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recovery into reality. And Oliver would do his level best to help her.
    Joe was studying him with his uncanny ability to see more of people than they often wanted to be seen. “You’ll do it?”
    Oliver’s mom glanced between the two of them. “Do what?”
    “The house,” Joe explained. “The kids. Teddy.”
    “No . . .” She shook her head. “I can take care of—”
    “You’re going to take care of yourself before you end up being admitted, too.” Joe held tight to her hand when she would have pulled away. Oliver stood and let his dad tug Marsha down to sit beside him. “You’re already exhausted. You haven’t left the hospital since we got here. Dru can bring you some things from the house to make you more comfortable. Oliver will take the lead with the kids, at least until I’m on the mend enough for you to divide your time better.”
    “But Teddy’s just a baby,” she said. “And Family Services—”
    “Oliver helping will show the county that things are still stable. Dru and Travis can shift stuff around at their jobs only so much. Oliver’s between contracts, right?”
    Oliver nodded, feeling as if a noose were cinching a tad tighter around his neck.
    Joe had explained about Teddy, a new baby, a toddler. He was on provisionary placement with the family, to ensure he was thriving in his new environment. Which meant Marsha and Joe needed someone from the family living in the house around the clock, even if that someone was more of a stranger than a big brother. It was the only way to be certain the baby wouldn’t be displaced and reabsorbed into the system.
    “But you’re so busy,” Marsha said to Oliver. The rush of worry and relief in her expression would have settled it for Oliver even if he hadn’t already made up his mind.
    Each minute he was home would cost him when it was time to get back to his own life. He’d lose the Canadian pitch, too, if he didn’t get back to Atlanta to work on it before the weekend. He’d become even more attached to his foster family. And as an added bonus, he’d be staying next door to Selena, an off-limits siren he had no business wanting to talk to again as badly as he did. But Marsha and Joe needed him in Chandlerville, so that’s where he’d stay.
    “I’ll take care of it, Dad.” He’d find a way through. He always did.
    “Thank you,” his dad rasped.
    Oliver remembered his father’s voice booming across a roomful of kids, freezing everyone in mid-mischief.
    “I know it’s a lot to ask,” Marsha said. “But—”
    “I got you covered.” He knew zilch about riding herd on a battalion of kids who wouldn’t trust him, a total stranger, fromthe get-go. But flying blind had never stopped him before. “Don’t worry about a thing.”
    A fresh wave of pride warmed Joe’s pasty complexion. “Your brother and sister will pitch in as much as they can.”
    “Sure.”
    “They’re good with the younger kids.”
    “Sure.”
    Oliver grappled for another word but couldn’t find one. Because it was just plain wrong to be feeling this excited. His dad was in cardiac ICU, damn it. But Oliver couldn’t help it. He was home for at least a few more days.
    “You should make a point of seeing Bethany, too,” Marsha said.
    Little Bethany Darling . . . Though she wouldn’t be so little now.
    “She was, what?” he asked. “Fourteen when I left?”
    “Fifteen,” Joe said.
    “Travis said she’s mostly steered clear of the family since she graduated from high school and punted on her scholarship to that New York art institute.”
    “She’s confused and hurting,” Joe said. “But she’s stuck close to home. She keeps up with Dru and—”
    “And we haven’t seen her at the hospital yet,” Marsha said. “Maybe you could find her and—”
    “Sure,” Oliver said.
    He and Bethany had been almost as close as he and Dru and Travis. But he’d kept his distance from her for years the same as from the rest of the family. What’s to say him