Once Upon a Family Read online

  “Maybe we should find a pet for Alexa.” When he said we, it felt right and that bothered him until he reminded himself they were just friends and friends helped each other.

  Peter opened his back door for Laura. “I know how much she liked Molly. She came with the ranch, and I would hate to take her away from here. I don’t have any kittens right now, but I’m sure I’ll get one before long.”

  She laughed. “Let’s take it one pet at a time.”

  Out on the patio Peter slipped into the folding chair next to Laura. Noah and Jacob sat across the glass table of the patio set. Jacob watched the twins playing with the ferret. Noah scribbled something on the pad.

  The sound of the boys’ laughter floated in the air. Alexa’s voice joined her brothers’. Peter leaned back, content to enjoy their merriment like music to his ears. He’d wanted a whole houseful of children and that was never going to happen unless he married a woman with children. Was that why he was attracted to Laura against his better judgment? He knew he wouldn’t be good husband material, and he couldn’t let the fact that she had four children change his mind.

  An hour later Jacob scooted his chair back from the glass table. “Okay. So we have a game plan. I like the idea of involving the church youth group with this project to get it started.”

  Noah rose. “I like the idea of using these abandoned animals to heal others.” He looked at Laura. “Peter was always the idea man when we were growing up. He hasn’t lost his touch.”

  Laura shifted her attention from one man to the other, her gaze finally lighting upon Peter. “Do you three go to the same church?”

  “Jacob and I do. We haven’t convinced Noah of the power of the Lord yet.”

  “I think this is my cue to leave.” Noah grinned. “Bring your family by the restaurant one evening. I haven’t found too many kids who don’t like pizza.”

  Jacob pushed in his chair. “I’d better go, too. I have rounds at the hospital this afternoon.”

  The second Noah and Jacob left, Alexa ran up to Laura. “Can we go ride now?”

  Laura scanned the yard. “Where’s Matthew?”

  Her daughter whirled around. “He was throwing the ball for Bosco.”

  Knowing her twins’ gift for getting into trouble, Laura shot to her feet, searching the area. A dog barking drew her down the steps and around the side of the house. She came to an abrupt halt when she found Matthew hanging off the side of Peter’s two-story house, having climbed halfway up the stones.

  Laura put her hands on her waist as Peter neared her. “Get down right now, young man. Whatever possessed you to climb up there?”

  Matthew glanced over his shoulder while clinging to the brown stones. “The ball is up on the roof. I got carried away when I threw it. It’s Bosco’s favorite.” His gaze skipped to the German shepherd sitting below him. “See? He’s waiting for me to get it.”

  Getting carried away was the normal mode for her twins. “Come down before you break your neck.” Visions of him falling flickered through her mind. He was her climber. As a toddler he had somehow found his way to the top of the refrigerator. Thankfully she’d gotten him down before he had fallen.

  “All I have to do is go up here a little more, then along to the end and swing up—”

  “Now!”

  “Come on, Matthew. We’re going riding. I’ll get the ball later for Bosco.”

  “But, Mr. Stone…” The boy’s gaze slid to his mother, and he started back down.

  Peter moved closer at the same time she did. Matthew was two feet from the ground when Joshua raced around the side of the house with Alexa on his heels.

  “Digger got away!”

  The other twin’s shouting caused Matthew to lose his footing, and he fell back into Laura. His momentum threw her off balance, and she knocked against Peter like a set of dominos. They ended up on the ground, arms and legs tangling. Alexa giggled.

  “Digger’s gonna get away!” Joshua hopped from one foot to the other.

  Blowing her son’s hair from her face, Laura removed her elbow from Peter’s ribs while Matthew extracted himself as though he were Houdini’s protégé. He zipped around the side of the house after Joshua. Alexa and Bosco ran after the twins, leaving Laura alone to untangle herself from Peter.

  “This reminds me of the time I played Twister.” Peter slipped his arm from under her back and rolled to his feet. He offered her his hand.

