One week until The Librarian of Boone's Hollow releases! It seems in every story, a secondary character steals my heart. In this story, the heart-stealer was Nanny Fay. She's lived alone since her husband, Eagle, died. But she's going to have some company...at least for awhile:
Nanny Fay opened the door and left it wide for the girl to follow. She came on in, went as far as the braided rug in the middle of Nanny Fay’s sitting and cooking room, and stopped. Her brown-eyed gaze drifted from one corner to another until she’d almost turned a circle. Seemed as if she was biting on her lip. Girl from the city probably lived in a big house with fancy furniture and lots of rooms. This old cabin was home, the only real home Nanny Fay could remember, but it surely mustn’t seem like much to somebody from as far away as Georgetown.
Nanny Fay pointed to a door on the right. “That there’s the room you’d stay in.”
The girl lifted the cross bar and pushed the door open. She stepped inside, and the little sleeping room got the same going-over she’d gave the front room. Nanny Fay stayed in the doorway and watched her move from the iron bed to the rocking chair in the corner to the row of pegs pounded into the log wall to hold clothes. She dragged her finger over the top of the four-drawer chest next to the rocking chair, and Nanny Fay cringed.
“Things in here ain’t been touched with so much as a feather duster for quite awhile.” She hadn’t figured this girl would come. She wished now she’d figured different. Already thoughts of sitting in front of the fireplace in the evening, sipping sassafras or catnip tea, and talking the way she and Eagle used to do when day was done was filling her mind. It’d hurt worse’n stubbing a toe to lose the company now. She took a hopeful step into the room. “But it won’t take long for me to tidy it for you.”
Real slow, Adelaide turned until she was looking full into Nanny Fay’s eyes. “It’s a fine room, ma’am. Real fine. I’d like to stay here, but I won’t pay a penny less than two dollars. And I’ll do the tidying myself.”
My, this girl had pride. Stubborn pride, same as Eagle. Nanny Fay chuckled. “I reckon I’d be wastin’ my breath to argue with you.”
“May I move in today?”
She could move in that very hour if she wanted to. “You sure can.”
“Thank you.”
Tears clouded up her vision. Wouldn’t take long and the girl would move out. The folks in town, they’d make it so hard on her she wouldn’t have no other choice, and Nanny Fay wouldn’t hold a grudge against her for it. But for a little while at least, she’d have someone besides herself, the birds, and the Good Lord to talk to, the way it’d been when the gal of her heart was still alive.
Nanny Fay sniffed hard and swished her eyes with her apron. “Adelaide Cowherd…thank you.”
ME AGAIN: I wanted to move in with Nanny Fay. I reckon you'll know why once you've met her yourself. 🙂 ... See MoreSee Less