The Forgiven Cowboy's Best Friend: A Refuge Mountain Ranch Christmas

He's a tough ex-military cowboy returning home to right old wrongs, longing for forgiveness from his childhood best friend and the only woman he ever loved.

The last place Wyatt Callahan thought he'd ever return was to his home town.

Vivid images of Abby — his beautiful neighbor and his one and only love — rushed through him bringing heartache. He remembered her from years ago when they were in love. She was just out of high school she had accepted his marriage proposal.

When her father asked them to wait a year to marry, they had agreed. From day one he began writing Abby love letters, disappointed when he never heard back from her.

Had something happened to stop her from writing to him? When he found out a year later that Abby had married his good friend, Wyatt was heartbroken.

Now years later, it was the unexpected death of Abby's husband in the line of duty that was one of the reasons he returned home.

The other was the sudden death of his father, Mack Callahan.

Wyatt stood rigidly nearby the fresh graves of the two men he respected and loved most in this world and knew it was time for him to come home to stay.

With a dying request from his Dad and a driving need consuming him, Wyatt determined he wouldn't stop until he made things right between himself and those he loved.

She's newly widowed, heartbroken and still angry at her best friend for loving and leaving her years ago…

Abby Meadows Hart spent her childhood on her family's ranch next door to the Callahan family. Sharing everything with her best friend Wyatt, she eventually fell in love with him.

Unexpectedly, when Abby's dreams of marrying her best friend were crushed, she agreed to marry the man of her parents choosing.

Married only a few short years without warning, Abby was left a widow.

All alone and drowning in debt, her one goal was to keep the only thing that gave her a sense of belonging.

Abby is desperate to hold onto the ranch and her animals above all else, after she has suffered pain and abandonment by those she trusted and loved the most in this world.

At Wyatt Callahan's abrupt homecoming, anger and pain closes in around her and bittersweet memories return of the first man she ever loved.

It seems that every time Wyatt and Abby push past one obstacle, another one looms larger on the path just ahead. Can they forgive each other and move on from their painful pasts to embrace a second chance at love?