Epilogue
Hunter fidgeted.
He wasn’t good at waiting, and Grace was taking a long time.
She had spent the previous evening baking up a storm, and now they had to hurry if they wanted to get to the sheriff’s office in time.
They still had a table to set up in the front to welcome folks to the voting station for the day.
Against everyone’s better judgment, they were trying to name the town again.
This time they had narrowed the options down to several possibilities.
There was Deliverance, which Robert liked; Fortitude, which Hunter liked; Harmony, which was Grace’s suggestion; and Unity, which Julie had suggested.
Hunter was nervous not only because of the election but also because they were presenting his wife’s baking to the whole town today and announcing the start of her delivery service.
She had been baking for a couple of weeks, selling loaves of bread through the kitchen window, but today she was handing out pamphlets about her delivery service too. It was something she was very excited about.
“Morning,” Herman said, poking his head in through the kitchen door. He looked around hopefully for Grace. “Is she ready yet?”
“Not yet,” Hunter said with a smile. “You know what she’s like. But the cart is ready and packed.”
“I saw,” Herman said. “You been busy being a good husband.”
“A good employee, maybe,” Hunter joked.
Hector, who struggled a bit with grasping humor, shook his head. “No, you’re a good husband.”
Hector had proven to be a great assistant to Grace and had spent many a night and day in their kitchen baking with her.
In the weeks since his defection from the bandits, he had been nothing but a model citizen.
He had told Andrew, Michael, and Robert everything he knew about El Aguila’s operation, which was depressingly little.
It was clear that Herman had been kept around to man the camp, feed the prisoners, and clean up.
He wasn’t much of a thinker. But he seemed to have a knack for baking, just as Grace did, and Hunter was proud of her for giving the young man a chance.
“I’ll wait by the cart,” Herman said and disappeared.
“We’ll be right there,” Hunter said, turning his attention back to the door. What was his wife doing? He decided to go and see just as Grace came running down the stairs, all the while slotting a pin in her hair.
She took his breath away. Even dressed in nothing fancy, just a blouse and skirt with a light jacket, her hair done up in a bun, she was stunning.
“I’m sorry I took so long,” she said. “Are we late?”
Hunter shrugged. Oddly, it didn’t seem that important to be on time anymore. She was lovely, and he was crazy about her.
“Grace, you’re a vision,” he said, and walking up to meet her halfway down the stairs, he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her long and slow. “I am certainly the luckiest man in the world.”
“Oh, you just want more bread,” she teased and kissed him back.
She moved past him and headed down the stairs. “We have to hurry. How would it look if we weren’t on time for something this important?”
“It’s just an election,” Hunter said, following her down the steps and through the kitchen. “We’ve had three so far, trying to pick a name for this town. There’ll probably be another three before everyone agrees.”
“Still, it’s no reason to be late,” she chided him, but smiled as she did.
How could he do anything but smile back?
They hurried out of the house and climbed onto the cart, with Hunter helping Grace up. She smiled again, setting his heart aflutter. Then Herman flicked the reins and the cart trundled down the road.
On reaching the station, they found that Robert had set out a table for them at the entrance already.
“How thoughtful of him,” Grace beamed.
Hector and Hunter helped Grace carry the bagels from the back of the cart to the table and set up. She thanked them both, Herman with a smile and Hunter with a quick peck on his cheek.
People were starting to arrive and waited close by in groups, talking excitedly. Everyone, it seemed, wanted to give their town a name this time. Hopefully, it would finally be decided, but Hunter wasn’t going to hold his breath.
He watched Grace talking to folks as they came up to the table and happily accepted a free coffee and pastry from her.
There was an air of great excitement as the vote had also been opened to the farmers who supplied the town’s food. They wanted to be incorporated into the town, and although that meant the town was much larger than it had ever meant to be, everyone had agreed to include them.
Mr. Emmerson and Mr. Pike had been added to the town council list. Hunter, as a deputy sheriff, had spent a good deal of time riding between the farms and the town on patrol.
Several of the young men wanted to join the sheriff’s department, and Robert was busy training them, so soon there would be lawmen closer to the farms too.
After the rescue of their families from the hilltop camp, the farmers were a lot more accommodating. They seemed to like the town a lot more, and heaven knew when it came to fighting El Aguila, Robert needed all the help he could get.
