She knew it was still there. It had to be. Just beyond the edge of the woods. Parting the leaves, she stepped into the cool shade and saw the cabin just ahead. The old familiar peace stole over her. This had always been her own special place. A playhouse when she was younger and a hideout, mostly from her brother, in later years. He
had tried to follow her several times, but she had always managed to lead him away from it. And he'd never found it. No one had.
Eagerly, she crossed the clearing to the crooked front door. It screeched open in protest as she stepped inside. Sunlight through broken window panes dappled the wooden floor and highlighted the disturbed dust motes floating in the air.
As her eyes adjusted to the light, she saw that the old bedsprings and the broken chair were still in their familiar places. But it was not to these she turned. A wooden dresser stood crookedly against the back wall. The drawers were all shut. Would it still be there?
Crossing the room, she knelt and pulled the bottom drawer open. She reached in and took out a carved wooden box her father had given her shortly after they'd come out west. She sat cross-legged on the floor. This was going to be fun. She opened the lid. Inside was her brother's best shooting marble. She'd won it from him fair and square, and no matter how much he'd begged to have it back, she'd never relented. And there was the hair ribbon Peggy Marshall had given her in fifth grade. She and Peggy had been best friends back in Boston. Funny, she hadn't thought about Peggy in years. There was also a ring she'd won at a carnival and a gold broach with the clasp broken off. She wasn't sure why she'd saved that. She picked up a faded flower, the petals crumbling in her fingers. Travis had
given it to her the night he took her to the spring dance. She smiled as she remembered how he had blushed when he placed it in her hand. It all seemed so long ago.
Her breath caught in her throat as she took the last remaining item from the box. Slowly, she unfolded the paper, but she already knew every word by heart. The letters blurred as her eyes filled with tears.
My darling daughter,
I am so very proud of you. You've been such a blessed help to me
these past few weeks that I've been ill. I don't know what I would
have done without you. You're going to make some lucky man a
wonderful wife someday.
All my love, Mother.
She sighed. If only Mother were here right now. She missed her so much. There were so many things she wanted to tell her. She tucked the note into her pocket and placed the other things back in the box. She put the box back in the drawer and shut it. Tomorrow she was to be married. Time to leave childish things behind.
The shadows lengthened and the air grew chill. She pulled her shawl more tightly about her shoulders. At the edge of the clearing, she turned back for one more look at the cabin, and then headed for home in the deepening twilight.
~~
The End
2/05
