Epilogue
The wind was blowing outside her husband's office window as La'akea, who had brought lunch to him, stood in his office waiting for him to finish talking with Nick and Heath. As she looked out the office window she could see very few people on the boardwalks that were in front of the buildings along Stockton's Main Street. From where she stood, she could also see her husband standing in the office hallway talking to his brothers. She couldn't believe how much had changed since the first month they'd spent on the ranch. Had it really been five years?
Their 'vacation' from Kansas had wound up lasting six weeks-due to a necessary visit to the Nevada mines. Nick had traveled with her husband, leaving Heath to run the ranch. While neither would tell the family the exact details of the trip, the two brothers had definitely made a strong connection to each other. The bond with Heath had strengthened just as quickly, once they were back on the ranch.
A trip back to Kansas had been necessary of course. 'Uncle Hank thinks I'm crazy, but he and my cousins are more than happy to buy the shipping and freight business from me. He also made me promise we'd write often-says adding to my last name doesn't change the fact that I'm his nephew' had been her husband's exact words after they'd been back in Kansas a 'akea couldn't help but wonder if Hank Shaw's attitude would have been the same if he'd been told more than 'it turns out my biological parents didn't die in that fire after all, and have thought all these years I was the one who had perished.' The fact that Jeremiah had left a few of the Shaws in the dark only cemented in what La'akea had already felt about them. Thank goodness the majority of that family weren't the type to gossip.
True to his word, her husband had asked no one who had known him since a boy-meaning everyone in Kansas and the people he dealt with at the Nevada mines-to call him anything different. However, the fact that the Barkleys called him Jarrod had quickly been picked up on by the citizens in Stockton. When they'd asked what they were to call him, the reply had been, "Doesn't really matter to me, just pick a name and stick with it is all I ask.'
"Whatever you say, Jarrod." Nick put his hat back on. "I'll travel to Modesto and get the signatures we need. You just tell Elizabeth where I've gone." He then looked into the office and bade La'akea goodbye.
Elizabeth…La'akea had to chuckle as she thought on the strawberry blonde haired, blue eyed woman who Nick had married three years ago. How her sister caught Nick's eye was beyond her. It's not like she was raving beauty-not that it should be a factor in choosing a wife-and Elizabeth was so quiet the most of the time. However, the couple was obviously madly in love with each other and had a two year old son and a set of six month old twins. 'Must be a case of opposites attracting' La'akea had told herself more than once.
"You should do more than handle drawing up land deeds, wills and other legal documents. Stockton's going to need a new defense attorney soon." Heath chuckled as his brother made another valid point in the discussion they were having.
His oldest brother didn't reply for a second. He had to admit there were times he wondered if he had been raised as a Barkley if he'd feel the drive to be in courtroom as a defense attorney or a prosecutor. However, for the main part, he didn't dwell on it. There was no way of telling what might have been; all he could do was live with what was and move on. "If you or any of the family ever need someone to defend you, I'll defend you-after slapping you upside every part of your head, but that's it."
"I've got to go. Told Sharon I'd pick her up at three." Heath smiled, bade his brother and sister in law goodbye and left.
La'akea smiled as she thought on the feisty Irish gal that Heath had wound up marrying shortly after learning his oldest brother and sister in law were moving to Stockton permanently. The couple had a two year old son, and Sharon was expecting again. Her mind then turned to Audra and Eugene. Both had recently married and moved away…Audra to the Martin ranch-as she'd married Will, while Eugene and his bride had moved back east.
"Thanks for lunch." Jarrod - Jeremiah had somewhere along the line found himself liking the name Jarrod even more than he liked Jeremiah - stepped into the room and kissed his wife. "What do you say we go meet Mother at the cafe. I'm free for a few hours."
Victoria? The cafe? La'akea was confused for two reasons. One…he'd already ate his lunch and; two, she thought her mother-in-law had left to visit her sister in Colorado. Her husband's eyes were sparking even more than usual. Still, she simply slid her hand in his and walked out of the building. In no time at all they were entering the cafe.
The moment Jarrod and La'akea entered the building, La'akea's hands flew to her mouth and she gasped. Victoria, along with Nick, Heath and their families were standing off to the side of the dining area while Audra was standing in the middle of the room with an infant girl in her arms, a two year old girl of her right side and two boys-ages four and six on her left. Father Roberts, from the orphanage, stood behind them. La'akea didn't have to ask what was going on as a conversation that she and Jarrod had had with the good priest the week before raced through her mind.
"If we do a thorough search and find out these siblings definitely have no relatives willing to take them all in, are the two of you still looking to adopt?"
"They're ours?" La'akea looked at Jarrod and the rest of the Barkleys-all of whom were smiling from ear to ear. "Really?"
"Really, the good father, my brothers, myself and the Pinkerton Agency did a thorough search. None of us wanted to take children away from any natural family that might be out there." Jarrod assured her, and then smiled from ear to ear as Audra placed the infant in his wife's arms while the other three children-who had gotten to know him and his wife over the past couple of months-ran up to them and wrapped their small arms around Jarrod and La'akea's waist the best they could.
Nick, who had picked up a glass that sat on a nearby table, raised it in the air. "Here's to family!" It was a sentiment each and every one of them…including the three adopted children who could speak. Jarrod looked from his wife and the baby in her arms to Victoria and smiled even wider. Life had never been better.