Epilogue
Two years later
Libby didn’t need to see the Sawmill Antiques freebie calendar hanging on the kitchen wall to know what day it was. Tuesday, the first day of September—Benny’s thirty-fifth birthday and their daughter Katie’s first one. Opal and Minilee had declared she was the spitting image of Benny’s grandmother Katie.
Libby was dancing that morning with excitement. Several times over the last few days, she had almost blurted out the secret she had been keeping from him for a whole week.
Benny came into the kitchen, wrapped his arms around her, and drew her close to his chest. “Good mornin’, darlin’.”
“Happy birthday to you. Your present is on the table.” Her arms snaked up around his neck and pulled his face to hers for another kiss.
“Last night was amazing enough to be my birthday gift,” he whispered.
“For me, too,” she agreed. “Katie’s present to you is that she stayed asleep while we made a little noise last night. We have been together more than two years now, and I love you more today than I did the day we got married.”
“Right back at you,” he said with a grin, and like he did every morning, he went over to Katie’s high chair to give her a kiss. “Good mornin’, baby girl. It’s still hard to believe that your mama gave you to me for my birthday present last year.”
Katie patted her daddy on both cheeks and then held up her arms. Benny took her out of the chair and carried her over to the kitchen window. “Look, sweetheart!” He pointed toward the trees that grew out beyond the fenced yard. “The deer have come up this morning, and there’s a little fawn who came up here to wish you a happy birthday. It’s going to be a wonderful day. You will have a little birthday party with Naomi and Claude in Paris. Opal and Minilee will be there with us—and afterwards, we will come home and have our own party right here.”
Libby’s thoughts went back to the evening they had gotten married and moved into the house together. Benny had offered to close the store and take her for a honeymoon anywhere in the world, but she had chosen to spend the time in their new home. It hadn’t been completely finished then, but there was a big four-poster, king-size bed in the right room. Benny had put a patio set out on the back porch, and they’d had their meals out there every day—when they weren’t having them in bed.
Benny broke into her memories with a question. “What is your mommy smiling about?”
Libby poured a cup of coffee and set it on the table. “Our honeymoon.”
“Would you have changed anything about it?” he asked as he put Katie back in her chair.
“Not one thing about those four days—or about anything since I first arrived in Sawmill,” she answered. “How about you?”
He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and took a sip of his coffee. “Not one single moment. My life started when you came to Sawmill, and the way I figure it, we’re still on our honeymoon and will be until Katie is a grandmother and we are watching the deer in the backyard with our great-grandchildren.”
Libby made herself a cup of decaf coffee. “Are you going to open your present?”
“I told you not to buy me anything,” Benny said. “I’ve got all I need or could ever want right here in this house.”
“Open it,” she insisted. “I promise I didn’t pay much for what’s wrapped up in that Christmas paper. I hope it’s a surprise and you haven’t guessed what’s in it.”
“Okay. Let’s open this up.” He picked up the long, slim box and shook it. “Sounds like a new pen. I hope it has a GPS locator on it so I can find it anywhere in the store. You know how I am always losing mine. I don’t think you can beat last year’s present of Katie.”
“Oh, really?” Libby raised a dark eyebrow and pointed to the picture hanging above the kitchen table. She had rescued the rough draft of the house they had designed on the back of Christmas paper and had it framed for him the first Christmas after they were married. “I thought you really loved that.”
“I do,” he said with a nod. “I don’t know how you managed to keep those plans, but I love that we still have them up there to remind us of our first rough draft of this house.” He smiled and lowered his voice. “And I really like that you’ve wrapped most of my gifts in Christmas paper ever since then.”
“Most?” Another eyebrow shot up.
“Last night’s present was wrapped in something silky and sexy,” he teased.
“You do realize that the time is coming when Katie will be old enough that I’ll have to be more discreet in what I wear around this house?” she asked, wishing he would hurry up and unwrap the present before she blurted out what was inside the box.
“Then you will be sexy in a long flannel nightgown.” He pulled the tape off the ends of the present carefully.
The box had once held a letter opener. Libby had found it in an old dresser drawer, and since it was definitely not an antique, she had claimed it.
Katie began to fuss, so Libby put a few pieces of cereal on her tray. She was planning to make chocolate chip pancakes for their birthday breakfast—both Benny’s and Katie’s favorite—but she didn’t want to miss Benny’s expression when he opened his present.
“Is something going to pop out and startle me?” he asked when all the paper was gone.
“I hope not!” She clasped her hands together in her lap and held her breath.
