Second Chance at Sunflower Ranch (The Ryan Family #1) by Carolyn Brown

“He’s off of them already, and they are flushing them out of his system.” Jesse hugged her closer.

Addy’s phone rang, and a heavy silence filled the room. She’d told Pearl to call her if things got worse so they could rush back to the hospital. With trembling hands and a shaky voice, she answered the call.

“Hello, Pearl. Do we need to come right now?” she asked.

“No, darlin’, and I didn’t mean to scare y’all, but I had to tell you the good news. Sonny said three words to me before he drifted off to a peaceful sleep. He said, ‘I love you.’ Those were the most precious words I’ve ever heard in my whole life. Grady says that means he’ll be fine, and that we can go home after twenty-four hours. Go get some sleep and call me before you head this way in the morning.”

After a few more words, Addy ended the call and turned around to face Jesse and Mia. “He told Pearl that he loved her and then drifted off to sleep.”

“Thank you, Jesus!” Mia said dramatically. “Does Henry know about this?”

“Yes, he does.” Jesse smiled up at Addy. “I called him from the hospital. He’s letting the hired hands know that there won’t be any work tomorrow because we’ll all be in and out of the hospital.”

“In and out, my butt.” Mia swiped a hand across her face. “I’ll be there all day, and I don’t care if I have to sleep in the hall beside his room. I’ll be there all night if Nana needs me.”

“All right, but call me when you get to the hospital,” Addy said, “and don’t give Grady too hard of a time.”

“Why not? He wasn’t very nice to you.” Mia picked up the small tote bag and headed out the door.

Addy slumped down beside Jesse on the sofa.

Just sitting close to him brought comfort to her, but when he reached over and took her hand in his, she realized that she wanted to hear those three precious words from him. She was a patient woman, and there was no hurry, but she didn’t want to waste another twenty years either.





Chapter Twenty-One



Don’t fuss over me,” Sonny said, as Jesse held the door for him to get into the house. “I had a little episode. I’m over it. Tests all came back saying that I’m going to live until I’m a hundred and ten, so don’t all y’all start smothering me.”

“I’ll smother you if I want to,” Mia declared, “and there’s nothing you can do about it, so there.”

“Okay, then,” Sonny said, “you’ve got permission to worry, but nobody else. Sunflower won’t run itself.”

Henry came out of the kitchen with a big chocolate chip cookie in his hand. “No, it won’t, and you’re not going to guilt me into staying on here by pretending to be sick.”

“I thought it might work,” Sonny teased. “Guess you’re determined to leave if my near-death experience doesn’t keep you here.”

“Near death, my royal ass,” Henry growled. “Come on out to the porch. I made coffee, and the church ladies brought a big pan of cookies and a pineapple upside-down cake for your homecoming. I got to admit these are some damn fine cookies even if Lylah O’Malley did make them. And, Sonny, you need to lay off those stupid drugs so you can come spend some time with me in the Colorado mountains.”

Addy thought that Sonny was leaning on his cane a little more than usual. She hung back and let Henry and Sonny go through the kitchen and out on the back porch, where Mia and Pearl had already gone.

“What do you think, nurse?” Jesse asked.

“For every day you lay in bed, it takes five to recover, so we should expect him to tire out a little faster than usual for a few days,” she answered.

“What can we expect now that he’s off the meds?” Jesse slipped an arm around her waist and drew her close to his side.

“It’s a crap shoot,” she answered. “He might stay like he is right now for years, but eventually, he will end up in a wheelchair.”

“That doesn’t scare me as much as losing him.” Jesse bent down and kissed her on the forehead. “I’m sorry about our date tonight.”

“There’s time for those things later,” she told him. “Right now, Sonny and Pearl are our top priority. We have to be sure that we take good care of Pearl, too. This is a lot of stress on her.”

“Just tell me what to do if I miss something,” he said. “Will you come to the bunkhouse later this evening?”

“If you’ll wake me up in time to get up here and have breakfast going when Pearl gets up in the morning,” she answered.

“Deal,” he said. He took a couple of steps toward the kitchen, then turned around and cocked his head to one side. “Do I hear someone coming up the driveway?”

“Sounds like it, but it’s pretty late for company to be dropping in,” Addy answered.

The sound of a car door slamming floated through the night air. Footsteps sounded loudly on the wooden porch. Then the thud of something dropped in the foyer caused Jesse and Addy both to turn at the same time.

“Cody!” Jesse let go of Addy’s hand and rushed to wrap his brother up in a fierce bear hug. “I didn’t think you’d be here until tomorrow.”