Chapter Seven

F or three days in a row, Blake watched as his brother got out of his bed and into his wheelchair, and pushed himself to sit on the porch longer each day. Nathan did not give up easily. He could say that about his brother, which made the shape the ranch was in that much more confusing.

Malorie seemed pleased with Nathan’s progress. And while his brother was distracted with the kids, who’d gotten into the habit of hanging out with him while he was out of the house, Blake had a chance to go over the ranch’s financial ledgers without his cranky brother hovering at his elbow. That’s where Jonas found him. Hiding out in the library their parents had used as their office.

Memories swirled around Blake of his younger self, sitting across the desk from his mom as she made entries into the ledgers on the shelf behind him. True to form, Nathan kept them all lined up on the same shelf.

His brother was following in their dad’s footsteps. It was their mother who made the finances work. Dad was more interested in running the ranch and left keeping track of the balance sheet to his wife. The only difference now was that Nathan didn’t have a Mrs. to cover that for him.

“How does it look?” Jonas placed a cup of coffee in front of Blake, then sat in the empty chair, cradling a mug for himself in both hands.

Every once in a while, Blake wished he still drank. Not really—that bad habit had caused enough damage in his life. But at the moment, he would welcome a good stiff two fingers of whiskey. He drank the coffee instead. “It’s not good.”

Two years after their father’s death, their mom was practically letting Blake do the ranch finances on his own, so he knew what he was looking for. And when he’d skip school to drink more than he should, she’d scold him, but not with much of her former ambition to get her sons graduated and on to college. He’d hated disappointing her. But more than that, he realized now he’d faded with her as her zest for life disappeared.

“That’s my take, too, but I don’t know how to stop the bleeding. You were always better at the finances than Nathan and I were.”

After all the years of nothing but crickets from Jonas, that was quite an admission from his big brother.

Blake nudged his coffee aside and scrubbed his face before he stared at the columns again. This ledger was from five years back. “I have to keep looking, but something’s not right.”

“What do you mean?” Jonas leaned forward on his elbows. “Are you saying there’s missing money?”

“I’m not sure. I see where you’ve been making payments on the loan Nathan took out, using the ranch as collateral. The numbers are just not tracking.” He rocked back.

Jonas straightened. “Are you suggesting our brother has falsified the records?”

Not exactly, but after sixteen years, what did he really know about his brothers? “I’m not suggesting anything at this point.” He stuck to the easy questions. “What happened to Dad’s horses?”

“We lost several giving birth. We couldn’t keep up with the vet bills. And with the price of everything going up, and machinery breaking down, we couldn’t afford to feed them or keep the ranch hands to take care of them. Over the years, they were sold.” Frowning, Jonas rose from his chair and paced from the heavy oak desk to the window that looked out onto the circular drive. “I know what you’re thinking.”

Blake raised his brows at his brother’s back.

“There had to be other ways to bring in money.”

Blake locked both hands around his coffee cup. “That would be the logical next step. What did you try?”

Ignoring his question, Jonas gave up the view and faced Blake. “It’s not all Nathan’s fault. He’s tried to keep everything as it was when the folks were alive and running the place, and for a while, everything was fine. Early on, I didn’t give him much help. As soon as he turned eighteen, I took off for law school. When I graduated, I accepted a position with a great firm in Denver. I didn’t come home much during that time and a few years later, I opened my own practice. When I finally figured out how much he was struggling, I sent as much money as I could spare.”

Instead of coming together, they’d all gone their separate ways. Blake on the run and getting lost in the bottle. Jonas to a career that took him far from the memories of the ranch where they’d grown up. And Nathan hanging onto the memories of his childhood until there was almost nothing left of his parents to hang onto. They weren’t much of a family, were they?

He wasn’t sure he could change that. Their history couldn’t be rewritten. That shouldn’t bother Blake, but it did. He warned Jonas, “In the early days after the folks passed, the business side of breeding, raising Dad’s Colorado Rangers and selling them at the right time probably ran itself, but now with only one stud and two mares left, it’s going to be a long road to bring the Triple L back. And that’s if you want to bring back Dad’s breeding program. It might not be the most logical option.”