More folks began to arrive. Hunter found Jeff standing to one side. They watched as Anita and Emily put ink on people’s thumbs to mark that they had voted. When he wasn’t watching them, he kept an eye on Grace through the doorway. She was so beautiful when she smiled.
“Wow, you are far too in love,” Jeff said with a shake of his head.
“It’s a good thing to be madly in love with your wife,” Hunter said, grinning as Grace looked over at him and blew him a kiss. It made his insides all warm and mushy.
Anita indicated they could let in more voters, and Jeff and Hunter waved the next group through.
Hunter noticed that Jeff wasn’t his usual upbeat self. In fact, he seemed quite worried about something.
“What’s eating you?” Hunter asked. “We haven’t had word of an attack or anything, have we? We’re not expecting trouble today.”
Jeff shook his head.
“Okay, so why so glum?” Hunter asked and elbowed his friend in the ribs.
Jeff scratched the back of his head. “I’m not sure how this happened.”
“How what happened?” Hunter asked, frowning.
“How I ended up with this problem,” Jeff said, being annoyingly vague.
Hunter looked through the door at Grace again. She was doing fine, laughing with some of the farmers.
“You might need to elaborate,” Hunter said, turning his attention back to Jeff. “I haven’t learned to read minds yet.”
Jeff sighed and handed Hunter a piece of folded paper. Curious, Hunter unfolded it. It was the last page of a letter.
“What is this?” Hunter asked. He read the signature. “All my love, Bonnie?”
“Exactly,” Jeff said. “Don’t you remember what I said when you and Grace met at the train station?”
Hunter had to cast his mind back. That felt like a year ago! Gosh, she had almost been kidnapped, and he had found out about her habit of fainting when she was terrified—something she seemed to have conquered since.
“I said that I would never have the problems you two have had because I was never going to invite Bonnie to come here. You do remember?” Jeff asked, speaking over Hunter’s thoughts.
“Yes, I recall something like that,” Hunter said. “So?”
“So,” Jeff said, pointing to a line in the letter, “she’s decided to come here on her own. No invitation or thought for my feelings. She’s on the blasted train already. She arrives next week.”
“She only just beat her letter,” Hunter said, grinning. He looked out at Grace, who was handing a pastry to one of the children. The little one smiled and took it eagerly.
“Don’t smile like that! This is not a happy event,” Jeff said through his teeth. “This is a disaster!”
Anita signaled again for them to let more folks in.
“Why?” Hunter asked when the people had moved through the door to the table where Anita and Emily sat.
“Grace and I couldn’t be happier.” He smiled at her, and she smiled back as she handed out more of the pastries she and Herman had baked.
Herman occasionally looked at Grace like she’d put the stars in the sky, which made Hunter smile even more.
The childlike big man really did see her as a mother figure, which only made Hunter think of his eventual children with Grace and how wonderful a mother she would be.
“Yes, but she was kidnapped twice, and there was that whole fainting thing,” Jeff said, echoing Hunter’s earlier thoughts.
That had been a harrowing time. All of that insecurity and fear. He never wanted to go through that again.
“She’s over that now,” Hunter said, still watching his wife happily.
“Right,” Jeff said. “But what guarantee do I have that my story will end so happily? I don’t know what to do.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Hunter said, putting an arm around his friend’s shoulders. “It will be great. You’ll see. I’ve never felt so at peace before, and it’s all because of her. Trust in God!”
“Right,” Jeff said. “You’re not hearing me, but it’s fine. If you’re going to be this unreasonably cheerful, I’m going to stand over there.” He moved away from Hunter.
Hunter’s laughter faded. Jeff was expressing a fear that gnawed at Hunter every time Grace was out of his sight.
He was concerned that El Aguila would exact revenge on him and take Grace from him once more, but this time permanently.
But instead of paralyzing him, the fear galvanized him to do more, to try to find and arrest the bandit leader and rid the area of his tyranny once and for all.
Hunter was more determined than ever to make this town safe.
He would just have to help Jeff see things his way. That was all.
As the morning progressed and the line of voters began to come to an end, Hunter tried again to speak to Jeff about his problem, but Jeff wasn’t interested.
He’d made up his mind that he was going to be miserable and that was that.
Hunter would have to wait until Bonnie showed up and then try to speak to Jeff.
Or maybe Michael or Troy could intervene.
