Page 7 of Coming Home

Eve wasn’t Peyton’s biological daughter, but no one would ever suspect that. My sister loved that baby every bit as much as if she were her own flesh and blood. Opal was my sister Ruby’s baby. The girls were pretty close to the same age and it was a lot of fun watching them grow up together.

Ruby often watched Eve during the week while Peyton and Oliver worked, though they tried to arrange their schedules to require as little daycare as possible. At first that was for financial reasons, but they were doing more than fine now. They just really loved spending time with Eve.

“I think I’m going to just grab a breakfast sandwich off the counter and head over to Ruby’s,” I said, ready to jump down from the stool and leave before she could turn the subject back onto me.

“Stop,” Peyton said. When I turned to face her, she shoved a plate at me. “Those sandwiches have been sitting out there for nearly an hour. You did not come for that. Go, eat. I just sent food out to Mom and Dad’s table, so go join them.”

“But I didn’t even order yet,” I said.

Peyton rolled her eyes and leaned over to kiss my cheek. “Like I didn’t know what you wanted.”

I looked down at my heaping plate of Peyton’s pancakes with sides of bacon, sausage, and ham, because I could never decide between them.

“Thanks, Pey. You’re the best!”

I turned and walked back out into the main dining room to rejoin the family.

“I thought you’d left,” Mom said. “We would have waited to start eating.”

“It’s fine,” I assured her. “What time are Maddie and Liam getting in?”

“Around lunchtime,” Mom practically squealed as she launched into the latest news on Oscar and Sara and everything they’d been up to. Being the one still living at home, I’d already heard it all.

Thirty minutes later I’d finally been able to excuse myself and drove over to Ruby’s. She lived in a large apartment over the dairy barn. Ruby loved animals more than any person I knew. I mean, we were shifters, so of course we all had an affinity to the beasts, but Ruby truly loved them. She’d been working out at the ranch since she was just a kid. I’d often been envious of the fact she’d always known what she wanted to do.

Bran and his friend James were working in the dairy when I arrived. I stopped to chat with them for a few minutes before heading upstairs to the apartment.

I didn’t bother to knock, just walked in. Ruby was on the floor sitting on a blanket spread out for the girls to play on. They were surrounded by toys but fighting over a plastic cup.

Ruby seemed like the type that would get easily frazzled over something like that, but she’d really chilled out since Opal was born, and loved being a mother. In fact, she’d turned over most of the duties at the dairy to James and only loosely oversaw things now. My sister had always been a workaholic and control freak, so this was a huge change for her.

I joined them on the floor and for one uninterrupted hour I got to just sit back and play with my nieces and talk with my sister about nothing truly important. It was a perfect morning. Then Mom called sounding frantic and I knew I needed to head home and help.

Mom always got super excited but very nervous whenever Madelyn came home, which was rare. I think this was only the third or fourth time since she’d returned to our lives. That meant everything had to be absolutely perfect.

When I walked in, Mom was standing on chair vacuuming the drapes.

“What are you doing?” I asked her.

“I’m cleaning before they arrive. I worry about the dust with Sara being here.”

“Mom, you have a housecleaner that does that once a month. She was here yesterday.”

“Yes, but I thought I saw a cobweb when I opened the curtains. I just want everything to be perfect.”

I sighed and nodded. “Hop down. I’ll do it,” I said.

“Would you? That would be splendid, Shelby. Thanks. I know I can always count on you.” She stepped down with my assistance and gave me a hug as she moved to another room to neurotically check it over.

That was me, the reliable one. There are seven of us kids. I’m number five in the ranking, with Maddie and Thomas following not far behind me. When Maddie disappeared, I’d been a senior in high school. I’d been here for the whole breakdown my mother went through. Poor Thomas took the brunt of it though. She nearly smothered that boy, until our father had to step in and put his foot down.

She hadn’t been much better with the rest of us, but everyone scattered off to college or their own homes. I’d stayed. I wasn’t even sure anyone realized I was still there. It had been like living in a tomb. Peyton had eventually come back home for a while, but even she had abandoned us during that dark time. I’d had a front row seat for it all.

I’d been the one to hold the fort down, to make certain everyone ate, and Thomas got his schoolwork done. Even when Mom insisted on homeschooling him, she was too depressed to handle most of it, so I did. I’d never resented any of my siblings. I was happy to be there for Mom during that time. She still had her moments, but she was mostly better now. It had changed her in many ways, though. She wasn’t the mother we all remembered growing up. I think Maddie sensed that on her last few visits and was making an effort to come home more often.

We were still busy with the final bits of cleaning when Dad pulled up with Maddie and crew. Mom dropped her feather duster and stared at me, frozen.

“Go,” I said. “I’ll put everything away for you.”

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