21

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 Jake,” 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 Jake could come into her home and win these people over in less than a week. That night as she pulled on her nightgown in Trevor and Luke’s bedroom, she decided that she wasn’t going to explain the sudden sleeping arrangements to Jake. The last thing he needed was to be pulled into her family’s elaborate schemes.

Jeremiah claimed that there was a mouse running loose through his cabin, so he and Gloria had to sleep in Patty’s bedroom with Patty sleeping on the floor. Trevor and Luke offered to sleep in the parlor. There wasn’t enough room for Ja