Author's Note: Hello all of you wonderful readers who have waited so so so patiently for the next chapter! You all have been so gracious in waiting for this that I am scared I won't do it the justice your patience deserves. So many excuses as to why it took so long with the greatest of them being...it was JUST June! Where did the time go?! But alas, I finally got a moment and chose to hunker down to get this done. So, I hope you all enjoy this TWO PART epilogue that hopefully was worth your wait. So much love to you all and your unbelievable patience! This has been such an honor to have you all follow this crazy, chaotic story. I am deeply grateful and humbled to have been given the honor of your time and the opportunity to ignite your imaginations for fifty chapters!
Without further ado, I give you the conclusion of the story.
Fluttering across the sea of green, drenched by the early morning's light, daisies and honeysuckle speckled the encroaching meadow. Caught up in the summer breeze the tangled branches of the old weeping willow rustled crisply. Beneath their leaves, the clearing parted from the meadow, smoothing into a bed of fresh dandelions creeping toward the tree's old roots. Hushed into a peaceful silence, close friends and chosen family gathered at the clearing's edge, watching in anticipation. For drifting up from the circle, lifting above the willow's canopy, a clear and crisp voice spoke the vows her heart promised to keep.
"To love and to honor, to cherish and to keep, to love as my own and never forsake." Blending into the rustling leaves the voice swirled into the atmosphere before falling upon the ears of the girl standing close by Nan's side. Holding tight to the hand enclosed between her gentle fingers and wrinkled palm, Nan squeezed the girl's thin hand in her own with a tender reassurance. "My daughter, Allie, I promise my forever." A wink bubbled up into a smile upon Nan's reddened lips coming fully to face the daughter whom she chose to love as her own. Breathless was the sigh that drew Nan's gaze above Allie to the man standing beside them. Blue and gray depths glimmered with a flicker of black, but it was the golden hue sparkling in the twinge of gray that sent her heart into a flare of butterflies. My forever, Nan whispered inwardly, finding courage in the walls of tears blurring his beautifully weathered face.
Allie grasped her mother's hand and her father's too. Bringing their hands to rest atop each other, she laid his rough palm over her mother's tender knuckles. A squint peered through the cascading sunlight; its reflection caught in the tears building beneath the tremoring lashes. A grin settled over her blushing features as she watched the woman dressed in the baby blue frock loaned from Rosemary. But to Allie, the borrowed dress didn't matter. Only the woman watching her through a blockade of emotions spilling over in happy tears was present in her thoughts. For it was today that they became a family.
Clearing his throat, Joseph gestured his Bible in the slightest movement toward the bride. "Nannette Hallbrooke, what vows do you offer?"
Swallowing, Nan blinked rapidly away the teary haze as she looked away from Allie to the man whose hand held hers ever so dearly. As if a beacon in the foggy night, the serge's red anchored her heart steadily to him. But as she looked into those blue eyes, the red faded from thought to see completely the man who sought her heart in all its wreckage. Swallowing the lump restricting her shallow breaths, her soul soared above the tree line to the man whose heart she craved to hold. A heart that willingly offered itself now to her before the crowd of witnesses. As a corner of her lips turned upward, the tears threatened to block his crooked grin from view. "Nathan, I vow to honor and cherish you. I promise to protect your heart, keeping it safely hidden in my own." Her throat stripped dry in the words barely fathomable to believe possible. "I vow to care for you when your earthly body has grown frail and be your strength when your soul grows weary. To keep these vows when my heart is tired, and to love you even when you do not love yourself." Her lips trembled in the thundering weight of an aching heart, but their sound gave flight to her trembling soul. "I promise to love you, Nathan Grant, for as long as my life shall endure." A throbbing smile was trapped in her throat as his faint grin ignited the heat in his tan face. Her bottom lip slipped between her teeth in their shared, but silent giggle.
"Nathan." Joseph nodded toward the Mountie.