  She stared up at him. “We’ve got to stop meeting like this.” She allowed him to help her up, feeling a few sore places where the hard ground had greeted her fall.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Are you?”

  His eyes gleamed. “I asked first.”

  His nearness made her heart beat fast. She vaguely heard Bosco barking in the background. Her husband had been gone for almost a year, but their marriage had been in trouble for a long time before that. She hadn’t felt this way in… She took a step back. There was no way she would get involved with a man again after her husband and his deceit. She couldn’t go through that a second time. She didn’t know if she could ever trust a man enough to put her heart in his hands again.

  “We’d better check on the kids and Digger.” She started for the backyard, acutely aware of Peter’s presence behind her.

  “I know where he went. He goes under the house.”

  She halted, peering back at him. “Under the house?”

  At the same time they both began running. When Laura arrived where Alexa was standing, the look on her daughter’s face corroborated her suspicion that her twins had gone after Digger.

  Alexa pointed at the opening. “They wouldn’t listen to me. I told them not to go there.”

  Matthew and Joshua had selective hearing. They heard what they wanted to. Laura bent down and checked out the dark hole, visions of snakes, bugs and rats tumbling through her mind. Her fear escalated.

  Peter moved between her and the opening. “I’ll get them. I know where Digger likes to hide. I’ve had to do this several times.”

  “Ooh! Get it off me!”

  Matthew’s plea sent chills down Laura’s spine. She started after Peter.

  He held up his hand. “I’ll take care of it. Both of us don’t need to get dirty.”

  Laura nibbled on her thumbnail while she waited. Peter’s voice when he reached her sons reassured her. She backed up as she saw them coming out. Both her sons were covered with dirt from head to toe.

  Joshua’s face was so brown that the whites of his eyes stood out like neon signs. “We got him! He’s safe.” His huge grin pronounced how proud he was of himself for “rescuing” the ferret from whatever evil vermin might dwell under the house.

  Matthew crawled out and sprang to his feet, dancing about as he brushed at something in his hair. “I think there’s a spider or something on me.”

  Laura placed her hands on his shoulders to keep him still long enough to check him while Alexa laughed. Laura wiped a cobweb and a twig from his hair. “You’re okay. I don’t see anything.”

  With Digger cradled in his arms, Peter emerged from the opening. “I don’t understand how Digger got under here. This piece of wood usually keeps him out.” He handed the ferret to Alexa while he secured the plywood over the hole.

  Joshua’s head dropped, his gaze glued to the ground.

  Laura planted herself in front of him. “What happened?” When her son kept his head down, she continued, “Joshua, what did you do?”

  Slowly he lifted his gaze to hers. “It was an accident. Really. All I did was put Digger down for just a second while I moved the wood a little to see what was behind it. Next thing I knew he had darted past me into the hole.” He turned his attention to Peter. “I’m sorry, Mr. Stone. I didn’t mean for him to get away like that. I won’t let it happen again. Promise.”

  Peter gave Joshua the ferret. “Why don’t you put him back in his cage so we can go riding?”

  “You aren’t mad?” Matthew asked, his eyes wide.
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  “It was an accident. I’m sure Joshua won’t do it again now that he knows what can happen.”

  Laura remembered her husband in the last year before he’d died yelling at the twins for every little thing they’d done wrong. Their natural curiosity had been stifled. The sounds of her children’s laughter had disappeared from their house. The memories produced a tight ache in her throat. At least that had returned to their home now.

  “Coming?”

  Peter’s deep voice penetrated her journey into the past. She focused on his attractive face and couldn’t help noticing the smile on it and a smudge of dirt on his forehead. She also noticed in that moment that she and Peter were the only two standing in front of the opening.

  “Okay?”

  She nodded, not sure her voice would work properly.

  “You were miles away.”

  She swallowed several times. “Just thinking about something that happened a while back.”

  “Want to talk about it?”

