by Lin Stepp
5. It is Lydia’s grandsons, Billy Ray and Bucky, who made the “Welcome Back” banner that greets Lydia at Hill House. The boys soon call Lydia “Nana Lydia.” Why do they call John “Daddy John”? Where is their natural father? What happened to break up Mary Beth and Sonny’s relationship? What do you think has helped these boys to be so unaffected by their father’s desertion? What did you enjoy about these six-year-old twins in the story?
6. Cunningham Farm is known for its “calicos and collies.” What is the story behind this statement? What gifts are left for Lydia as soon as she arrives back at the farm? Have you ever owned collies or calicos?
7. In Chapter 4, Lydia tells John that she had expected arguments, awkwardness, quarreling, angry looks, stony silences, and recriminations to occur when they first met again. What happened instead? Why was this so unexpected? How do John and Lydia have different feelings about this?
8. Lydia tells John at one point that one of his problems is that he never wants to talk things through, that he always wants to deal with problems tomorrow or pretend they either aren’t really there or aren’t of importance. As the book progresses, what do you learn is behind this characteristic of John’s? Does he see this trait as wrong? Do you know people who are reluctant to talk things out? Do you think this is a trait more characteristic of men than women? Why? How did John’s sister, Holly, handle the same issues? How does she help Lydia understand John’s childhood better?
9. Cunningham Farm is an old historic apple orchard—and a large one—which has been in the same family for generations. There are many apple orchards around the area in western North Carolina, busy with events in the fall season. Have you ever been to one, attended an apple festival, or visited a large apple orchard? What did you learn about apple farming in this book? What is June drop? What is a Rattler apple? What are some other types of apples grown on Cunningham Farm?
10. There are two budding romances in this book—one between Lydia and John and the other between Neal Caldwell and Mary Beth. What is different about the two relationships? What obstacles exist that make it difficult for both couples to get together easily? What changes occur in the book helping each couple to realize they are right for each other and resolving the difficulties between them?
11. There is a ghost in this book. The twins see it and later Lydia sees it. How did the boys, and later Lydia, describe it and where did they see it? What were the two legends, about the Cherokee Indian Red Hawk and about Nance Dude, that people used to possibly explain the ghost? Who did you imagine the ghost might be as you read the book? Do you believe in ghosts? Why or why not? What do Mary Beth and John believe about ghosts—and what do they teach the twins about them? Who did you learn the “ghost” really was? Were you surprised by this revelation?
12. Many Cherokee live around the Maggie Valley area, as well as on the nearby Cherokee Indian reservation, and there were Cherokees in this book. What did you think of Manu and Ela Raintree? What were their best characteristics? Why had the Crowe and Youngblood families come to live on Silas Green’s land? Did you think Nalin and Davy were justified in doing what they did to save their sister, Izabelle? What mistakes did they make afterward and why? What did you think of Silas and Loretha Green? Did Loretha throw the family off her land after she learned what had happened to her husband? Why or why not?
13. Clogging is very popular around the Maggie Valley area, and many champion cloggers live there. Where did Lydia, John, Tolley, and Rebecca go clogging together? How does John talk Lydia into going? What did they wear? Have you ever seen pictures of the Cataloochee Ranch on the top of the mountain where the two couples went or been to the Stompin’ Ground in Maggie Valley? Have you ever seen or tried clogging?
14. John has a broken relationship with his sons as well as his wife. What caused this? John tells Lydia he thinks his sons should have been the first to reestablish a relationship with him after their differences. What is Lydia’s response to this? Why does she say it is John’s responsibility more than the boys? How does he react? What does Lydia say that causes John to go to Atlanta later to talk with his sons? How does that turn out?
15. What did you think of Lydia’s aunt Martha Howard? What part does she play in this book in being a help to Lydia, to her sons—and later also to John? What did you think about her frequent advice to Lydia to: “Get more information.” How can that help to resolve problems? How did J. T.’s wife, Laura, use her “information” and understanding about conflict management and mediation to help John and the boys resolve their differences? Have you ever studied about—or participated in—any conflict management techniques or methods?