Smarting lashes unwillingly broke their trance. The long neck twisted before returning his gaze to her. A swallow shifted the Adam's apple ever so gently, dislodging the lump that had grown in his silence. Sunlight's flash caught a sparkle in the corner of the steadfast gaze. Its moisture now lined the gray depths as he watched his life before him. A sharp intake stuck in his throat, before it was cleared with a grunt. "Nannette, I promise to love you in sickness and in health. I promise to honor and cherish you, carrying your burdens with you. I promise to honor your loved ones who came before, and to build a future that makes room to remember those we have lost." Barely visible was the slightest flinch of his lashes as his humor laced his voice. "To love the vagrant who fell in love with my daughter." A wink was cast to his daughter's reciprocated smile. But his crooked grin faded in a breath, and with it drew a vibrancy from his heart that flooded his eyes and melted the humor into a rich seriousness. Small was the catch in the back of his throat, yet tender was the squeeze he gave her trembling fingers. "I promise to love you as long as my life shall endure."
Joseph nodded to Allie who promptly lifted her hand over their interwoven hands. In her pale palm two gold bands, one thin and one wide, gleamed in the sunlight poking through the arbor of branches above. Nathan's shaky fingers slipped the small ring around her knuckles until coming to rest in its forever place. A choked gasp hid Nan's lips between her teeth as she eased the cold gold over his knobby knuckles and set it into its forever place. Taking his hand once more, she allowed Nathan's hand to cover her own. Its heat closed her eyes for a split second before her bright gaze studied the curves of his temple, the sharp line of his chin, and the simple lift of his brow. His gaze fully upon her nearly swept her up in the summer's breeze, but the squeeze from his fingers drew her back to his side.
"I take thee as my wife."
"I take thee as my husband."
"To love and to cherish."
"Protect and support."
"For as long as our lives shall endure."
"For as long as our lives shall endure." Nan's heart swelled in a breath, but the aroma of honeysuckle was not what emboldened the blissfully painful ache drenching her soul in its pounding pace.
"I now pronounce you, Husband and Wife." Joseph gave a soft chuckling grunt. "You may kiss your bride, Nathan."
Nathan tucked her hand closer to his side, drawing her into his embrace. The brush of his soft lips caressed hers, growing in their silent yearning for the love that she offered openly. Her finger's delicate touch cradled his stubbled jaw in her palm, sprouting a passion into her veins that she trembled to restrain. Useless. Leather with the still odd hint of blueberry drew her under his captivating presence. Her thumb reached upward to caress the muscled indent of the side of his neck. Tickling locks upon her brow vanished from thought as his delicate, yet passionate kiss lured her further into his love. Its spark shot across her skin and touched her quivering heart as burning embers. The crowds' eruption into cheers and hollers broke their kiss, but her lips did not drift far from him. In the intimate place, surrounded by the love of others, Nan felt the entwining gravity keeping his heart grafted to hers. Long lashes laced the fire in the depths of his emboldened eyes. Its sparkle dared to wink at her in his proximity and blurred the world around them.
"I love you, Nettie." His whisper found her in the deafening cheers.
"Not nearly as much as I love you, Nathan."
A short squint defined the wrinkles beside his crooked grin. "Impossible."
Through the blur of the crowd, his weathered features cut through the haze of the sun's ascent. Wrinkles beside his eyes scattered thin shadows across the suntanned cheeks and sharp jaw. Her fingertips curled until her knuckles rested upon his cheek. "More than you know." Drifting toward him, her forehead lifted to meet his lowering forehead mirroring her movements. Her heart squeezed at the love his unwavering embrace bestowed on her aching soul, and yet, none of this seemed possible. A dream within a dream, yet his hand's small pressure upon the small of her back beckoned her to believe his kisses were true.
Allie's giggling cut above the chaos of the crowds' cheers, her sweetly beaming smile unabashedly distracting. But even she didn't dare break the spell of the couple's sweet embrace.
