Later that evening, she discovered the first part of her brothers‟ plan, and even worse was the fact that her parents were

a part of it.

“Well, we do like Austin,” her father said. “It would be nice to keep him in the family.”

“He treats you well too,” her mother added.

“I like to see my children taken care of.”

“But we don‟t love each other,” she protested.

“Give it time.”

She shook her head in bewilderment that Austin could come into her home and win these people over in less than a week.

That night as she pulled on her nightgown in Tristan and jamie‟s bedroom, she decided that she wasn‟t going to explain the sudden

sleeping arrangements to austin. The last thing he needed was to be pulled into her family‟s elaborate schemes.

Hosea claimed that there was a mouse running loose through his cabin, so he and maire had to sleep in teresa‟s bedroom with teresa sleeping on the floor.

Tristan and jamie offered to sleep in the parlor. There wasn‟t enough room for Austin

to sleep out there too, so they threw Claire‟s things into their bedroom and said she was going to have to share their bedroom

with austin. She didn‟t know whether or not austin bought hosea‟s story, but one thing was clear, they didn‟t mind harassing Austin

about his poor horse riding skills. And austin enjoyed their good-natured ribbing.

She didn‟t know how hosea and Tristan talked Austin into riding the horse, but she overheard their comment on how well he

handled himself in unfamiliar situations.

“He doesn‟t back down from a challenge,” hoesa noted as austin struggled to keep

himself steady on the horse.

“That‟s good because sis is the biggest challenge of them all,” Tristan whispered back.

She walked past them and “accidentally” knocked them on their heads with a shovel she was carrying so she could shovel

some snow.

“Watch where you‟re swinging that thing!” Tristan barked.

“Oops. Sorry,” she innocently replied.

Now that it was bedtime, she realized she should have hit them again for concocting this insane scheme. Gratefully, there were two beds, so she didn‟t actually have to sleep in bed with austin.

He would most likely be relieved as well. She laid down and pulled the blankets over her and yawned.

Austin entered the room and threw hosea‟s pants and shirt by his bed. Hosea let him borrow his clothes so he could ride the horse. “I am sore. That horse wore me out.”

He chuckled as he sat on his bed. “They told me why the horse is named „Bossy.‟”She pretended not to notice that he wore silk dark blue pajamas. He even dresses up for bed. “Did they tell you why two horses are named Trouble and Double Trouble?”

“Yes, they actually did. Apparently, they gave you a hard time while you were living at home. They said you were so eager to get out that you left some stuff behind. I didn‟t know you collected travel brochures. It seems that you have more brochures for Greece than anywhere else.”

“I pick up extra brochures when the travel agency decides the ones they have are outdated. I read books and like to see what

the places I read about look like so I can visualize the story better in my head. When I read a book, I feel like I‟m there,experiencing everything the characters are doing. When I was a little girl, I used to pretend the forest led me to different countries.” She grinned.

“Sometimes it was boring around here

until hosea was born. He‟s five years younger than me, so I had a lot of time to imagine things that would never happen.

Father kept me busy once I was old enough to help out with the farm.”

“Do you still pretend to be in different places?”

“When I read, I do. It‟s the cheapest way to travel.”

“So why is Greece your first choice?”

She shrugged. “I went through a period when I was sixteen where I read a lot of Greek literature. I was fascinated with the mythology which is interwoven into a lot of their work.

I noticed that you are reading The Iliad. When I read that three years ago, I had difficulty getting through the description of every soldier that was dying, but once the focus of the book changed to Zeus and Hector and how the Greek gods were influencing the Trojan War, I couldn‟t put it down. I will say that the Greeks were very creative.”

“You are full of surprises.”

By the way he was smiling at her, she realized that he liked what he was learning about her. She raised an eyebrow. “It‟s like I always say, keep them guessing. Who knows what you‟ll discover next?” She yawned.

He chuckled. “Well, I hope you have a good night‟s sleep.” He turned off the light and laid down in his bed.

“Good night.”

She fell asleep right away, but at some point in the middle of the night, someone threw a pile of blankets on her. In a matter

of fifteen minutes, she threw the blankets off, still tired enough to go back to sleep. Ten minutes later, she woke up covered in

sweat. She sat up and realized the blankets were back on top of her. She shoved them aside and looked over at Austin who had his

eyes closed. Was one of her brothers playing a joke on her?

She laid back down and pretended to be asleep. When twenty minutes passed, someone threw the blankets on her again. She quickly sat up and grabbed the person‟s arm.

“I caught you,” she whispered.

“Keep them on.”

She frowned when she realized it was austin.

“You‟re the one who‟s been throwing blankets on me?”

“Yes. I can‟t sleep unless you have them on.”

“But I‟m sweating too death.”

“It‟s better for you to be uncomfortable than to drive me insane. The moon lights up the room too much. A man can only handle so much.”

“Well, I won‟t be able to sleep like this. Just turn your face to the wall.”

“I try but I like to sleep on my left side.”

“Fine. Let‟s switch beds. Then I won‟t be right next to the box stove.”

He agreed and they switched beds.

Halfway through the night, he threw the blankets back on her.

“What are you doing now?” she hissed.

“It‟s no good. I know you‟re here.”

“So what difference does it make if I have one blanket or five on me?”

“A lot. At least, I know you‟re well covered.”

She sighed. This was all her brothers‟ doing. She knew exactly what it was they were trying to do, and it was working.

Well, she wasn‟t going to let them win. “Can we at least open the window for some cool air?”

He considered it. “Done.” He opened the window. “Can I have that bed back? It‟s closer to the box stove.”

“Alright.” She went back to the other bed, dragging the ton of blankets with her and laid down. “Will you be able to sleep now?”

“I think so.”

When morning finally came, she woke up and saw that he was slightly shaking under his single blanket. She shut the window and grabbed the clothes she planned to wear for the day.

As an afterthought, she threw the blankets on him so he could warm up. The minute she opened the door to go to the bathroom

to get dressed, Tristan ran over to her.

“Can we keep him now?” he anxiously asked.

She grinned. “You would really like me to say yes, wouldn‟t you? Well, you underestimated him. He has perfect self-control.”

He frowned. “hoses said the plan was fool proof.”

“He was wrong.” She enjoyed the sour look on his face as she got ready for the day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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V.A 💙

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