16. Lydia and John take the twins hiking in Cataloochee Valley on a lovely trail called the Caldwell Fork Trail. How does this day help to bind Lydia and John closer together? How does the information John shares with the twins about “how far they are from Cunningham Farm” and “how far it would be to walk across the mountain to the farm on Hemphill Bald Trail” later help the boys to get home when they are kidnapped?
17. Why does Sonny Harper kidnap his own children? What does he hope to achieve in doing this? How do his actions affect his parents—and his sons? What does Sonny’s father do when he learns what Sonny has done? How do the boys get away from Sonny? How is Neal a help to Mary Beth in this situation, and how does Neal’s support make her feel more certain about her feelings for him? Who initiates the idea that Neal and Mary Beth should get married after the twins are found?
18. Oliver Wheaton, the pastor of the Fairview Methodist Church, ends up being a counsel and help to many members of the Cunningham family, including John and Lydia. How does he help John as they talk in the cemetery? How does he also later help Lydia in the same setting? What little weakness is revealed about Oliver, as he talks to John earlier in the book, showing that he is very human? What was the problem with the minister before Oliver? Have you met any ministers like Oliver who were a help to you in times past when you had a problem or concern?
19. Besides the main characters in this book, there were many interesting side characters throughout the story—the Sheppard family, Eugene and Ozetta, Sam and Doris, Charlie and Nevelyn, Chuck and Vera . . . Sheriff Sutton and his deputy . . . Lydia and John’s friends Tolley and Rebecca Albright . . . Ela and Manu Raintree. Who was most memorable among these . . . or what other side characters in the book did you enjoy and why? What main character did you like the most in this story? Why?
If you enjoyed Welcome Back, be sure not to miss Lin Stepp’s
SAVING LAUREL SPRINGS
In a heartwarming novel set amid the lush splendor of the Great Smoky Mountains, Lin Stepp reunites two kindred spirits in a charming story of first love and surprising second chances. . . .
See ya later—and love you forever, Rhea Dean. Those are the words Rhea’s childhood sweetheart, Carter Layman, used to say whenever they parted. Not that she places much stock in words anymore. After all, Carter drove off to college in California, promising to make a fortune to help save their families’ vacation resort. Instead he stayed there and married someone else. It fell to Rhea to keep Laurel Springs going and she’s done just that, working long hours on the campgrounds, buoyed by the beauty of her Smokies home.
Now a widower with a young son, Carter has achieved huge success as a games developer. But he always planned to return to the spring-fed lake and the soaring mountains, to the covered bridge where he and Rhea made wishes and traded kisses. He’s coming home to turn Laurel Springs into the place they planned to build together. And as he reveals the truth about his past, Rhea must decide whether to trust in the man—and the dreams—she’s never forgotten.
Turn the page for a special look!
A Kensington trade paperback and e-book on sale now.
CHAPTER 1
“Ugh. Are we about finished, Rhea?” Jeannie asked, balancing a load of dirty sheets on her hip while she pushed open the screened door of one of the assembly grounds’ picturesque cabins.
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“Yes. Just about.” Rhea looked up from sweeping the front walkway of Azalea House, a cute pink cottage with white gingerbread trim. She watched her best friend angle her way down the porch steps and, with a strength surprising for her petite size, heave her load of sheets into the back of a green pickup truck.
Rhea grinned, but felt her smile fade as she noticed some of the letters of Laurel Springs Camp Assembly Grounds flaking off the door of the truck.
Jeannie caught her gaze and waved a hand dismissively. “No sense in wasting worry over a little paint picking off, Rhea. Nearly everything shows a well-worn look around the assembly grounds these days.”
Sighing, Rhea sat down on one of the front steps of the house. “Yeah, and I hate to see things getting so run down.”
“I know.” Jeannie gave her shoulder an affectionate pat before settling down on the step below her. She leaned back against the porch rail and blew out a long breath. “Whew, it sure feels good to sit down. We’ve been busy today.”
