Page 42 of The Prodigal Brother Returns

“You first. Age over beauty,” Jonas said and spread the deck in front of Nathan.

Pressing his lips together after an exasperated sigh, Nathan pulled a card, but didn’t turn it over.

“Now you, Blake.” He picked a card.

The laughter lines fanning out from Jonas’s eyes deepened. “Okay, turn them over.”

Blake had the five of clubs. Disappointment pushed at his chest as Nathan grinned in triumph. Until he showed his card. A two of diamonds.

“Well,” Jonas collected their cards. “That settles the problem. Blake, keep the keys. It looks like you’ll be staying and fixing Dad’s truck to get it back on the road.”

Blake didn’t dare look at Malorie to see what she thought of their dad’s solution to settling his boys’ problems. He couldn’t help but wonder what she would say if he and his brothers drew cards—high card got the lady. Okay, maybe that wasn’t the best idea. But, asking her out on a date was a good one. The only question was, would she think so too?

Chapter Twelve

That night, thekids were too quiet. They didn’t eat much of the dinner hash she made, didn’t want any strawberry ice cream, their favorite dessert, and went to bed early after shrugging their shoulders when she asked what was bothering them. No matter how many attempts she made, she couldn’t get them to talk about what had happened in the shed between the brothers.

It hit her suddenly that here she was back at square one, and she was mad at Mark all over again for breaking up their family. The feeling only lasted a moment. It took two people to make or break a marriage. She’d had some part in it too. Not that she was shouldering most of the blame, but she regretted not being able to leave her pain in the past.

She could wring Nathan’s neck for upsetting Andee and Reece. They had nothing to do with his conflict with Blake. Thank goodness Jonas had come along and solved the problem so handily. It was as if he’d been waiting for a blowup between his brothers.

Later, by the time she got Nathan settled for the night—he wasn’t talking either—and she returned to the guesthouse, the twins were already in bed. She didn’t want to wake them and make matters worse by trying to explain to them that Nathan wasn’t mad at them. He was mad at himself. That was her theory, anyway. But he had to figure that out for himself.

With her mind running around in circles, she didn’t get to sleep until after two in the morning, which meant she overslept. She made batter for waffles and poured the first one into the waffle maker, then she glanced at the clock on the mantle as she went to wake up the kids. It was unusual for them to sleep in past seven.

Andee wasn’t in her room. Her bed was made. The shared bathroom was empty. Frowning, Malorie opened Reece’s door. He was also gone. Had they tiptoed out so they wouldn’t wake her to help Blake?

Throwing her robe on over her pajamas, she hurried to the barn. Even before she got there, she could hear the horses nicker and the sound of a stall door softly closing. What she didn’t hear were her children’s animated voices.

“Andee? Reece?” She hurried through the open doors and almost ran into Blake. Quickly searching central space, she demanded, “Have you seen the twins?”

“They’re not here. I figured, after the argument last night, you decided to keep them home today.” He leaned a rake against the nearest stall. “I’m so sorry the kids got caught between—”

It wasn’t that she didn’t believe him, that the twins weren’t in the barn, but maybe they had a secret hiding place. In their house in Ashland, the place they went to when they were unhappy was the half-finished attic at the top of the house.

She quickly searched the empty stalls, her anxiety growing with every second that she couldn’t find the twins. “I appreciate that, and I get that you have this bad history with your brother, but for heaven’s sake, fighting in front of the kids wasn’t great.”

Blake’s brows pinched together as he started to search with Malorie. “I didn’t realize how angry Nathan still is. I thought fixing the truck would make everything right. I guess I was wrong.”

“Wait a minute.” With nowhere else to look, she stopped in her tracks. “Where’s Timmy?”

“Sleeping, I think. Every once in a while, he’s slow to get up and around, so I let him be on his own rhythm.” Blake hurried up the stairs to the apartment. He wasn’t gone long. “He’s not here.”

Forgetting about Nathan and Blake’s unresolved issues, panic twisted like a tornado in her belly. “Where would they go?”

“All the horses are here. And Timmy’s favorite backpack is still in his room, so not far.”

How could she let this happen? If something bad happened—“Maybe they’re with Jonas.”

But not Nathan. She couldn’t see the kids going to him after his display yesterday. When he was not happy, Mark hadn’t bothered to hide his annoyance from the kids. He didn’t yell exactly, but he would scold them harshly while looking disappointed in them. She would never forgive him for that. Trying to give them space to get over that was one of the reasons they’d ended up on the Triple L.

Blake was on the move. “I’ll check with him real quick while you get dressed. When we took care of the horses yesterday morning, they were talking about camping at the pond. We’ll start our search there.”

“I’ll meet you at the house.” Swinging around, she raced for the guesthouse and practically jumped into her clothes and boots, all the while wondering if Strawberry Ridge wasn’t the answer she was looking for after all.

Jonas and Blake were coming down the porch steps when she got there. The concern on Blake’s face made her heart drop. “Jonas will look after Nathan.”

“I’ll make sure he doesn’t do more than he should,” Jonas said. “You and Blake go find those kids.”

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