  The urge to tell him everything almost overrode the natural reserve she kept with most people. How could she explain what a failure she had been in her marriage? She hadn’t seen the signs until it was too late, and she and her children had suffered.

  “Where are the kids?” she asked, instead of giving in to the impulse to reveal her thoughts.

  “They ran ahead to the barn.”

  She started forward. “Then we’d better hurry after them. I can just imagine what my sons will find to explore in there.”

  This was better. Telling Peter about her past would only leave her vulnerable. Instead she needed to toughen herself to stand alone.

  Chapter Four

  Cara, since I started working at the school three weeks ago, I know I haven’t been faithful to e-mailing you like I should, but I’m taking a coffee break and using my time to e-mail you now. You’re the only one I can really talk to, and I miss our early-morning coffee together. I’m sorry to hear about your husband’s illness but hopefully it’s nothing. Let me know the second you hear back about the tests he took.

  Amazingly Sean has been a model child these past few weeks. Actually, the last couple of days he’s been a real pleasure. A part of me is holding my breath waiting for the other shoe to drop. A part of me is celebrating I might have my child back. I know it’s too early to be thinking that, but a mother can only hope.

  Joshua and Matthew have added a few more gray hairs to my head. I caught them yesterday planning to jump from the back porch roof onto the mattress they had dragged out to the yard. They were practicing to be stuntmen. Where do they come up with these ideas? Then not long after that, Alexa comes in and wants to spend the night at Mindy Donaldson’s Saturday then go to church with her on Sunday. I know what’s coming next. She’ll want to know why we aren’t going to church anymore. How do I tell her my feelings on this? I know you don’t understand why I’m angry with the Lord, but I really feel like He let me down. Break’s over. I’ll e-mail more later. Miss you guys. Love, Laura.

  After hitting the send button, Laura glanced up from her computer screen and saw a teacher who’d lately become a friend. “Sadie, what brings you into the counseling office?”

  “I need to check the credits on some of my students. Are you coming down to my room for our potluck lunch today?”

  “Yep. I brought a tossed green salad.”

  “Great. That’ll go well with what the others are bringing.”

  “See you then.” Laura watched Sadie head back toward the registrar’s office before concentrating on the report she was compiling now that her break was over.

  The blaring sound of the fire alarm jolted her from her task. She looked up. No one was running for the doors. The few people in the outer office seemed to be waiting for the first person to leave. Laura dug into her bottom drawer and retrieved her purse. She would hate to replace the items in her bag if there really was a fire.

  Sadie came from the back. “We’d better get outside.”

  “Ah, Mrs. Knight, it’s just a false alarm,” one of two student aides said, remaining in his chair.

  Sadie winked at Laura, then turned a stern expression on the two teens. “False alarm or not, we need to leave. One day it could be the real thing. Besides, it’s gorgeous outside.”

  Students and adults exited the counseling office. Laura took up the rear and started to shut the door when she heard the announcement. “False alarm. Please return to your classes.”

  Five minutes later, Laura sat again at her computer to finish the report. Her phone rang. When she picked it up and heard Peter’s deep voice, dread filled her and her shoulders sagged.

  “Are you sure it was Sean?” She desperately grasped onto the image of the picture-perfect child of the past few days, wanting him to remain.

  “Afraid so, Laura. Sean pulled the fire alarm. We have him on tape.”

  Why did the students persist in doing something against the rules—and in front of the camera? Sean knew better. Embarrassment mixed with her disappointment. There was only one answer to that question, Laura decided as she stomped toward Peter’s office for the second time in a month on account of her oldest child.

  What did Sean think he was going to accomplish by pulling this stunt? Her chagrin quickly progressed to exasperation.

  This time when she knocked on the principal’s door, her hand didn’t shake from being nervous but from her growing anger. What was she going to do about Sean?

  Peter came out of his office and pulled her to the side. “Okay?”