He eased the lid off and peeked inside. His eyes got wider and wider, and his smile grew bigger and bigger. “Is this for real? You aren’t teasing me, are you?”
“It’s real!” Libby answered.
“When?” he asked.
“I won’t know the exact date, but sometime at the first of the summer, just a couple of months before Katie’s second birthday,” she answered. “Are you—”
Benny jumped up so fast that his chair fell over backward with a loud thump. He picked Libby up out of the chair and danced around the room with her. “Yes, I’m happy, if that’s what you were going to ask me. I’ve always wanted a big family, and Katie needs a sibling.”
They were both panting when he finally took her back to the table. “Can we tell everyone today?”
“I’d rather wait until the first trimester is over,” she answered, “like we did with Katie. I liked having it to ourselves for a little while.”
“Then we’ll announce it at Christmas,” he agreed and laid a hand on her still-flat stomach. “This is a wonderful birthday present. Thank you.”
“We’ll have double diapers and high chairs, and we’ll have to put a second crib in the office,” she reminded him.
“I wouldn’t care if we had twins or triplets and had to do more than that,” Benny assured her. “I love you so, so much.” He planted kisses all over her face and then held her close to his chest.
Benny’s whole personality, strong and steady, was right there in his heartbeat—just like it had always been.
“I love you right back. You might get a son this time,” she told him.
He pulled back enough to push a strand of dark hair from her face. “I don’t care if I get a son or another daughter. Either one is fine with me.”
Claude waved from the porch that used to be part of the Taylor estate when Benny parked the truck in the circle drive. He had a book in his hands, and several small children were gathered around him. Benny got out, rounded the front of the vehicle, and opened the door for Libby.
Naomi came out of the house and made a beeline for the truck. She flung open the back door, unfastened Katie’s car seat belts, and picked her up. “Happy birthday, sweet baby girl—and happy birthday to you, Benny.”
“Thank you,” he said and draped his arm around Libby’s shoulders.
“You gave me and Claude a new lease on life when you turned this into a women’s shelter,” Naomi said. “The house is filled with laughter, and we’re helping needy women get new starts all over the place with the contacts you have around the country. Walter and your dad both would be so proud of you.”
Claude reached up for Katie, but Naomi shook her head. “You can have her later.”
“Claude, I could finish reading the book to the kids if you want to go inside,” Libby offered.
Claude handed the book off to her and followed Naomi and Benny into the house. “That’s a good woman you’ve got,” he told Benny.
“Yep, and I’m one lucky man to have her,” Benny said.
A safety gate blocked the bottom and top of the staircase. Four women—some still with fresh bruises—waved at him from the living room, where toys and babies were everywhere. When they reached the kitchen, where Opal and Minilee were having coffee at the table, he noticed three more women in the backyard. Two were pushing their children on the swing set, and the other one was sitting on a blanket under the shade of a big pecan tree with a set of twins.
Benny had teased Libby about having twins this time around, but he really wouldn’t care if they did have more than one baby this time around.
“I’m taking Katie out in the yard to push her in the swing. Claude did good when he built a special one for her and hung it in the tree,” Naomi said without stopping. “I’m glad she doesn’t mind sharing with the other little ones that come through here.”
Benny went to the window and watched the mothers and children enjoying a day out in the yard. A few minutes later, he saw the children who had been on the front porch rush into the back yard, with Libby right behind them. She stopped and visited each mother as she crossed the yard to the pecan tree, where Naomi was pushing Katie in the swing. Benny couldn’t hear his daughter’s squeals or his wife’s laughter, but he could tell from their expressions that they were happy.
“It’s been a good two years,” Opal said.
“We are so proud of you for all this, Benny,” Minilee added.
“Thanks, but like I told Naomi, this was Libby’s idea.”
“But it was yours to do, and there’s no telling how many women will be helped by it in the future. Exactly where have you been sending them when they leave here?” Opal asked.
“I can’t say where they all end up, but my dad has helped a lot, with his contacts in the oil business,” he answered without taking his eyes off his wife and child.
“It’s better that we don’t know,” Minilee said.
“Probably so,” Benny replied.
Libby left the swing and crossed the yard. Benny thought she was even more beautiful in her sundress, which was the exact same shade of blue as her eyes. A gentle breeze blew her dark hair away from her face, and when she looked up and saw him in the window, she smiled and waved.
He met her at the back door and drew her to his chest in a tight embrace. “I love you so much, Libby Taylor.”
She whispered the vow she had made to him on their wedding day. “I will love you with my whole heart and my soul, forever and a day.”