Thea wrapped her arms around the baby and let out a choked cry of happiness. “I cannot believe it,” she gasped.
Wakefield crouched next to his new family. His wife. His daughter. He’d been through so much. They all had. So often, he’d thought he’d hit rock bottom. He’d thought there was nowhere else to go.
But as it turned out, even the most painful paths had led him somewhere great. They had taken him down twisting and turning roads filled with bumps and thorns, but now look.
Look at where he was.
Epilogue
what’s not to be happy about
Epilogue. Thea
Epilogue
The wildflowers in the valley swayed in the breeze, their delicious perfumes carrying across the field. From where she sat on the blanket, Thea smiled to herself.
The sun kissed her face. The wind played with her hair. She was alive and well, with a wonderful husband and a beautiful daughter who was thriving. If there was anything left to wish for, she didn’t know what it could be.
Under the shade of some nearby saplings, the horses swished their tails. Wakefield lifted little Aria up, and she reached out and grabbed hold of a branch.
“Thatta’ girl,” Wakefield laughed. “You’re strong, aren’t you?”
Thea giggled as well. “Better watch yourself, Pa. She’ll be beating you at arm wrestling soon.”
“I believe it.”
Aria let go of the branch, and Wakefield kissed her forehead. At the touch, she smiled and gurgled. At six months old, she constantly made noises, but they’d yet to hear anything resembling a real word from her.
“She must be hungry,” Thea called. “Bring her over.”
Leaving the saplings, Wakefield brought Aria over to the blanket. Thea was ready with the baby’s bonnet, but Wakefield took it from her hands and tied it under the little one’s chin himself.
“There we are,” Wakefield softly said, adjusting the bonnet so no sun would get in Aria’s face.
Thea smiled to herself. From the day of Aria’s birth, Wakefield had doted on her. He had also been nervous about her safety. Although his high anxiety had diminished, he still always kept a watchful eye on her and often came home from the hotel midday just to see how she was doing.
Thea knew he would likely always have some fear attached to Aria’s safety, but she also knew that it could be managed. More than anything else, Wakefield loved Aria. Just as he loved Thea.
“Guess what?” Wakefield asked, setting Aria on his lap and wrapping his arm around Thea’s waist.
“What?” Thea briefly glanced up from unwrapping the sandwiches she had packed.
“Daniel got a response. There’s a schoolteacher coming. She’ll arrive from Wisconsin in a few weeks.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful!” Thea cried.
“Mm-hmm. In a few years, you’ll have a real school to go to,” Wakefield told Aria.
The one-room schoolhouse had been finished the week before, and although it was small, it contained everything a school needed. A chalkboard. A stove to keep the kids warm in the winter. A desk for the teacher and rows of seats for the children. Several more families had moved to Whiteridge over the last half year, and the arrival of a school had come not a day too late.
Things with the hotel had been wonderful as well. Though business was still picking up, Wakefield had several people staying there long term. He’d hired a husband and wife team to run the restaurant, which left him to man the front desk most days.
And, best of all, he hadn’t touched one drop of alcohol. Not since his last binge the summer before. He didn’t even serve it at the hotel, and never went to the saloon unless it was on business.
Instead, he came home to Thea and Aria. He went hunting and fishing with Noah. He helped collect funds for the church that would be built later that year.
Jenny had been right, after all. Life was complicated. Difficult. But sometimes easier to solve than one might think. Thea had seen the challenges in her relationship as mountains, things that would take great energy and time to climb over.
In the end, though, all that had been needed was a bit of love. A bit of acceptance and understanding. Wakefield and Thea had each offered up some of those ingredients, and together they’d formed a bridge between themselves. Slowly, surely, they had healed what had felt unhealable.
That’s not to say there were not bad days. Those were a fact of life. But the more willing Thea was to look past the hard times, to celebrate the good things and accept Wakefield as he came, the sooner the difficulties passed.
Aria made a bubbling noise and pumped her chubby arms.
“She’s excited about school,” Wakefield said.
Thea laughed. “She sees the blueberries.” Picking up a berry, she handed it to Aria.
“Pa needs to mash that up,” Wakefield said, taking the berry and flattening it before letting Aria have it back. “Little girl is still learning how to chew.”
Thea hid her smile. Had there ever been a more protective father than Wakefield Briggs?
“Pa,” Aria peeped.
Thea and Wakefield both froze then looked at each other.
“Did you hear that?” Wakefield asked, stunned.
Thea nodded. “What did you say, Aria?”
Aria turned her face up and knocked her palm against Wakefield’s jaw. “Pa,” she repeated.
