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enough time to know it’s safe to move the baby. She’ll be afraid we’ll come back.”
    “It might be sad all night, and crying.”
    “I think it will be sadder if we interfere and scare off its mommy.”
    Hannah squatted. “Are you sad?” she asked the fawn. “Do you need help?”
    “Hannah! The poor little thing is hoping you don’t see it. Let’s get out of here and let the mommy come back.” Jamie urged Hannah up with a hand on her back.
    “I saw it,” Alison said. “Me!”
    “Yes, you did. What wonderfully sharp eyes you have. I’m very proud of you.”
    Alison beamed.
    Jamie managed to drag them away, but not until they had stopped for half a dozen peeks until they were too far from the fawn to see it anymore. Once they were out of sight, she knew their imaginations would set to work. The fawn would never be out of their minds.
    Thirty minutes later, after snacks and wildflower selection, they were finally resting on the blanket when the rumble of an engine sounded from the direction of the cabin. Jamie hoped the movers had arrived although, knowing how much college students liked to sleep in, she had expected them much later in the afternoon.
    She pushed herself to a sitting position. Hannah had been telling a story based on cloud shapes, but she had run out of steam and was recycling the plot. No surprise, the clouds had yielded a herd of deer and a mean wolf who wanted to eat them, until a little girl saved them.
    “Somebody’s here,” Jamie said, hoping whoever it was might help the girls forget the fawn, at least temporarily. “Are you girls ready to go back?”
    Alison bolted upright. “Lunch!”
    Jamie got to her feet and offered her oldest daughter a hand. “Let’s see who’s here, then we can eat.”
    As they packed up and started down the hill toward the cabin, the girls argued about what kind of sandwich they preferred. Jamie had found a natural-foods market in Woodstock and a farm stand on the outskirts. She was looking forward to buying fresh produce, and cooking for Kendra and Isaac when they came to visit. Since it was a passion and something she could do at the cabin, she suspected she would be cooking a lot in the next months.
    “We ought to plant some tomatoes,” Jamie said as they neared the clearing. “And maybe some peppers. We can learn how. I don’t think it’s too late in the season. Aunt Kendra said there’s space in the beds near the old cabin site.”
    “I want to grow M&M’s.” Alison shoved Hannah when she laughed. “I do! Stop it!”
    Jamie started to scoop up her youngest daughter, then she remembered that the doctor had warned her against lifting anything heavy while she waited to see if the in vitro was successful. Instead she pulled Alison close and admonished her softly.
    “You can’t grow M&M’s in any garden,” she explained after she’d delivered a mini-lecture on shoving. “They make them in factories. But I’ll tell you what. If you help me plant tomatoes, I’ll buy you a pack of M&M’s. How’s that?”
    “I don’t like it when Hannah laughs.”
    “It’s a good thing to make people smile, isn’t it? Better than making them cry.”
    “Well, I want to cry.” Alison puckered up but was unsuccessful.
    “I would like an older sister,” Hannah said.
    Eyes narrowed, Jamie sent her a warning glance.
    “As well as Alison,” Hannah said, shaking her head. “An older sister for both of us.”
    “Nice save,” Jamie said.
    They made the rest of the trip in silence, which was a relief. By the time they drew near enough to see a pickup parked outside their front door, Alison had forgotten she was angry.
    “Not the movers.” The truck looked vaguely familiar, and a man in a T-shirt and khaki shorts was unloading plywood. After a few seconds, Jamie realized who it was.
    “That looks like Mr. Rosslyn. Cash. Remember Cash, Hannah? He fixed the stairs on the old cabin when we were here.” She glanced at Hannah. “You liked him. He’s a