Lost and Found Family by Jennifer Ryan

Luke took Sarah up to the house and straight to his room. He laid her on his bed and stared down at her, so tired that she didn’t even stir. All he wanted to do was make her feel better. So he gently took her shoes and socks off, slipped off her jeans, unhooked the bra at her back and pulled the straps down each of her arms, and tugged it out of her shirt like he’d seen other women do themselves. He tucked her under the covers and stared down at her, his heart aching for her.

What would have happened if she’d been somewhere else when she collapsed? What if she’d been alone with the boys and they didn’t know what to do for her?

Those thoughts and a thousand others disturbed him.

“Luke?” Jack stood in the bedroom doorway, Nick right behind him. “Is Mama okay?”

Luke didn’t want to worry the boys. He was glad he got Sarah settled before they saw her.

He went to Jack and Nick and kneeled in front of them. “She worked a lot last night. The ride made her tired, so she went to sleep. Let’s go have breakfast.”

He took their hands and led the boys down to the kitchen, leaving Sarah sleeping soundly in his bed.

“So, pancakes?”

Jack looked at Nick. Nick stared back at Jack. Some silent communication going on.

“So . . .” Jack said, eyeing him. “Can we have the chocolate cereal in the cupboard?”

Luke hid a smile and held back the laugh bubbling up his gut. The boys had snooped in the cupboards while he’d been carrying in their mom.

Before he said yes, Nick confessed, “Mama doesn’t let us eat that.”

Luke leaned down and gave in to the boys because he didn’t think Sarah would mind a treat for them under the circumstances. “I won’t tell her you ate it if you don’t.”

The boys gave him huge toothy grins.

He’d confess to Sarah later and let her know it was his idea. It was his favorite cereal.

Okay, sometimes he ate like a kid.

“Take a seat at the bar. I’ll get the bowls.”

Luke set a bowl in front of each of them, poured the cereal and milk, handed both boys a spoon, and they all dug in. While he fed the boys, his mind was on the woman upstairs in his bed. Sarah deserved a nice long nap.

“Will Mama be up soon?” Jack asked. “Cuz we don’t have to do school today. We could just play.”

Luke hid his smirk. “We could, but then you’d have double the work to do tomorrow and you wouldn’t get to play as much. So maybe we’ll go to your grandma’s and make sure you get today’s work done so you can play today and tomorrow.”

Jack scrunched up one side of his face. “If we have to.”

Nick tipped up his bowl and drank all the chocolate milk. “Done.” He let out a big burp.

Jack laughed.

Luke couldn’t help but join in. He’d had his fair share of burping contests with his brother, Jason, over the years. Being with the boys always took him back to those happy times and made him want them to be his family.

“Let’s head over to your grandma’s now.” He took all the bowls to the sink. He heard a phone ringing upstairs. “Hey, give me two minutes to grab your mom’s phone. I don’t want it to wake her.”

Luke left the boys in the kitchen and ran up the stairs just as the phone stopped ringing. He found it in Sarah’s jeans pocket and stuffed it in his own. He stared down at her sleeping soundly, her breath slow and even, the dark circles under her eyes still very prominent. But damn, she looked good in his bed.

He kissed her forehead then headed back downstairs. The boys were sitting on the leather sofa staring up at the wood beams on the tall ceiling.

“Let’s go, boys.”

They bounced off the couch and ran for the front door and his truck. He wished he had that much energy.

Jack managed to open the door and climb in. Nick needed a boost.

Sarah’s phone rang again as he settled behind the wheel. He started the truck, checked the caller ID, accepted the call, then turned the truck toward Margaret’s.

“Hey, Abby, this is Luke. Sarah’s asleep right now.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Luke. Can you wake her? I’ve got a few items that can’t wait.”

“They’ll have to, because she literally collapsed from exhaustion and I’m not waking her for at least eight hours.”

“Luke, seriously, we’ve got a lot going on right now.”

“I get that. But there can’t be anything that can’t wait a day. If there is, I’m sure someone else, or you, can handle it.”

“But Sarah—”

“Deserves a few hours of uninterrupted sleep after working her butt off for months,” he interrupted. “You’re the gatekeeper at work. I’m doing it today because she needs someone to take care of her physical and mental health.” He wanted to make that his job permanently.

