It was summer, and the sun shone on everything and made it warm and bright. As Daphne drove up to the bright and brilliant house, parked and got out, she knew that she'd love living here- even if it was just to work.

Late morning light bathed her bare shoulders as she began to walk to the door, her long legs feeling free in the pleasant air. That day, she had worn a sleeveless floral print top and a knee-length pink skirt. Her long hair was in a braid down her back, and her feet were covered with sandals.

She was nervous about this. Daphne had never had a live-in position before, and she wondered what it would be like. It was hard to imagine practically living at work, but she told herself it wouldn't be so hard. After all, she liked something new on occasion, something totally different.

Ringing the ornate doorbell, Daphne waited on the front steps for the doorknob to turn. Once it did, a short woman with long, red hair was standing in the doorway, a broad smile on her face. Her name was Eva Barnett, the woman who rented the home for the summer. Daphne had found her to be a kind, considerate woman with a calm manner. "Hello, Daphne. Come on in, love."

She stepped inside onto lightly colored hardwood floors and a brightly lit room. There was not a single lamp on; the windows were so large that filling the room with more than enough natural light was not difficult whatsoever.

"Your room is upstairs, I'll show it to you in a minute. First I want you to meet him. I know you're gonna love him. Daniel, darling!" She yelled towards the direction of the stairs, and soon a blonde nine-year-old boy with gray-blue eyes came down the stairs slowly, staring at Daphne without an expression on his face. "Danny, this is Daphne. She's going to be here with you while I'm at work and help you with your knee, alright?"

"Alright then," he said, and without another word he went back upstairs.

"He's a little shy at first, but once he get's comfortable he's really a lovely boy," Eva assured Daphne, and she smiled and nodded.

When she had been shown to her room, she smiled and sat on her bed, looking around her. The ceilings in the room were high and the walls were a tranquil lavender, and there was in the middle of one of the walls was a window with long, golden yellow curtains by its side.

Daphne loved everything about the room. The flat she had gotten when she first moved to London a few months ago was fine, but she would be glad to get away from it for the summer. Everything here felt soft and light, airy and smooth, almost as if nothing could ever go wrong. Eva had said that the original owners had even given it a name: Sparrow's Nest. Somehow it seemed perfect.

Once Daphne had brought her luggage in from her car, she took her own private tour of the house, guessing what rooms were what and trying not to get lost. Eva had told her that both herself and Daphne would start work tomorrow.

After she was done walking all through the house, she found her way up to Daniel's room, where he was sitting on his bed reading a book on insects.

"Hi, Danny," she said, standing in the door. "May I come in?"

His eyes came up from the book briefly and looked at her. "I guess," he said, then went back to reading.

Daphne went inside and had a look around. The walls were a sky blue color and the furniture was a darker shade of brown. A few toys lay about the floor, but other than that the room in itself was neat and tidy. Following her small trip around the room, she sat next to the boy and smiled at him.

"Is that an interesting book?" she asked.

"I guess it is," he said. "Dad gave it to me. He said he read it when he was kid and he wanted me to read it. But I don't like reading. I don't even like school." He shut the book and put it behind him, crossing his arms in front of him.

The pair was silent for a moment until Daniel asked, "So, what are you going to do to me knee?"

"Give you physical therapy for it. If we keep at it all summer, you should be able to play in soccer games soon."

"What's physical therapy?"

"Would you like me to show you?"

He nodded, and Daphne began to do what she had been taught not all that long ago. Danny cringed and pulled his leg away from her. "That hurts! Are you sure you're doing it right?" He said.

"I'm positive. I know it doesn't feel very comfortable, but you'll get used to it, I think. And it'll help your knee stop hurting."

"I don't know about that," he said.

"Come on, Danny," she said, giving him a little push on the shoulder.

"Call me Daniel. Danny sounds like a little kid or a girl's name. Dad always says so."

Daphne sighed. "You really miss your Dad, don't you?"

Daniel's father had left Eva and his son at the beginning of the year, and according to his mother he was Daniel's hero. Eva had told Daphne that he had visited Danny less and less each month, and that sometimes weeks would go by without their receiving as much as a phone call from the man.

"Yes. Usually, I'd be spending summer with him while Mum was at work."

"Don't worry, we're going to have fun," Daphne assured him.

"Not if you're going to be doing that to me knee!" he said.

She sighed looking at the boy. Her brothers had been much more difficult than him, she knew, but a small part of her had hoped that he would like her right away. Now she knew that she would have to work to win his favor.

"I'll see you later, then," she said.

"Bye," was Daniel's only response.

Daphne didn't do much for the rest of the day. She went outside and explored the elaborate gardens out back. They were beautiful and abounding with gorgeous flowers, fountains, and trellises. In middle of the gardens was a small pond and a large tree with a tire swing attached to one of its branches. There was a small bench close to the water, and she sat and let everything sink in. Again, she thought about how much she would love living here. It was as if she was on vacation and not at work. It was perfect here.

The next day work began. She let Daniel sleep in, then gave him his breakfast. While he was eating, Daphne talked.

"Now, we're going to do your therapy in the afternoons and in the evenings, so before that we can do whatever we want around here. And I was thinking that after we have lunch we could go for ice cream. How does that sound?"

"Fine. Ice cream's alright."

"Great."

After breakfast, Daniel went back up to his room and Daphne did not see him again until she called him for lunch. Just as she said, they got ice cream and then came back.

"Alright. We're going to start your therapy now. Can I get you to sit in that chair over there?" He obeyed Daphne, plopping down in an armchair with an ottoman for Daphne to sit in as she worked.

It was tough on both of them in the beginning. Daniel didn't like it at all, and it was a challenge for Daphne because he would not keep his leg still.

