Epilogue
Peterson Ranch
Four months later
Luke and Caleb walked into the living room carrying an armful of logs for the fireplace while Madelaine and Evelyn were busy decorating the house for Christmas. It was late in the afternoon, almost time for dinner, and thick snowflakes whirled in front of the two large windows in the living room.
“Hello, ladies!” Luke greeted them cheerfully. Madelaine gifted him with the warmest smile. “It’s looking very festive in here already!” he said, rolling the logs off his arm in front of the fireplace.
“You’ve said that the last two times you came in here, too,” Madelaine remarked with a raised eyebrow, trying to hide her smile, but failing.
“Yes! And every time I come back, it’s looking more and more beautiful,” he declared as he brushed some bark from his sleeve.
“Just like my wife does, every single day,” he said matter-of-factly.
Madelaine shook her head at him, but she could feel her cheeks heating up, and she giggled, nonetheless.
“I’ll have to go out there and cut some more fir branches so we can make a wreath for the door, too,” Caleb offered as he dumped his load of wood logs right next to Luke’s. Both men swiftly began to stack them on top of the existing pile next to the fireplace.
“Oh, yes, please! That would be great,” Evelyn exclaimed, smiling sweetly at her husband.
“Can you believe that it’s been a whole year already since everything happened?
” Evelyn mused to nobody in particular, half preoccupied with a big red bow she was trying to tie to a beautiful fir garland Caleb had hung up this morning.
“It’s definitely been a wild year, that’s for sure,” Madelaine replied as she affixed yet another pinecone to a string, which she wanted to drape across the garland. “So much has happened!” She smiled at Luke when she said that, and he grinned from ear to ear in response.
She still couldn’t believe the changes he’d gone through during these last few months.
He was barely recognizable as the Luke she’d met almost exactly one year ago.
There hadn’t been a single day of angry outbursts or grumpy behavior from him.
Instead, he’d turned into this amazingly kind, caring, loving husband, praying with them every morning, night, and before meals.
He’d taken them to church every single Sunday and all the other times when there was a reason to celebrate his newly found love for the Lord.
Madelaine was convinced that she was dreaming.
“One more load oughta do it,” Caleb suggested, already walking back toward the door, where he waited. “Then we’re done for today, I think.”
Luke nodded enthusiastically. “I agree. We’ve loaded up every single room in the house. At this rate, we should have enough firewood until spring!” he chuckled.
“You wish!” Caleb snorted as he patted his friend’s shoulder. “This is going to be a harsh winter. I can feel it.”
“The winter weather makes it so cozy and merry and bright,” Madelaine half sang, “and this year we will celebrate Christmas the way we’re supposed to celebrate it! With family, with love, and with God.”
Luke smiled at that, and Madelaine couldn’t remember the last time she’d looked forward to the season this much. Her heart overflowed with gratitude as she looked around the room.
“Hallelulalalaah!” Belle sang loudly, who sat next to Simon at the table, both making paper garlands they wanted to decorate the Christmas tree with, although Belle hadn’t gotten the hang of it just yet.
Being the good brother he was, Simon repeatedly tried to show her how to form the loop of the paper strip so that it would form the next link.
She was having a tough time—at three-and-a-half years old, her fingers weren’t very coordinated yet—but she kept trying and managed to add another one for every ten Simon made.
“Oh, this looks so pretty!” Madelaine exclaimed when she looked at their progress. It earned her a beaming smile from her little sister and a wide grin from her little brother.
“We are a great team, aren’t we?” Simon asked, proudly looking down at Belle.
“The best team there ever was!” Evelyn exclaimed, and they all giggled. The men headed back outside as Mrs. Keagan walked into the living room with a beaming smile. Her cheeks were bright red, probably from cooking dinner.
“I just wanted to let you know that dinner will be ready soon,” she announced, looking at the first decorations that adorned the room. “Oh, my, this is so very beautiful already!” she exclaimed happily. “I am so very glad to see this house decorated again,” she added, a little quieter.
“Thank you, I appreciate that,” Madelaine replied, smiling at her warmly.
The men walked back in shortly thereafter, stacked the last wood logs on top of the others, and everybody moved to the dining room to have dinner together.
Since Madelaine and Luke had moved back into her old home, they had taken in Evelyn and Caleb so they could all live together in the large house, and Madelaine had started yet another tradition where Mrs. Keagan and her daughter Maggie, as well as Alvarez and his wife and son, joined them for dinner every night.
There was always extra space at the large table for whenever Timothy, Mary, and her daughter Rose would come over. Madelaine adored all the laughter, the conversation, the togetherness, the overwhelming sense of family, being surrounded by all the people she loved so dearly.
Luke, sitting at the head of the table, grabbed her hand and waited for everyone to join hands in prayer. As soon as everybody had closed their eyes and bowed their heads, he began.
“Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for all the food You provided for us today, and for all the hands that prepared it. We thank You for all the blessings You’ve bestowed upon us, especially bringing this beautiful family together, bound by blood or otherwise.
Thank You, Lord, for creating this life for us and shining Your light upon us. Amen.”
They all replied with the same, and as bowls of steaming food made their rounds, glasses were filled, and bread was shared, Madelaine thought her heart would burst.
“I have an announcement to make!” Luke said then.
