Page 8 of The Prodigal Brother Returns

Blake stared at Jonas’s back as he left the kitchen. Moments later, he heard the front door open. Jonas’s murmur mingled with Malorie’s before the house became quiet. Too quiet, if anyone asked his opinion, which they hadn’t from the moment he’d gotten his brother’s call.

Much to his annoyance, he was too curious to stay in the kitchen. Following the sound of her voice to his brother’s bedside, he remained far enough back so they wouldn’t see that he was listening in from a vantage point that also gave him a clear view of the nurse and her patient.

It wasn’t his best move, but hey, a guy used the tools he was given. Like Jonas, who hadn’t changed one bit. He still yanked people’s chains—especially Blake’s—when it suited his purpose.

“How are you doing this morning?” Malorie checked Nathan’s pulse and took his blood pressure.

His brother grimaced as he tried to straighten up. “I’m fine.”

“I see that.” She took his temperature, then raised the head of the bed. “Your vital signs are good, but that look on your face says you’re not fine.”

So, Malorie Harper wasn’t afraid to call a spade a spade. Blake shouldn’t like that, but he did.

Nathan dropped his gaze to his hands clenched in his lap. He muttered, “I still hurt.”

Blake sympathized. None of the Lohmen brothers were good at admitting their pain. External or internal. He was getting better, and he’d learned to hide his scars better, but there were days—fortunately, fewer than before—when he still ached inside in the worst way.

“You’re going to hurt for a while. I’ll do my best to make you as comfortable as possible, but your healing will be a slow process. You’ll do better if you don’t fight it.” Malorie handed Nathan a pill and a glass of water. She stood by as his brother downed his medication in one swallow before handing the glass back.

Her gentleness with Nathan touched something in Blake’s chest that he’d lost along the way.

Nathan frowned. “Jonas said you’re leaving.”

She nodded, but didn’t say anything, instead occupying her hands with straightening his brother’s blankets.

“He said it’s because of our fight yesterday. Is that true?” Nathan crossed his arms over his chest. It was a habit they all three shared. Blake winced at the same time as Nathan. “He shouldn’t have come back.”

Apparently satisfied, Malorie patted the covers. “Who? B.J.?”

“B.J.?” Nathan’s brows pulled together. “I don’t know who that is. No, Blake. If I apologize, will you stay?” When Malorie didn’t agree to his deal, Nathan shrugged. “Where will you go?”

“I’m not sure, but I promised Jonas I wouldn’t leave until he found a replacement,” she said calmly.

The woman was no pushover. Blake’s pulse tripped over itself for a few beats.

Nope. Don’t go there.Malorie was a pretty lady, but he had no intention of letting go of his wife’s memory. And he had business to attend to. A book to get started because he still had nothing. The Triple L to run. Why did the ranch look like it was in a time capsule and a little worse for the wear at that? What the heck had his brothers been doing so that the ranch had gotten so rundown while he was gone?

More important than all of that, he had Timmy to take care of.

Tina was right. Finding a way to make amends with his brothers while he helped out with the ranch’s daily operations was at least one place to start. Surprisingly, his inner seventeen-year-old wanted this opportunity to get his brothers to forget what he’d done.

Realistically, how could they? Blake wasn’t sure they could.

Wanting to fix things with his brothers had been growing in the back of his mind ever since he’d essentially become Timmy’s surrogate father two years ago and discovered how hard it was to be responsible for a child. He’d learned the hard way that Jonas, while dealing with his own grief, had done his best to take care of two brothers who’d been so devastated by first their father’s passing, and then their mom’s, that they’d gone completely over the edge.

Blake hadn’t understood back then. He’d only been so lost he didn’t know which way to turn except in all the wrong directions. He straightened his shoulders. Now, at last, he could see a way forward.

“Can you go back to your old job?” Nathan sounded tired... and broken in a way that spoke to more than his fractured pelvis.

“No,” Malorie said firmly, raising more questions than she answered. “Rest now. I’ll come back later to help you clean up and get dressed for the day.”

His brother nodded, but his breathing was already changing to the soft breaths that indicated he was going back to sleep.

Malorie almost bumped into him on her way out. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, hand going to the base of her neck. “I didn’t see you.”

This wasn’t exactly keeping his curiosity to himself and perhaps divulged too much, but—“Why can’t you go back to your old job?”

“I quit my job at the hospital to take this job”—he got the feeling it wasn’t something she wanted to talk about, but he didn’t interrupt her—“so I could spend more time with Andee and Reece.”

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