“No one knows better than me that she needs to get some rest—”

“Then let her.” He pulled into Margaret’s driveway. “Listen, I’ve got the boys and we’re at their grandmother’s. I’m sure she’ll be up soon,” he said to reassure Abby and the boys, but he was still concerned about Sarah.

“You’re right. Okay. But tell her to call me as soon as she wakes up.”

“Will do.” He’d probably wait until Sarah ate a decent meal, then tell her.

He said goodbye to Abby and helped the boys out of the truck. They beat him to the door. He knocked and waited.

He wondered if Margaret had gone out, but then a couple minutes later she finally answered. “Luke. Boys.” Margaret’s eyes narrowed. “Where’s Sarah?”

Luke didn’t think Margaret would take this well.

Jack beat him to the punch. “Mama’s sleeping at Luke’s.”

Margaret raised a brow and gave him a disapproving look. “Really?”

“Yes.” He touched the boys’ backs. “Go upstairs and get your homework out.”

Jack and Nick took off.

Margaret stared at him, waiting for an explanation she probably wouldn’t receive well.

“Sarah is exhausted. She collapsed at the ranch. I’m going to let her sleep as long as she wants, because she definitely needs it.”

“Do you see? She doesn’t take care of herself. Anything could have happened if she was out with the boys.”

“But she wasn’t. She was with me. And I don’t think she would have gone out in her condition if she hadn’t promised the boys and knew that I was right there to watch over them.” He didn’t give Margaret time to harp on it and got to his point. “The boys just had breakfast. They need to do their homework.”

Margaret glanced at the stairs. “I suppose they could bring it down and I can help them.”

“Okay. I expect Sarah to sleep most of the day.”

“What?”

“I’m pretty sure she was up all night finishing her project.” Even if she woke up before dinner, she could use a little time doing nothing.

Margaret looked confused and irritated at the same time. “We’ll be fine.”

“Great. Then I guess I’ll see you later when I bring Sarah back.” He wanted to check on Sarah as soon as he returned to the ranch.

Margaret frowned. “I hoped you’d come to your senses by now.”

He held her sharp gaze. “I hope you don’t come to regret treating her the way you have and not getting to know who she really is. Because the more I learn about her and her life with Sean, it’s clear, you don’t know either one of them.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“That Sean didn’t tell you the truth about her, their marriage, or their life together.”

“Of course she made Sean out to be the bad guy and blamed him for everything. You can’t believe her. You knew him.” Her gaze pleaded with him to side with her.

He couldn’t. Not when he knew and loved Sarah the way he did. “I thought I knew Sean. But we were teenagers the last time I saw him. Even then, he always took the easy way and used others to get what he wanted. He did it with a smile and charm, but that didn’t mean he didn’t leave several disgruntled people in his wake.”

Sarah was one of them and clearly deserved her ire, because Sean had been a son of a bitch to her.

“Back then, I liked hanging out with Sean. He was fun. The life of the party. But he could be jealous and competitive and push others out of his way to get what he wanted.”

“Being competitive got him to MIT. It’s how he created such a successful business.” She defended Sean, but he saw the uncertainty in her eyes.

“Yeah, well, he used Sarah. He hurt her just to get what he wanted.”

“He ended up dead because of her.”

“Do you actually know what happened?” He had the facts from the accident, but he’d planned to ask Sarah about the details when the time was right, because she’d taught him not everything you thought you knew was the truth.

“I know he died unhappy.” Pain etched lines in Margaret’s forehead and filled her eyes.

It had to be hard to know your child died before they reached their full potential and found their happiness.

But Sean had made his choices, and most of them hurt Sarah, Jack, Nick, and others. Margaret included.

Poor Sarah. She’d been dealing with a lot of unwarranted hostility.

Margaret was beyond listening to anything that didn’t fit into her perception of who she thought Sarah was and Luke refused to waste time trying to convince her Sarah was nothing like Margaret thought. He needed to get back to Sarah and make sure she was all right.

“Call me if you need help with the boys.” He turned and walked down the porch steps.

“She’ll ruin you,” Margaret called after him.

He turned and faced her. “Be careful you don’t ruin your chance to keep the boys in your life.” He may have known Margaret longer, but he was on Sarah’s side and she didn’t deserve to be subjected to this kind of hostility and hate when she’d done nothing wrong.