Epilogue
SIX YEARS LATER . . .
“Excuse me, Mrs. Darby?” An older woman who had taken up residence at the boardinghouse a few weeks prior stopped Isabella in the dining room.
“Yes, Mrs. Cameron?” Isabella shifted the stack of dirty dishes from one arm to the other.
“You know I think your boys are angels, but you may want to peek in the parlor.” Mrs. Cameron gave her a benevolent smile and patted her shoulder.
Isabella thanked her before hurrying to the door. At the last minute, she set the stack of dishes on the corner of a table where no one was sitting. Wiping her hands on her apron, she stepped into the hallway, half-dreading what she might find in the parlor.
Shrieks and giggles erupted, and she crossed the hall as quickly as she could.
No one else was around. Tansy, with Isabella and Hale’s infant son in tow, had departed the kitchen for her room thirty minutes prior to prepare for the gentleman she expected to visit that evening.
Hale was shut in his office. Thankfully, the guests were nearly all occupied in the dining room with their suppers.
“Boys!” she exclaimed the second she stepped foot in the parlor. “What is this?”
Quilts—all from unoccupied rooms, Isabella hoped—draped over the settee and chairs, forming one giant tent-like structure. Giggles sounded from under the quilts. She stepped forward when no one answered her.
Isabella smiled at the quilt she reached out to grasp.
It was the one she’d helped stitch a square for not long after she’d arrived in Crest Stone.
The quilt had been for her and Hale all along, and Tansy and the other ladies kept it a secret until they presented her with it when she and Hale returned from Cheyenne.
It was one of the most meaningful gifts she’d ever received.
She pulled up a corner of the quilt, and two pairs of brown eyes looked up at her.
Daniel, who was just over three years old and had hair exactly like hers, giggled so hard he fell over.
His five-year-old brother, who was the spitting image of his father, tried to crawl under one of the chairs to hide.
“Mama! You’re not supposed to look here. It’s our house,” Grant said from under the chair.
“I’m sorry to come in uninvited, but I told you not to mess anything up in here. Aunty Tansy has a visitor coming, and they’ll need a place to sit.
“They come in here!” Daniel said, rolling over to face her.
“Well, yes, but they can’t sit under your tent. I need you both to clean this up. Please put the quilts back where you found them. And then come to the kitchen for supper. I made Mrs. Wright’s peach pie for dessert.”
At the mention of dessert, Grant crawled out from under the chair. “Get that quilt,” he ordered his brother.
Satisfied the parlor would be presentable for Tansy’s suitor—not that Isabella would ever say that word out loud in Tansy’s presence—she returned to the dining room to scoop up the plates she’d left.
In the kitchen, she found Hale cutting a narrow slice of pie.
“Hale Darby.” Isabella set the plates down as loudly as she could. “That’s for dessert!”
He turned around with a sheepish look on his face. “I couldn’t wait.”
Isabella put a hand on her hip and considered him. His smiled broadened, and she shook her head before handing him a fork. “You’d think that after six years, I’d be able to resist that grin.”
“How would I ever get away with anything if you could?” he asked before popping a forkful of pie in his mouth.
“You’d better finish that quickly, or you’ll have to explain to two little boys why they have to wait for their pie when their father gets to eat it right away.”
Hale polished the remainder off in two bites.
Isabella laughed and added his plate to the stack on the table.
“Where’s the baby?” he asked.
“Upstairs with Tansy.”
“I don’t know how I feel about this Williams fellow,” Hale said.
“He’s perfectly nice,” Isabella said as she set the pie up for later. “You only think you dislike him because Tansy’s your sister. Will you hand me that towel?”
Hale picked it up and held it out. Underneath it was an opened envelope. “How is your father?” he asked, tapping a finger on the letter.
“He’s well enough. He spent most of the letter talking about how happy he was that Carter and Henry are coming here.
” Isabella couldn’t hold back a smile at those words.
The money Hale had paid the lawyer had been worth it.
Although the court found her brothers were still guilty of their crimes, they’d issued a shorter sentence after taking into consideration their motivation.
They’d both been released a few months prior, found work, and had saved enough money to purchase train fare to Crest Stone, where they intended to live.
“I know that makes you happy too.” Hale took a few steps forward until he was close enough to rest his hands on her waist.
“I can’t wait,” Isabella said. “The boys will love having uncles, and I’ve missed them so much. I need to write Papa and tell him I’ll let him know how they settle in.”
“I’m glad you were able to come to an understanding with him,” Hale said.
Isabella leaned her cheek against his chest, and his arms wrapped around her. She closed her eyes and breathed in his comforting scent. “Me too.”
It hadn’t been easy. She’d been so angry, but one day she’d felt the strangest urge to write to him.
She hadn’t said much, although she shared the news of Grant’s birth.
She had mailed the letter with the usual ones she sent to Carter and Henry.
His response arrived not too long afterward.
He had apologized and told her how remorseful he’d felt.
He explained that he had planned to give the money away, but never could seem to part with it.
He didn’t know why, thought perhaps it had been fear of his own about being poor again, but he was sorry that he’d lied to them for so long.
It was at least two years before Isabella realized she had forgiven him.
The realization hit her one day, while she was watching her boys sleep.
So, she wrote it down in her next letter to him.
Ever since then, their letters had grown warmer.
Nothing would ever be the same as it was, but it felt like it was the best it could be in that moment.
“What are you thinking about?” Hale asked, his breath ruffling her hair.
When she didn’t answer right away, he sighed. “Another baby, is that it? You want another baby.”
Isabella laughed against his chest. “Maybe,” she said. “But not just yet.”
“Are you sure? Because—”
“Mama! Daniel put the quilts in the hall. And he won’t pick them up!” Grant’s irritated little voice interrupted his father.
“I’m sure. For now.” Isabella leaned back and smiled at her husband. “And if you’d like to have supper, you’ll need to figure out the quilt situation.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Hale grinned before giving her a quick peck. He turned around and scooped up his son. Grant shrieked in glee as Hale swung him up.
There wasn’t anything more she could possibly want, Isabella thought. She had her family—all of her family. And nothing was more important.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR reading! I hope you enjoyed Isabella and Hale’s story.