A rhythm started developing between all of us. Melanie had been with us for a couple of weeks, and I was feeling really good about things. Her father was doing remarkably well, and so Melanie stayed more nights than she went home. The kids loved having her around and I was beginning to bring in more orders for my woodworking. Though I didn’t need the money, I found that the work kept my mind occupied and off the need for pills. The money I brought in was just a bonus; one I set aside in a secret fund for the kids.

But there was still something lurking in the back of my mind.

There was something that simply wasn’t right with Melanie. As close as we’d gotten, she still wouldn’t let me in, and no matter how many times I tried to get her to understand that she was safe, she always seemed to be looking over her shoulder. Liam had wanted to go outside a couple of days prior to making snow angels, and I caught her staring over at my shed.

Her eyes were lined with tears and it seemed as if she was frozen in her spot.

There was still so much I didn’t know about her. I was dying to know what she was keeping buried inside of her so I could help her through it, but a part of me wondered if I could. Was it something I could help her with? Was it something I could heal? The thought of not being able to help her made me feel like shit. It also brought up doubts about our relationship. Weren’t people who cared about one another supposed to lay all their cards on the table? I had shown her mine, but she had yet to show me hers.

I didn’t know how this was going to work long term if she didn’t let me in. If we were going to occupy the same space, she would have to open up. She would have to learn to confide in me, especially if I had any hope of us ever getting through anything tough. I wanted to be with her, and I wanted her to be with the kids. But I wasn’t going to have a superficial relationship with her.

Especially since I’d poured my life into her lap two weeks ago.

I went to the bank to deposit the money I’d made, then drove back to the cabin. It was much later than I’d thought it would be, and I knew the kids would be asleep once I got there. Darkness draped over the mountain as my tires crunched over the icy pathway, and the smoke pouring from the chimney was a welcome sight.

Climbing out of the truck, I noticed most of the lights were off in the cabin. I figured Melanie had probably gone to bed as well, and part of me was disappointed about that. I was hoping to get some time with her, just to see if I could make her feel comfortable enough to talk with me. If anything, I could express to her my own hesitations with the situation, and maybe that would prompt some sort of discussion.

But when I walked into the house, I found out Melanie wasn’t in bed. In fact, she didn’t even look tired. The kids were nowhere to be found and the house was dark, except for the fire burning in the fireplace and the candles flickering on the table.

“Welcome back,” she said sweetly.

Shrugging off my coat, I studied the cabin in front of me. It was immaculately clean, which never happened with Liam and Hadley around. It smelled of fresh flowers and cinnamon, but it was the table of food that caught my eye. There were garlic mixed vegetables and whipped potatoes. There were two plates holding massive slabs of New York strip steak. The smells were heavenly and Melanie looked downright pleased with herself, and I felt a surge of luck rush through my veins.

I was in awe of how much Melanie did for this family, of all the things she didn’t need to do that she just did. Like cooking meals and cleaning up the house, taking care of all our laundry and even keeping a list of things we were running out of. This woman was the most incredible creature I’d ever come across, and something inside of me changed.

If she had something she needed to talk about, then she would come to me. She did too much for this house—too much for me and the kids—for me to hold this weirdness over her head. Fuck her weird fear of the shed and fuck whatever she went through in the past. If keeping her around was helping her and this was what she wanted to do with her time, then I wasn’t going to stop her. The smile on her face was bright and the twinkle in her eye was proud, and I wasn’t about to rip that shit from her just because I was eager to know something she wasn’t ready to talk about.

“Melanie, this smells incredible,” I said.

“I hope you came hungry because there’s a lot of it,” she said.

“The kids go down for you all right?” I asked.

“Eh. Liam was a little ticked off about it, but he settled down.”

“Why was he upset?”

“He wanted to watch a movie to try and delay his bedtime, and I told him he could watch whatever part of the movie he could until the clock struck eight. Then, the movie was done and it was time for bed.”

“Oh. He really didn’t like that, did he?” I asked as I sat down.

“Nope,” she said. “Not one bit. Tried to bargain, then started pitching a fit. I let him cry in the hallway while I put Hadley down, then I just went through the motions. I washed him up, got him in a pair of pajamas he picked out, laid him down, sang his song, and turned out the light.”

“You’re so mean,” I said, grinning.

“I know,” she said, sighing. “It just comes with the territory.”

Melanie set a drink down in front of me before sitting across the table and picking up her fork.

“How did everything go in town?” she asked.

“Mm. It went well. Got all the projects delivered and picked up the rest of the payment.”

“The rest of it?” she asked.

“When someone orders something over five hundred dollars, I ask them to put up half the cost before the project. Then, the rest is paid upon delivery.”

“And you’ve never had a problem with that?”

“Not one bit. The people around here are willing to pay that way for quality work, so I always make sure to use the best woods and take my time with the projects. If I mess up and need more wood, it’s on me. Not them,” I said.

“I’ve seen some of the things you load up. They’re amazing. Have you always worked with wood?”

“I tinkered with it when I was a kid. But it quickly took a backseat when I realized I was good at I.T. stuff as well. In the city world, I.T. is king. But in places like this, handmade woodworking projects are. I’ve made everything from small chairs for daycares to massive king-sized bed frames.”

“That’s amazing to me. You know the creative side of your brain is just as important as the side that’s good with math and science. Creativity often unlocks intelligence,” she said.

“So, are you creative?” I asked her. I wanted to know anything and everything about her, even the most mundane details.

“Well I don’t know if I would call myself creative, but I do like to paint occasionally,” she said.

“What was the first thing you ever painted?” I asked her.

She laughed. “Um, that would be a rainbow when I was about eight. I didn’t have all the colors though so I tried to make a couple of them by mixing some of the other colors together. It ended up being the ugliest rainbow you’ve ever seen.”

“Do you still have it?” I asked.

She nodded. “Oh yeah, still hangs proudly on the fridge where my dad put it. He refuses to let me take it down.”

“Your dad sounds pretty great,” I observed.

She smiled and it reached all the way to her eyes. “He is. Maybe now that he’s feeling so much more like himself, you’d like to come meet him?” she asked, a hint of apprehension in her voice.

The question elated me though. The thought that she wanted me to meet her father set my heart skipping but I tried to play it cool. “Yeah, I think that would be great.”

We continued eating and making small talk over the delicious dinner she’d prepared and I again couldn’t get over how lucky I was that she had stumbled onto my porch in that storm.

She looked up at me and smiled, and I felt a sort of peace drape over the rest of our dinner. The reservations I had earlier this afternoon quickly faded into the background, and in their place was an awe that settled over me. The more I got to know this woman, the more I wanted to learn. There was so much about her that was uncharted and unknown to me, and I wanted to be privy to it all. I wanted to know what made her tick and what made her happy. I wanted to know what made her sad and what made her frightened. I wanted to know what she was like as a little girl and what she wanted to be when she grew old and gray.

But most of all, I wanted her to stick around long enough for me to figure all of it out.