“I’m terrified my husband is going to get your partner killed,” Kirstin whispers, leaning over to me as we watch the two men on the other side of the property handling wood.
“Don’t worry,” I say back to her, laughing. “Evan taughtmehow to build some things. It’s going to be fine. Plus, Gramps would keep it from ever going that far.”
Greg, Evan, and Gramps are about thirty yards from us, just near the other tree line, where a second, smaller cabin stands, a thin strip of smoke chugging merrily out of its chimney. After I’d fully made the transition to living in Granite Falls, the only thing I missed was seeing my sister.
She could come and stay at the lodge, but that brought with it a full set of discomforts, and the drive up and down the mountain could be dangerous at night. Even now, the forecast calls for heavy snow later in the evening.
So, while I was swollen with Max, resting on the front porch through the spring, summer, and fall, Evan was hard at work,building a little cabin for Kirstin, Greg, Rae, and Jordan to stay in over the holidays.
And then, right after that, Evan decided to build a little cabin for Gramps, too.
Today, the men are working on a bookshelf to put in the kids’ bedroom. Little Jordan has been complaining for months about having nowhere to put his books, and now, when it’s freezing outside, they’ve finally decided to tackle the project.
“Well, it’s not like you have to bring awhole suitcaseevery time,” Rae had said to Jordan, sticking her tongue out at him and picking up a loose handful of snow to throw in his direction.
“Better than bringingrocks, like you do!”
“I’m going to be a geo-lo-gist!”
I’ve loved watching the twins get older, their personalities starting to shine more and more. Rae, adventurous and loud. Jordan, careful and gentle, inquisitive about every little plant and flower on the property.
And Max, toddling along through the snow with them in his little snowsuit, laughing and squealing when the bigger kids throw handfuls of it into the air so it rains down like how the snow actually falls.
“So,” Kirstin says, leaning over the little table on the porch, gesturing to me with her hot cocoa, “have you given any more thought to how you’re going to handle the Christmas-birthday thing?”
Max was born on Christmas Eve and will be turning three this year. Right now, it doesn’t matter to him, but as a December baby himself, Greg made it known that how we handled thosebirthdays would affect a lot. It wouldn’t do for people to give him combined presents. We would have to find a way to make it special for him.
“I’ll think about it next year,” I joke, taking a sip of my own hot chocolate and watching as Greg and Evan break out in laughter across the way. The sun is high in the sky now, but it’s setting lower and lower each day. Eyes moving to the kids, I stand up and say, “Come on, let’s go in for lunch!”
“Ooh, lunch,” Kirstin says, rubbing her hands together as though she didn’t help me prepare it this morning. “Can’t wait.”
“Arewe sure we don’t want to do a puzzle? Watch a Christmas movie? Sing a song together?”
Kirstin, Greg, Evan, and the kids stand at the door waiting for me, all bundled up in their coats and boots. Outside, the sun is hanging at that spot in the sky just before it will start to set, and there’s nothing I want less than to go outside.
But the group has a wistful, restless energy to them, even though we’ve spent plenty of time outside the cabins.
“Comeon, Aunt Amy,” Rae says, giggling and hopping from foot to foot. “Don’t you want to come for a walk with us?”
Normally, it would sound good. But right now, all I want is to be cozy.
Still, I sigh, glancing at Evan, who holds Max in his arms. The moment we go outside, Max will want to be put down, but fornow he looks like a perfectly cuddly little teddy bear in his snowsuit.
“Fine,” I relent, unable to stop my smile when the twins break out into a chorus of cheers, and Max joins along with them, happy to do anything they’re doing. “But Uncle Evan has to rub my feet when we get back.”
Jordan and Rae break into a chorus of “Ew!”
Evan just grins at me. “I would have done that anyway.”
I know. He was kind and attentive to me before the pregnancy, but the moment he found out I was carrying a baby, he treated me like the queen herself. Foot rubs, food and drink constantly, and a cycling roster of creams and salves, herbal teas and home remedies from the women in town who swore it would help with the morning sickness, swollen ankles, exhaustion, and headaches.
The seven of us take off for our walk, Gramps waving to us from his place on the porch. He’s not bothered by the cold, since Evan enclosed the porch and installed a little heater. Even during the dead of winter, Gramps will sit out there, enjoying his view of the forest and the lake beyond the cabin, Blue resting at his feet.
We take a slightly different route than normal, leading us a bit closer to the road, and I realize why when Evan stops, pointing toward a steep decline into an embankment.
“See that spot right there?” he asks Max, Rae, and Jordan. They glance at each other, then him, nodding, though I’m not sure Max has any clue what he’s talking about. I already know what’s coming next. “That’s where your mom—Aunt Amy—got stuck under a tree. I had to come save her.”
Rae gasps, though I’m sure she’s heard this story before. “You had to save her?”