Joseph's booming voice cut above the crowd's noise. "For the first time, I introduce to you, Constable and Mrs. Nathan Grant."
Mrs. Grant. A short chuckle pinched the world from Nan's vision, dropping the wall of tears upon her cheek in a steady stream. Regardless of what was to come, whatever fears were to be made true or heartache was to be borne together, she would always and forever be Nathan's Mrs. Grant.
"So, you're off to your new posting?"
"Almost immediately." Nathan stiffened at the sound of Jack Thornton's voice. As strange as meeting the man had been, there was a stronger undertow that left an unsettling feeling in Nathan's gut. Perhaps it was the embarrassment of all that had passed since Jack's presumed death but standing before Constable Thornton now still left him feeling. . . hollow.
As if sensing this, Jack breached the tension thickening the air between them. "I want to thank you."
"For what?" Nathan frowned.
"It may sound-" White flashed behind that lopsided grin as he hoisted Little Jack up on his hip. "It sounds odd, but I do find myself indebted to you." Jack's twinkling eyes watched his son whose finger traced the wood button upon his father's suit. "For taking care of my son when I couldn't."
A sobering shake dipped Nathan's head. "It was my du-"
"No, Nathan. It was your choice. Even when things changed, you continued to care for them. Even if it meant from a distance." Shifting Little Jack's weight higher in the crook of his arm, Jack's muscular jaw tightened quietly. A dry grunt pushed the corner of his lip upward subtly. "My wife. . . she's always had someone there. Abigail, Rosie. . . this entire town has crowded around her and tried to fill the shoes I left behind." Jack watched his son resting upon his shoulder for a long moment. Inhaling deeply, Jack shook the thoughts that muddled his weighted mind. "I'll never get that time we've lost back, Nathan, but I find peace in knowing that Jack was never not loved."
Baby blonde wisps grew thin upon the oval head. Eyes, the color of forget-me-nots peered out through sleepy lashes. The tiny fists cupped under his oval chin. How quickly the Mountie had fallen for the quiet boy sneakily playing. Off to the side, yet rowdy in his play, he had dragged the train through the dirt that summer's afternoon. As if a picture frozen in time, the moment imprinted upon Nathan's memory. How much in that small moment had he meant to protect the little boy innocently playing. How much he had hoped. . . But that was a life he wasn't to live. Now, safe in the arms of his father, the boy had returned to the life once dreamt possible. An ache tugged at the pit of his stomach for only a second's breath. The boy had become more to him than just Constable Thornton's son, he had been loved as if his own flesh and blood.
"Mountie Naphan!" Little Jack's stubby fingers half covered his blue-gray eyes.
Snapping back from his thoughts, a chuckle breathlessly escaped him. Dipping his head, Nathan straightened upright and brought his index finger in line with his forehead. "Mountie Jack." The sober expression faded with a lopsided grin to Jack Sr.
Safe. The word washed over him in a billowing roll, nearly collapsing the stronghold of his widened stance. Deep within those clear little eyes, he could see his own reflection, his dreams, and his hopes of protection all muddling into the energized pupils. His heart ached with a terrible shutter at the realization blasting his heart in a blistering ache. The boy he had once dreamt of loving as his own was being cared for. His mission was complete, his purpose finished. Nathan's presence was no longer needed. Nestled into his father's arms, Little Jack was safe.
As Jack Thornton and his son sauntered off toward the Coulter's waiting beside their Elizabeth, Nathan sighed the ache away. Standing in the clearing, surrounded by friends who had become family, a wave of raw emotions flooded over his scarred heart. The mother was not who his heart ached for, not in the least. But the little boy who had wormed his way into his guarded heart? Forever and always the twist in his gut would ache just the same.
