Chad wandered sleeplessly through Willow’s house.  Strange sounds echoed through the rooms making him nervous until he realized it was his own footsteps.  Saige whimpered for Willow at the back door and his heart whimpered for her as he fumbled for lights that didn’t work.
Would she be able to climb the stairs?  What about the garden?  Should he let Jill come pick whatever she wanted so it didn’t go to waste?  What about the fruit she’d been planning?  Could she keep up with this place while injured?  Would the setbacks hurt her this winter?  What about the money?  Did she have enough to make it without a full harvest of whatever it is she usually harvested?
He entered Kari’s bedroom absentmindedly.  The moonlight sent a shaft of light across the room and illuminated the wall between the doors.  He reached up and grabbed one of the journals on the shelf.  He’d read.  Surely, it’d make him sleepy especially if he used a candle in Willow’s room.
He felt a strange sense of unease as he crawled into her bed.  “I should have stopped for a change of clothes,” he muttered under his breath.  It was silly.  He’d change sheets before she came home anyway and it wasn’t like-
Impatiently he rearranged her pillows until he could read comfortably by the light of the candle.  A faint scent of lavender wafted over him occasionally but he was too tired to locate the source.  In minutes, he was lost in a world that was as foreign to him as it was real to Willow.

April 1999-
The garden is growing well.  Willow planted the entire thing by herself.  That illness I had this winter took more out of me than I expected but I’m fine now.  I send her fishing a little more often than usual.  Maybe it’ll appease her desire for sheep a little longer.

Chad smiled to himself as he read.  Willow wasn’t fickle.  Her interest hadn’t wavered and her tenacity was, if possible, even stronger now.

Willow doesn’t understand the concept of money in a reality situation.  I realized this the other day when she asked how people could afford to buy food.  Somehow, in her mind, the height of luxury is to purchase food and when she realized that most of this country does just that, she was appalled.
The funny part is that she brooded over it for several days and then announced as though confessing a great sin, “I am glad we can’t afford to buy food.  We’d be positively bored if we didn’t have our work!”
I tried to explain the money in the accounts and the investments.  I told her how I was paid off by Steve’s father and that we had more money than we could ever use but it is meaningless to her.  I should give her small bits of cash and have her spend it but I doubt it’d help.  She simply has no interest in commerce.
I’ve taken to leaving her at home all the time now.  I used to bring her with me to Fairbury but leave her home if I had to go to Rockland or Brunswick.  Now I don’t even take her to Fairbury.  The last time we were there, a young boy whistled at her.  She didn’t notice, of course, but she will.  I need to make sure I don’t pull away from her as she gets older.  She’s always been so touchy- so affectionate.  If I am not careful and meet that need, she’ll pull away from me looking for someone or something to fill it.  I must be diligent or she’ll marry the first man who comes along.

Chad read through to the end of the journal.  Christmas tugged at his heart.  They were so alone and yet they seemed more fulfilled in their little family celebrations than anyone of his acquaintance did.  Even his own family didn’t have the absolute peace that Kari and Willow had managed to achieve.
“You truly did find the Peace that passes understanding, didn’t you Kari?”
***
Willow’s eyes strained to open.  Focusing required more effort than she’d imagined.  Her brain felt fuzzy and jumbled.  “Chad?”
With a deep sigh that he tried to suppress, Bill took her hand.  “Chad’s gone to your house to get some sleep and take care of the animals.”
“That’s odd,” Willow said somewhat weakly.  “I thought I heard his voice.”
“He was here until about an hour ago.  You were sleeping.  The doctor said you fought the surgery so they had to give you general anesthetic.  Apparently it works really well.  You also lost a lot of blood.  They managed to avoid a transfusion but barely.”
“Surgery.  Right.  The doctor Chad took me to said something about a surgery and then they put me in the heliotropeter.”
“Helicopter, yes.”
Willow’s giggle was quiet but comfortingly familiar.  “That’s what I called them when I was little.  I saw my first one the year mother planted our first heliotrope and I got them all mixed up in my mind.  Then I kept it that way because it seemed to amuse Mother.”
Willow observed Bill as he held her hand in both of his seemingly unable to speak.  “Why are you here Bill?  It must be terribly late-”
“Well, I wasn’t going to leave you alone in here”
“But you need your sleep too.”
Bill’s wan smile brightened slightly.  “Not as much as I need to know you’re ok.  Now just rest or the nurse will come in here and yell at me again.  They don’t like us being here because we’re not family.”
