Page 49 of The Prodigal Brother Returns

He drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair. Malorie frowned. She couldn’t pass judgment on Nathan’s or Blake’s dark moods. Her mood wasn’t in a good place, either.

Shrugging, she was heading for the door when Nathan stopped her. “Could you check with Timmy and see if I can borrow the nextTimmybook if he has it?”

“Sure.” Finally, her tension eased.

As a nurse, her job was to take care of her patients’ physical needs. Sometimes that blended into their emotional needs too. She didn’t mind and would do what she could to help Nathan through this tough period of immobility. And from experience, she knew there was one thing about Blake’sTimmybooks. They raised a person’s spirit.

Blake had been very lucky to have met Tina when he did. Despite losing his parents at an impressionable age, his brothers kicking him off the ranch, and having to arrive at adulthood on his own, he was able to put into his books good learning experiences for his young readers.

On the porch, she took a deep breath and cleared her mind. She just needed a moment to stop the world from rocking under her feet.

The horses were in the pasture. The man occupying too much space in her thoughts leaned against the fence, scratching Duke’s neck. She waved, but he either didn’t see her or didn’t want to. Okay, fine. It was ridiculous to think about him so much.

She was an independent woman and prided herself that she could make life work on her own. She followed the morning sunshine into the center aisle of the barn. The kids’ voices came from several stalls.

“Hey, guys. I’m done.” Timmy came out of the nearest stall, tripping before she could grab him. He hit the ground with a solid thud, his arm twisted at an odd angle under his chest.

Malorie didn’t think. She moved fast, squatting next to Timmy, and turned him over. “Are you okay, kiddo?”

Timmy held his breath. His eyes were wide. She checked the pulse just under his jaw, then gently lowered his arm and rubbed his chest. “Breathe, Timmy.” He had a cut on his hand.

Finally, he sucked in a breath. Malorie said a silentthank goodnessand brushed his hair off his forehead. “There you go. Just lay here for a moment and catch your breath. How’s your arm? Does it hurt?”

He shook his head.

“Can you move your fingers?” When he did, without wincing, she slowly worked her way up both arms to see if he had any breaks. “Nothing seems to be broken.”

Reece came out of the next stall over, with Andee close behind. When he saw Timmy on the ground, he fell to his knees. “What happened?”

“He tripped.” She took a clean tissue from her pocket and held pressure to the cut on his hand.

The stall door was slid half open. All she could think was that in the narrow opening, he caught his foot on the bottom board that held it in place.

“Where’s my dad?” Timmy asked, his voice shaky.

“Andee, go get Blake. He’s by the pasture.”

Andee took off and returned moments later with Blake.

“Are you okay, bud?” Blake got down on one knee beside Timmy, who was sitting up now, and looked at Malorie. “Do we need to take him to the doctor?”

Malorie knew that look in his eyes. Even with all her years as a nurse, her heart still jumped with terror when one of the twins got hurt. “No, he’ll be fine. He just needs a Band-Aid on his hand.”

“Thank you. I’ll take him upstairs and get him all fixed up.” Blake held a hand out to Timmy. “Up you go, kiddo.”

She stood too. “I’m sorry he got hurt. I couldn’t grab him fast enough. Can I help?”

“That’s okay.” Blake kept his hand on Timmy’s shoulder. “You have your hands full with Nathan.”

Malorie pressed her lips together. What was he talking about? Sure, Nathan was her patient, and in the beginning, he was a lot of work, but at this point, he didn’t need her twenty-four, seven.

“Can we go with Timmy?” Andee and Reece asked together.

She wasn’t sure how to answer that. Blake didn’t give her a chance to decide. “They can come.”

“All right,” she agreed, her shoulders sagging. So, he was still coming up with reasons not to have her around. What had she done wrong?

She shook off the heavy feeling. Just because she couldn’t answer that didn’t mean she had any reason to believe she was being abandoned yet again. If she wanted to give love and everything it entailed another try, she would. But since a serious relationship wasn’t part of her immediate plans, she’d do what she came here to do. Take care of her patient and make the best life for her and the twins that she could.

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