Thea sucked in an excited breath. “Her first word!”
Laughing in joy, Wakefield tossed Aria up and caught her. The baby shrieked in delight.
“How about that?” Wakefield asked. “Her first word is ‘Pa.’ Sorry, Ma.”
Thea put her hands on her hips and pretended to be angry. “Oh, well, I should have known she would be a daddy’s girl. You two have been joined at the hip since the day she was born.”
“That’s right,” Wakefield happily agreed. “And that’ll never change.”
“Oh, really?” Thea laughed. “You are moving in with her once she gets married?”
“I’m building her a house between ours and the chicken coop. Any husband who isn’t all right with that won’t have my permission to marry her anyhow.”
“I would laugh,” Thea said, “but I believe you are being serious.”
“Pa,” Aria said, smiling at her usage of the word.
“That’s right,” Wakefield told her. “I’m your pa, and this is your ma, and we love you more than anything in the world.”
He held Aria up so she stood in his lap, his hands under her armpits. She bounced up and down, laughing and smiling.
“What are you so happy about, Aria?” Thea cooed.
Wakefield turned suddenly and kissed Thea on the mouth.
“Hey, now,” she giggled.
“What’s not to be happy about?” he asked.
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Tale 2
Chapter 1
her son, too
1. Noah
Chapter one
That sweet, freshly-hewn wood smell that Noah always associated with a good day’s work filled the air. Whiteridge had been full of it lately, first as the hotel was built, and, now, as the finishing touches were put on the schoolhouse.
Dropping his hammer into the grass, Noah wiped the sweat from his brow and stood back inspecting his work. Behind the one-room schoolhouse, in the shade of the trees, Chandler Mullins and Greg Dixon passed a canteen back and forth.
“Looks pretty good, if I do say so myself,” Wakefield said from next to Noah.
Noah smirked. “And not up a day too soon.”
They’d gotten lucky with the whole thing. Whiteridge’s first school had been funded by the town’s benefactor and unofficial leader, Daniel Zimmerman. High up in the Rockies, some days the tiny community seemed completely forgotten by the rest of civilization.
At first, Noah
had found such an existence unnerving, but now he found he preferred it. Forget all the big cities back east, and the towns with sheriffs, mayors, and leaders who claimed to speak for the people but who did anything but. Whiteridge would have elected officials one day, but for now, it did fine being run by those who’d built it using their own sweat and blood.
“You still fine to fetch the teacher tomorrow?” Wakefield asked.
“I can get away.”
Noah didn’t particularly like leaving the saloon. When Wakefield had washed his hands clean of it and opened the hotel instead, it had left Noah with a desire to fill his friend’s big shoes. Wakefield had run the Outpost saloon with an iron fist, and now that Daniel owned the place and Noah managed it, all that pressure had been shifted onto him.
But getting away for a bit, even if it was for only a day, would be nice. The new schoolteacher was coming into Pathways from Wisconsin, and someone needed to be at the train station to pick her and her son up.
A familiar gurgling drew Noah’s attention away from the schoolhouse. Wakefield’s wife, Thea, was coming down the road, their six-month-old baby, Aria, in her arms.
Aria burbled louder as she recognized her daddy and ‘Uncle Noah.’ She tried valiantly to talk, but the noises set on becoming words did not quite get to their destination.
“It’s perfect!” Thea trilled, coming closer and setting her gaze on the schoolhouse. She switched the chubby baby to her other hip, and Noah and Wakefield stepped forward at the same time.
“Here,” Wakefield said extending his arms.
“I got her,” Noah cut in, sending Wakefield a good-natured glare. “You get to come home to two pretty ladies every night. Don't hog.”
Wakefield snorted, and Noah took Aria into his arms. At the sight of him, she smiled wide and giggled.
“See?” Noah asked. “I’m her favorite ‘Uncle’ in the whole, wide world.”
“Right,” Wakefield sarcastically answered. “Once she gets to really talking, we’ll find out the truth.”
“Aw, you’re just jealous,” Noah answered. Aria was fisting his shirt’s collar, and he nodded at her little hand, using it as evidence of her love.
“Thief,” Wakefield grinned. “Trying to steal my girl. Why don’t you get your own?”
“I would if I could,” Noah said.
Wakefield guffawed. “You should really look into the mail-order bride agency,” he said.
Thea had drifted away, having stepped inside the schoolhouse to take a look.
“I suppose,” Noah noncommittally answered.
He’d been the one to convince Wakefield to do just that. To take a chance on a girl back east and bring her to the mountains to start a new life with him.
Things had worked out well for Thea and Wakefield, but if Noah followed the same path would he get as lucky?