Jonas nodded. “I figured as much. And reinstating the breeding program would be up to Nathan since he’d been the one holding down the fort.” Jonas paused, then in his precise way, said, “Did you know Mom put money in a Testamentary Trust for us?” And before Blake could ask, he continued, “It’s a trust, where the funds aren’t distributed until the beneficiaries, in this case, you, me, and Nathan, turn forty.”

“No. Why would she do that?” Blake vaguely remembered she’d talked to her and his dad’s solicitor just before she died, but that was a very long time ago.

“I don’t know, but we were a handful back then and maybe she was afraid we would lose the ranch before we got straightened out.”

Setting his coffee to the side, Blake stood and faced off with Jonas like in the old days when they were kids. “We’re about to lose the ranch now. We can’t wait seven years for an influx of money.”

“I agree. That’s why I called you home.” Jonas shoved his hands in his jean’s pockets. He wasn’t going to back down.

Blake’s anger eased off a bit. He could live with that. “Does Nathan know about the trust?”

“I haven’t told him yet.”

That changed things. “He’ll need to know as soon as possible. If he’s waiting for a miracle to happen, he’s got a long wait. We can start with small steps, but I’m not sure Nathan is willing to get on board with even that much. I don’t have a lot of time to change his mind. I have Timmy to think about. My sole responsibility is to make sure the boy’s happy.”

“He’s a good kid. And you’re a great dad. Tell me about him,” Jonas, straightforward as always, said as his shoulders lost their stiffness.

Too surprised that Jonas wanted to know about his life after he left the Triple L, Blake spoke before he could stop himself. “He’s Tina’s brother—”

“Tina?”

Blake wished he hadn’t gotten started, but since he had—“My wife and Timmy’s sister. She died from a brain tumor two years ago.”

“I’m sorry you and Timmy had to go through that.” Jonas leaned on the edge of the desk.

Blake shrugged. That time of their lives wasn’t something he liked to talk about. “Timmy was a late-in-life baby. He was living with Tina when we got married. He’s smart and goes to school and therapy, but he has challenges with social skills and problems understanding verbal cues. When he asked if he could call me ‘Dad’—” Jonas didn’t need to know that was just a few days ago.

“You said yes. He seems to be doing pretty good here on the ranch.”

Blake stepped back. Big brother saw too much. He wasn’t planning to stay on the ranch forever. Still, he couldn’t deny what he could see with his own eyes. “He’s happy.”

Jonas straightened. “Let me talk to Nathan. I’ll present a case he can’t refuse.”

Blake didn’t doubt that for a second. “Good luck. He’s going to be a hard sell. He can’t forget I crashed Dad’s truck. I don’t blame him. It’s a hard thing to forget.”

It was all the apology Blake could offer at the moment.

“I don’t have a good excuse besides being an ass for ignoring you for sixteen years,” Jonas allowed, his brows pulling together. “I’m not proud of what I did. I’m glad you’re back.” He held out his hand.

Settling the score with Jonas wasn’t completely making amends, but it was a start. He shook his brother’s hand. Still, he didn’t let his brother completely off the hook. He snorted. “Only because you ordered me to come home.”

Was the Triple L still home? Blake wasn’t sure about that. Ever since meeting and marrying Tina, Sedona had been his home.

“Yeah, that was high-handed of me.” Jonas laughed. “I figured you wouldn’t come if I asked nicely. The ranch needs you, Blake.”

“Just the ranch?” he had to ask.

Blake’s anger at the way he’d been thrown off the Triple L banked some. Looking back, he had to admit he could understand why his brothers had booted him out. He was so buried in grief at not having a chance to say goodbye to his mom that there was no way Jonas had any sway over how out of control his younger brothers had gone.

Jonas laughed again and slung an arm around Blake’s shoulder. “Come on. Let’s go see what Nathan and the kids are up to.”

Taken aback by Jonas’s olive branch, Blake went along with the brother who’d been his mortal enemy for the last sixteen years. Tina had been right. It was time to take his brothers off his I’m-never-speaking-to-you-again list. Right behind that came finding a way to save the ranch his parents had put so much of their hearts and souls into.

Timmy and the twins were sitting at Nathan’s feet while he told them a story about their dad teaching his sons to ride horses.