Floating across the crisp breeze, Nannette's chiming laughter grew in its exuberance, drawing his attention to her. From across the way he watched as Nan's neck arched backward in a laugh that bellowed from the depths of a full heart. Absentmindedly her hand draped across Allie's shoulders as Allie clung to her side. Near impossible to separate, Allie held tight to the woman who had swiftly taken up her rightful place in Allie's heart as her new mother.
Cheers' deafening cry swallowed up the form of her daughter before her.
"I'll see you soon." Allie beamed through tears not all from laughter. The pink blush in her cheeks held steady below the loose strands of chestnut locks dropping from the ornate hairstyle. A nod proceeded the push of her delicate hand upon Nan's elbow. "Go on, we'll be along soon enough."
A swift hand warmly clutched the girl's forearms, balancing herself against their unwavering strength. Nan's head dipped down to kiss Allie's forehead. "I love you, Allie."
Small at first, then gushing in a blush, her smile shook the dampness from her eyes. "I know." Allie slipped her arms around her mother's waist, holding her tight in her arms. "I love you, Mama."
A pressure on the small of Nan's back drew her away from the girl's side, but the image encrypted upon her memory would not begin to fade quickly. Something deep within her began to crack, a lump lodged in the pit of her stomach. A pit awakening a strength she had not felt in years. She would see them again, but the truth did not begin to ease the jarring ache scouring her heart in further separation.
Inside the train, Nan twisted in her seat to see out the clear paned window. A crowd of well-wishers waved as the engine began to sound its displeasure. Jesse's arm hung around Clara's waist as they shared a giggling wave to the newly married couple. Sarah held tight to Carson's arm, listening to the whispering secret his twinkling gaze offered. The Canfields huddled beside Molly and the Yost's as they cheered the train onto its next destination. Opal and Emily, Angela and Cooper stood beside the luggage and crates fits full of excited waves. Cooper, hoping for a better view, jumped higher on a crate before sneaking a descriptive remark to Angela.
Off to the side of the crowd, almost out of reach of sight, Bill stood alone beside the peeling wall of the Depot. With one hand upon his gun belt, the other wrinkled fist stretched flat into the sky with a swift jerk. Resolute his stare peered out over the crowd until finally, creeping upon his weathered face grew the grin they had all come to love.
Slowly, with a lump wedged tight in her throat, the scene blurred behind the curtain of mist welling in her eyes. Leaning into Nathan's side, her bottom lip caught between her teeth as she gazed out the train car window. Nathan's arm drew around his wife's waist as they waved to the crowd of friends and family. Nan nestled her arm against the inside of his shoulder, perfectly content in the reflex almost as if an old habit. But the not crowd, nor the two sharing the window's view occupied much of their thoughts. Standing amid the community they had grown to adore, positioned between Lee and Rosemary, was the object of their one constant thought. Lee's left arm rested across Allie's shoulders. Rosemary's right palm swept up and down her arm in redundant movements until finally, Rosemary's fingers lifted in a wave to the train. Allie was protected in the gathering of friends. There was nothing to worry about, but that didn't stop the ache from forming in the pit of their stomachs.
A jolt shifted the entire car forward in a terrible shutter. White bursts of steam billowed from beneath the train. Slow chugging pulled them farther from the station with each puffing jerk. Her eyes stung with the white mist. Rapid blinking combated the billow of smoke. Aches clenched her muscles as she fought the billowing smoke. A gasp sucked into her chest, yanking her eyes open from the melancholic daydream. Blinking, her chest heaved. The mist was gone, and the crowd had disappeared long ago. Only the clickety-clack of the train's wheels chugging across the prairie blocked her ears from the noise of silence.
