Page 41 of The Widower's Nanny

We kiss Lilly goodbye and tell her we’ll see her in a couple of days. Benjy will be bringing her to us at the end of the week. In the meantime, Bea is staying at the house to look after her. There are a few tears from Lilly and me, but I assure her we’ll see her soon and build the best fort ever in the living room.

Preston and I head down the trail hand in hand. We’ve spent the last three months planning a wedding and we are ready to spend some time alone. I can’t wait. We’ll miss Lilly but it’ll be nice to be just the two of us for a few days.

As we get close to the cabin, the rain starts.

Preston laughs. “Here we go. You got your wish.”

I hug Preston. “This makes it perfect.”

We run the rest of the way and up onto the porch, which has a new wooden swing on it.

“What’s this?”

“It’s a gift from Benjy. He built it for us.”

“It’s beautiful. I love it.” I look out at the rain, which is falling gently. “And I love that it’s raining.”

“Why?”

“It was raining when I fell in love with you.”

“Hmm. I thought you fell in love with me that first day when you thought I was an intruder and you wanted to bash my brains in with that piece of firewood.”

“No. That’s the day you fell in love with me.”

“Oh, right. I was pretty impressed that you were willing to defend the place after only a couple of hours.” He takes my hand. “Come on. I want to show you something.”

“I want to sit on my beautiful swing and watch the rain.”

“We’ll come back out. Just come on.” He opens the door. “Okay. Close your eyes.”

“What did you do?”

“Just close your eyes. I need to light the lantern.”

I close my eyes and stand right inside the door. He returns in a moment and leads me a few feet inside the room. “Okay. Open them.”

I open my eyes. Somehow, he’s managed to refurnish the place, complete with a beautiful brass bed frame and new mattresses. There’s a new couch and two chairs by the woodstove. The only original furniture is the kitchen table and four chairs.

I look around. “How’d you do this?”

“You’d be amazed how far someone will haul something if you pay them enough money.”

“It’s beautiful.”

“Well, I couldn’t have my bride sleeping on a mattress on the floor.” I put my arms around his neck and he puts his hands on my waist and pulls me in close. “I hope it’s okay. I hope you’re not disappointed it’s not the same.”

I kiss him. “I love it. Thank you. I can’t believe you did this. Or that it was even possible.”

“Yeah, well, you almost ruined the surprise when you wanted to come here last month.”

“I thought your excuse was kind of lame.”

He kisses me again. “Do you want to go back out and watch the rain?”

I nod. “Yeah.”

He grabs a blanket off the couch. We go back outside and sit down on the new swing. He puts his arm around me and we snuggle into the blanket. The rain is falling a little harder, but the porch is staying dry.

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