"Yeah, I was in town having lunch with the girls and wanted to stop by and see if I could use a computer to send an e-mail really quick?"
"Oh, of course. Come here and let me show you." He takes me to the backroom where the desktop is set up and shows me how to log in.
"You can use this one anytime you want. Bennett uses it as well. If you're looking to order anything, let me know and I'll do that for you. Many times I get a discount with my retail accounts."
"Thanks, but I'm just sending an e-mail to check in on a friend, but I'll keep that in mind. I might be needing some more fabric soon," I tell him with a smile, and he leaves me to it.
I sign into my e-mail hoping maybe there's already something from Aspen, but after sorting through and deleting all the junk there isn't.
Quickly, I send her an e-mail with the phone number Bennett gave me to the house and tell her to call me as soon as she's able. Then I assure her that everything is fine, but still want to know how she's doing.
With the e-mail sent all I can do is wait. After thanking Jack, I send up a silent prayer that she'll call soon.
Chapter 16
Bennett
WhenWillowwalksinthe door, I'm just finishing making some bread. She's all smiles, so I assume it went well. Happy to see her home safely, I walk over and greet her with a hug and a kiss.
"Hey, sweetheart how did lunch go?"
"It went better than I had hoped it would. We talked and I explained and they made me promise to tell the truth from now on. Of course I did as I really like them. I explained a bit about why I did the mail-order bride thing and how I came about finding out about it. Then we talked a bit about my dad and all in all I feel like it was a good conversation," she says with her arms still wrapped around me.
"Good. I'm glad you guys worked it out. They’ll go home and tell their husbands and I'm sure I'll hear about it in a day or two if they have any questions. But up here in the mountains, we tend to not ask too many questions. Well, at least the guys don’t, I think. They'll just take it for what it is.."
"Whatever you're making smells delicious," she says letting go of me and heading into the kitchen.
"We're running low on bread, so I made some. It kept me busy, so I didn't think too much about how you were down in town all by yourself. Oh, by the way, you got a phone call while you were gone.
Her eyes light up and I guess maybe she had been waiting for the phone call.
"Aspen called that fast? I only just sent the e-mail before I left town. Did she leaves a number that I can call her back?" she asks.
"It was not Aspen, it was your uncle," I tell her as I go to the phone to grab the piece of paper I wrote his contact information on.
When I look back at Willow, she's completely spooked. She’s white and seems to be having a panic attack. I can't get to her side fast enough. But when I do, she collapses into my arms and I'm able to get her to the couch.
"How the hell did he find me?" she gasps.
"Calm down. Take a deep breath. You two aren't close? He made it seem like you were. I thought you gave him the number." I say trying to figure out exactly what's going on here.
"No, I want nothing to do with him," she says, taking a few more deep breaths.
"All right. That's it. I'll deal with it. You don't have anything to worry about. If he calls again, I'll keep him away from you..”
As I hold Willow, she starts to calm down. I have so many questions running through my head. Why would he pretend that they were close? If just the mention of her uncle elicits this kind of a response from her, and upsets her this much, why hasn't she told me about it?
It takes a while, but she finally calms down.
"Why don't you go do some quilting? I'll take care of dinner tonight." I tell her, suggesting something that I know she loves to do.
But she doesn't say anything. Nodding, she goes over to the sewing table and it's like she's completely shut down.
For the rest of the day, she's off, not herself. She doesn’t talk much and I catch her staring into nothing. Every time I ask if she's okay, she nods, but there's no real emotion on her face.
It's like she's here, but she's not. At the dinner table, she sits with me but mostly pushes her food around. When she catches me watching her, she takes a few bites, but I’m assuming she’s only eating to appease me. I’d give anything to know what's going through her head right now, but every time I ask a question she just shrugs or shakes her head. Since she got home and found out that her uncle had called, she hasn’t spoken. I'm starting to worry and I’m not sure what to do.
Tonight we go to bed early and I figure I'll wait and see how she is in the morning before I make any decisions. If this continues, I can always call Cole since he has medic training. He might have some suggestions or ideas.