The second Daphne was done, the boy ran upstairs without saying a word to her and she knew that that's where he would stay until his mother returned in a few hours. She felt a little stressed, as well as disappointed and worried. She decided to take a walk in the sheer, welcoming garden to help her, and it did. It was almost as if it smiled at her as she looked at the flowers.

Good relationships take time, she reminded herself. He's only a child. He'll warm up to you.

And it did indeed take time. For about the next two weeks, Daniel didn't do much of anything outside of his room unless Daphne made him. She treated him like normal and kept telling herself that eventually he would relent and begin to like her.

Everything finally changed on a warm, sunny day.

After lunch, Danny ran out into the garden in the direction of the tire swing and the pond, and after about a minute Daphne decided to find him.

When she had arrived at the pond, Daniel was sitting on the top of the tire, moving his legs and trying to get the swing to move. He didn't notice her until she asked, "Would you like me to give you a push?"

He nodded, and she walked over to the swing, grabbed the tire and began to walk backwards as far as she could, then let it go and ran out of the way. Daniel smiled as the rope took the tire high above the water and then back down again, swirling along the way. He laughed and Daphne smiled to see such a thing. They repeated the process a few more times until Daniel decided he'd had enough. Daphne sat down at the bench near the water's edge and expected him to go back to the house, but to her surprise, he didn't. He came and sat next to her, and the two were silent for a while.

Without warning, the boy asked, "So...why do you have to do therapy on me knee and why do I have to do all those exercises you give me? What is it doing?"

"Well, does you knee feel any better than it did before I came?"

He paused, then nodded.

"It's working, then."

"But why?" he asked.

"It's a little hard to explain. Part of it has to do with your blood. What I do to your knee helps to get oxygen to your injury, so it helps it to heal faster. And those exercises you do without me do the same things."

"Alright," was all he said.

Again, Daphne expected him to go back to his room, but he didn't. He stayed, staring into the water.

"Dad and I used to really like coming here," he said softly. There's fish in this water here. Dad would catch them, and I would use the swing. Sometimes we would get the rowboat and go across the pond."

Daphne suddenly felt very sad. She couldn't imagine what she would be feeling if her father left her at a young age. She didn't know what to do about it, though. It almost felt like there was nothing to say; yet she had to say something.

"I know it's difficult, facing all those memories with your dad. Do you ever do any of those things with your mum?"

"Mum doesn't like it here. She doesn't know how to swim and she's afraid of the water."

"I see." She paused. "If you want, we can go out on the boat. That sounds fun, actually."

"It is fun!" He said. "But we'll have to go get it first."

"Where is it?"

"In the shed over there."

Daniel got up and Daphne followed him to the dark blue shed along the water. He opened the door and there it was, a small rowboat just big enough for two people. They dragged it out and into the water, then hopped inside.

"Would like you like to row or should I?" asked Daphne.

"I'll do it," he said, taking the paddles in both of his hands and beginning to row. Steadily, almost rhythmically they moved across the water until they were in the very middle of the pond and Daniel stopped.

"What do we do now?" she asked.

"Dad would fish, usually. So I guess we can just sit here."

And they did, without a word in between them. Daphne looked down into the luminous water and all around her, taking in the beauty of everything. Everything was so lovely, so enchanting. It reminded her of something from a storybook.

"Daniel, do you like to read stories?"

"No. They're so boring."

"Not all of them," Daphne said, suddenly getting an idea. She had seen a book on the shelf in the living room that she had read as a child, and she knew that Daniel would enjoy it. "The one I have in mind's quite interesting. I tell you what, when we get back, we'll sit on the bench and I'll read it to you. How does that sound?"

He sighed and crossed his arms. "Fine. I guess that'll be alright."

They stayed on the water for a few more minutes and then rowed back in. Once they had put the boat back, Daniel sat on the bench while Daphne retrieved the book from the house. Once she had returned, she sat down and handed him the book.

"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," he read. "Alice? It's about a girl?"

"Yes, but there's a lot more to it than that. Let me start reading, I think you'll like it."

As Daphne read, Daniel tried not to look interested, but he found himself getting into the story. When the chapter was done, he excused himself and was about to go when he suddenly turned around and faced Daphne. "You're not all that bad to be around," he said, and then he ran back to the house.

Daphne smiled and walked back herself.

For the next few weeks, things got better. Each day, they would go back to the same bench and read. Daniel got so wrapped up in the story that they finished their first book rather quickly and started new ones.

Unfortunately, he did not enjoy his therapy any better, but Daphne found out a way to make things easier. One day during therapy, Daniel kept flinching and pulling away from Daphne. As she worked, she told him stories about her family in Manchester.

"How many of these stories do you HAVE?" he asked her.

"Hundreds. Thousands, that I could just sit here and torture you with all day. Or you could do some exercises for me and we could go to the park and play some soccer."

That seemed to work, and for the rest of them summer things kept improving. According to Daniel, his knee pain began to go away, and he began to spend more and more time with Daphne.

Their relationship grew and thrived, until by the end of the summer Daniel began asking Daphne to stay. "You could clean for us," he said. "Our house is always a mess anyways."

"I'm afraid I can't, dear. I'm only here now because of your knee, and that's almost completely healed now. Besides, you'll be in school and you won't need me around to take care of you."

He would sigh and cross his arms, and Daphne would begin to wish she could stay.

But the summer came to an end. Mid-August, she said goodbye to Daniel and Eva. She wrapped Danny up in a hug and promised never to forget him, then embraced Eva and thanked her for everything.

As she got in the car and drove away from Sparrow's Nest for the last time, suddenly she knew: She wanted to have a son. She hadn't given it much thought until now, but it was so clear now, she wanted a little boy of her own.

Maybe someday, she thought. Maybe someday.