Page 17 of Hidden Nature

She could catch a glimpse of the bay from her apartment window in Annapolis, but no, she thought. Not the same.

And for now, at least for now, she finally understood she needed the same.

She needed the old two-story house with its working shutters, its generous decks, its big eat-in kitchen, its sit-and-stay-awhile front porch.

She wanted her view of the trees climbing up the mountains outside her bedroom window. She wanted the comfort and the quiet as much as she wanted to feel like Sloan again.

Her father pulled the car into the garage with its apartment above. He shut the car off, turned to smile at her.

“Welcome home.”

CHAPTER THREE

It wasn’t her place, but it was home, and the familiarity brought that comfort.

The big, shaggy dog her parents had named Mop lumbered over to greet her. As he wagged head to tail, Sloan scrubbed at his long, fluffy gray fur.

“There’s that boy. Been rolling in the snow again.”

“Nothing he likes better unless it’s jumping in the lake for a swim. I’m going to run up to my place, check on some things. I’ll be down a little later.”

With that, Drea peeled off in her nice, new boots to climb the steps on the side of the garage to her apartment above.

With the dog leading the way, Sloan went into the house with her parents.

The old stone fireplace with its thick wood mantel and flanking bookshelves dominated the living area of what had been—in her paternal grandfather’s day, before his marriage—a one-bedroom cabin.

Ezra Cooper had started the business, bit by bit, then added to the original cabin when he started his family. He’d added a second story, the big country kitchen, and a dining room used almost exclusively for holiday meals and company.

With his two sons, he’d added on the decks, a garage, widened windows. And all the while had invested in other cabins, boats, gear, until All the Rest provided rentals, sales, guides, and more for the tourists who came to Mirror Lake.

Dean’s older brother had stepped out of the business, continued hiseducation. A professor of history at West Virginia University, he and his wife had settled in Morgantown.

Though since their parents’ retirement, Dean and Elsie ran the business, Archer could and would step in when needed. His oldest son, Jonah, lived a stone’s throw away with his young family, and worked as Dean’s right hand as well as a white-water rafting pilot—and whatever else All the Rest needed.

With Drea handling marketing, community relations, and sales, and her mother dealing with decor, supplies, and inventory, the business thrived with three generations.

Like her uncle, Sloan had stepped away. But it didn’t lessen her pride in what her family had accomplished with All the Rest.

The home her grandfather and his sons had built and rebuilt over the years welcomed her back as if it had been yesterday.

“We put your things away in your room.” Elsie skimmed a hand down Sloan’s hair when Sloan pulled off her winter cap. “The doctor said the one flight of stairs was fine, but if it feels like too much, we can set you up in the den.”

“No, don’t. I need to move.”

She did so now to the big front window that faced the lake and its reflected snowcapped mountains.

“It never gets old.”

“Sure doesn’t. How about I fix you a snack?”

“Mom, you’re not going to wait on me.”

“Just for today.” Elsie slid an arm around Sloan’s waist, tipped her head toward her daughter’s. “Indulge me a little. It’s so good to have you home for a while. It’s so good to see you looking more like yourself.”

“I don’t feel like myself yet.”

“You will,” Dean said. After he shed his coat, hung it in the coat closet (house rule), he walked over, crouched down to set kindling to light in the hearth.

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