By lunchtime, Anita and Emily determined that everyone who had registered to vote had cast a ballot, and they closed the station to begin the counting.
Jeff and Hunter had to oversee that.
Herman made toasted sandwiches and lemonade and smiled from ear to ear when everyone complimented him on the food.
“It’s really good,” Hunter said around his chicken and cheese sandwich.
“Oh, I could never do it without Grace’s help,” Herman said and bustled out again to refill his tray.
Hunter beamed with associated pride. Yes, his wife was amazing. And best of all, she thought he was quite amazing too. What more could he want?
As the counting progressed in relative silence, Hunter was soon bored.
Standing around making sure that no one counted a vote twice had seemed like important work when they asked him to do it, but it ended up just being dull.
In the end, he joined in the counting and sat beside Grace, which was nice.
Soon they had a result.
“Unity,” Anita said. “I was really hoping for Fortitude.”
“I thought Harmony would win,” Grace said, looking a little disappointed. “But I suppose Unity is also good.”
“It fits,” Emily said. “After all, we are united now in our purpose and goals, aren’t we?”
Everyone nodded.
“It’s not bad,” Jeff said.
“I’ll go and tell my husband,” Julie said. She stood with a little help. She was extremely visibly pregnant now and waddled out to tell Andrew so he could make the announcement.
There was going to be a celebratory party at the campfire later that evening, but all that Hunter wanted to do was go home and spend some time with Grace. They had a card game pending. She had won three out of their last five games, and Hunter was determined to beat her this time.
“Unity,” Grace said as they packed everything up to head home a while later. “I like it. The more I say it, the more it rolls off my tongue.”
“Yes,” Hunter said. “Once we put some signs up, then even Jeff’s future wife will be able to find us.”
“Jeff has a wife?” Grace asked, shocked.
“A future wife,” Hunter explained. “She’s on her way.”
“No!” Grace beamed. “This is wonderful. I have to tell the girls.”
“Of course you do,” Hunter sighed, kissing her briefly before she darted away to tell her friends.
There was a cheer from outside. It seemed the town and the farmers liked the name Unity.
Hunter was left alone, cleaning up. He sighed.
Things in Unity were never quiet, but sometimes they were filled with hope and love, and this was one of those moments.
And even if Jeff wasn’t keen on the drama that love brought, he was going to find out about the wonders that came with it too. Hunter was sure of it.
Just then, there was a loud boom, and the ground shook. Hunter ducked as the windows in the sheriff’s station blew inwards. His ears rang from the sound and his heart skipped a beat.
“Grace!” he bellowed.
She was outside.
“Grace!” he shouted again.
Stumbling a little, unsteady on his feet, he staggered to the door and threw it open. A pall of smoke rose from the bridge—well, where the bridge had been.
Everyone looked stunned. He pushed past several people and found Grace standing with Anita, Kevin, Jeff, Andrew, and Julie.
Hunter grabbed her and held her close, feeling utter relief fill him. He’d been so scared!
“It’s gone,” Grace whispered, sounding shaken.
“I don’t care,” Hunter said, meaning it. “Are you hurt?”
She shook her head. “You?”
He looked down at himself for the first time and shook his head. “No.”
Everyone stood around staring at the smoke and fire that burned where their bridge had been, connecting the mine to the town. The middle was gone now, blown to bits.
Troy came running up to them, looking livid. “They blew it up! You know how long it took me and Lizzy to build that thing?? This is retaliation for you fools blowing up his hilltop camp!”
“And now we have no way across,” Michael added.
Andrew gritted his teeth. “We’ll find a way,” he said. “But El Aguila has made a big mistake. This means war.”
Hunter held Grace closer yet. “I’m sorry,” he began, wanting yet again to apologize for bringing her into this place of seemingly never-ending danger. “I?—”
Grace interrupted, looking up at him with bright, determined eyes. “I’m not sorry I’m here. This is where I’m supposed to be. It’s where God led me. And we’re going to find a way to get rid of El Aguila once and for all so that this town is safe for all of us.”
The look of determination on her face, so unlike the fear from a few weeks back, made Hunter smile slightly.
“Yes. We will,” he agreed. Then he kissed her gently before he and his new wife joined the rest of the crowd headed toward the bridge to assess the damage and determine what they would do next.
Whatever it was, Hunter knew God would guide them.
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.