  “No. I don’t know what to do next. Any suggestions?” The second she asked the question she wanted to snatch it back. Where was her resolve to become totally independent? The minute there was a problem she was asking him for advice. She needed to come up with a game plan on her own. But what?

  “I have a strong suspicion he pulled the alarm to get out of coming to the ranch to work. He told me he was ready to serve Saturday school service tomorrow, and he’d make up his time for the FFA next weekend.”

  “Why’d he want to get out of working at the ranch?”

  “Chad. He’s the boy Sean got into a fight with and he’s coming to work at the ranch.”

  “You bid on the boy Sean had a fight with?”

  Peter’s mouth quirked up in a grin. “I thought if the boys got together and worked as a team they may actually become friends.”

  She wanted to shout Are you crazy? But she kept her mouth shut.

  “I know. That may not have been the best plan after all.”

  “You think? Sean holds grudges, at least lately. He didn’t used to but so much about him has changed. You probably should take him up on his kind offer.”

  He shook his head. “No, he’s got to learn he can’t pull a prank and get out of something he doesn’t want to do. He’s dealing with a master in that area.”

  “So he’s met his match?”

  “Yep. You just wait and see.”

  She didn’t want to depend on Peter with her son. She should be able to handle this on her own. And yet, what she was doing wasn’t working.

  “It’ll turn out okay tomorrow. Besides, Brandon, the third boy, is one of our best student mediators. I’ve got it all figured out.”

  What had he been thinking when he bid on Sean and Chad at the FFA auction? Peter scratched his head and blew out a breath. What was happening in his barn would put the Cold War to shame. Constructing a pen together was supposed to have been a team-building project.

  “Hold it still, will you!” Sean glared at Chad.

  “If you’d work a little harder maybe we would actually get done this week.” Chad glanced at his watch for the umpteenth time in the past hour.

  And to make matters worse, his peacemaker, Brandon, couldn’t come because he got sick. What was he thinking? Lord, I need You. What do I do?

  “Here, let me, you guys.” Peter stepped forward and helped hold the last board in place while Sean hammered several nails into the post to hold it. />
  Finished, all three of them stood back and inspected the animal pen. Two of the slats hung at an odd angle, but Peter wasn’t going to say anything. At least it resembled what he had pictured in his mind.

  When Laura’s son’s gaze lit upon one of the lopsided boards, Peter moved into Sean’s line of vision, afraid that the Cold War would evolve into World War III. “Let’s get Bessie and let her test out her new home. She’s out in the back pasture.”

  Sean stomped off, mumbling under his breath.

  “Mr. Stone, I don’t get him. Nothing pleases Sean.”

  “Moving to a new town can be hard on some people.”

  “Why’d they come?”

  “His father died. They have family here.”

  “Oh.”

  Chad had a big heart, and that was what Peter was counting on, why he had come up with this brilliant plan in the first place. Sean needed the right friends. At the moment he had no friends, but what he was really afraid of was that Sean would hook up with the wrong crowd when the boy decided to quit being a loner.

  “Mr. Stone, come quick!”

  Sean’s shout prodded Peter into action. Chad hurried behind him. Out in the pasture Peter found Sean kneeling next to Bessie. The sheep had gone into labor. Worse, she was tangled in a thorny bush.

  I should have pulled the wild roses up, Peter thought as he knelt next to the teen.

  Sean turned his concerned gaze to Peter. “What do we do?”

  For a few seconds Peter’s mind went blank. The sheep’s bleats filled the stillness and emphasized the seriousness of the situation, urging him into action. “We need to untangle her first, then we’ll see if we can get her into the barn.”

  Five minutes later with all three of them working together, Bessie was free from the thorns, but Peter saw the head of a lamb.

  “It’s coming.” Sean moved to Peter’s side.

  “There’s a problem.” Peter inspected the lamb’s position, trying to remember what the vet had told him.

  “Where’s the front legs?” Chad situated himself on the other side of Peter.