Epilogue
Early Summer
Wyn
“Do you think she’ll say yes?” Archer asked as he wrapped an arm around my waist.
“No way,” I said. “He put it on a kite this time for the entire town to see, but it won’t matter. She’ll say no. That’s half their fun. Grampy finds new creative ways to propose, and Muddy continues to refuse.”
Archer placed a hand on my rounded belly. “How are you feeling, Mrs. Keel?”
“Fine.”
“Yowsa.” He yanked his hand back. “She’s a kicker.”
I was still in my wedding dress, having just married Archer a few hours prior, but I’d switched to more comfortable shoes. The summer breeze teased the hair curled at my temples, and I breathed in the scent of grass and fresh air.
My parents were currently helping Lenni with her kite as she was shrieking in laughter at her friend Summer who was running around like a maniac.
The park was filled with townspeople. Community and happiness abounded.
Jane pushed the double stroller on the sidewalk with Mr. Powell next to her. She’d had a set of twin boys not three weeks prior. And then Poet had followed suit a few days later, giving birth to a healthy baby girl.
Cas and Salem headed in our direction, their daughter strapped to Salem’s chest like a koala. By unspoken agreement, everyone ambled toward us.
“Sorry we’re late,” Salem said with a sigh. “Sully needed a diaper change and then needed feeding and then another diaper change.”
“No worries,” I said with a smile as I fiddled with my aquamarine and diamond earring. “She looks pretty content now.”
“Milk coma,” Cas explained. “Only way to fly.”
“Fly high,” Brooks said in amusement.
“Sorry we’re late too,” Poet said. “Wren was napping and you never wake a sleeping baby.”
I tilted my head back and saw Grampy’s green kite with Will you marry me? scrawled across it.
“Are we taking bets on whether or not she says yes this time?” Jane asked.
Half the group said no, the other half said yes.
The green kite picked up a wind current, soared for a moment and then did a dive bomb into the grass.
“Bummer,” I said.
Grampy grabbed the kite, took Muddy’s hand, and then walked to us.
“Well?” Poet asked.
Muddy looked at her. “Well what?”
“What did you say?” she demanded.
Muddy grinned. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”
“Yes, we would like to know,” Poet said. “Are you going to make an honest man out of my grandfather?”
“I’m prolonging your grandfather’s misery by saying yes this time,” Muddy said with a fond look at Grampy who just squeezed her hand. “Now he’s stuck with me forever.”
One of the twins began to cry and Jane leaned down to pick him up.
Muddy held out her arms. “Gimme.”
Jane handed the baby over; just in time too because the other began to cry in earnest.
“Which one do you have?” I asked Muddy.
“Fitz,” Muddy said, pressing her cheek to the top of the baby’s head and crooning.
“Eamon’s going to need feeding soon,” Jane said with a sigh. “I can just feel it.”
Mr. Powell bent down toward the stroller and pulled out a blanket from the quilt diaper bag I’d made her. “Let’s sit.”
Soon, we had a collection of blankets spread out. Jane threw the nursing blanket over her and Eamon.
Lenni got tired of flying the kite and eventually let it fall. Dad spooled up the line, and then the three of them came to join us. Summer dashed back to her parents.
“Where are you guys going to dinner to celebrate?” Salem asked, gently moving her daughter’s foot away from her rib.
“The steakhouse where we had our first date,” Archer said.
“The steakhouse where I told Dad he needed to date my teacher,” Lenni informed everyone.
“Yeah, what was that about, anyway?” I demanded. “You seemed keen on getting your teacher and your father together.”
She plopped down on the edge of the blanket and shrugged. “I knew you wanted to date him, so I thought if I could make you jealous . . . you’d make a move.”
I raised my brows and looked at Archer. “Did you know about this?”
“I did not know about this,” he said. “I don’t know whether to lecture or be impressed.”
Lenni groaned. “Please, no lecture.”
“So, Wyn’s parents,” Declan said with a smile. “When are you guys moving to Huckleberry Hill?”
“Declan,” Hadley admonished. “Here, take your daughter.”
She handed Rory over who immediately became enraptured with her father’s shirt collar.
“It’s a valid question,” Poet said. “Everyone moves here eventually.”
“Do they?” My dad scratched his chin. “Interesting.”
“Very interesting,” Mom agreed with a smile. She looked at my dad. “How about it?”
Dad pondered for a moment and then nodded. “Okay.”
I blinked. “Okay?”
“Okay,” Archer said with a squeeze to my hand.
I looked at him. And then I looked at Lenni, who was peering at the sky.
“You guys already planned this,” I said with a laugh.
“We’ve already met with a realtor,” Mom said with a grin.
“But we’re building a house,” I announced. “On Powell land. With a grandparents’ cottage.”
“That’ll take a bit, Winnie,” Dad said.
“The Monroes are still working on our house,” Salem said. “Then they have to build Poet and Brooks’ place. We’re looking at your house being built, what, two years out?”
Jane put Eamon to her shoulder and began patting his back.
Dad’s phone buzzed and he fished it out of his pocket. “The realtor. Might have some places to show us.”
“Oh yay!” Mom said, clapping her hands together. “We better get going so we’re not late for dinner. Lenni, you want to come see some houses with us?”
“Yes!” Lenni shrieked. “Bye everyone!”
My parents clambered off the blanket and trekked toward their car, Lenni skipping between them.
Eamon let out a milky burp. Fitz started to cry.
“Swap me,” Jane said with a laugh.
Mr. Powell took Eamon while Muddy handed Fitz to Jane.
“Give me that baby,” Muddy stated.
“Yes, ma’am,” Mr. Powell said with a grin, handing his son over.
Wren started to cry and that set off Rory, which then set off Sully.
“It was good while it lasted,” Hadley said with a sigh. “Let’s get home.”
“Yeah, we should go too,” Cas said.
One by one, couples began to leave, leaving me and Archer alone together.
“Peace at last,” he teased.
“Not for long,” I remarked, putting a hand to my belly.
“Good. Peace is overrated.”
We sat shoulder to shoulder and stared up at the sky. Kites soared and caught the wind. Children laughed and their parents chased after them.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you something,” I said.
“Shoot.”
I looked at my husband. “The day Nancy dropped off Lenni and drove away without so much as a goodbye, you crouched down and said something to Lenni. She flung herself into your arms. What did you say that made her do that?”
He swallowed, his dark eyes brightening. “I said, Sometimes you don’t hold it together. You hold each other.”
He placed a hand on my belly. The life we created together kicked his palm.
Tears began to fall, and my throat tightened. “Hold me, Archer.”
He wrapped an arm around my shoulder. “I’ll hold you forever.”
Thank you for reading Maple Mountain and for riding along with me through the Saddles & Spurs series!