“But I don’t have- well, I guess I do- but it’s like I don’t have family.  You’re the closest thing- well, you and Chad of course, that I have to family.”
“Shh…” Bill whispered smoothing hair away from her face and smiling.  “I’m here- Chad will be back.  You just rest.”
***
The phone jarred both Willow and Bill from sleep.  Bill snatched it up.  “Yes.”
“Bill?”  Chad’s voice sounded uncertain.
“Yes.”
Taken aback by Bill’s brusqueness, Chad stammered for a minute about a prayer chain around the Rockland loop and then asked about visitors. “Is she staying today?”
“Yes.  The nurse said a while ago that they want to make sure there’s no sign of infection before they let her go and they want to arrange physical therapy.”
“So Alexa Hartfield wanted to bring Willow’s birthday album to her.  I guess Willow was supposed to get it after the Faire last Sunday but we forgot.  I was going to ask if she’d bring my Aunt Libby.  I think Willow would like that.  I’m rambling.  How is she?”
“Doing well.  Trying to rest-”
“And I woke her up.  Argh-” Chad’s voice blasted through the phone.
Willow heard him and grinned.  She took the receiver and interrupted Chad.  “Now that you’ve ruined my life and made it a living nightmare of epic proportions, what else can I do for you?”
“Willow!  You should be resting.  I’m sorry-”
“How are my animals?”
Bill watched her features as Willow gave instructions and listened to Chad’s suggestions for visitors.  She was integrating herself into the people of Fairbury.  Before long, leaving would be impossible.  He needed to find a way to encourage her to consider Rockland before her roots were firmly cemented into place.
Willow handed him the phone.  “They’re coming.  Alexa is bringing Chad’s Aunt Libby and he’s coming after the night milking.”
“I’ll stay until they get here and then go do a few things at the office.  Call me when they leave and I’ll come back until Chad arrives.”
“You don’t have to-”
Bill’s eyes told her he did.  “No one should be alone in a hospital.”
They sat silently for some time.  Bill dozed lightly while Willow fought the waves of pain that threatened her.  His face intrigued her.  Always very clean-shaven, a dark shadow of stubble covered his jaw making him look both dashing and sinister at the same time.  Though tempted to feel for herself if his face was as scratchy as books described, Willow remembered Chad’s warning and fidgeted instead.
“What’s wrong?”   Bill didn’t even open his eyes.  One hand slid across the blanket and captured her restless ones.
She stared disconcerted at their intertwined fingers.  Was she wrong to be comforted?  Would it complicate things later?  In a flash of irritation, she chose to ignore Chad’s warnings.  She’d deal with the fallout later.
“Your face.  I’ve never seen you unshaven.”
Unconsciously, Bill rubbed one hand along his jaw.  “I’ll have to take care of that at the office.”
“Does it itch?”
A deep rumbling chuckle wrapped her in a cocoon of security.  Bill wasn’t going to get any funny ideas just because she let him hold her hand.  Chad was being overly cautious.  Life suddenly felt abnormally normal again.
Bill raised her hand and brushed the back of it against his cheek.  Suddenly, he felt vastly out of his element.  Bill wasn’t exactly a ladies man but he also was not inexperienced in the feminine department.  The touch of Willow’s hand on his cheek sent his mind reeling in directions that he wasn’t prepared to travel.  Yet.
“Oh!  It really is prickly!  Like-” She paused, thinking as she stroked his cheek gently.  “Like- well, like Mother’s medium grit sandpaper actually!”
“Better not let him kiss you then,” the nurse teased, as she entered the room for her vitals check.  “You’re face will be as raw as a chapped baby’s bottom!”
“Oh Bill would never-” Willow paused.  Remembering an evening on her porch and seeing the look in Bill’s eyes, she wasn’t so sure.
“Exactly. I know better than to chap any part of a woman’s hide.  I’m liable to regret it faster than I can run.”
The nurse recorded several things on Willow’s chart, gave her a tiny cup of pills to down, and handed her a squirt bottle to wash down the pills.  “We’ll take a look at that leg as soon as you’ve got that down.”
Bill stood, gave her hand a squeeze, and stepped from the room.  He heard the nurse comment, “He’s a little shy isn’t he?”
Leaning against the wall next to the door, Bill’s grin lit his face as he heard her reply, “He’s considerate.  A gentleman.”
“He’s a good-looking guy too.”
“He is, isn’t he?”