Straightening her shirtwaist, she pulled herself higher on the train car's seat. Her throat was cleared with a soft grunt as the back of her hand deftly removed the sleep from her eyes. As the sleep receded the daydream's truth rushed in with a terrible, lonely ache. Two days they had been on this ghastly train. For two days they had been traveling without their Allie by their side. Soon they would leave the train to travel North by horseback to their new post. Without Allie, they would arrive, and they would get to work on preparing their home for her to come home to. Their home. The ache momentarily faded for a split second as the thought of home curled her lips. Alone they would arrive, but soon enough they would be together again in their new home. A free breath released the cramp within her chest, letting her shoulder lean back into the carpeted seat. According to the description, their new house was a small, three-room, one-loft cabin on the West side of town. That was all the paper Nathan had been given said, but somehow it didn't matter how quant the little cabin would be. Nan allowed herself to chuckle with a soft breath as she retrieved the forgotten book from her lap. As much as it pained her to be away from Allie, she forced herself to enjoy the momentary solace of the train's rickety chugging. She would soon not know the meaning of the word quiet for quite some time as her hands would be full making the cabin into a home, but that would only make the time go faster. The time that would soon bring their Allie back to them.
Creaking boots tapped across the aisleway before Nathan's muscular frame lowered into the seat beside her. Thick fingers slid through the wavy hair atop his head before his neck stretched out a kink. "Two more hours and then begins the long trek North to the Western Shore." He settled into the seat with a huff and a tug of his coat's hem. "Is that agreeable to you?"
Poking her nose out of the book she was barely reading, Nan's gaze slid over to the Constable. "I suppose it's a little late to turn back."
A lopsided grin flew across his face as he watched his bride for the longest moment. Suddenly, a wink squinted his eye. "Allie would never forgive you."
The book tapped upon her chin three times before she playfully wrinkled her nose at him. "I'd never forgive myself." The pointed look softened with a curling grin. "A new start is best for all of us."
"A new start." Nathan breathed the words. "It doesn't feel like we are running away?"
"What is there to run from?" Her neck tightened with a quiet scoff before she took note of his continued seriousness. Setting the book down, she offered him a side glance as she softened her tone. "Jack returned, little Jack is taken care of, and-"
"Allie has a mother?" Nathan's big nose butted into her sentence.
A blush splashed across her face. "Yes." The timid dip of her head bobbed swiftly. Slipping her hand around his arm, she leaned toward him. "Making a new life doesn't mean we're running from the old one. Change often gives way to growth." The shake of the train settled her temple upon his shoulder, but the empty seats before them were far from her mind. "Soon a new post will be taken, and then another will replace it. New friends will be mixed with the old. Always a life of country before comfort, but duty does have a consistency all its own."
"And what if I decide this is my final posting?"
Her neck stretched as her brow lifted to see him more fully. For a long moment she weighed the blank look he hid his thoughts behind. "Whatever you wish for our family, I'll accept it." Her tender grasp squeezed his weathered hand. "Only you can know when your calling is completed."
A cryptic smirk was subtly sent toward her. "Then you also don't mind me continuing on either?"
Impossible to read him anyway, she watched the seats more clearly instead. "Is it strange for a Mountie to have a family? Of course. But," Nan's index finger traced the white scar upon his thumb. "the Mounties are your calling, Nathan. If this is what God wishes for your life, then let it be my life too." She craned her neck to find him watching her. His crooked grin sparked the wink she cast him. "Just don't wait too long, we do want to enjoy our grandchildren."
"Grandchildren?" His voice smarted.
Hearing the shake in his voice threw a chuckle from her lungs. "Allie might want a family someday."
Keen was the eye whose brow lifted ever so delicately. "And if there are other children?"
Deep red and burgundies blended into the floral print upholstery of the seat before them. Its defined swirls, edges, and lines grew in their clarity the longer she watched the sunset flutter across the rich fabric. An ache tugged at the depths of her heart as the vision of those who could be theirs danced across her daydream. "Anything is possible, Constable." A sigh released the words as she turned her head toward him. "After all, Rosemary will be sorely disappointed if there weren't anymore, but nothing can be compared to Allie's devastation." Her head slanted to the right. "However much she may try and hide it."
His features froze in exaggerated realization. "Oh, good heavens, Rosemary will want to name them, won't she?"
