Abby Frasier was trespassing. To her, snooping was okay because she was looking for a place to live. She ignored the fact there was no For Rent sign. The small log cabin stood off the small country road and screamed for her to come and look. She tried to ignore that calling, but there was something about it that screamed—mine. Finally, she drove right up to the house, and waited to see if anyone came out. No one did.

The adorable log house had a covered porch with cedar posts holding up the roof. She immediately thought there should be hanging plants and rocking chairs. The only modern thing about the house was the green metal roof and double pane windows.

A hundred yards from the house was a large pond with cattails and water lilies. By the water's edge was a rowboat turtled upside-down. Abby could picture two young boys rowing out and fishing for hours with their dad while their mother watched from the front porch snapping beans for dinner.

It was such a clear image she could even picture them wearing overalls and those floppy caps on their heads. She felt sentimental at the thought. A little sad too.

Since no one had come out of the house, she opened her car door and stepped out onto the dirt driveway. Summer grass grew between the ruts, but it had been mowed recently.

A large wooden barn stood a few hundred feet away, and she wondered if it stored a tractor or a riding lawnmower. This place was far into the countryside, yet an hour away from a popular tourist area. A beautiful lake had cottages to rent. There were various restaurants, a variety of activities, and upon occasion, they held the battle of the bands. A little further away were two small towns.

After living in a crowded city, this place was perfect.

She took the steps onto the porch and knocked on the door. When no one answered, she knocked again. Then, she cupped her hands beside her eyes to peek through the window. The sound of awe came from her lips.

A rock fireplace with a thick rough-sawn mantle sat in the middle of a log wall with a beautiful mirror hanging above it. The reflection showed an archway that led to the small entryway. It also had a mirror hanging over a table.

The floor looked to be hand-planed hardwood that had turned dark with age. The inside walls were plastered and painted white.

"May I help you, Lady?"

Abby nearly jumped out of her skin. Embarrassed at being caught snooping, her face heated. The man waiting for an answer could have played Santa. He was in his fifties with long white hair that reached his shoulders and a long white beard. The difference was his dark brown eyes versus Santa's blue... and the fact he looked puzzled.

"I'm so sorry to be snooping around your place. You see, I'm looking for a place to live in this area and I fell in love with your house. I had hoped to find it for sale."

He scratched the side of his jaw as if he needed to deliberate on that. "Nope, it's not my place. I take care of it, though. The family inherited this place, and they won't sell. They've got their boat stored in that locked barn," he said, as he made a point of expressing the fact.

She was disappointed. Her gaze swept over the house and the pond as disappointment threatened to bring tears. "Do you ever talk to the owners?"

"Sure I do. Why?"

"Do you think they would lease it?"

His thumbs looped around the suspenders holding up his pants and snapped them. "Is it just you?"

"Yes."

"Wouldn't ya be more comfortable in town? This place is pretty far out from everything."

"I don't mind the drive. When you live in a city, a lot of time is spent driving in traffic."

He nodded his agreement with that statement. "If ya have a business card, I'll give it to Matt. If he's interested, he can call you."

She reached inside her clutch purse to pull one out and handed it to him. It had her contact information as well as the link to her website.

"It says here your name is Abigail Frazier. It seems like I've heard that name before. Are you famous or something?"

She bit her bottom lip. "Not really. I write historical romance. Perhaps your wife likes to read?"

"I'll be a son-of-a-gun. That's where I heard your name. Wait till Ida hears who I met today."

Abby smiled at the affection he showed towards his wife. "I'll be glad to autograph one for her."

He nodded with a big grin. "That's mighty kind of ya. I'll give Matt the information, and if he's interested, I'm sure he'll call ya. My wife will probably invite ya to supper if ya plan to be here for long. She'll have a fit if she doesn't get the opportunity to meet ya." He pulled keys from his pocket. "You might as well take a look inside to make sure you're not wastin' his time." He stepped to the door and unlocked it, then waved her inside.

She noticed the age of the furniture and asked, "How old is this house?"

"Frank, he was Matt's great-great granddaddy, built this right after the war in 1919."

"Wow. I can see why he wouldn't want to sell it." Abby touched the wood of an antique table with curved legs sitting against the wall. The mirror had waves in the glass, and the wooden frame had scrollwork. "The furniture looks as old as the house," she told him.

"Yep. Most of it is. All the mirrors in the house, he put here. To make sure they wouldn't be moved, they've been fastened to the wall. Frank stipulated that in his will." He pointed to the places in the frame where it was anchored.

