of weight, driving the gaunt look from his face. It was a look he and Angel had shared, only Angel never had the chance to recover.
His phone buzzed in his hand, jerking Dalton from the first tentative steps he’d been taking down that road of painful memories. He glanced down at his phone, reading the message on its screen.
Unknown: Hey! This is Elliot. JD asked me to send you a text to let you know they’ll be ready for the song in ten minutes. I’ll meet you at the front doors to show you where you need to be.
Unknown: Also, I’ll be your ride back to the apartment, so look for me when everything is over. BTW, welcome home!
Dalton stared at the message for a moment, checking the
time so he knew when he needed to be inside and ready to go. He took a minute to respond, sending Elliot an acknowledgment, before he thanked the driver for his help. With his insides trembling, Dalton emerged from the SUV tightly clutching his guitar.
As he stepped through the doors to the foyer of the hall, Dalton spotted Elliot right away. The man was lingering near the door, his head bent over his phone. Dalton tried to recall the last time he’d seen Elliot. He didn’t have a specific memory, but he could see that the guy had grown up since the last time they’d been around each other.
They hadn’t hung out much together as their interests had been quite different. Elliot had been brainy, with an interest in science and math. He’d also loved keeping stats on hockey games, which made him a good fit with the family since they were all hockey crazy because his older brother, Kenton, had played for years in the NHL. Dalton, however, had attended games only when he hadn’t been able to come up with an excuse to avoid them.
So, while they’d seen each other at family events and the odd hockey game once Kenton had started dating Elliot’s sister, Avery, they had certainly never hung out together. Still, the smile Elliot gave Dalton when he looked up and saw him, was friendly and welcoming.
“Dalton,” Elliot said as he came towards him, his hand out. “Welcome.”
Dalton shook his hand. “Thanks. How are you?”
“I’m good. Really good,” Elliot said with a nod and another smile.
Dalton took in his outfit—the dark gray pants and white shirt that were paired with pale yellow suspenders and a dark purple tie. “Are you in the wedding party?”
“Yep. JD and I became friends after he and Danica started dating. When he asked me to be in the wedding party, I was happy to say yes.”
Dalton knew that JD had asked one of his friends, Joe, to be his best man when Dalton had turned him down. Looking at the outfit Elliot was wearing, Dalton thought that maybe he had dodged a bullet when he hadn’t been able to agree to JD’s request.
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