“Absolutely. I know we’ll be happy there. The man I love says it’s a wonderful place to live and as a wedding gift to you, I want you to take us there. I even think there’s another family who might be interested in going along with us.”
“Who?”
She reached up and put her arms around his neck and pulled his face close to hers. “You’ll see. Now thank me for my gift to you by kissing me senseless.”
“That I can do.” His mouth covered hers. After a long passionate kiss he pulled back and said, “Mrs. Larson, I love you more than life itself.”
“I think you should show me right now how much you love me. Since we’re going to be traveling a long way with our two children, you won’t get that many opportunities in the next few weeks.”
“I’ll be damned.” He chuckled and kissed her again. “I’ll find a way.”
She giggled. “I bet you will, Mr. Larson. No, that’s not right. I know you will.”
Epilogue
West Texas 1859
“Why can’t we see the babies right now, Daddy? It’s almost my bed time. Why do we have to wait? They come while we were at Miss Rachel’s house. When we got here Miz Mattie said we couldn’t go up and see them yet. I want to see them now.” The four-year-old little girl with black curly hair looked up at Clint with her hands on her hips.
Before he could answer, twelve-year-old Joey said, “Hope, Daddy said they’re eating and we could go in to see them when they get through. Right, Daddy?”
“That’s right, son.”
“But you saw Mama.” Hope looked up at Clint.
“Yes, Hope. I saw Mama, but that’s because I’m her husband. A husband gets to see her first.”
“Why?”
“’Cause he loves Mama, Hope.” Joey frowned at her.
“I love Mama, too.”
Joey looked at Clint. “I think I liked her better before she learned to talk.”
Clint laughed. “It’s probably because she’s a girl, Joey. Girls have always talked more than boys.”
“But Hope talks too much.”
“I don’t talk too much, do I, Daddy?”
Before Clint could answer, the bedroom door opened. “They’re through eating. You can bring the children in now, Clint,” Mattie Watson said.
Hope’s big brown eyes got bigger. “Carry me, Daddy.”
Clint reached down and took her in his left arm. He put his right hand on Joey’s shoulder. They stepped into the room as Mattie stepped out and closed the door. He looked at a smiling Fiona, propped up on a stack of feather pillows. Her blond hair was brushed and hung over her shoulders. She wore a blue bed jacket that brought out the crystal blue of her eyes. Though there were a few tired looking circles under her eyes, her smile assured him she was a happy woman. Clint’s heart came to his throat. She looked so beautiful lying there with a baby in each arm. He loved this woman more every day. He couldn’t help thinking he was the luckiest man in Texas.
“Come on in, children. Let me introduce you to your new brother and sister.” Fiona smiled at them.
“I wanted a sister and Joey wanted a brother,” Hope said.
“I know. I couldn’t make up my mind which to have so I decided to have one of each.” Fiona grinned at her two older children. “This is your brother.” She nodded to the baby in her right arm. “His name is Jonathan Webb Larson.”
Tears came into Joey’s eyes. “My other daddy’s name.”
“Yes, darling. Your other daddy and my brother. Do you mind your new brother having your daddy’s name? We thought we’d call him Johnny.”
“I think it’s great.” He grinned. “Do you mind, Daddy?” He looked up at Clint.
“It was his idea, Joey,” Fiona said.
Joey looked at Clint again. “Thank you. You’re a good daddy.”
“And you’re a wonderful son, Joey. As the oldest child in this family you have to set an example for the younger ones.”
“I will, Daddy.” Joey bit his lip and leaned closer against Clint’s side.
Fiona looked at Hope. “Why don’t you hop down and come over here and see your little sister. Her name is Rose Marian Larson. Rose was your other mother’s name and Marian was Joey’s other mother’s name. I know that doesn’t mean anything to you now, but someday it will. We’ll call her Rosie.”
“She’s little,” Hope said. “Can I hold her?”
“Not tonight.” Fiona smiled. “Maybe when I get strong enough to get out of bed I’ll help you hold her.”
After the children spent several minutes looking at the babies Clint took Hope’s hand and nodded to Joey. “Looks like your mama is getting a little tired and it’s past your bedtime. Why don’t you kiss her goodnight? You can come back and see her tomorrow.”
Hope kissed her and said, “Maybe I can hold a baby tomorrow.”
Joey leaned over and kissed her cheek. Raising his head, he whispered, “Thank you for naming them after my other mama and daddy and Aunt Rose, Mama.”
“I’m glad you’re pleased, sweetheart. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She watched as Clint led the children out the door. He stepped aside as Mattie came in.
“How did the children like the new additions?” She grinned at Fiona.
“I think they liked them, Mattie. I’m certainly pleased and heaven knows Clint is about to pop his buttons.”
“That’s for sure. He’s bragging about his twins all over the place.” Mattie came to stand by her bed. “I’m glad I was here to help the doctor bring your babies into the world.”
