Epilogue
ONE YEAR LATER . . .
“Their names go here.” Max pointed at a line in the ledger. “And you write the room number here. Each night they pay for gets a little x on this line.”
Anna painstakingly wrote the name of the couple that Max sent upstairs with a key at the Hannan Hotel. The desk clerk was home, sick with a fever, and Max was doing the work of two men.
Although, Delia thought as she watched Anna, perhaps he’d have some help now. “You may have a new employee.”
Max grinned as he came around the counter to join her. “How are you feeling?”
“Well enough. I’m ready for supper, though, and it’s only three o’clock.
” Delia rested a hand on her rounded stomach.
She was constantly hungry, which was an improvement from constantly ill.
“By the time this baby arrives, you’ll have needed to take a loan for everything I’ve purchased at the general store and the bakery. ”
“It won’t matter, so long as you’re both healthy.” He kissed the top of her head and went back to watching Anna.
“What else can I do?” Anna set the pen down and looked at her father expectantly.
Max gestured at a quilt that was folded and waiting on the corner of the desk. “Mrs. Cowley in Room Seventeen asked for an additional quilt. I haven’t had time to bring it to her yet. Would you like to?”
Anna snatched up the quilt, started across the lobby, then paused. “Where is Room Seventeen?”
“Down the hall, last room on the right.” Max directed her across the room.
“She’s changed so much,” Delia mused. Anna was talkative and inquisitive, and she’d grown particularly close to her father lately.
Delia wondered if the girl was making the best of the time she had left before she needed to share him with a sibling, but it didn’t matter. Max loved every moment of it.
“She’ll make a good older sister,” he said.
“I think you’re right.” Anna asked about the baby all the time. How much the baby would sleep, when he or she might walk, how often she could hold the baby.
“She’s been asking me more about her mother lately too,” Max said. “Questions about how we met and my memories of her.”
“That’s good,” Delia said, looking up at him. “She needs to remember her mother.”
He shook his head. “I do the best I can. It had been so long since I’d seen her, and we’d known each other for such a short time.”
Delia took his hand. “You’re a great father. And this little one will be as lucky to have you as Anna is.”
He leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. Delia rested a hand on his shoulder, forgetting entirely that they were standing in a public place until Anna interrupted them.
“Are you kissing again?” She sounded utterly horrified.
Delia and Max broke apart, both laughing. Delia squeezed his hand. “We need to get to the depot to post my latest story to Canon City.”
“The one about the trouble at the bank?” he asked.
Delia nodded. “I’m excited to see it in print.
” She was especially proud of it. A couple of men had attempted to rob the bank in Crest Stone a few days prior.
It had ended in a shoot-out that sent residents scurrying to their homes.
In the end, no one was hurt, and the two men were residing in the jail.
But it was very exciting, and she was certain the Canon City newspaper editor would enjoy reading it.
“Well, you’d best get along. I’ll see you both tonight.” Max said goodbye with another kiss that sent Anna sighing in annoyance.
“Must you kiss so much? It’s unseemly,” Anna said as they left.
Delia pressed a hand to her mouth to keep from laughing. “Your father and I love each other. You’ll find out how that feels one day.”
“I hope not,” Anna muttered.
Delia couldn’t help but laugh then. Anna sounded so much like Delia when she was younger.
She looked forward to seeing the girl grow up. Anna was bound to do something amazing, and Delia was happy to be an important part of her life.
She laid a hand against her stomach as they walked toward the depot. Soon enough, there would be a new child to fall in love with and watch grow.
Clutching her story in her hand, Delia realized how thankful she was for everything she had. Life had turned out so differently from what she’d planned.
But she wouldn’t have it any other way.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR reading!