Timmy saw Blake first and waved. “We’re going to learn to ride. Right, Dad?”

“Soon,” Blake reassured the boy. Thinking about his conversation with Jonas, and to test the waters, he caught Nathan’s eye. “While I’m here, why don’t we put a notice in the Strawberry Ridge Journal advertising that we’re starting riding lessons?”

It was one of those baby steps, anyway. And if it brought in some much-needed money, then the struggle with Nathan to get there would be worth it.

His brother’s gaze narrowed. “We don’t give riding lessons.”

“That doesn’t mean we can’t start. Weren’t you just telling the kids about Dad teaching us to ride? While I’m here, I could do the same.” Now that Timmy was with him, maybe he’d be on the ranch a little longer than he’d anticipated when he’d first come back. Blake kept his expression bland and shrugged. This moment probably wasn’t the best time to do more than briefly mention their dad. He didn’t want to start a new argument, but since he was on a roll—“It’ll bring in some income. And when you’re feeling better, you can take over.”

Nathan swiveled his wheelchair. The kids jumped to their feet. “Mom and Dad didn’t give riding lessons to strangers. We don’t need to either.”

“That’s because Dad always said he was too busy,” Blake pushed back. He wasn’t ready to give up on the idea. “We have plenty of time, and our first customers can be Timmy and Malorie’s kids. We can work out the kinks with them.”

“No.” Nathan slowly maneuvered the wheelchair into the house.

They weren’t done with this conversion, but Blake cut Nathan a break and silently followed his brother. When Nathan stopped at the bedside, he offered, “Let me help.”

“I can do it.” Nathan shrugged him off.

Blake tried not to be offended, remembering the early days when he was determined to stop drinking. It hadn’t been easy. He was as cranky as a bear. Just like Nathan. He stood back and let his brother have his way.

It was slow going. Nathan was perched on the side of the bed and stuck. Blake felt stupid standing by, watching his brother struggle when it would be simple enough to help him into the bed. He was about to assist the stubborn man the rest of the way into bed when Timmy came in and went to his side. “I’ll help you, Uncle Nathan.”

Nathan’s face was wrinkled in pain. His eyes cleared as he looked from Timmy to Blake and back again. “Thank you, Timmy. If I could just lean on your shoulder—”

Blake held his breath. Timmy was tall for twelve, but was he strong enough to hold a grown man’s weight? Timmy stretched to his full height as Nathan leaned on him, then managed to scoot into bed.

Leaning against the pillow, he gave Timmy a pained, crooked smile. “Would you mind putting my foot on the bed? I seem to have left it on the floor.”

Blake remembered that smile from when they were boys, looking for frogs at the pond. Nathan always found one first, grinning as he held the wiggly amphibians high.

Timmy giggled and did as Nathan asked. The look on his young face turned serious as he concentrated on lifting his uncle’s foot to the bed.

“Good job, Timmy.” Malorie slipped around Blake. She was smiling. He’d caught a whiff of wildflowers that he’d come to associate with her, so he knew she’d come with Timmy and was watching. “You two boys head out now. I’ll finish getting Nathan situated.”

She might get his brother comfortable by straightening his blankets and giving him pain meds, but Blake wasn’t done with the obstinate man yet. “I’m not giving up on the idea of riding lessons. Give it some thought, Nathan. I think you’ll come to the same conclusion. If we get enough takers, it would at least be the start of bringing the ranch back from the brink.”

When Nathan didn’t answer, Blake gestured for Timmy to come with him. Once they were on the porch and heading to the pasture, they could see Andee and Reece standing on the lower rung of the fence, giving the mares a scratch. Duke was further away, ignoring the twins.

Blake laid a gentle hand on Timmy’s shoulder. He needed a haircut. Badly. “You did a good job back there. I could tell Uncle Nathan appreciated your help.”

“I like him.” Timmy slipped his hands in his pockets, imitating Blake. “And Uncle Jonas.”

For the first time in a long, long time, Blake could say, “I like them too.”

It was true. If he understood what Nathan was inferring, he wanted to keep the ranch just as it was when their parents were alive. Blake understood. Those were good days, and with the way things had turned out, they only brought the best good memories.