“Don’t be regretful for that, Jeannie Ledford.” Rhea shoved her playfully with a foot. “We need the money, and it’s always a blessing to rent more than half our cabins on the weekend.” She pushed a stray strand of honey-brown hair off her face.
Jeannie gave her an impish smile. “Wouldn’t it be great to win the lottery and get a big pile of money, Rhea? What would you do if you won a half million dollars or something?”
Rhea leaned back against the porch rail to think. “I’d fix up all the rental cottages, repave the roads and the campsite pull-in spaces, and put a strong roof on the covered bridge coming over the creek.”
She leaned toward Jeannie, warming to the subject. “I’d buy a dozen rental bikes and nice washers and dryers for the coin laundry, a new cash register for the store, and updated computers for the administrative offices. I’d paint the assembly church and fix that broken stained-glass window near the front door. I’d hire someone to resurface the swimming raft and put fresh rails on the gazebo by the lake, and I’d buy a few new canoes.” She paused. “I think I’d reseed the meeting grounds where the grass has worn away to dirt, too, and buy a popcorn machine for the market. I think we could make some extra money if we popped corn and sold it every day.”
“Stop! I wish I hadn’t asked.” Jeannie laughed. “I should have known you’d spend it all on Laurel Springs.” She leaned back and sighed. “As for me, my mind veered more toward how nice it would be to take one of those luxury cruises in the Caribbean about now. That would be sweet.”
Rhea studied her. “Would you really like to do that?”
“Absolutely.” She closed her eyes dreamily. “I’d leave little Beau with my mother, and Billy Wade and I could have a second honeymoon on one of those big ocean liners—sitting on the deck in the tropical sun and sipping little pineapple drinks with umbrellas in them.”
“You think Billy Wade would like that?” Rhea smirked at the idea, trying to picture it.
“I’d be sure Billy Wade had a good time, if you know what I mean.” She giggled. “Besides, he works too hard. I’d like to see him enjoy a real vacation—and if not a cruise, then something else.”
Rhea sighed. “Seems like we often talk about wishes and what-ifs.”
“Oh, don’t be getting all serious and down-in-the-dumps on me ’cause I was doing a little dreaming at the end of a busy day.” Jeannie punched Rhea’s arm playfully. “It’s not like cleaning tourist cottages is a real glamour job, you know. It would be fun to use some of that lottery money to hire cleaning help for this place. I remember when a lot more staff worked at Laurel Springs.”
“So do I.” Rhea sighed again and checked her watch. “You’d better take the truck and the laundry on back. You’ll have time to throw a couple of loads in the washers before you need to pick up Billy Wade and drive him to Newport to get his truck at the shop. Nana Dean said she’d keep Beau until you got back, but I don’t want her to get too worn out.”
“Your grandmother is a peach to keep Beau for me so often. I know at six he’s a handful.”
Rhea stood up and stretched. “Nana enjoys him. She says Beau helps to keep her young.”
“I feel just the opposite.” Jeannie laughed and headed toward the truck. “By the end of some days, that child makes me feel old!”
She paused at the truck door, turning to give Rhea one of her crinkly grins. “You going to ride up to the front of the camp with me?”
Rhea looked across the road toward a brown cottage, called the Dancing Bear, tucked under a group of pine trees. “No. I still need to sweep off the porch at the Bear. I’ll clean and check inside, too. A family from Indiana is coming tomorrow to stay there for a week. I want to be sure everything looks good. I’ll walk back when I finish.”
“Okay.” Jeannie bounded into the truck with her usual enthusiasm and then turned to wave two fingers cheerily in good-bye.
Rhea envied her carefree disposition. “You always bounce around all cute, cheerful, and bubbly like the proverbial cheerleader.”
Jeannie wrinkled her nose. “So? You know I coach the cheering squad at the high school. It makes me feel young and carefree—reminds me of my own cheerleader days, too.” She sent a sunny smile Rhea’s way. “Besides, you cheered, too, when we went to Cosby High.”
“I know.” Rhea grinned at the memory. “You coached me so I could make the squad even though I was too tall and not very good.”