He rummaged around his inside vest and pulled out a small parcel, wrapped in a dark cloth, tied together with string.
Getting up from his chair, all eyes were on him.
“I know that it’s not Christmas yet, but I do have a gift for you, Caleb,” he said solemnly.
Caleb, who was in the middle of chewing a hearty piece of meat, stopped his jaw movement. He swallowed, making such a loud noise that Simon and Belle burst out in a giggle. “For me?” he asked, obviously surprised, wiping his mouth with his napkin.
“For you,” Luke said with a nod, giving the parcel to Madelaine sitting next to him, who gave it to Simon, who eagerly handed it past Belle over to Evelyn, who gave it to her husband.
Caleb took it so reverently with both hands, almost everybody at the table held their breaths.
Feeling out the item beneath the fabric, his eyes suddenly went wide, and he raised his head to look directly at Luke.
Both men exchanged a glance Madelaine couldn’t decipher, but it seemed to be meaningful because she had never seen Caleb’s face so moved.
“I have decided to leave my position as the town’s sheriff,” Luke announced, which now surprised Madelaine herself.
He took her hand and squeezed it slightly.
“I want to spend the rest of my life with you, here on this ranch, carrying on the business your father built,” he explained.
Madelaine gasped, staring at him with an open mouth.
“And I know this town needs a very capable man to take over this position,” Luke continued, locking eyes with Caleb again.
“I could only think of one man who’d be fit to do that, whom I trust wholeheartedly, and whom I know will be the very best man for the job,” he declared.
“If you want it, that is,” he added, seemingly slightly unsure.
Caleb stared back down at the parcel, and he cleared his throat before he spoke. “I’d be very honored,” he said, his voice thick with emotion. “Yes! I want it!”
Evelyn held both hands to her face, and her eyes filled with tears when Caleb unwrapped the small gift. There, in his hands, atop the dark cloth lay the silver, polished sheriff’s star.
“Then it is decided!” Luke raised his glass to everybody there. All of them did the same, raising their glasses in salute—even Belle. “You are officially the new sheriff of Stevensville, my friend!”
Cheers erupted all around the table, and the atmosphere was as high-spirited as it would be on Christmas day. Luke walked around the table to where Caleb sat, took the sheriff’s star, and applied it on Caleb’s vest. Everybody clapped their hands in applause.
“I must say,” Mrs. Keagan said, as she leaned in closer to Madelaine with a telling grin, “your husband is quite the catch.” Luke coughed when he heard that, and Madelaine smiled at the woman, knowing how embarrassed Luke would be at such a comment.
“Oh, I know,” Madelaine replied, grinning widely as she watched how her husband blushed slightly.
“Your mother and father would be so very proud of you!” Mrs. Keagan added a little quieter, smiling warmly at Madelaine, who knew that the woman meant well.
Madelaine swallowed around the lump in her throat.
It wasn’t there out of sadness. She was emotional because they weren’t forgotten.
“Thank you. I appreciate that more than you will ever know,” she said, blinking away tears welling up in her eyes.
Mrs. Keagan was one of the very few people who’d actually known her parents.
“It’s true,” Simon exclaimed as he pushed some beans around on his plate in an attempt to get them onto his fork.
When he finally managed it, he shoved them into his mouth, clearly enjoying the taste of them.
As he looked up at Madelaine, she only saw his innocence, and she meant to leave it as an off-the-cuff comment, but then Simon continued.
“I saw Father in my dream last night, and he said that he was proud of us.” Almost everyone at the table fell silent.
They all stared at him, but he just went back to pushing beans around as if he hadn’t just said the most meaningful thing.
“He’s proud of all of us,” he added. Madelaine and Evelyn exchanged wide-eyed glances.
“I’m glad to hear it,” Madelaine said, trying to word it carefully. “Has he said anything else to you?” she asked hesitantly. Simon nodded.
“Yes, he asked me to look after Maddie’s baby boy,” he added nonchalantly, “but I am not a baby anymore, and Belle is a girl, so he must have been confused.” He shrugged, clearly paying no mind to it.
Madelaine inhaled a deep breath and leaned back in her chair. Subconsciously, she put her hand flat on her belly, and that was the moment when Luke almost dropped his fork. Looking back at Simon, he quickly swallowed the food he was chewing.
“Baby boy,” Luke repeated, confirming Simon’s words with a deadpan expression. “He said that you should look after Maddie’s baby boy?” Luke asked as he cleared his throat.
Simon nodded, as if he’d said the most normal thing. Luke’s eyes darted back to Madelaine, who realized at that moment what she was doing. Instead of removing her hand, she stroked her belly in a circle, smiling down at it with a sigh. Apparently, it was time to tell.
“Wait! Wait! Wait!” Luke exclaimed, leaning closer to her, his eyes darting from her hand to her face and back again. “Are you telling me…”
“Are you pregnant?” Evelyn yelled, interrupting him, immediately hiding her mouth behind both hands as her eyes filled with tears. “Are you? You are, aren’t you?”
The table fell silent. All eyes jumped to Madelaine. Even Belle looked over to her curiously. Simon chewed loudly, watching her.
“Yes,” she said, almost in a whisper. “I am pregnant.”
The whole room broke out in cheers and jubilation.
THE END?
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