The only problem was, time marched on and things changed. They couldn’t count on the money from the trust that wouldn’t be available for seven years. If they wanted to keep the ranch, they had to make improvements now that would bring in new income. Twelve weeks, if it took Nathan that long to heal, was long enough to come up with and test a few ideas and hopefully see positive results.

It might be that he and Timmy would have to stay the whole summer. And the truth was, he couldn’t go back to Sedona until the Triple L was out of the woods. The only way to make that happen was to be right here, working side by side with his brothers.

They stopped near Andee and Reece. Blake asked Timmy, “How would you feel about staying here all summer, even after Uncle Nathan gets better, instead of going back to Sedona right away?”

“That would be okay, I guess.” Timmy frowned as he climbed up on the fence beside the twins. He really didn’t like change.

Blake leaned on the fence next to Timmy.

“I would miss Franklin—” His best friend. Timmy went quiet, then said, “Maybe, if it was okay, we could live here forever.”

Suddenly, Blake was thinking the same thing, though he didn’t see how they could. Not with Nathan hardly speaking to him most of the time and Timmy needing the comfort of his routines and the therapists he was familiar with. “That’s something we’ll have to talk about later.”

Timmy twisted to look at Blake. He would have tumbled off the fence if Blake hadn’t stopped the boy’s fall just in time. “Can Franklin come visit?”

Flashes of a Timmy story started to form in Blake’s mind. It was about time.

“We’ll have to ask his mom,” Blake said gently, bumping Timmy’s shoulder. “We’ll figure something out, okay?”

Reece jumped down and kicked at a tuft of grass. “I wish we could live here.”

Blake wished Malorie and her kids would be there all summer too.

Maybe if he could convince his brothers to start an end-of-summer or fall camp for neurodivergent kids—kids like Timmy, who were somewhere on the autism spectrum—they would need a nurse, but professional staff cost a lot, and it was a very big ask for a ranch that was already deep in the hole. So not this year or next year, but maybe the year after that, when the Triple L was on more solid footing. He would need Jonas’s and Nathan’s approval and all hands on deck.

She was so good with the twins and Timmy. He could see her in his mind’s eye watching over a small group (the first year) of kids. If she wasn’t working elsewhere during that future summer.

He shook his head. He had to think smaller, like weekend campouts where the farthest part of the ranch came close to the mountains. Malorie might be into something like that.

What was he thinking? Yes, he liked her a lot. More than he should, considering when they were done with their current duties, they would be heading in opposite directions. She probably to Oregon and he to Arizona. Even if he sold their home and he and Timmy came to live on the ranch, a thought that was getting more appealing by the minute, Colorado was still a long way from Oregon.

“Does your mom have her next job lined up?”

Andee climbed down from the fence. Brushing off her hands, she smiled at him and shook her head. “Not yet. She says she’s still thinking about it.”

Calm. Matter-of-fact. Sweet. Like her mom.

Just before she passed, Tina had told him she wanted him to keep living. Maybe even find love and a family again. Blake didn’t know how to do that without feeling the pinch of guilt at replacing her with someone else. The memories of their life together were finally starting not to hurt so much, but he lived with enough guilt over wrecking his father’s beloved truck, a restoration project close to his dad’s heart that all three Lohmen boys had helped with. He couldn’t take on more.

As she often was, Tina had one thing right. He wasn’t that seventeen-year-old screwup anymore. He turned in a slow circle, taking in the ranch house, the barn, the pastures as far as he could see, sheds, and outbuildings on the other side of the barn. Tired as it all looked, this place was still his home too. If he and Timmy went back to Sedona to continue their lives there, they would still come back for the summers. Nathan would just have to live with that.

While he stared at the ranch house, noting all the things that needed to be done to make it fresh again, Malorie came out and walked toward them. She must be taking a break. He would love to show her Strawberry Ridge, with its quaint and welcoming vibe. He hadn’t been back there himself since returning and was tempted to see the little mountain town through her eyes.

She stopped next to Blake. “What are you guys doing? Anything fun?”

Oh, yeah. Surprised at how easily she made him laugh, he said, “I was just thinking we need to explore the outbuildings behind the barn. Would you like to join us?”

“Sure. Nathan is taking a nap, so I have time to go on an adventure.” She smiled at the kids.

