She set the items down, and they got busy wrapping the potatoes, then he showed her how he buried them in the hot ashes.

When she went to do one, he wouldn’t let her.

“I think you’ve had enough mishaps for the day. If you want to help, you could gather up a few sticks for the marshmallows.”

“I can do that. What size should I get?”

Silas showed her the desired length, and she was lucky enough to find a cluster of sticks sitting not far away. That was when she saw something.

Staring at the structure hidden behind a mass of vines, she wondered what it was supposed to be.

Returning to the firepit, she asked Silas.

“You must be talking about the old fort Dad built for us boys to keep us out of his hair. We used to love playing there. Even when we got older, we would sneak out to spend the night there until Leah and Ginny stole it from us, making it a pretend cabin, and they had to save their dolls and stuffed animals from grizzly bears and wolves.”

Ginny moved her chair closer to the firepit. “Not possums or raccoons?”

“No, and those are what they should have been watching out for. Popeye stole Ginny’s favorite doll. I had to spend two days looking for it.”

“A one-eye raccoon, who was the bane of my father’s existence for many years. He loved to turn our trash cans over if one of us boys forgot to place a big rock on top when we took the trash out at night.”

Alanna laughed. “Were you able to find the doll?”

“No, but we did have a memorial service for Minnie.”

She laughed so hard that she had to hold her stomach. “I bet it was nice growing up with so many brothers and sisters.”

“It was. Do you plan on having a large family?”

Alanna sobered instantly. “No. I never plan to have children.”

“Do you mind me asking why? I saw you holding Freddy. You seem to have a natural affinity to them.”

“My parents died when I was young. I’ll never take a chance that I’ll leave a child the way I was left.”

“I’m sure they didn’t want to.”

“They might not have, but they didn’t take any precautions either. My parents went into an area marked ‘do not enter,’ nor did they make arrangements for my care if anything happened to them.”

“Both correctable mistakes, which you would be more cautious about, to make sure that didn’t happen to your children.”

Alanna stared gloomily at the fire. “It doesn’t matter, anyway. I prefer to be alone.”

“No one prefers to be alone.”

“I do.” Alanna reached for the marshmallows she had placed on the table as Silas sat down on the other chair. “I don’t do well with other people.”