Good book. The story opens as Joe tells Annie that he accepted a job offer at a ranch in Wyoming. Annie is stunned because she had no idea that Joe wanted to leave. She is devastated by the news since she has come to depend on him.

Joe and Annie have a history together. They were friends while growing up, and though both were drawn to each other, they never said anything about it. That all changed the day of her father's funeral. At the age of eighteen, she was suddenly all alone in the world. Joe found her crying and tried to comfort her, but that comfort took an unexpected turn. He was so filled with guilt over what he saw as taking advantage of her that he left town immediately to work on another ranch. After three months, Joe realized that he shouldn't have run away and went back to make things right. But before he could see her, Joe was imprisoned for killing his father. He refused to see Annie, not wanting her to witness how far he had fallen.

Annie had been in love with Joe for as long as she could remember. She had no regrets over giving herself to him. But his refusal to see her made it impossible for her to tell him she was pregnant. With nowhere else to turn, she married Joe's brother Charlie. She soon regretted doing so as Charlie was abusive, but she stayed with him for a long time. Joe was devastated when he heard and tried to put Annie out of his mind. When he got out of prison, he went to work for a neighboring rancher and avoided Annie whenever possible. When she finally kicked Charlie to the curb, she convinced Joe to become the foreman of her ranch. All along, she kept the secret of her daughter's birth.

The road to their happy ending was not an easy one. Joe kept himself under tight control around Annie because he believed she was too good for an ex-con. Annie thought that he regretted what they had done, so she tried to think of them only as friends. She didn't know that the only reason he is leaving is that it hurts to be that close to her and not have her be his. There were times when I wanted to shake them both because neither one would take the first step toward sharing their feelings for each other. Their views of themselves are so negative that they couldn't see that they deserved to find true love together. I liked the way that Annie could see Joe's insecurities and attempted to show him that he was wrong. She believed that he was an honorable and loving man. I also liked how Joe understood how Charlie's abuse destroyed Annie's confidence in herself and her abilities and tried to show her how strong she was.

Life got complicated for Annie when her ex showed up in secret and tried to blackmail her into giving him a lot of money. His methods of convincing her to cooperate were dangerous, but he had one card up his sleeve that succeeded in getting to her. I wondered how she was going to resolve her dilemma. An unexpected revelation negated Charlie's ammunition, so he went after something else instead. The confrontation between Annie and Charlie was intense, and I loved seeing his shock at the way she fought back. Joe's arrival was the icing on the cake. I loved the ending as Joe and Annie finally talked about everything that had happened, with both surprised at some of the things they learned. It was great to see them finally forgive each other and themselves for everything that had happened. Their love for each other was finally expressed and accepted in a very emotional scene.

I thoroughly enjoyed Annie's two kids. The siblings' relationship was realistically portrayed, from their arguments to their love for each other. Her son, CJ, had some stellar moments from his fury at Joe's plans to leave to his snowball fight with his sister. Leah was a typical teenager, especially with some of her mood swings. She had some issues that she had a hard time dealing with and made everyone's lives miserable because of it. We find out why near the end of the book, which makes her a little more sympathetic. ( )