“You did fine.” Jeannie shut the truck door and laughed. “We had some great times in high school on all those game weekends, too—you, me, Billy Wade, and Carter.”
Rhea smiled thinking of Jeannie’s husband, Billy Wade. “Everybody still calls Billy Wade the best wide receiver Cosby ever had.”
“And Carter made a good kicker before he injured his knee.” Jeannie giggled. “After he got sidelined, I remember Carter took pictures at every game during senior year and wrote up great articles for the newspaper.”
“Well, that was a long time ago. Nine years.” Rhea frowned and picked up her broom and started toward the cottage across the street.
Jeannie’s voice, in a softer tone, followed her. “I wasn’t going to tell you, Rhea, but Carter is coming in for a vacation soon.”
Rhea kept her eyes toward the Dancing Bear cottage and didn’t look back at Jeannie. “So? Why should you not want to tell me that? Carter’s family lives on part of the grounds; they co-own the Laurel Springs Camp Assembly Grounds. It figures he’d wander in sometime. He is Wes and Mary Jane’s only son, after all.”
“Yes, but, like you said, he hasn’t been home in nine years, Rhea, not since he went away to college and then got married. It’s been a long time.” She paused. “Mary Jane said he’s bringing his little boy to visit. His wife’s been gone a whole year now.”
“What’s your point, Jeannie?” Rhea turned to glare at her friend. She knew her voice snapped more sharply than she intended it to.
Jeannie twiddled with her watchband. “Well, you and Carter were special to each other before he went away.”
Rhea gripped the broom handle with clenched hands. She didn’t like the direction this conversation was heading. “Yes, and then Carter went away, got married, started a family, and made a new life. I went to college here and made my own life, too. Time has marched forward a long time since high school, Jeannie Ledford. There’s no sentimental, yearning spot left in my heart for Carter Layman. So don’t start playing around with that idea in your mind.”
“All right.” Jeannie shrugged. “But I hope maybe you and Carter can be friends again when he comes back. It would be fun for the four of us to get together while he’s here. Like old times.”
“I wouldn’t count on it.” Rhea turned and started toward the Dancing Bear. “And it wouldn’t be like old times. Ever. Those times are gone.”
In the background she heard Jeannie blow out a breath, start the truck, and drive away. Only when the sound of the truck’s engine faded into the distance did Rhea turn to look aft
er it. When she did, there were tears dripping down her cheeks she hadn’t wanted Jeannie to see.
She kicked at a pinecone on the cottage’s walkway as she headed toward the porch steps. If it wasn’t summer and the height of tourist season, I’d take off on a trip somewhere to avoid even laying eyes on that traitor again. Rhea started sweeping the Dancing Bear’s porch with a vengeance, furious she’d spared even a tear for the memory of Carter Layman. She shouldn’t feel even a twinge of pain anymore after all this time.
“I hate him for what he did to me and how he hurt me. I really do.” She spat the words out, needing to give vent to her thoughts as she whacked the broom against a porch rail, her anger kicking up. “Jeannie must be crazy to think I’d want to buddy up to Carter Layman and be chummy friends again. No, sir. I’m going to stay as far away from him as possible while he’s here for his little visit.”
Checking inside the cottage later, Rhea’s thoughts drifted to Carter again, despite her intention not to think about him. They’d grown up together, she and Carter, been best friends through childhood and sweethearts later on.
It was hard to sweep away a lifetime of memories, even if you tried. She heaved a sigh. And she certainly had tried.
Walking into the boys’ bunkroom in the Dancing Bear, Rhea encountered still more unwanted reminders of Carter Layman. Old prints of classic cars from the sixties and seventies marched in a somewhat crooked row across the wall. Rhea straightened them with reluctance—hating to even touch them in her present mood. Carter had chosen and framed these car prints one summer when they painted and fixed up the cabin’s bunkroom.
Rhea ran a finger across the faded photo of a red convertible. She didn’t know the make of the car, but Carter would know right away. He loved vintage cars. Especially that old red Pontiac Firebird convertible he’d fixed up and driven through junior and senior year of high school.
