Adam (Seven Sons Book 1) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Adam

  Seven Sons Book 1

  Kirsten Osbourne

  Copyright © 2017 by Kirsten Osbourne

  Unlimited Dreams Publishing

  All rights reserved.

  Cover design by Erin Dameron Hill/ EDH Graphics

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Kirsten Osbourne

  Visit my website at www.kirstenandmorganna.com

  Printed in the United States of America

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  About the Author

  Also by Kirsten Osbourne

  Chapter One

  Adam McClain sat down across from the new boy coming to live at the boys’ ranch. He could feel the anger flowing toward him from his young charge. He glanced at his “cheat sheet” for the boy’s name. Ah, there it was. Nicholas.

  “Welcome to the ranch.”

  Nicholas slumped down in his chair, a look of anger filling his face. Adam felt the fury hit him in the face like a ball of pure energy. “I don’t want to be here.”

  “Few boys do…until they’ve been here for a while and realize what an awesome place they’ve landed in.” Adam gave the boy his complete attention. “Tell me about Nicholas.”

  “It’s Nick.”

  Adam made a quick note so his brothers wouldn’t make the same mistake he had. “All right, then. Tell me about Nick.” He sat still, feeling fear coming from Nick. “Start with how old you are and where you’re from? There’s no need to be afraid of me.” As soon as he mentioned being afraid, he felt pride coming from the young man. As an empath, Adam was the counselor at the McClain’s Boys’ Ranch. Sometimes he loved it, but other times it was hard to feel all the emotions hitting him at once.

  “I’m fourteen. I’m from Dallas. I want to go home.”

  Adam sat back in his chair, steepling his hands under his chin. He’d heard the same words hundreds of times. At thirty-five, he was the oldest of seven children. His mother had a fascination with Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, hence the name. His younger brothers were Benjamin, Caleb, Daniel, Ephraim, Frank, and Gideon. They’d been teased about their names a lot, but truth be told, it made him feel like part of a set, which pleased him.

  “Do you want to tell me why you’re here?” The facts were laid out before Adam. Nicholas had stolen his stepfather’s car to go for a joy ride. Add in shoplifting, smoking, drinking, and way too many fights with other boys at school, and his parents had decided to send him away.

  Nick shrugged, responding exactly how Adam expected him to. “No one wants me to have fun.”

  Adam shrugged. “You’ll find you’re allowed to have fun here. After your schoolwork and chores are done. My name is Adam McClain. You’ll come in and talk to me a couple of times a week for a while. We’ll become good friends.”

  “You’re a shrink.”

  “You could say that. I’m a trained youth psychiatrist. The real thing I’m here to do is talk to you about your troubles. We’ll start that tomorrow. First, though, I’m going to walk you to your cabin so you can meet the five boys you’re going to share a home with.” Adam glanced down at Nick’s file again. “You’ll be starting out in a cabin with two of my brothers—Caleb and Benjamin. You’ll be using our first names when you address us, because there are too many Mr. McClains to keep up with. We wouldn’t know who you were talking to.”

  The kid didn’t meet Adam’s eyes. “I’m ready.”

  “Good. Get your things and we’ll go for a little walk.” Adam chatted easily with the boy as he walked out of the office and across the ranch with him. “The stables are to your right. You’ll be assigned a mount that you will tend while you’re here. My brother, Ephraim, is in charge of the stable, and all the other animals here on the ranch.”

  “A horse?” Nick’s eyes brightened, and Adam felt a rush of happiness that was quickly masked. “You don’t expect me to start roping cows, do you?”

  “That’s something you’ll learn to do here. You came just a week too late. We had our annual fundraiser over the weekend. We have rides, games, good food, and lots of fun stuff.” Adam pointed off to an area that had been trampled by thousands of feet just a couple of days before. “We hold the fundraiser over there.”

  “Figures I’d miss it.” Nick kicked at a clump of grass. “It stinks here.”

  Adam grinned. “That’s the smell of cow manure. You’ll get used to it. You might even grow to not mind it so much.” The boy would be there for four years. His parents had written him off and completely given up custody of him. “While you’re here, you’ll learn to work with the cattle, ride horses, mend fences, and generally work hard. You’ll go to school every day, and when you get home, you’ll work around the ranch. It’s a good life.”

  “Did you get sent here when you were a boy?” Nick asked, seeming to like the idea of the man beside him having had to go to a boys’ ranch as well.

  “Nope. I’ve lived here since I was born. I refer to a lot of men as my brothers, because they were raised here along with me. I am the oldest of seven brothers by birth, but there are at least a hundred men I refer to as brother.”

  “I’m not going to call any of the boys here my brothers. They’re just random idiots I’m being forced to live with.” Nick looked at everything around him, soaking up the ranch. Adam could feel the excitement radiating off of him.

