Sweet Home Colorado. C.C. Coburn

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      Chapter Four

      When Jack arrived at Two Elk, the family ranch, that evening, the front yard was already crowded with his brothers’ vehicles.

      The babies and toddlers would all be tucked into beds and travel cots, in a first-floor bedroom. The older kids would be watching TV or playing games somewhere in the big house.

      Inside he found Will and Becky’s son, Nick, and Carly and Adam’s boys playing a video game in the living room. “Hi, guys,” he greeted them, and got grunts in return. They were all enthralled with their game and allowing themselves to be sidetracked would mean they could lose.

      “Hi, Uncle Jack!” Luke’s daughter Daisy called as she breezed through the room, followed by the clatter of feet on the stairs as her sister Celeste raced down to greet him.

      “We’ve been waitin’ ages ’n’ ages for you!” Celeste told him. “Daddy says you’ve got a girlfriend.”

      Hoo, boy! The O’Malley telegraph was fully operational. He could picture it now—his parents and all his brothers and their wives lying in wait for him around the kitchen table.

      He pushed open the kitchen door and saw that the situation was exactly as he’d suspected. Conversation ceased and eleven pairs of eyes swiveled in his direction. Even his nephew, Cody—who at seventeen was old enough to join the adults—was staring at him.

      His mom looked at him expectantly. She leaned sideways a little as if to see whether anyone was following him.

      “Hi, Mom. Sorry I’m late,” he said as he crossed the room and bent to kiss her cheek. He should have brought flowers; they might have distracted her for a whole millisecond.

      “Pop.” He shook his father’s hand, then made the rounds, exchanging kisses and handshakes.

      They all sat down and looked at Jack.

      After a full five seconds of silence, Will asked, “So where’s Grace?”

      “At her hotel.” Jack glared at Adam. No secret was safe with an O’Malley.

      “You should’ve invited her to dinner, dear,” Sarah said, her voice filled with disappointment. “I made extra.”

      “Mom. Everybody,” he said, looking at each relative in turn. “As you’re no doubt aware, Grace is back in town. I’ve agreed to renovate the house she bought from her aunt Missy. End of conversation.” He snatched up a bread roll and tore it in two. “I’m starving, Mom. What’s for dinner?”

      “That’s it?” Sarah said as she placed bowls of fluffy mashed potatoes on the table, along with a huge salad. His father got up to carve a roast. Pop loved roast.

      Sarah took her seat at the other end of the table. “That’s it?” she asked again. “You’re not going to pick up where you two left off?”

      “Mom! Please.” He softened his tone, seeing the hurt in his mother’s eyes. “She just got back here. I need to come to terms with that.” He passed a plate loaded with slices of roast beef down the table.

      “He’s got a point,” Matt, who was the county sheriff, said. “Grace Saunders broke my little brother’s heart. I might go arrest her and throw her in jail until she makes a full confession of her sins.”

      “You just made a joke,” Will observed. “A pathetic one, but it’s not bad for you, big brother.”

      Everyone knew that Matt took life way too seriously, in free-spirited Will’s opinion. “So where’s she staying?” Will asked. “I’ll ride shotgun.”

      “This is not the Wild West anymore,” Will’s wife, Becky, admonished. “But, if you’d like, I could beat her to a pulp with my interrogation tactics. Find out why she left a great guy like you. And why she really came back to Spruce Lake.”

      Jack smiled at Becky. She wasn’t known for joking, either. “I appreciate your loyalty, but the truth is, she really has come back to renovate Missy Saunders’s Victorian.”

      “And then she’s going to flip it,” Adam said with conviction as he piled mashed potatoes onto his plate.

      “Grace is renovating it to save it from further ruin. She won’t be selling it. The house has to stay in the family.”

      He turned his gaze back to Adam. “Have you remembered who Mike is yet?” he asked, then muttered, “Traitor,” under his breath.

      Carly grinned and said, “Jack, there’s really no hurry to start building our house. For the moment, I’d prefer to stay closer to the hospital. And town. If Adam was on duty and I went into labor, at least he’d be close by.”

      “Not that he’d be any use,” Luke, their oldest brother, said.

      “Eat, everyone!” Sarah instructed. СКАЧАТЬ