Page 6 of The Prodigal Brother Returns

“Absolutely.” Malorie hugged Reece. “Andee, are you done with the macaroni?” They’d been helping her with simple meals since she’d gotten divorce papers in the mail.

“Uh-huh.”

Blake returned, leaving their luggage at the bottom of the stairs before he left, a wistful smile on his handsome face at their chatter as she and the twins worked to finish making dinner.

“Bye, B.J.,” Andee and Reece said together as they waved at him when he headed out the door.

Without taking a breath, they talked excitedly about everything they’d seen since arriving on the ranch. Malorie was glad to see them yawning as they cleaned up the dishes.

She put aside the dish towel she used to dry the pot they’d cooked in. Andee and Reece weren’t the neatest cooks, but that didn’t bother her. Malorie was more than happy to go behind them.

She carried their suitcases up to the second floor. The attic bedrooms were perfect. Not too big, but just right. Each had painted wood floors—one blue, one green—and large enough windows on each end to see the wide sweep of ranch meadows in the fading light. Beds covered in colorful homemade quilts took up much of the floor space. There were desks in each room. It was a kid’s paradise. And it was unfortunate they wouldn’t be staying long. She just couldn’t put her children through staying in an unhappy situation where things weren’t as good as they first appeared. She did that with her ex, staying too long once it was clear Mark wanted out of their marriage. She’d learned her lesson and wouldn’t drag her feet like that again.

It took a while, but she got them into their pajamas and tucked into bed to finish reading theirTimmy, the Superherobooks. They’d read all of them, eight in all, over and over. They were on the last one now for the second time.

“I’m so glad we came.” Andee put her arms around Malorie’s neck to give her a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek. “I wish we could stay forever. B.J. said he grew up here. He seems kind of sad.”

Malorie’s heart skipped a beat. Hoping she wasn’t going to have to play the role of bad mom, she finished tucking her daughter in. “We have our home in Ashland. You love it there, don’t you? I know I do.”

Luckily, she didn’t have to tell the kids they were leaving until Jonas found her replacement.

Andee nodded, then opened her book. “You know what, Mom?”

“What, sweetie?” Malorie straightened the blanket so that it neatly fit under her daughter’s arms.

“I think Timmy’s a real boy.”

Malorie wasn’t sure about that, but she wasn’t going to disagree with Andee’s conclusion. “Sweet dreams. I love you.”

“I love you too, Mom.”

When she went to kiss Reece goodnight, he was already asleep. HisTimmybook was locked by both arms to his chest. Malorie gently pulled it free and placed the book on the bedside table. Pulling the quilt up to his chin, she kissed his forehead.

“Sweet dreams, little man,” she whispered, then tiptoed out of the room.

Downstairs, she stepped outside and found a porch swing where she curled up with a cup of the Good Night tea she’d brought with her, and a blanket from the couch. Stars started to appear, small twinkles in the night sky. An occasional horse’s nicker came from the barn. Night settled in around Malorie.

Andee was right. She could get used to being here. But after the pandemonium they’d walked into earlier, she couldn’t take the chance. She’d accepted the job to give Andee and Reece a summer of no drama so they could come to terms with their father leaving them behind with only the vague promise of possibly spending holidays in Spain with him and his new wife.

The twins deserved a summer free of family chaos and disruption. That’s all she wanted for them. And it was fair to say, she needed a change, too, to get over her disappointment at a failed marriage and the humiliation that Mark had left because he said he needed his freedom, and then, not six months later had married another, younger woman and taken the job in Spain.

Andee and Reece were her only concern now. Maybe she’d read the situation incorrectly, but after what she’d witnessed of the brothers’ relationship earlier, it seemed there would be no peace for them on the Lohmen ranch.

The long day caught up with her. Malorie pulled the blanket closer. TheTimmy, the Superherobooks were mostly about Timmy solving his problems by the author’s carefully crafted problem-solving. Blake Lohmen should know he couldn’t solvehisproblems by arguing his way out of the situation.

It was too bad she and the twins had to leave. Her eyes closed. The ranch, if not the brothers, was exactly what she’d been hoping for. Sweet quiet wrapped around her as closely as the blanket and lulled her to sleep. Sometime later, she woke from a dream of a superhero with B.J.’s face, swooping in to save her as she fell off a long-legged, tall, chestnut-colored horse with a blanket of white across her back quarters.

Shaking her head to clear the improbable dream and after checking on both kids, she dragged herself to bed, where she stared at the ceiling. The dream didn’t mean anything. When she couldn’t get back to sleep, she threw on a robe over her pajamas and went to check on Nathan.

As Blake had promised, the porch light was on and the door unlocked. Nathan was awake when she came into the makeshift room. Laying absolutely still, his pain-filled gaze followed her progress until she stood by his bedside, then flicked to somewhere behind her back.

Glancing over her shoulder, she found Blake in an overstuffed armchair, legs stretched out in front of him, arms crossed over his chest as he watched them, a frown forming between his brows.

She turned back to Nathan, keeping her voice low. “How are you doing?”

Nathan might have been the combative one when she first arrived, but it didn’t seem like Blake and Jonas were innocent either. As long as she was on the ranch, she would keep her own counsel. Nathan wasn’t her first unruly patient.

“Hurts,” he croaked.

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