"I suppose the name of Hamlet is too severe a punishment for a child." Nan's shoulder shook softly in a giggle. But her humor faded as the crisp lines beside his mouth remained smooth and thoughtful. A hundred miles away the blue eyes stared off at the seats before them. Nan released her breath from its stale prison, her cheek once more settling upon his arm. "I guess we never really did talk about a family, did we?"
"We didn't talk much about anything considering the future." A flick of his gaze watched her from the corner of his eye.
Nan's neck stretched to plop her chin upon her knuckles. "Do you want more children?"
"Once, a lifetime ago." His mischievous glance returned to her with a chuckle from him. "I know Allie wouldn't mind having more family."
Blinking back the desire to smile, she watched out the window as the world passed by. Trees and bushes seemed to dart past in the train's rapid chug across the prairie that seemingly stretched on forever. The windowsill blurred behind the ridges of her knuckles. The tiny freckles placed upon the ridges and valleys defined into focus. That terrible ache wedged in the depths of her heart didn't dissipate, but clarity swept across her soul as luminescent as a spring morning. A small smile came to her as she turned back to her husband sitting beside her. Crisp blue eyes stared back at her. Steadfast and true, and calming the mess of emotions twisting about her heart, she took courage in the clarity they offered her. "It doesn't matter to me how many there are or how they come or if they even come at all." Brushing her knuckle across his cheek, her soul swelled with the dreams flooding across her imagination. "I love the family the three of us already are together, Nathan."
"Then you don't mind that Allie isn't. . ." His gaze dropped bashfully to study the armrest between them. "ours."
"But she is ours." Clear eyes studied him carefully. The curve of the inside of her knuckle delicately cupped his chin. "I am her mother just as much as Colleen always will be. You've already proven regarding the love for your child that its power isn't connected by blood, but by a choice."
Placing his elbow upon the armrest, he leaned toward her, then stopped. His head turned his mischievous eye in a casual scan of the train. Coming back to her, his brow arched with a crooked grin that swallowed the distance between them. His lips brushed across her moistened lips, pulling her closer to himself. Her hand slipped across his jaw, embracing the gravity of his heart's electricity shooting across her tingling heart. Her palm rested upon his shoulder as he swayed from her embrace, leaning her forehead against his forehead.
"I think there's an ordinance against kissing in public, Constable." Her breathless voice struggled to find the train's previous roar.
"They'll allow it." The right corner of his lips protruded upward and wrinkled his nose. "Patriotism and all."
"Patriotism." She nodded under the potent spell of his presence. The gradually strengthening grin evaporated the space between them once again. "I don't need an excuse to kiss you, Constable."
"Nor I you, Mrs. Grant."
The train's rattling smoothed in a soothing rhythm. Resting her head in the crook of her husband's shoulder, her body floated in the rest his presence offered. Her head wobbled softly, but her gaze held to the horizon. Trees and bushes rushed on in a haze. The mountain's swooping lines drifted past. Dreams of tomorrow began to materialize inside her daydreams. The house they would build, and the home they would welcome Allie into, was crafted and built, created by her measured concentration. In the kitchen, filled with sunlight and the scent of blueberry muffins, she would tutor Allie until a school could be arranged. But first, summer. Its long walks in the woods would be where they would come to find their favorite river to fish in and the best places to picnic tucked far away from the world. Late in the evening, after Nathan returned home, they would begin a trail from their porch to the meadow beyond. In those endless fields, they would walk together talking about their day, planning for their future, and saying nothing at all. Heavy lashes drew weary in the rush of the visions. The crisp daydreams slurred, meshing in a roll of pictured thoughts until they too grew lazy in their succession. The rock of the train grew steady in her body's weightless position. Through the train's wavy pane window, the sun's waning light fell upon her still form as she leaned up against her husband. The sun's cozy warmth drew a blanket around her, drifting her off into a nodding slumber.
To be continued...