Page 20 of Mountain Men’s Nanny

Proving My Credentials

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Brie

What started as a cool fall breeze turned into angry gusts of icy wind that rattled the roof and made the windows sing. I was prepared for winter, but I had clearly underestimated the one I’d get here in the Idaho mountains.

I searched through my closet for all the layers I could find, and after I was as wrapped up as I could be (while still being able to move my arms), the biting cold still found its way through.

The cold made Lexi more restless than usual. She ran to the window every five minutes, unable to focus on spelling at all.

“Do you think it’s going to snow?” she asked, excited by the thought.

“Maybe later into the winter, Lexi. Let’s do three more words, then we can watch the trees sway for a bit,” I offered.

Lexi was reading far beyond her age, but she was still just a six-year-old girl and would use any excuse to escape her lessons.

“Does it snow in the city?” she asked.

I was onto her. Even though I would rather be curled up in bed hitting ‘next episode’ on Netflix for the rest of the day, there were words to be learned. I was determined to get through at least ten.

“It does snow in the city, but I’m excited to see what winter is like over here. I already feel like it’s going to be much colder than I’m used to,” I said. “Come on now, Lexi, let’s not get distracted. The sooner we get through these, the sooner we can do something else.”

Lexi walked back over to the dining room table with her shoulders hunched in disappointment.

Between words, I found myself gazing out of the window too. The wind was growing wilder. The trees swayed faster, branches tossing about, and the wooden walls of the cabin creaked.

“What does ambidextrous mean?” Lexi asked.

“Let’s break the word up and try to figure it out,” I started to explain, then the door burst open.

“The wind is picking up. It isn’t worth the risk,” Gunner said, trudging into the cabin with Gideon and Tobias following behind him.

Their lumberjack uniforms had a new layer. Gunner wore a wool-lined denim jacket, while Gideon wore a leather one, and Tobias a puffer jacket. They didn’t take them off when they came in, rubbing their hands together.

“Is it going to snow, Daddy?” Lexi asked, running up to Tobias.

The lesson might as well have been over. Lexi had a stream of questions about what was happening outside, where the deer went to get shelter, and if she could see it. She also wanted to know when the river would freeze over and if she could learn to skate on it.

“It’s really cold in here,” Gideon said, already stacking the fireplace. “Next time, I’ll start the fire for you before I leave in the morning.”

He flashed me a quick smile, but it was warm enough to reach his eyes. He was awkwardly navigating feelings neither of us understood, while I tried to navigate this sudden awakening I was going through. How I had somehow dragged both Gideon and Tobias into it.

There was tension, and I wasn’t the only one who felt it. Tobias stole glances at me; I could also feel his eyes on me when he moved out of sight. We were in a tinderbox, and the howling wind outside told me there was no escaping, not anytime soon, anyway.

“One more word, Lexi,” I tried to coax her.

“But Brie, even schools close when the weather is bad,” she said sweetly.

She sat on her father’s lap with a book already in hand. Pulling her back to the table would have been cruel, and watching her meant watching Tobias. Everytime I looked in their direction, he shifted in his armchair uncomfortably.

I sat at the table, sorting through Lexi’s lessons. I shuffled and stacked the papers on the dining room table over and over, trying to keep myself busy and distracted.

“You know, Brie, we could save firewood and keep warm the way nature intended,” Gunner winked at me on his way to the kitchen.

“In warm clothes and under blankets?” I laughed, swatting at him.

“Body heat,” he whispered, walking past again. “Under some blankets works too.”