Polly clutched him and stopped dancing. “I liked you the moment we met at Bea’s Confectionery. I trusted you when Bea thought our marriage of convenience was a good idea. She’d never have gone along with it if you weren’t a good man. And I’ve loved you since the moment I saw you in the church. You clinched it when you saved Bea from the earwig. But what really made me realize you were the man for me was when you went out of your way to help me find the children—and then teaching Noah how to ride and rope.”
“Is that a yes?”
She smiled at him. “That’s a yes.”
Margaret put the cover down on the piano. “My day is done. Good night, love birds.”
“Let’s go to our room,” Ford said. “We have some catching up to do in our marital duties.”
Polly grabbed her sarsaparilla. “Just in case we get thirsty.”
Epilogue
Two years and fifty-one weeks later
Even though Ford made sure Polly and the children visited Mockingbird Flats often, she was tickled when he turned the wagon up the lane to the boardinghouse, for she missed her sister dreadfully.
Ford called Noah, who clambered over his sisters and the luggage to get to the back of the driver’s seat. “Think you can run in and get Calvin and Blake to help unload?”
“Sure thing.”
Ford scowled at his wife. “I do believe we’ve brought half our household belongings.”
She scowled right back, but knew they were both teasing. “You name one thing we won’t need.”
He blew out his cheeks. “I give.”
Noah laughed. “Aunt Merry will think we’re moving back in.”
“They’d have to build on again,” Ford said. “The third-floor suite won’t hold us any longer now that you and Evie have a little sister and a baby brother.”
“I still think it’s silly to call a baby Manny. He ain’t a man.” Noah hopped off the wagon before it stopped and was running before his feet hit the ground. “Calvin!”
His cousin ran out to meet him and they clapped each other on the shoulder in the grown-up way that older boys do. Polly wanted to get out of the wagon, too, but with a nursing baby in her arms and a toddler ready to break for freedom, she had to be content to wait until Ford helped her down.
“I’m so excited for the party!” Evie, who’d gained enough weight to look hale and hearty, straightened her little sister Stephanie’s dress and kissed her chubby cheek. “We get to see our cousins!”
Evie had worked for months making all kinds of crafted items for her cousin Abigail and her new twin cousins, who were within a month the same age as Stephanie. “How come Stephanie and Manny don’t get presents?”
“Because we know when their birthdays are,” Polly answered. “But we don’t know the dates of birth for you, Noah, Calvin, Abigail, and Tammie, so we have an adoption day party instead.”
“I think we have the better deal,” Evie said. “Because we’re having a big party. The biggest!”
By then, Ford set the brake, chocked the wheels, and had done all the fiddling he needed to do. He held out his arms to the girls. “Let’s get the princesses off the wagon.” He took one in each arm and set them on the ground. “Evie, better make sure your little sister doesn’t dash under the horses’ hooves while I’m getting your mama and brother down.”
“Polly!” Merry hurried out of the boardinghouse and hugged her sister and baby nephew. “Everyone’s here and the table’s set.” She kissed her sister on the cheek again.
Blake finally caught up to his wife. “Ford, I’ll unhitch the team. You better get your tribe settled.”
“You’re just shirking twins duty.”
“Sharp man.”
Merry poked his ribs. “You know they’re fine with Elvira and Abigail.” She turned to Polly and took the baby. “He’s so sweet! Just wait a year.”
Polly rescued Stephanie, who was halfway across the yard studying a weed in full seed. “Evie, you can go in the house and play with Abigail now. I’ll take care of your sister.”
Evie tugged on her box of goodies. “I’m taking my presents in first.”
Noah and Calvin ran to the wagon.
“I’ll take it,” Calvin said as he hefted the box over his shoulder. Noah grabbed the baby’s bag and a valise, and the two of them headed for the boardinghouse.
“How did Noah and Evie do in school this year?” Merry asked Polly after all the children had left.
“Very well. This last year, Noah went from fourth grade to sixth—a grade ahead. Evie’s spot on and she’ll be in fourth grade next year. Of course, Stephanie wants to go to school with them but she’ll have to wait her turn. And yours?”
“They’ve done well, too, despite the distraction from the twins. Calvin’s very bright and Abigail keeps right up with him.”
The suite Polly had thought so spacious when she’d first moved Evie and Noah to the third floor now seemed small. She took baby Manny from Ford and put him in the bassinet. “It’s amazing how the smallest humans take the most space.”
Ford took his wife in his arms. “Doesn’t matter, as long as we always share whatever space is left over.” He laid a toe-curling kiss on Polly and she clutched his strong shoulders ready for more.
“Ahem.” Noah stood in the doorway. “We’re lighting the candles now.
Polly grabbed the baby and they all headed down to the dining room. John Allsup, Bass Barnell, and Gideon Warren met them and congratulated them on their new arrival.
“We fellows will have a cigar later,” John offered, patting his vest pocket. “And maybe a wee dram of brandy.”
Polly noticed Bass had a lady friend with him. Since he’d never once brought a lady to the boardinghouse, she was very curious about her. Polly smiled at her and said, “I’m Polly Daily. And you?”
Bass pulled her to his side. “This here’s my wife, Neva Jo.”
“Your wife?” Polly had never known him to even court a woman, and Merry hadn’t mentioned it, either.
“We’ve been married for eight years.” Neva Jo gazed up at her husband. “I was too young—not in years, but of a mind. I finally realized a woman can’t get any better husband than what I already had.”
Elvira banged the gong. “Let’s get the party started!”
The children had a great time. After they’d eaten their fill of cake and cookies, Merry ushered them into the back yard to play while the adults recovered. Meantime, Polly and Merry stole a little sister time to catch up.
Later that night, when Polly and Ford finally got the children settled down and in bed, Polly snuggled up to Ford’s side.
“Remember that nasty Mr. Ecclestone?”
“Sure do. He’s a hard man to forget.”
“I’m thankful to him every single day, because if he hadn’t been so unreasonable, I’d never have proposed to you.”
“I hadn’t thought of it that way.” Ford kissed her on the nose. “Speaking of which, I owe you one.”
“You do?”
“Yes.” He braced himself over her. “Will you be my wife forever?”
“Ford Daily, you’ve made me the happiest woman in the world. I will.”
About Jacquie Rogers
Jacquie is a former software designer, campaign manager, photographer, deli clerk, and cow-milker. She was a Golden Heart Finalist. Her 2007 release, Faery Special Romances, won the Fall NOR Award for Best Print Sci-fi/Fantasy Romance. She has donated all royalties from this collection to the Children’s Tumor Foundation, helping to end neurofibromatosis through research. She has contributed to several anthologies and series.
In addition to numerous other awards, her Hearts of Owyhee Series has won acclaim as well as a Laramie Award Grand Prize. Her first two Honey Beaulieu novels, Hot Work In Fry Pan Gulch and Sidetracked In Silver City, won four Will Rogers Gold Medallion Awards in 2017. Jacquie teaches several workshops both online and in person.
Find Jacquie on the Net:
Website http://www.ja
cquierogers.com
Blogs: http://jacquierogers.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://Facebook.com/groups/JacquieRogers/ (her Facebook group)
https://www.facebook.com/JacquieRogersAuthor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jacquierogers
A Family For Polly
By
Jacquie Rogers
Copyright © 2019 by Jacquie Rogers
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.
Occasionally a character will be named after a reader with the reader’s knowledge and permission. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously. Any other resemblance to actual persons living or dead, businesses, events, or locales is purely coincidental.
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