***
“He didn’t have to leave-”
Willow smiled at Libby.  “I think he feels a little self-conscious for being here.”  Though she spoke confidently, Willow looked a little self-conscious herself as she remembered their hands intertwined on the edge of the bed as the ladies entered.  Maybe Chad was right.
From a large shopping bag, Alexa withdrew a wrapped box.  “I hope you don’t mind.  I rewrapped it.  Wes is a marvelous photographer but his wrapping skills leave much to be desired.”
“May I open it?”
“Well it’s yours!  Enjoy!”
As she had at home, Willow carefully removed the sheer ribbons and bows, folded them, and laid the aside.  Libby and Alexa exchanged amused glances across the bed.  The paper tore as she tried to detach a flap.  Her disappointment increased her charm.
The lid slipped to the floor as Willow pulled the photo album from the box with a cry of delight.  A clear pocket in the front showed a picture of Willow’s eyes peeking over her enormous bouquet of daisies.  Pure delight and happiness reflected in her eyes alone.  “He took this?”
“Wes is an incredible photographer.  You won’t believe the pictures he has.”
Oh what an understatement!  She opened the album and the first picture was of her and Lily Allen.  “How?”
“Telephoto lens.  He had it shoved through the hedge.
Page by page, she relived the only birthday party she’d ever had.  From the picture of her shouting “surprise!” to a delighted Lily, to a shot of Chad’s pick up with the bicycle perched in the back, every facet was covered.  She relived the dance with Joe, her many dances with Chuck and Chad, and the final dance with Bill.  Alexa and Libby carefully watched her face as she took a second glance at the picture.  Had he really looked at her like that?
The gift pile looked like a work of art but a picture of a single daisy petal lying next to a cake crumbly fork astounded her.  “That- Who would have thought you could take a picture of a dirty plastic fork and it be so breathtakingly beautiful.”
Libby stopped her from turning the page.  “Oh this profile of her blowing out that candle- how did he manage to get so little of her face in the picture?  The detail- those eyelashes, her lips blowing.  It’s incredible!”
Willow had almost overlooked the picture.  Pictures of herself rarely interested her but Libby was right.  It was more than great photography; it was art.  “That is- oh I wish I had a picture like that of my mother- oh or a baby!  Can you see a baby like that?”
The morning passed quickly.  Every picture was scrutinized and each woman chose a different favorite.  Alexa loved the picture on the cover of the album.  Libby finally chose one of Willow’s feet flying through the air as Joe spun her around at the end of a dance but Willow stopped at the picture of her seated with the three men.
“I look like I have some kind of secret.  Chuck knows it but Bill and Chad aren’t quite sure if they want to know.”
Her lunch tray came in the room signaling for Alexa and Libby to leave.  Libby hugged her and promised to stay with her the first few nights at home and Alexa promised to bring her a new book after a few days at home.  At the door, Libby retraced her steps and gave Willow another long reassuring hug.
“You’re going to be ok.  We’re here for you.  Alexa, Chad, your friend Bill- even Chad’s parents, Luke, Aggie.  Anything you need, we’re here for you.  Even if it’s someone’s shoulder’s to cry on or someone to give you a big hug and tell you we love you.”
***
“Your friends didn’t stay long.  The nurse called me right at noon.”
Willow glanced up from the album as Bill entered the room.  “Oh, you’re here.  Come look what Alexa’s brother gave me!”
At the sight of the cover picture, Bill spoke without thinking.  “I want one of those.  That is the best-”
Willow pulled the picture from the ‘window’ before he finished.  “Take it.  Without those flowers-”
Bill pulled the album from her grasp and reinserted the picture.  “Wes is a professional.  I can order one from him.  Don’t destroy your gift on my account.”
“But you-”
Bill tipped her chin and held her gaze.  “Show me the rest of the photos.”
He found several pictures that he wanted but after that first, he kept it to himself.  Chad would know how to get in touch with Alexa or her brother.  The album was like a hard copy of glimpses of the party that was written on each person’s heart.  How he did it, Bill didn’t know but he wanted a piece of it nevertheless.
“When I get married, I want Wes to be my photographer,” he mused absently.
“You’re getting married?”  Willow’s voice showed surprise and interest that he couldn’t interpret.
“No- well, not anytime soon.  You have to have a girlfriend and then you usually need a fiancée, and then you can start thinking about weddings.”
“Well Margot might agree-”
“Funny.”
