Willow in Bloom by Victoria Pade Read Free Book Online

she’d already had this conversation with two of her other three brothers. Apparently Bram, Ashe and Logan had had breakfast this morning and discussed her, and if Jared hadn’t married and moved to Texas with his new wife, he would have been in the mix, too.
    â€œCarl says something’s wrong with you,” Bram continued. “He thinks you’re sick or something.”
    â€œAnd you reported it to the other Musketeers over breakfast,” Willow said. “Well, I’m not sick or anything. Just like I told Ashe and Logan when they called.”
    But Bram wasn’t going to let it drop that easily. “Carl says he caught you sleeping at your desk. That you’re dragging your tail around here, and that you don’t even have the strength to move a feed sack.”
    Willow had made a special call to her doctor to ask if it was all right for her to go on lifting the heavy bags of feed and grain that she’d always hoisted without a second thought before. The doctor had advised against it.
    â€œI have the strength. I’m just trying to learn to delegate.”
    Bram looked at her as if she were out of her mind.
    â€œI know this comes as a surprise to you,” Willow said, “but I’m not a man. And I might want to have kids someday. Gloria always said I shouldn’t be lifting such heavy things or I was going to strain my insides, and I just thought maybe it was time to take that seriously.”
    Bram laughed. “Right. You’re a delicate little daisy.” He was making fun.
    â€œI didn’t say I was a delicate little daisy. But I’m also not one of the guys. And the guys around here can do the lifting. That’s what I pay them for.”
    She hadn’t intended for that to come out so brusquely, but it had, and she hoped her brother might just let it pass.
    No such luck.
    â€œGeez! Don’t bite my head off,” he exclaimed. “That’s another thing Carl said—you’re not actinglike yourself. I can see what he means. Touchy, touchy.”
    Willow rolled her eyes.
    â€œCarl says you’re always in the bathroom, and the other day when he came looking for you he was pretty sure you were in there throwing up.”
    â€œOh for crying out loud, I had the flu,” Willow said, as if it were nothing. “And what’s Carl doing counting how many times I’m in the bathroom?”
    Bram ignored her question to ask one of his own. “Why didn’t you call one of us if you were sick?”
    â€œBecause I’m a big girl and I can take care of myself,” Willow said, exasperation ringing in her voice.
    Her brother stared at her, his forehead creased in a frown, and Willow knew that she was not putting on a convincing defense.
    She made a conscious effort to lighten her tone and said, “I appreciate that you care. You and the rest of the guys, and even Carl. But I can’t call you all every time I have a hangnail. I must have caught a bug of some kind, which was here and gone before it was worth talking about.”
    â€œAre you sure?” Bram asked suspiciously.
    â€œI’m positive. I’m fine.” Then Willow decided the best thing to do was to get him talking about something else, so she said, “Is that the only reason you came in here today?”
    â€œNo. I was coming in to talk to you anyway, and then I met Carl and he gave me another reason.”
    â€œSo what was the first reason?”
    Bram went on staring at her for a moment longer, as if he wasn’t sure he should let her throw him off track.
    Willow calmly waited him out, afraid that any more attempts to defend herself would be overkill and do more harm than good.
    Apparently it worked, because he finally said, “I wanted to know if you’d seen anyone suspicious hanging around, or if you’ve had anybody asking questions about us.”
    â€œNot that I know of. Why?”
    â€œSome people say