Maria felt terrible as she drove back into town. She had been unforgivably rude to Ephraim McClain, and she needed to apologize. And after her rudeness, he’d brought her a glass of juice when she was about to crash, and then he’d agreed to contact her for nutritional counseling. She didn’t deserve to be helped by him after the way she’d treated him.

She went into the house where she was renting a room from an older couple. The man had just retired, and the wife had never worked a day in her life, so they were happy to have the extra income that renting out a room would give them.

She headed through the living room and straight back to her bedroom. They’d told her she was welcome to watch television with them any time, but she was more of a reader than a TV watcher. Sure, she loved a few shows like Lazy Love, but most of them didn’t matter much to her.

She sat down at her desk and pulled out her laptop, emailing Michael, letting him know that she wanted Ephraim’s phone number so she could apologize. She knew if her blood sugar hadn’t been crashing, she never would have spoken that way to the man. Whatever the excuse, though, she shouldn’t be rude to people, and she would now do her best to make it right.

Besides, the man had the most incredible eyes. She wanted to spend her entire life staring into them…

* * *

The next morning was Friday, and Ephraim was up with the birds as usual. He loved to stand in the kitchen and talk to them as they landed on the windowsill. He couldn’t do that when the boys were awake, because they already thought he was a little bit creepy with the way he dealt with animals.

He had a big day ahead of him, needing to spay a couple of new cats that had roamed onto their property. They kept them all, because they needed the dogs and cats, and people liked to drive out into the country to dump them, and they just happened to be in the country, but he made sure they were all spayed and neutered. They didn’t need an entire colony of stray animals.

When Michael joined him in the kitchen thirty minutes later, the boy handed him a piece of paper. “My sister wants you to call her.”

Ephraim looked at the piece of paper as if there would be a clue hidden in it, but there wasn’t. “She does?”

“Yup.” Michael dug into the fridge and pulled out a gallon of milk. “I’m hungry. What time is it?”

“Five-thirty on a Friday morning during Christmas break. What are you doing out of bed? Have you lost your mind?”

Michael laughed. “I like mornings. Always have. I’m weird like that.”

“You and me both,” Ephraim said. Michael had cycled through his group several times since he had moved there four and a half years before, just after turning twelve. He was a good kid, and Ephraim genuinely liked him.

“So I should probably have some cereal, huh? The others won’t be up for hours and hours yet.”

“Well, probably at least three hours, so yeah, have some cereal. I’ll make some breakfast around nine for the stragglers.”

“When are you going to call my sister?” Michael asked.

“Any idea what she wants?” Ephraim was half afraid to talk to her now that he knew they were destined to be married.

“No clue. Maybe she has a crush on you. Would sure be fun if you ended up being my brother.”

Ephraim felt his cheeks grow warm and wanted to scream. He was a grown man, a veterinarian, and he was blushing because a woman he thought was pretty wanted him to call her. What was wrong with him? “Don’t count on it, kid.” Ephraim would count on it. Michael didn’t need to.

“Just saying. I’d like it.” Michael got his cereal and poured milk over it before taking it to the table. “I’m glad I’m back with you and Daniel. It was getting weird with Benjamin and Caleb. Now that they’re both married, they aren’t quite the same, you know? I kept walking in on Caleb and Natalie sucking face, and that was just weird.”

“Did you take notes so you know how to do it when you’re ready?”

Michael laughed. “Nah. But I heard that Nick threatened to one night.”

Ephraim laughed. “Doesn’t surprise me. Nick’s a mess, isn’t he?”

“I like him. He’s had it rough, and you can tell.”

“Yeah.” Ephraim grew solemn. “Most of the boys here have.”

“I know.”

Ephraim grabbed himself a bowl of cereal and sat down with Michael. “What were your parents like?” He knew the answer, of course. His files told Ephraim everything he needed to know, but he liked to keep Michael’s good memories of his parents alive.

“Really cool. I miss them every day. They took us somewhere every single weekend. We went to the park or Six Flags or Casa Manana or the zoo. Sometimes we’d just go see a movie, but it was family time, and they made sure we knew they treasured it. It’s hard to believe they’re gone.”

“Sounds like you’re from the Metroplex,” Ephraim said. “What part?” He knew the answer somewhere in his brain, but he’d have to dig Michael’s file out to remember.

“Yeah, we were in Arlington. I think that’s why Maria went to UTA. She’d already accepted a scholarship there when the car wreck happened.” Michael ate another bite of his cereal, watching Ephraim. “My sister wanted to keep me really badly, but they told her she was too young and too medically frail, whatever that means. So I was sent here, and she ended up keeping her scholarship and living on campus.”

“Was it hard for you, being apart from her?”

Michael shrugged. “Probably for the first few months, but you guys were always so cool. I felt like I belonged here within a year. Now I can’t imagine living anywhere else. This ranch is home.”

“You’ll go away for college, though. To be an Aggie!”

Michael laughed. “I said that more to jerk Maria’s chain than anything else. Besides, I’m only a junior. I’ve got another year of high school to think about what I want to do after I finish.”

“Ah. Well, I think you should seriously consider A&M. It’s got one of the best football teams in Texas.”

“True. I’m not sure if I want to play college ball, though. I mean, I know I’m a really good quarterback, but getting jumped on by a bunch of guys isn’t exactly my dream job.”

Ephraim laughed. “Yeah, I don’t think I’d enjoy that much either. I played football in high school, but I was a linebacker. I got to be the one to jump on the quarterback.”