If he did more than stand on the sidelines wondering if he could fall for another woman after Tina, would it feel as if the sun had come out as it did every time Malorie turned her smile on him or spent a spare moment exploring with him and the kids?

“Let’s start with that building first.” He pointed at the structure visible to the left of the barn. It was large, and the brown paint was fading. The roof looked to be in better shape than the other two smaller sheds.

When he was a kid, his dad used the building to store hay. Back then, the front was open so the hay could be easily taken in and out. Now it had barn doors that looked like they slid open.

The kids raced ahead of them, pulled open the door, and disappeared into the building.

“How’s Nathan doing today?”

She shielded her gaze from the hot sun with one hand as she studied the building the kids had disappeared into. “He’s doing as expected. If he wouldn’t push himself so hard, he’d probably heal faster, but I’m having trouble slowing him down.”

“He’s always been like that. Full steam ahead, no matter what the consequences.” Blake had to admit he wasn’t that much different from his brother.

A few feet from the building, Malorie stopped and turned to face him. Her brows were scrunched. “You can tell me it’s none of my business, but... is Timmy on the spectrum?”

Blake barely resisted smoothing out her frown. “He’s high functioning but has trouble communicating in social situations. More often than not, he just closes down if situations get too intense during school or group activities. For the adults supervising him, Timmy can already be in crisis before it’s clear he’s in trouble.”

Malorie touched his arm. “It can be tough on parents too. He’s a sweet kid.”

Timmy’s place on the spectrum was never a problem for Blake. Or Tina. He would love the kid, even if he required more care and attention. “Technically, he’s my brother-in-law. I have legal custody of him. My wife, Tina, and I raised him together after we were married, but she passed two years ago.”

“I’m so sorry. But he seems to love it here.”

He nodded, grateful she gave him an opening to ease out of the spotlight and ask her questions. “Do you know what you’re going to do after Nathan is released by his doctor?”

“I—” Before she could finish, Timmy stuck his head out of the door. His eyes were bright with excitement. “Dad. Hurry. Come see.” He disappeared back inside the shed.

Taking Malorie’s hand, he tried to ignore the stab of awareness that traveled like lightning up his arm, but the effort didn’t work out since he didn’t want to let go. He took her with him into the building.

Once inside, he stared. He couldn’t believe what had been hidden in the shed. Except, now that he knew how much Nathan wanted everything on the ranch to stay as it was, he shouldn’t be surprised.

There, underneath a dust cover, was his dad’s classic 1953 Ford truck. The same one the four of them had restored together. The same truck Blake had wrapped around a tree in a drunken fit of anger and grief the day after his mom had died in her sleep. That night he’d forced Jonas’s hand, and his brother had obliged him by kicking him off the ranch and out of their lives.

In all the sixteen years while he was gone, he hadn’t once imagined that the truck was still on the Triple L. And now that he’d found it—

“Blake?” Malorie still held his hand. “Are you okay?”

“Um. Yeah.” The memory of that night hit him hard. How he’d gone to the funeral home with Jonas and Nathan to make arrangements for their mother’s cremation. And how he’d started drinking and couldn’t stop.

After Jonas had yelled at him and told him to sleep it off, he’d stolen the keys to the truck and gone for a joy ride out to the old pine tree in the middle of the upper pasture, where his parents’ initials were carved inside a heart on the trunk. He’d meant to stop and park and wail his heart out at the universe’s perverse idea that he and his brothers could live without the best parents in the world, but his foot had slipped from the brake to the gas pedal.

The next thing he knew, Jonas and Nathan were banging on the side window. From there, everything went downhill and the next thing he knew, he was walking away from everything he knew, and Jonas was yelling behind him to never come back.

Sixteen years later, he was back. And his father’s prized truck, still as bent and broken as he’d left it, was here too.

How was that even possible?

And what could he possibly do to make right the mess he’d left behind?

“Blake!” Malorie leaned against his arm. “Are you sure you’re okay? Maybe you should sit down.”

“I’m okay.” Without thinking, he wrapped his arm around her shoulder. “It’s just that this is my dad’s old truck.”

“The one Nathan says you broke?”

“Yeah.” But there was no need to tell her how the truck had ended up in its current sad predicament.