“Aaron, you’re going to have to stop giving me gifts. You’ve already given me too much.”
“I think this is something you’ll like.”
“I’m sure I will, but—”
“You know you haven’t been into the section where the house was destroyed.” When she nodded against his chest, he went on. “I’ve changed the area in there. I knocked out the wall separating the room where we slept from the adjoining one. Now it’s one large room. I’m making what you might call a suite. There’s a comfortable bedroom, a sitting area and a work area. I also had a fireplace put in for heat.”
Drina frowned. “Why did you do all this, Aaron?”
“Because I’ve hired a detective to investigate your sister Hannah’s situation. He’s been writing me and sending me wires. As soon as he lets me know what’s going on with her, we’ll make a decision about whether we’ll have her settled someplace in Savannah, or have her brought out here.”
Drina sat up and looked down at him in the moonlight. “Oh, darling, there’s nothing more I’d like than to have my baby sister somewhere she can be happy.”
“I was kind of thinking she could move in with us. The big room is for her, if she wants it.”
Drina collapsed in his arms. “You wonderful man, you. Coming to Arizona to marry you was the smartest choice I ever made in my whole life.”
Epilogue
Walter Wilcox frowned when the young boy stood before his desk and held out the envelope containing the message that had come in over the wire a little while earlier. “The telegraph lady said to bring this to you right away.”
“Thank you, son.” Walter reached for the message and fished a coin out of his pocket.
The boy’s eyes brightened. “Thank you, sir.”
Walter nodded and as soon as the boy closed the door, he slipped his finger under the seal and removed the message.
He read the words on the paper and his frown turned to a big grin and he slammed his fist down on the desk in his excitement. “I knew this would happen! I just knew it, even if it did come sooner than I thought it would.”
The telegraph was short and to the point, and he continued to grin as he read it a second time. He then put it on his desk, stood and moved to the safe. He took out the mortgage papers he’d been holding on the Rocking Chair Ranch, laid them on the desk and in black ink wrote across them, PAID IN FULL. Stuffing them in a large envelope, he addressed the package to Aaron Wilcox at The Rocking Chair Ranch.
Putting it aside to take to the mail later, he reached for the wire and read it a third time. Shaking his head, he laughed out loud and couldn’t help saying, “I told you you’d say this to me someday, nephew, and I was right.”
The wire simply said:
Thank you, Uncle Walter.
Aaron.
About the Author
In 2012 Agnes Alexander’s first western historical romance was published. Drina’s Choice is her 7th in the genre. Agnes has lived all her life in her home state of NC, but loves to travel. Though she has visited 48 of the 50 states, she says she has an affinity with the west and loves writing and researching this genre. Other than traveling, her most favorite thing to do is spend time with her two grandchildren.
LINKS:
www.Agnesalexander.com
https://www.facebook.com/agnesalexander.549?sk
www.Pinterest.com/agnesalexander8
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