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Of course, that was before her big getaway last year when she’d totally upended her life, sold her house and most of her belongings, and run away from her family.
Willow bit her bottom lip as doubt assailed her.Dang it, dang it, dang it.Maybe this was a bad idea. She shouldn’t have acted so impulsively. She should have spoken to her mother before jumping in feetfirst. Visiting was one thing. Genevieve might not want Willow and the kids to follow her to Colorado to live.
Except… her mother might have changed, but she hadn’t altered her DNA. Genevieve Prentice would love to have her grandchildren living close. Willow was sure of it.
Mostly sure.
Well, Mom’s a big girl. If she doesn’t want us here, she can just tell us.
Willow met her mother’s gaze, took a deep breath, and leaped. “Drew and Emma should see you more than they do now. Is this plan okay with you?”
“Oh, Willow!” Genevieve clapped her hands and beamed. “This is the best idea ever.”
Okay. Good.Whew.“So we can rent a cabin?”
Aunt Helen didn’t hesitate. “Of course. I think the new one, don’t you, Genevieve? Cabin 17? Zach finished it right before Christmas. It’s a three-two. We haven’t begun renting it yet, so we won’t need to move any guests around. I think you’ll enjoy having the extra bath. It’s too bad Cabin 18 is still a work in process. The kids would love the loft.”
“Seventeen is perfect for them,” Genevieve agreed. Glancing toward Willow, she added, “Unless you’d want…”
When she hesitated, Willow thought she knew what words her mother had been about to say.Unless you’d want to move in with me.
Genevieve Prentice, before her getaway, would have asked. However, Genevieve Prentice of Lake in the Clouds, Colorado, valued her independence. Willow was okay with that. She felt the same way.
“… the cabin you stayed in last summer because it’s closer to the main road,” Genevieve continued. “Seventeen is at the edge of our property. The other cabin would be five to ten minutes quicker getting Drew to school.”
Willow considered the question. “Five to ten minutes can make a big difference in the morning, but I think the extra bathroom will be handier in the long run. We’d love to stay in Cabin 17.”
“So it’s settled?” Helen asked.
Willow nodded. “It’s settled.”
“Hurray!” Drew shouted.
“Hurray!” Emma repeated. “We’re moving to Lake in the Clouds!”
“Fabulous,” Lucas piped up. “Now, can we please turn the ball game back on?”
Chapter Two
NOAH TANNEHILL DIED INhis dreams again last night. Third time this week. Waking in the morning should have brought relief. Instead, he met the day with regret.
He should be dead.
His crewman was dead. His brother was dead.
Some days, Noah still wished that he were dead.
This cold, gray February morning was one of those days.
It took serious effort for Noah to drag himself out of bed, pull on clothes and outerwear, grab his hiking sticks, and head out into the intermittent snowfall. He took his usual route through the forest, which right now was a four-mile circuit with plenty of hills. He added a little distance each week. The plan was to start jogging in spring and running in the summer. So far, he was a little ahead of schedule in his rehab.
Back at his cabin, he finished off at the woodpile. That, too, was part of his recovery effort. Swinging an axe damned near did him in, but over the past month, he’d built a decent little woodpile. By the time he headed into the house, he wasexhausted—and still cranky. Ordinarily, strenuous exercise and frigid air helped him beat back the blackest of his moods. Today, even after the walk and a session with the axe, he still felt mean as a bear with a broken toe.
Give him shattered bones over nightmares any day.
Noah reconsidered making the run into town that he’d planned for this morning. Better he eat beans for dinner than bite someone’s head off because he had his grizzly on. However, he’d already put off the chore twice, and he could delay a visit to the post office no longer.
He’d found the stack of journals in a trunk in the attic last week. That had been a summer activity for the two brothers one year. Having them around exacerbated his nightmares. He wanted to read them. However, reading them would kill him because doing so would resurrect memories of that summer and his brother, and Noah couldn’t deal with that.