  Adam grinned. He knew the boy would feel differently soon. He stopped in front of a cabin. In truth, the building was more of a house. There were four bedrooms. His brothers shared one, and each of the boys shared with one other. “This will be your home for a while.”

  Nick wrinkled his nose. “Do I have to share a room?”

  “Yup. You’ll share a room with Hunter. He’s fourteen, and he came here from San Antonio.” Adam strode toward the back of the house, opening a door. “This will be your room. Hunter was here first, so he gets his choice of beds. Looks like he’s in the one on the left. I’ll get you some linens and stay here with you while you make your bed and unpack.”

  “Make my bed? There’s not someone here who can do that for me?”

  Adam pulled out a chair that was in front of one of the desks in the room. The furniture was comfortable, but not fancy. There were two twin beds, two chests of drawers, and two desks with chairs. Nothing else. “You’ll find that here on the ranch, you will be required to take care of yourself.”

  “What does that mean?”

  Adam had dealt with many boys like Nicholas in the years he’d been working on the ranch. “It means you will make your own bed every day. You will do your own dishes. You’ll be expected to take a turn at cooking. Your mother doesn’t live here, Nick. You are responsib
le for you.”

  Nick frowned. “I’ll leave.”

  Even as he said the words, Adam felt fear wash over him. “You won’t leave. You’ll love it here. It’s just going to take a little while.”

  “No one can make me love it.”

  But Nick felt hope, and Adam knew it. “No, no one can make you love it. You’ll have to do that yourself. I promise though, if you’ll give us a chance, you will love it. I would be willing to bet money that in a year, you’ll love this place more than you ever loved living in Dallas.”

  Nick sat down on his bed, a frown on his face. “No, I won’t.”

  “I’ve been doing this a long time, Nick. We always succeed in making boys love the ranch. Period.” Adam walked to the closet there in the room and opened it, taking down a set of sheets. “Go ahead and make up your bed. I’ll stay with you until you’re done, and then I’ll walk you down to your housemates.”

  Nick glared at Adam, obviously not wanting to follow instructions, but he stood and took the sheets. As he struggled to put the sheets on his bed, Adam gave light tips. “Make sure you put it over both of the corners at the top before you move on to the bottom. That’s right. Good job.”

  When the bed was made, Nick looked at Adam with pride. He’d obviously never made a bed before, but he did it right the first try. “It’s done.”

  “Yes, it is. Good job. Now put your clothes away.” Adam pointed to one of the chests. “That one is yours. Get your stuff in it.” He sat down again, waiting for the boy to do as instructed. Always on one of the first few days, the new boys would try to make a run for it. Or they would flat refuse to do something. Nick was younger than most of the boys who came to the ranch, so Adam hoped he’d do what was right.

  Nick picked up his things and slowly put them into the drawers. He hadn’t brought much, which didn’t surprise Adam. They relied on donations from the church in town for clothes for the boys. Usually what the boys brought wasn’t particularly suited to ranch life, so their wardrobe was slowly changed anyway.

  When he’d finished, Adam led him out of the cabin and toward the hay field. This month was the month Benjamin and Caleb had this particular group of boys, so they were working in the field, adding fertilizer to make it ready for planting again in the spring. Benjamin had the power to make plants grow at a tremendous speed.

  Adam and his brothers were the seven sons of a seventh son. Each generation, the seventh son had some sort of power, but this generation was the seventh. And each seventh generation brought a group of men who each had a power. Gideon had every power his brothers had, but all were to a lesser degree.

  Caleb’s power was sensing danger, so it was always good to start the new boys with him. It didn’t always work out that way, but Adam was pleased when it did.

  “Your housemates are working on fertilizing the hay field. You’ll be joining them. I told you my brothers Benjamin and Caleb will be your house leaders for this month and next. The leaders shift out every two months, so you get to learn skills from each of us.”

  “What about you?”

  Adam shrugged. “I’m the oldest, so I stay in the big house where my parents still live.” Truly, he couldn’t spend a night amongst the boys. They’d tried it at one point, but the angsty emotions of the teenage years had been too much for his empathic powers.

  “That’s dumb.”

  “Why is that dumb? I also have a degree in psychiatry, so I’m a doctor. That affords me special privileges.”

  “None of your brothers are doctors?”

  “Actually, both Daniel and Ephraim are. Daniel’s the fourth brother. He’s a regular old fashioned general practitioner. Then There’s Ephraim. He’s the third to the youngest. He’s a veterinarian.”

  “An animal doctor?” Nick shrugged. “Animal doctors aren’t the same as people doctors.”

  “No, they’re not. But they’re every bit as important.” Adam felt the excitement from the boy. “Do you like animals?”

  “I don’t know. I never had one.”

  “You’ve never had a pet?” Adam asked, not at all surprised. “The cat just had kittens. Do you want to claim one?”

  Nick looked at him with shock in his eyes. “You’d let me do that? I’m a troublemaker.”

