Page 23 of The Widower's Nanny

I need to change the subject. Lilly helps with that. She stops walking and points to something in the trees. We join her and spot a doe and her two fawns.

I kneel next to Lilly, and she whispers, “They’re so cute.”

I whisper back. “Shh. Be really quiet so we don’t scare them.”

The three of us watch the deer for several minutes. Then the wind changes, and the doe catches a whiff of us. She looks in our direction then runs off with her fawns right behind her.

Lilly waves at them. “Bye, deer.”

I stand and pat her head. “Okay, let’s keep going.”

Forty-five minutes later, we reach the clearing with the cabin. I glance at Rachel to see what her reaction is when she sees it.

She smiles. “Wow, it’s beautiful.”

I laugh. “Beautiful? That’s not a word I’d really use to describe it.”

“No, it is. I love it.”

The cabin sits in a grassy clearing surrounded by pine trees. It still looks like a small barn on the outside with shiplap siding, a rounded metal roof, and a small front porch. My father and I had originally cleared the brush from around the cabin, but it is slowly creeping back in.

The small pond can be seen through the trees. It is spring-fed and still has a lot of water in it even though it is midsummer. Lilly’s favorite thing is the big oak tree in front of the cabin with a tire swing on it.When we moved to the property, I had someone make sure it was safe before I let her use it.

She runs to it now and puts her legs through the tire. “Push me, Daddy.”

I set the backpack on the porch and go to push the swing. She squeals in delight and asks to go higher.

After a few minutes, I give her a final big push. “Okay, I want to show Rachel the inside of the cabin.”

Rachel follows me up the two steps to the porch, then we go inside. It has gotten cloudy the last half of our walk, so it is pretty dim inside. I light a gas lantern sitting on the counter then hold it up.

“This is it.”

She looks around. “I love it. It’s great.”

The cabin is one single room with a counter on one side that serves as the kitchen. There is a camp stove to cook on, a plastic tub to hold water, and a small collection of random dishes. There is no power or running water and the bathroom is an outhouse behind the house.

There is a couch and two big easy chairs nestled around a big woodstove. And in the corner opposite the kitchen area is a mattress and box spring on the floor.

Rachel looks at the bed and I smile. “We talked about hauling a bedframe in here, but it never happened.”

“How often do you stay the night here?”

“Every ten years or so. I haven’t slept here since the last time I was here with my dad.”

“It’s so clean.”

“Benjy keeps an eye on it. He comes about once a month and spends the night. He actually loves this place.”

“Well, I love it too. You should spend the night here with Lilly sometime.”

Lilly comes through the door and hears what Rachel says. She takes my hand. “Can we, Daddy? Can we spend the night?”

“No, honey. Not tonight. We’re not prepared to do that. We don’t have food or water. No extra clothes. Besides, Laura would wonder why we weren’t home for dinner.” I glance at Rachel. “But I promise we’ll come spend the night before school starts.”

“Yay!” She looks at Rachel. “Do you want to come spend the night with us?”

Rachel gives her a smile. “I think that should be a special daddy and daughter outing. But I’ll be very excited to hear all about it when you come back.”

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