almost too much for her. She had still been dealing with her
grief over the loss of Phil at the time, thinking about how he
would have loved seeing all the beauty up there. Buckie had
been snapping pictures right and left for a magazine story
that she'd written, and obviously he'd taken this one of her
without her knowledge. Somehow Jed had gotten hold of it,
had it enlarged, and made a frame for it. Indeed, a beautiful
frame-as if the photo, or the person in it, was of some
importance to him. Silent tears began streaking down her
cheeks. She wasn't sure if it was just the result of a highly
emotional evening.. .or seeing this. But they were good tears.
Tears of relief. And somehow she knew all would be well.
Instead of removing the bedding from Jed's bed, she simply
climbed in and soon fell asleep. A deep and restful sleep.
______he next morning Maggie awoke relaxed and
refreshed. She smiled as she looked around her,
seeing Jed's room, his things, illuminated by the
morning light. She stretched luxuriously on the flannel sheets
and suddenly realized the cabin had grown quite cold during
the night. She jumped out of bed and slipped into the main
room to see that the fire in the woodstove had dwindled to
a small pile of red coals. At least Leah appeared warm and
was still sleeping soundly. Lizzie looked up as Maggie placed
some sticks of kindling on top of the coals, remembering to
pull the damper back Out (she could learn to be a mountain
woman too!) and almost immediately their fire was revived.
She stood close to the woodstove, absorbing its heat and
wrapping Jed's bathrobe more tightly around her. As the
flames began to strengthen and grow, she added more logs.
Yes, she could get used to this sort of simplicity.
She returned to Jed's bedroom to dress and to put every-
thing back into place. She considered laundering the sheets,
but without electricity she'd probably have to use a wash tub
and scrub board and she wasn't willing to be that much of a
mountain woman! Then she tiptoed into the kitchen and
hunted around until she found an old-fashioned coffeepot
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272Melody Carlson
that could be used on top of the gas stove. She finally figured
out the contraption and got it all set up over the flames, then
she began to search for something to eat for breakfast. It was
after eight o'clock, but she was in no hurry to get to work
today. Clyde would already be printing the paper, and she
would only be starting to work on next week's special
Christmas edition. She shook her head in disbelief. Could it
be that Christmas was only a week away? And yet, she felt
no real stress or worry at the thought. Somehow being out
here in Jed's cabin was like being in another world. And part
of her wished she could just stay out here forever-living the
simple life.
"Hey there," called Leah from the couch. "Is it morning