Free A Forever Kind of Family by Brenda Harlen

starter home and somehow they ended up with a four-bedroom two-story overlooking a golf course—and he didn’t even golf.”
    Melissa had confided to Harper that Darren didn’t even want to go to the open house at first, because the property was outside the upper end of their price range. But she’d convinced him to take a look because it had everything they wanted: it was in a good neighborhood, close to all conveniences, within walking distance to the local schools and had a backyard big enough for all their children—because they planned to have at least three—to run and play.
    “She wanted it more than he did,” Harper acknowledged.
    “And he would have given her anything to make her happy.”
    “The first time she brought me here, I could see why she fell in love with it.” The inside of the house had been perfect. The four bedrooms included a fabulous master suite with a balcony overlooking the backyard; plus, there were three baths, a spacious eat-in kitchen with granite countertops and high-end appliances, a main-floor office/den, hardwood floors, cathedral ceilings and tons of windows to let in natural light.
    “You obviously didn’t see the backyard.”
    She chuckled softly in response to his dry tone. “Not until later.”
    “Because it was a disaster—and probably turned away so many prospective buyers that the sellers felt lucky to get Melissa and Darren’s offer.”
    He was right—not only had the former owners not done anything with the green space, they’d completely neglected it so that it was overrun with weeds, except where their hounds had dug up the ground, and littered with dog feces.
    Darren and Ryan had done the cleanup, shoveling poop and hacking down weeds, while Melissa and Harper had toured local nurseries for plants and shrubs. She didn’t know the names of even half of the flowers that she’d helped her friend put into the ground, but Melissa had diligently researched the soil and light to ensure a successful garden.
    “It looks great now,” she said, because it did.
    Two years after the big cleanup, the garden was thriving. Tulips, daffodils and hyacinths were in bloom, adding bright splashes of red, yellow and purple to the landscape. As spring shifted to summer, other flowers and colors would take their places, but Melissa wouldn’t be here to enjoy the prosperity of her garden.
    Harper blinked back the tears that stung her eyes. “Tulips were her favorite flowers—she’d be thrilled to see them blooming.”
    “Of course they’re blooming,” Ryan said. “The bulbs were planted in well-fertilized soil.”
    She managed a smile. “They were happy here. Not for long enough—but they were happy here.”
    “So why do you look sad?”
    “I got a call from Simon Moore today.”
    “Who?”
    “The real estate agent.”
    Ryan frowned. “What did he want?”
    “He wondered if we’d made any decisions about what we were going to do with the house.”
    “We’re living in it.”
    “Right now,” she agreed. “But I figured that was an interim arrangement.”
    “I figured it was a logical arrangement,” he countered.
    “We need to consider all of our options.”
    “What options? There’s no room in my condo for even half of Oliver’s stuff, so unless you’ve got more space than I do...” His words trailed off.
    She shook her head. “I don’t.” And she’d already sublet her apartment, anyway. “But there’s got to be some middle ground between a one-bedroom walk-up and a three-thousand-square-foot home on a half-acre lot.”
    “It’s a lot of space,” he agreed. “But it’s a great neighborhood for a family—the neighborhood Melissa and Darren picked for their son.”
    “You’re right,” she agreed. “But Simon offered to come by on Saturday with some recent comparable sales to help us decide what we want to do.”
    “There’s nothing to decide.”
    “Melissa and Darren named us guardians of their son and his property—jointly,” she