The Prodigal Valentine

{"strong"=>["When hometown boy Ben Vargas shot out of town ten years ago, he also left Mercy Zamora behind."]}
And though she had led the chorus of no strings/no wedding bells/no babies, ten years can change a girl. If only it had changed her feelings for him… And as for Ben–he'd had his reasons for leaving, but Mercy had never been one of them. And so he was home–at least for now.
And he should know better than to start something, once more, that he couldn't finish. Know better than to think that once he had her in his arms, he'd ever be able to let her go…