“Why don’t you?” Wakefield asked.
Noah rubbed the back of his neck, feeling put on the spot. “I looked at the last paper,” he admitted, referencing the pamphlet full of east coast women looking to be mail-order brides.
“And?”
Noah shrugged. “I didn’t see anyone who... struck my fancy.”
Wakefield nodded, and Noah was glad he understood. When Wakefield first saw Thea’s ad in the paper, he knew something was special about her. Wakefield wasn’t a sentimental or romantic man, but even he had to admit he was drawn to Thea. He’d felt compelled to bring her to Whiteridge.
Noah had never experienced anything like that, and if he went ahead and ordered a bride without feeling compelled to, he knew he might regret it.
Aria patted Noah’s arm and made a noise of distress.
“She’s calling for her ma,” Wakefield explained.
“What, now?” Noah asked in mock shock. “I’m suddenly not good enough for you?”
He tickled Aria’s side, and her whining was replaced with laughter.
“Forget what I said earlier,” Wakefield said. “You really are good with kids. Anyone would be lucky to have you as a father.”
Noah looked over at Wakefield in surprise, but he had his thumbs in his belt loop and was making a point of avoiding Noah’s gaze.
“Thanks, Wakefield.”
Wakefield half shrugged. “I’ve noticed the way you’ve been moping about lately.”
“I’ve been moping?” Noah asked, genuinely surprised.
“In... subtle ways. Most people probably wouldn’t notice, but I guess I’ve known you too blasted long not to.”
Noah laughed, and Aria started squirming again.
“Fine,” Noah said. “You want to get down, there you go.”
He set Aria on her bottom on the ground, and she started pulling at blades of grass.
“She might try and eat that,” Wakefield cautioned.
“If she does, it’ll only happen once.”
Wakefield scowled.
“Let her live a little, Wakefield. It won’t kill her.”
Wakefield looked like he might protest again, but Thea was walking back toward them. It was an accepted fact of life that Wakefield was overprotective of Aria and Thea was always giving him an earful of it. She was more on Noah’s side when it came to life: fall down and scrape your knees a bit. It’s good for the body, good for the soul.
Wakefield, however, would have built a tower, put Aria in it, and hired a dragon to protect her if he could.
At the sight of her mother, Aria reached her arms up and cried out. Scooping the baby up, Thea set Aria on her hip again and smoothed out her dress.
“What are you two talking about?” Thea asked.
Noah and Wakefield exchanged a quick look.
“Ah,” Thea said, “I understand. Secret male things.”
“We’re making plans for finding Noah a wife,” Wakefield spilled.
Noah cringed.
“What’s the matter?” Thea asked Noah. “What’s that look for?”
Noah ran his palm down his heat-filled face. “Don’t know,” he mumbled.
Except he did. He was ashamed of being too particular. With no single women in Whiteridge, and hardly any in Pathways or Shallow Springs as well, he wasn’t in the position to be picky.
But he couldn’t help it. Noah wanted that fire in his chest that he’d heard people speak about. He wanted a woman who would smile at him the way his mother had smiled at his father.
A marriage born out of practicality was fine for some, but Noah wanted more. He only wished that desire didn’t make him feel so greedy.
“Well, we got a teacher coming tomorrow,” Wakefield said. “She’s a woman,” he added, as if that settled the matter.
Noah guffawed. “Too bad teachers are old and stiff.”
“Not all of them,” Thea said.
“All of mine were.”
Thea pursed her lips. “You better be nice to her tomorrow. Her son, too. This is a strange place. It’s hard to adapt.”
Noah tipped his hat. “Ma’am, I’ll be the most cordial I can be.”
Chapter 2
invigorating freedom
2. Rosalie
Chapter two
“Jacob, look. See the mountains?”
Rosalie’s ten-year-old son briefly glanced up from his book, looked at the train’s window, and then promptly buried his nose in the well-read pages once more.
Rosalie tried to stop her lips from pursing. Even if they did, though, Jacob would not notice.
“How many times have you read that?” she asked, nodding at the book. He shrugged. “Don’t know.”
“I thought Frankenstein frightened you.”
Jacob finally looked back up, scrunching his nose. He gazed toward the train’s window again, but he was thinking intently, not actually looking through the glass.
“It does,” he said after a moment. “But, it’s a kind of frightened excitement. I like it.”
“Are you excited about arriving in Whiteridge?” Rosalie quickly asked. Now that she had him engaged, she needed to co
ntinue the conversation before he retreated into his cave once more.
Her Silent Burden (Seeing Ranch series) (A Western Historical Romance Book) Page 25