Michael grinned at him, slurping the rest of the milk from his bowl. “What are we doing today?”

“I have to spay a couple of cats. You want to come assist?” Ephraim knew that it was always Michael’s favorite thing to do to assist in his little surgery.

“Yeah! You wouldn’t mind?”

“I need someone’s help. You’re as good as anyone!”

“Sounds good to me. And maybe you can take me up to the big house for lunch, since it’ll just be the two of us. Lillian likes to spoil me, you know.”

“Mom spoils all of you boys!” Ephraim got to his feet and took the bowls over to the sink, rinsed them, and shoved them into the dishwasher. “What should I make for breakfast?”

Michael frowned. “I’ve eaten your cooking, so I’m going to say, you should have Daniel make French toast and bacon. I’d rather not have indigestion.”

Ephraim threw a wadded-up paper towel at the boy, laughing. “You’ve sure got my number!”

“Yeah, and you’ve got my sister’s. She’s an early riser. You should call her. Ask her out. It’s your turn to get married, right?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Michael laughed. “Well, it’s pretty obvious you guys are all getting married in order. Sounds like it’s your turn.”

“But that doesn’t mean I’m marrying your sister!”

“You might!”

Ephraim shook his head, wandering outside to sit on the front porch and make the phone call. He wanted privacy for this, whatever it was.

He took a deep breath before calling her number, listening as it rang once, twice, three times.

“Hello?”

“Maria, this is Ephraim McClain. Michael said you wanted me to call you.” His heart was beating a mile a minute. He felt like he was asking his first girlfriend to the prom or something, which was absolutely ridiculous.

“Hi, Ephraim. I appreciate you calling me. I want to apologize for my actions yesterday. I was rude, and it’s unacceptable. While my blood sugar played a role in it, I can’t use that as an excuse, so please forgive me.” She said the words quickly, as if they’d been rehearsed.

“You didn’t bother me at all,” he told her. “I understand, and I’d probably feel the same way if one of my brothers was taken away from me.”

“You’re not supposed to make this easy for me,” she said with a laugh. “You should make me grovel or something.”

“All right. Meet me at the diner for lunch today, and I’ll make you grovel.” Really, he didn’t care about her groveling at all, but he did want her to meet him for lunch.

“Um…I’m not sure…”

“Why not? I’ll bring Michael and one of the other boys.” As soon as he figured out which one to bring that was. Whoever ended up helping him out in the barn, probably.

There was silence for a moment. “I suppose I could do that. What time?”

He let out his breath in a whoosh. “Let’s say one. I have a couple of surgeries to perform this morning, with the help of Michael.”

“Michael? Really? I had no idea he’d be interested in doing something like that.”

“He actually loves helping me. I see him with a profession with animals of some sort. Some of the boys love animals, but they shy away from being there when the animal is put under, or anytime it’s in pain really. Not Michael. He goes right into surgery with me and does everything he can to help. He’s honestly my favorite helper on the ranch right now.”

“Thanks for telling me that. I guess I see the ranch as some sort of a prison for those boys, but it’s not, is it?”

“Not if they see it for what it is. Most of them work with us to improve their own lives. They realize that by working hard, and learning everything they can, they’re bettering their lives. Not all of them enjoy the hard work involved here at the ranch, but most learn to. It really isn’t the bad place you have it made out to be in your head.” He frowned for a moment, and then made an offer that he might regret later. “Why don’t you come to the ranch today? You can shadow me and learn all there is to learn about it. Tonight is our weekly barbecue, so you can come and see everyone. I know you’ve met all my brothers, but have you met my parents yet? They have a huge influence over every boy here.”

“I thought I was going to lunch with you?”

“Come here instead. We’ll have lunch on the ranch, and you can see what a typical day is like for the boys, when there’s no school of course. It’s different when school is in.”

“What time would I need to be there?” she asked. “Really, I’d do anything to spend more time with Michael.”

“If you get here by ten, you can help me with surgery with Michael. You could also go out and help spread manure on our fields, but I think what we’re doing is a lot more fun.”

“You make the boys work hard.” This time she didn’t sound like she was criticizing. It was a casual statement.

“The boys get paid for every bit of work they do here on the ranch. One of the things we’re doing is trying to get them to understand the value of hard work. The boys use the money to buy each other gifts, or really do whatever they want. Some of them even save it.” The boys at the ranch didn’t need to save their money, because there was money immediately put into trust funds for them. Even the boys didn’t know it until after they finished school, though.

She hesitated for a moment. “Yeah, I’ll be there around ten. Do I go to the cabin where Michael lives?”

“Please. We’ll be ready to head for the barn then.”

“All right. I’ll see you then.”

“Bye.” He hung up the phone and thought about her pretty eyes. He would see them in just a few minutes. Sounded like it was time to shower and wear something without holes in it. He had lots of clothes without holes, but the stuff with holes was more comfortable. And he wasn’t trying to impress anyone when he was working in the barn. Not usually anyway. Today, maybe he was.

He got up and went inside, spotting Michael still at the table. “I’m going to hit the shower. Your sister will be here at ten to help us in the barn today. She wants to understand how the ranch works a little better. She’s also going to stay for barbecue tonight.”

“Really? That’s awesome!” Michael grinned at Ephraim. “So, when are you going to ask her to marry you?”

Ephraim rolled his eyes as he walked off. But something inside him was screaming, “Soon! Very very soon!”