The Last Bride (DiCarlo Brides #6) Read Online Free

Gage. You know you want to help me.” Natalie’s voice went soft and wheedling—the way it always was when she was trying to get her way.
    “You need to learn to live on your trust fund, Natalie. I’m sorry if ten thousand a month is just not enough money for you to buy clothes and jewelry while you live with mom and eat her food.” He pushed into the house, irritated that Natalie thought he was her personal banker. She had blown the cash advance she’d gotten on the estate when their father died and now thought there was no reason to live within the general allowance that was still being paid out to her. He couldn’t keep bailing her out and had no intention of giving her money for more clothes she didn’t need.
    Gage’s entire inheritance had been spent on bringing the ski resort into the twenty-first century and starting the hot air balloon business. He didn’t regret it, but it didn’t leave a lot of extra wiggle room if things went badly.
    He found his mother in her room, lying in bed, her dark hair perfectly framing her face on her pillow. “Hey, Mom.” He slid into the chair beside her and took her hand. “Natalie said you’re having a rough time. What’s going on?”
    “I feel so ill.” Her voice was weak and helpless, and her eyelids fluttered as she looked at him between sentences. “I can’t eat anything because I know I won’t be able to keep it down and I have aches and pains. I know I have a fever. You’ll probably have to take me to the ER.”
    He touched her forehead, but it didn’t feel overly hot to him. “Let me get the thermometer.” Because apparently this was too menial a chore for his sister to do.
    A few minutes later he’d established that Diane’s temperature was only .2 degrees above normal, her heart rate and blood pressure were fine. She said she was already feeling a little better. “It must be your calming influence. Natalie can be so restless—I’m afraid she needs more social interaction than I can give her.” She smiled at him and squeezed his hand. Pain still pinched the corner of her eyes.
    “Would you like some soup? I could heat something up for you.”
    “That would be so nice. Thanks, honey.” She closed her eyes wearily.
    As Gage went down to the kitchen, he wondered if there was something more that was wrong with his mother that the doctors hadn’t found yet, or if this was all the fibromyalgia. He wished he could afford to hire someone to come in and take care of things a couple of times per day. And did that make him an ungrateful son for wanting to have someone else deal with some of it?
    His mother had called him that when he made the suggestion a year earlier—before he’d realized how tight her budget was. She accused him of not caring about her, of wanting to shirk his responsibilities to someone else so he could frolic and play.
    As if.
    He could use a good frolic, actually. He planned to go hiking Sunday evening. Or maybe just take a bike ride through some of his mountain trails. He wasn’t overly worried about getting muddy, and this afternoon on the roof was the first time he’d been away from his office in weeks.
    For now he could only dream. Roof repairs tomorrow and then maybe he could squeeze in time away from planning his businesses’ mountain bike events for the summer and scheduling help for the hot air balloon rides he’d already booked.
    If things at home would calm down.

Jonquil watched Gage leave Al’s place and wondered what was going on with his mom. She’d never heard him talk about his mom or sister before. He knew from tidbits in the conversation Jeremy and Vince had dropped that his family lived nearby, but she hadn’t heard anything else. It sounded like his mom had health problems, though. She wondered why they kept that so hush-hush, when the group was so open about other things.
    “Is his mom sick?” Jonquil asked.
    “She has several health issues. Not all of them are imaginary,” Jeremy said in a low