  Adam shook his head. “You used to be a troublemaker. Now you’re going to be a productive, working member of our ranch. You’ll see. I’ll take you to pick one out when you come to see me tomorrow.”

  “Why am I getting my head shrunk so much?”

  “Because you’re new here, and I need to get to know you.” Adam stopped when they were within earshot of his brothers. “It’s not something to be ashamed of here. All the boys see me every day for their first week. And then gradually less. I see every boy on the ranch at least once a week.”

  “How many boys are here?”

  “Right now we have thirty. We’re at maximum capacity with you. We had room because one of our recent graduates moved out last month.” Adam raised a hand to signal Caleb, who hurried over. “Caleb, this is Nick. He’s here from Dallas. He’s going to share a room with Hunter. He’s made up his bed and put his things away.”

  The boys who were working at shoveling manure onto the field from a wheel barrow all stopped, looking at them. “Hey, Adam!” Jose yelled. Jose was sixteen, and a permanent resident of the ranch. His parents had sent him there when they’d found out about his drug abuse.

  Adam raised a hand in greeting. “How’s it going?”

  “Good! I made a hundred on my history test today!”

  “Great job!” Adam was proud of how far Jose had come since he’d been left there two years before. He took a personal interest in every one of the boys, and they took an interest in him as well.

  Caleb grinned at Nick. “Welcome to the ranch. We’re glad to have you.”

  Nick wrinkled his nose. “So I can help shovel bull sh—err…poop?”

  “Yup. We need the help getting this field ready for spring. Benjamin says cow poop is the absolute best fertilizer there is, and no one knows as much about growing plants as Benjamin does.”

  “Whatever.”

  Benjamin waved Nick and Adam over. “We’re spreading the manure today.” They had a manure spreader, but they preferred to teach the boys how to do hard work, rather than letting machines do it.

  Nick walked over to Benjamin, who towered over him by half a foot. “I didn’t bring a shovel.”

  “That’s all right. You can use mine.” Benjamin handed the boy his shovel and instructed him on the best place to start working.

  Nick moved toward the other boys with trepidation. Hunter hurried toward him. “You’re going to share a room with me. I know because all the other beds are full. You’ll love it here. It takes a little time to get used to it, but you’ll always be treated with respect and love.”

  Nick shrugged. “Whatever.”

  Adam stayed with his brothers. “I emailed you both the case history. He was sent here after stealing a car. He’s got shoplifting, fighting, drugs, and drinking on his record. His parents have completely washed their hands of him—signed away rights.”

  Benjamin frowned. “I hate that for him, but love it for us. We’ll get to keep him and mold him into the man he’s capable of being.” In their lifetimes, they’d never failed to turn a boy at the ranch into a productive member of society.

  Caleb looked over at Nick. “I always feel bad for the ones whose parents simply don’t want them anymore. If they sent them here for a year to get them acting right and took them back, it might be better for them.”

  Adam shook his head. “You know it’s better if they’re left with us until they’re grown. Always has been.” He felt his pocket vibrate and pulled his phone out. “This is Adam.”

  “Adam, I need you at the house as soon as you can get here. We have something to discuss.” Peter McClain was still the acting head of the ranch, though the responsibilities were slowly being taken over by his sons.

  “I�
��m on my way, Dad.” Adam ended the call and rubbed the back of his neck. “Dad needs me for something. He sounded a bit upset.”

  “Really?” Caleb asked. Their dad was never upset.

  “I might have read between the lines a little,” Adam said with a grin. “See you tomorrow. Email me after the boys leave for school to let me know how he does tonight.”

  “Will do!” Caleb watched as his brother hurried away.

  Adam rushed toward the main ranch house. He was tired. It had been a long day. As the person in charge of intake there on the ranch, a day when a new boy arrived was always a busy one. They were registered foster care providers for up to fifty boys at once, though they chose to only take in thirty at a time, so they could give each individual attention. They took boys from the ages of twelve to seventeen, but usually they didn’t come before fourteen.

  When he reached the house, he opened the door, calling, “Dad! I’m back!”

  His mother came out of the kitchen, putting her hands on her hips. Lillian McClain didn’t stand for loud, boisterous voices in her home. “Adam, you know better!”

  “Sorry, Mom. Dad called me back, and it sounded like it was an emergency.”

  “He’s in his office.”

  “Thanks!” Adam hurried off to his dad’s office, hating that his mother still felt the need to scold him. He was thirty-five! He knocked once on his dad’s door and then turned the doorknob. “Hey, Dad.”

  “Adam, sit. I got a call from Lois Rendon this morning. She’s decided to retire.”

  “Retire?” Lois was the woman who organized and ran the fundraiser every year. “Do we need to keep the fundraiser going?”

  His dad nodded, scrubbing his face with his hands. “You know as well as I do we don’t want people to know where the money really comes from. We need to do the fundraiser so we can keep this ranch going with no suspicion.”