Once Upon a Family by Margaret Daley Read Free Book Online Page B

searching the area. A dog barking drew her down the steps and around the side of the house. She came to an abrupt halt when she found Matthew hanging off the side of Peter’s two-story house, having climbed halfway up the stones.
    Laura put her hands on her waist as Peter neared her. “Get down right now, young man. Whatever possessed you to climb up there?”
    Matthew glanced over his shoulder while clinging to the brown stones. “The ball is up on the roof. I got carried away when I threw it. It’s Bosco’s favorite.” His gaze skipped to the German shepherd sitting below him. “See? He’s waiting for me to get it.”
    Getting carried away was the normal mode for her twins. “Come down before you break your neck.” Visions of him falling flickered through her mind. He was her climber. As a toddler he had somehow found his way to the top of the refrigerator. Thankfully she’d gotten him down before he had fallen.
    “All I have to do is go up here a little more, then along to the end and swing up—”
    “Now!”
    “Come on, Matthew. We’re going riding. I’ll get the ball later for Bosco.”
    “But, Mr. Stone…” The boy’s gaze slid to his mother, and he started back down.
    Peter moved closer at the same time she did. Matthew was two feet from the ground when Joshua raced around the side of the house with Alexa on his heels.
    “Digger got away!”
    The other twin’s shouting caused Matthew to lose hisfooting, and he fell back into Laura. His momentum threw her off balance, and she knocked against Peter like a set of dominos. They ended up on the ground, arms and legs tangling. Alexa giggled.
    “Digger’s gonna get away!” Joshua hopped from one foot to the other.
    Blowing her son’s hair from her face, Laura removed her elbow from Peter’s ribs while Matthew extracted himself as though he were Houdini’s protégé. He zipped around the side of the house after Joshua. Alexa and Bosco ran after the twins, leaving Laura alone to untangle herself from Peter.
    “This reminds me of the time I played Twister.” Peter slipped his arm from under her back and rolled to his feet. He offered her his hand.
    She stared up at him. “We’ve got to stop meeting like this.” She allowed him to help her up, feeling a few sore places where the hard ground had greeted her fall.
    “Are you all right?”
    “Are you?”
    His eyes gleamed. “I asked first.”
    His nearness made her heart beat fast. She vaguely heard Bosco barking in the background. Her husband had been gone for almost a year, but their marriage had been in trouble for a long time before that. She hadn’t felt this way in… She took a step back. There was no way she would get involved with a man again after her husband and his deceit. She couldn’t go through that a second time. She didn’t know if she could ever trust a man enough to put her heart in his hands again.
    “We’d better check on the kids and Digger.” Shestarted for the backyard, acutely aware of Peter’s presence behind her.
    “I know where he went. He goes under the house.”
    She halted, peering back at him. “Under the house?”
    At the same time they both began running. When Laura arrived where Alexa was standing, the look on her daughter’s face corroborated her suspicion that her twins had gone after Digger.
    Alexa pointed at the opening. “They wouldn’t listen to me. I told them not to go there.”
    Matthew and Joshua had selective hearing. They heard what they wanted to. Laura bent down and checked out the dark hole, visions of snakes, bugs and rats tumbling through her mind. Her fear escalated.
    Peter moved between her and the opening. “I’ll get them. I know where Digger likes to hide. I’ve had to do this several times.”
    “Ooh! Get it off me!”
    Matthew’s plea sent chills down Laura’s spine. She started after Peter.
    He held up his hand. “I’ll take care of it. Both of us don’t need to get dirty.”
    Laura nibbled on her thumbnail while she