“I’m glad you’re here, too. It doesn’t seem like four years since your family and mine left the wagon train and headed for Texas.”
“I know.” Mattie chuckled. “I was mad because the girls wanted to come here instead of Oregon, but we made the right decision. Rufus loves working on the ranch with Clint and Lord knows I’m delighted to be nearby so I can help you.”
“You don’t know how much I appreciate your help, but you don’t have...”
“Now don’t you start that. I want to stay here with you until you’re on your feet. I don’t trust your housekeeper to take the right kind of care of these babies.”
“Clint is going to hire a nurse for them.”
“Well, until it happens, Mattie Watson will be here to see to their care.”
“Won’t your family...”
“Hannah won’t be back until next month. You know she’s been getting a collage education so she can teach school. Sarah is taking care of the house. I think she’s trying to prove to the sheriff that she’d make a good wife.”
“Do you think anything will come of their courtship, Mattie?”
“Who knows? Benny says he doesn’t like him, but at times I see him pretending to be a sheriff himself. We’ll have to wait and see if he can continue to win the boy over.”
Mattie leaned down and took the babies. “I’m going to put them in their cradles in the nursery. I’ll wake you when they need to eat.”
When she was alone, Fiona closed her eyes and wondered if Clint would come back and sleep beside her tonight. He’d been relegated to the guest room for a week and she missed his loving arms.
She didn’t have to wonder long. The door opened and Clint stepped in. Fiona reached out her arms to him. “Did you get them off to bed?”
“I did. They wanted to stay up and talk, but I told them I had to come back and check on you.” He moved to the bed and sat down beside her. “I’m so proud of you,” he whispered and leaned to kiss the top of her head.
“I didn’t do it by myself. You had a little to do with it.”
“Yeah, but my part was nothing except pure pleasure.”
She sat up and let him put his arms around her as she encircled his neck. “I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
“My darling Fiona, these last four years have been the happiest of my life. I don’t know how I ever got along until I met you.”
“It has been good, hasn’t it Clint?”<
br />
“Who would’ve thought when we left the wagon train with the Watsons that we’d come home to begin such a wonderful life?”
She took a deep breath. “I appreciate all the wonderful things you’ve provided for us, but I’d live anywhere with you, Clint Larson. As long as you and I and the children are together, that’s all I’ll ever want.”
He cleared his throat. “There’s one more thing I would ask for.”
“And what might that be, my dear husband?”
“You, my love.”
She frowned. “What do you mean?”
His laugh told her exactly what he meant and his words confirmed it. “How long did the doctor say I had to wait for you to heal?”
“Clint Larson, is that all you have on your mind?”
“Of course. When a man is married to a woman as beautiful and desirable as you are, what else would he have on his mind?”
“Well, you might as well get it off your mind for a few weeks.” She kissed his cheek. “Of course he didn’t say anything about snuggling, if you’re interested.”
“Oh, I’m interested, baby. At least I have something to look forward to. I don’t guess a few more weeks will kill me.” He stood and shed his clothes. “I guess you want me to put on that damn night shirt.”
“Of course. I can’t control myself when I see my handsome husband naked.”
When they were snuggled in bed, Fiona rested her head on his shoulder. “I love you, Clint Larson.”
“And I love you, Fiona Larson.” He kissed her gently.
Fiona was getting sleepy. “Clint, I was wondering about something.”
“What, my love?”
“How many more children do you want?”
Clint frowned into the darkness. “Fiona, you’ve just gone through the torture of bringing Johnny and Rosie into this world. Why are you talking about more children?”
“Well, if you’re going to keep buying ranches and making so much money, you’re going to need more than four children to inherit it.”
“How many children do you want, Fiona?”
“A couple more would be nice. Is that all right?”
“Of course. As I said, it’s an awful lot of fun to make them.”
“I agree, so I’ll see if I can hurry and get well so we can start on this project right away.” Her voice was getting slurry.
“You do that, baby.” He folded his arms tighter around her. “I don’t even care if we don’t have more children, but I sure want to go through the process of trying to make them.”
She kissed his chin and muttered, “Me too.”
In a matter of minutes they both drifted into a peaceful and contented sleep, knowing that no matter how many future little ones came along their love would be enough to last them and their children a lifetime.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I have held many jobs in my lifetime, but have always considered writing my career. While in the business world, I managed to write and sell over 400 articles, poems, and short stories for magazines and news papers. During this time, I toyed with writing novels, but those efforts are now tucked away in my files. In 1999 I started my first mystery novel. It was published in 2004 and was nominated for the best NC fiction by the Historical and Literary Society of NC. Fiona’s Journey is my 10th novel, but the first written under the name Agnes Alexander and the first Western Romance.
To learn more about the author, you are invited to visit her website at: www.agnesalexander.com
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