Suddenly, Willow felt very sleepy.  Bill removed the album from her and readjusted the pillow.  Her IV trolley had wound the tubes around it enough that she couldn’t roll over onto her side so he unwound it and helped her get settled.  In minutes, she slept, a faint snore escaping every minute or two.
A physical therapist arrived and tried to insist on waking her but Bill bullied him out of the room and demanded Willow be allowed to rest.  The nurses tried to side with the therapist but after a call to the surgeon, things quieted back down.  Each person that passed the room found Bill practically standing guard.
“Protective isn’t he?” one nurse groused to another.
“Creepy and controlling if you ask me,” the second nurse retorted sending a pointed look in Bill’s direction.
Bill’s expression never changed.
***
“Sorry I’m late; I got here and suddenly felt very hungry so I ate before I came in.  Hope you weren’t waiting.  How’s she doing?”
Bill pulled Chad from the room and updated him on her morning, the physical therapy, and stressed his opinion that she needed a full night’s sleep before trying again.  Stunned by Bill’s commandeering attitude, Chad made non-committal noises and thanked Bill for sitting with her before he retreated into her room and left Bill standing outside the doorway. Alone.
As he sank into the vinyl make-into-a-miserable-excuse-for-a-bed chair, Chad saw the photo album.  The picture of Willow and the daisies on the cover was enough to make him curl up in the corner of the chair with the album.  The party was somewhat of a blur for him but each picture helped him relive it in a fresh new way.  The paper daisies Cheri had strung around the gazebo and the tiny white lights that illuminated them- the pictures captured it all.
“Isn’t it wonderful?” Willow murmured sleepily.
“Hey, you’re awake.  I hear you had a rough day.”
She sighed.  “Bill got a little protective from what I heard but then again, I was so tired I’m not really sorry.”  She smiled.  “Physical therapy hurts.”
“Cut muscles hurt.”
“I concur.”
They talked about the animals, how far behind she was, and the vegetables Jill had taken.  Chad didn’t like the listless look in her eyes.  Willow looked wilted.  She looked like her namesake actually.
“Ready to go home?”
“Yes.  I tried to get them to let me go tonight but I guess because I don’t have a car or anyone living with me they don’t want me to go until tomorrow.  That,” she paused and winked.  “And the fact that they want to torture me again with the physical therapy sessions.”
“I could sneak in some ice cream.”
She smiled but shook her head.  “Now if I had one of Mother’s donuts-”
“I’ll get you my favorite apple fritter.  There’s a bakery near here that has great ones.  I’ll be right back.”
Chad hurried away and the moment he stepped outside the hospital building, he dialed his mother.  “Mom?  Help.”
Marianne Tesdall heard her son’s voice and immediately switched into ‘kiss it and make it better’ mode.  She listened attentively as he explained what had happened and heard more than Chad actually said.   “It’ll be alright son.  You’ll help her through this. It’s what you do best.  It’s why you became an officer- you like to help people.”
“She lives for this stuff mom.  How can she possibly pick bushels of fruit, process it, store it, and whatever else she has planned for fall.  That hay- she needs it.”
“So go buy one of those harvester things that Zeke used to use on Libby’s back yard and cut it down for her.”
“I have a life mom!”
The line went silent.  Marianne waited several seconds until she knew her son was listening, and then said, “Son, do you have a life?  What do you do?  You work.  That is your life.  Once you’re off work you sleep and avoid that dismal apartment of yours.  You rented one of the most charming places in Fairbury and it looks like someone just moved out.  You don’t spend much time with friends because when you are working they aren’t and visa versa.”
“Mom!”
“Listen Chaddie my laddie-” Chad’s groan interrupted her but she continued.  “You don’t even visit your family anymore but ever since that Finley woman died, you’ve come alive.  You know I’d never be thankful that someone has to go through that kind of loss but I am thankful that if it had to happen, you were there.”
“Don’t make this a big romance mom; she’s got a big-shot financial guru interested.”
Marianne’s voice smiled even larger than her lips.  “Oh but we both know she’d wither and wilt away to nothing in the city and a city man like that isn’t going to want to live where there is manure, backbreaking labor, and a good fishing hole.”
She’d almost lost him with the manure and the hard work but Marianne Tesdall knew her son.  Between the fringe of Galahad on him and the deep love of the life her Uncle Zeke lived, Chad was ripe for finding the right girl.  If Willow Finley was half the woman Chad implied, she’d be perfect.  All she had to do is ensure her son thought the idea was his and Mr. Big Shot didn’t have a chance.