He went to the archway and pointed to two more mirrors in the living room. She had noticed the one over the fireplace, but there was another across from that window. It dawned on her that no matter where one would sit or stand, they would catch the reflection of anyone in the room. Two wooden rockers sat beside the fireplace with a small table between them. A pipe and ashtray looked as if Frank would come back and smoke it. Next to the other chair was a woven basket with knitting inside, which was a hobby she enjoyed.

"With the pipe and basket of knitting sitting there, I would expect them to come back into the room at any time."

"That pipe belonged to Frank. Matt keeps it right there all the time. If you rented this place, you'd have to leave it right there or perhaps on the mantle."

Abby thought they had made a shrine out of this place, but if they did, why had they modernized it? "I think it's charming that he wants it to remain."

He grinned because she approved. "That sofa they had recovered, but in the same color of dark gold to match the curtains they replaced about ten years ago. Those lamps were once oil lamps. Matt found a guy who works on stained glass and had those round globes soldered to make sure they didn't fall out and had the lamp wired for electricity. He didn't mind some things being old, but he likes electricity. And that entertainment center is one of the reasons why."

He stepped to the tall wardrobe across the room in the corner and opened the doors. There was a flat-screen television with a DVD player and a stack of movies. "That was in case he was here on a rainy day, but he always goes home. He lives on the other side of town, about an hour from this place. That's his boat parked in the barn. Would you have a problem leaving it there?"

"Gracious no. Is there room for my car?"

"Sure is. Come on, you need to take a look-see at the kitchen. That's probably something that will give ya pause." He turned and headed towards the back of the house. "That wood cookstove Frank put in this house. At the time, electricity didn't reach out this far. I keep that tin can there stacked with wood. Those pots and pans are ones they used around the First World War. Frank was on a battleship at the time. Anyhow, he built those cabinets too and the shelves. He was mighty handy with his hands. He made more money doin' that than farmin'."

The white refrigerator in the room looked to be from the 1950s. It didn't belong to the period, but Abby loved it. The top curved in an arch, and it had a one-handle latch. The shelves above the base cabinets had scalloped edges. Pretty, blue floral dishes looked just as old.

"Did he make that hammered copper sink and faucets? It's beautiful."

He grinned at her. "Most women want all the newest appliances but these work. Almost everything he built lasted. There's a laundry room in the back. It no longer has that hand-crank washing machine. Matt put it in the barn and bought a front loader, but no dryer. There wasn't enough room, but there's a clothesline out back and a portable that stretches across the room. My wife uses a portable one that sits on the floor and folds up. She sets it by the fireplace in the winter. The clothes dry real quick."

"I imagine it would." She stared at the mirrors in the room. One hung low over the table, and another faced the double windows looking out into the backyard. She thought that the mirrors probably had a story behind them. If you sat at the table, you could see the entire room. A man like the one Charlie described didn't sound as if he would be vain. The main advantage of that many mirrors was adding light to the house. When the house was built, it would have used gas lighting in this remote area.

"If you'll come this way, I'll show ya the two bedrooms." Charlie walked down a short hallway that crossed in front of the entryway. He flipped his thumb at the door, saying, "That's the big bedroom." Why he didn't stop and show her, she didn't know. He kept walking until the hall joined another hall and turned right. He stopped at door close by. "This here's the bathroom. I tell ya, this was impressive in the 1920s."

She also thought he wanted to show off the new updates rather than look inside a bedroom. He swung his hand out and motion for her to go inside. A clawfoot tub sat against the wall with a slender shelf next to it. She knew it would hold bathing items. If she could rent this place, she would also add candles.

Directly across the room was a pedestal sink with an old-fashioned medicine cabinet hanging above it. The mirror had a few dark spots, but it was still good. The toilet with the tank mounted on the wall had a chain to flush it. Abby didn't think it was the original, but she liked the idea that they had replaced it with one that fit the era.

"Everything works in here. The hot water comes from one of those instant water heaters. Matt had me take out the small wood stove and build that corner closet. That holds the heater and storage." He nodded in that direction as he warmed up to the topic. "The water pipes are connected to the kitchen. Matt wasn't about to heat water on a wood stove just to take a bath. In the summertime, that's brutal. But for winter, there's a ceramic heater in that closet."

He walked out and led her down the hall towards another room that would look out towards the pond. "This here's the second bedroom. That's where Frank's boys slept. They were twins."

She thought of the image she had about two boys in the boat with their dad. How could she have known?