Page 57 of The Prodigal Brother Returns

Andee and Reece burst through the door. Their excitement wrapped Malorie in a ray of sunshine and warmth. They were her life.

Blake could be too, whispered a little voice in her head.

“Is it lunchtime, Mom?” Reece asked, then sat on the bench at the door and took off his dirty boots.

Andee sat next to her brother. Putting the glass in the sink, Malorie glanced at the clock, then pulled a loaf of bread from the small pantry. “It is. How does peanut butter and jelly sound?”

“Good. I’m starved.”

She laughed. Reece was always starving. “Okay, go wash up. When we’re done with lunch, we need to have a family meeting. There’s something I want to talk to you about.”

“Something serious?” The smile that Andee sent Malorie faded.

She hugged her earnest daughter. “Kind of, but let’s have lunch first.”

Lunch was a little more subdued than Malorie would have liked, but it couldn’t be helped. The kids had become very attuned to her moods ever since Mark had announced he was leaving.

“How was your morning with Blake and Timmy?”

That brightened them up a little. Reece was the first to jump in, a definite change from when they’d first arrived on the Triple L, when he’d let Andee do most of the talking. “We helped them finish the truck. But it’s a secret because B.J. wants to put a big red bow on it before he gives it to his brothers.”

“He’s giving it to his brothers? Doesn’t it belong to all three of them?” Malorie was surprised, but also, somehow, not.

Andee finished her sandwich. “He said repairing the truck was his way of making amends.”

“What’s making amends?” Reece asked.

And that was why she couldn’t stop falling more and more in love with the man. “It means fixing a mistake that was made.”

“What mistake?”

“You’d have to ask Blake.” It was his story to tell. Malorie cleared the table. When she was done, she said, “Okay, let’s call the family meeting to order.”

Reece responded by pounding the table once with his fist. “I call this meeting to order.” He was very dramatic.

“I second it,” Andee said, with just as much energy.

Last year the twins had studied court and arbitration proceedings in school and adopted some of the processes for their family meetings, which she’d started when... well, there was no reason to think any more about her ex. If the children agreed, she had other plans for their lives than mourning what had been lost.

There it was. She loved Blake. Her heart fluttered and bloomed wide. “Motion approved. First thing on the agenda... who wants a bowl of ice cream?”

Ice cream as the first item on any agenda was something they’d started with their very first meeting. Both kids raised their hands, but Malorie was faster. She’d already gotten a container of strawberry ice cream, three small bowls, and three spoons, and was bringing them to the table.

With her whole heart.She loved Blake Lohmen with her whole heart!

As she started talking, Malorie filled the bowls. “So, before I tell you what I’m thinking, tell me honestly—how do you guys like living here?”

“On the ranch?” Andee scooted an overflowing bowl and spoon toward Reece and took the second for herself.

Leaving the third bowl in front of her chair, Malorie put the ice cream away. “The ranch is a temporary work thing. But I mean living in Strawberry Ridge or somewhere nearby.”

“Living in Strawberry Ridge is almost as good as this ice cream,” Reece said around a mouthful.

Malorie looked at her daughter. “What do you think, Andee?”

“I think Reece is right. I love Strawberry Ridge.”

Her ice cream was melting, but Malorie didn’t want to delay broaching the subject on her mind. “What if I told you that I’ve considered moving to Strawberry Ridge and I agree with you, Andee? It would be a good place to live. We can find a cute cottage to live in. I could get a job at the hospital, or maybe with the county. You two”—she pointed with her spoon—“would start at the junior high in September. What do you think? I don’t want to make such a big move without both of you being in favor of the idea.”

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