Epilogue
“Has it happened?” Bonnie asked as she and Jeff stood on the porch of Andrew and Julie’s house.
“Not yet,” Michael said as he opened the door. “Anita and Emily are up there with her now. Do you want to go up?”
Bonnie considered this. Childbirth was supposed to be a miraculous and wonderful experience, and yet she knew enough to know that probably wasn’t the whole story. She thought that maybe she didn’t need to know all the secrets just yet, since she wasn’t quite ready to start a family of her own.
“I think I would be most useful down here,” Bonnie said. “People will need feeding.”
“True,” Jeff said.
“Well, Grace is in the kitchen,” Hunter said as they moved into the house, and he came out of the parlor to greet them. “She and Hector have it all in hand, or so they said.”
“Right,” Bonnie said. “I feel quite useless.”
“That’s okay. Come and sit with us,” Michael said.
Bonnie sat on a chair in the parlor. She wasn’t the only woman there. Troy’s wife, Lizzy, was sitting on a chair too, looking as out of place and uncomfortable as Bonnie felt.
“I’m not good with babies,” Lizzy said in a whisper, leaning closer to Bonnie.
“Me neither,” Bonnie admitted, though she did like them. She hoped one day soon to learn to be better around small infants without fearing that she might hurt the tiny, fragile things.
“Oh good, then we can talk about other things,” Lizzy said. “Your uncle has commissioned me to make some odds and ends for the store he wants to open. Apparently, the council has approved his plans.”
“He didn’t tell me,” Bonnie said.
“Oh?” Lizzy asked and bit her lip. “I think it was supposed to be a surprise. Please act surprised when he tells you, okay?”
Bonnie chuckled and nodded. “So, what’s everyone talking about in here?”
“The offer,” Lizzy said. “If there’s one thing that everyone in this town has a lot of, it’s opinions.
So, so far, Andrew and Michael have been neck-deep in suggestions and plans and ideas.
It’s crazy. They keep talking to Troy and Kevin, and I don’t know if anything will happen until Kyle, Walter, and the others head back to New York. They have to speak to Mr. MacGregor.”
“Who’s he?” Bonnie asked.
Lizzy frowned. “Didn’t Jeff tell you?”
“No,” Bonnie said.
“Well, he’s the financier who put up some of the initial money to start this mine and the town,” Lizzy said.
“Andrew and Michael can’t do anything until he’s been consulted.
Andrew got a telegram yesterday saying he needs to come back east. Of course, with the baby, now he can’t.
He can’t leave Julie with a newborn all on her own.
So, he’s going to have to send some others to speak on his behalf.
Hopefully, Mr. MacGregor won’t be too upset about it. ”
This was a lot to take in. Jeff had been in meetings, but he hadn’t wanted to tell her much about it at the moment. He said he wanted the details to be solidified before he shared anything. Plus, Bonnie had been busy herself.
“I have been out at the farms most days,” Bonnie said with a shrug. “I’ve been negotiating with the farmers.”
“And how has that gone?” Lizzy asked.
“Well,” Bonnie said. “I think we should be close to an agreement.”
For a while they spoke about general things that were going on in the town, and then Grace and Hector came into the parlor with snacks on plates. They brought root beer and ginger ale, and then everyone settled down to wait.
During the quiet moments, there were sometimes noises from upstairs. Both Lizzy and Bonnie regarded the ceiling with apprehension.
“Are you looking forward to motherhood at some point?” Bonnie asked Lizzy.
Lizzy bit her lip and shrugged. “Not really. I raised my little brother Tim when my mother died.” She swallowed. “She died from complications from another pregnancy.”
Bonnie patted her hand. “I understand. I was raised by my godfather, and all of this is a little out of my realm. So, when are the others leaving to go back east? They’ll need to know that parts of New York are like a powder keg, at least they were when we were there.”
“They’ll leave in a week or so,” Lizzy said. “You can tell them.”
“I will,” Bonnie said.
And then there was the sound of a new pair of lungs greeting the world, and Andrew let out an audible sigh of relief.
A few minutes later, Anita came down into the parlor with a little bundle wrapped in a blanket.
She was beaming from ear to ear. “It’s a boy, and his mother has named him Henry Andrew,” she said.
Andrew was speechless as he took his son in his arms and cradled the baby gently. “Henry Andrew?” He considered the screwed-up little face. “It suits him.”
“Yes, it does,” Michael agreed.
“And Julie?” Andrew asked. “How is she?”
Anita smiled. “Fine. She had no trouble. You know, I didn’t think that her way of doing things would work, but it did with no complications at all. She even?—”
“No need for further details, thank you,” Michael said, looking pale and squeamish.
Anita shook her head. “All you big men are fine until we mention something feminine and then you want to lose your dinner.”
“Well, it is—” Jeff began and then, catching Bonnie’s eye, he stopped. She had set her features into an expression that said, “Tread lightly here.”
“It’s natural and wonderful,” he said hastily.
Everyone laughed at his sudden and obvious change of direction.
From that moment on, there was a lot of celebration downstairs while upstairs the job of caring for mother and child continued. Bonnie went up and congratulated Julie. She looked fine but tired, and after a while, she and the baby fell fast asleep.
“We should take it in turns to stop by over the next couple of weeks,” Anita said, speaking to all the women present. “Just to help out.”
“Oh sure,” Bonnie said, nodding.
“I’ll draw up a roster,” Emily said. “Then we can make sure we know when to come.”
And so, it was settled.
When Bonnie went home that night with Jeff’s arm around her shoulders, she wondered about life and how it had a habit of tossing her into situations she wasn’t quite ready for.
She hadn’t been ready for bandits and adventure, although she hadn’t been averse to it.
And now, she was seeing motherhood from a new perspective.
Perhaps it wasn’t as mysterious and scary as she thought it was. Julie seemed perfectly happy.
“So, do you want one of your own now?” Jeff asked, clearly making fun of her.
Bonnie grinned at him. “Yes, let’s have several right now.”
That made him swallow hard.
She laughed. “In good time, Jeff. We’ll start a family all in good time. In the meantime, we have to do our best to make Unity safe for everyone. And we will do whatever it takes.”
“Whatever it takes,” he agreed, gathering her into his arms and they stepped inside their home. “I love you, Bonnie,” Jeff said softly, leaning in for a gentle kiss. “I’m so glad you got on that train and hid in that cart. I’ll be thanking God for the rest of my life for you.”
“I love you too,” she whispered back, and then she was lost in her husband’s tender embrace and the sure knowledge that this place, this man, this new world were right and good and, more than anything, home.
Thank you so much for reading our book. We sincerely hope you enjoyed every bit reading it. We had fun creating it and will surely create more.