She sucked in a big breath, panting and exhausted, and opened her eyes, only to see his face twisted into a grimace. She blinked as he relaxed and laughed, extricating his hands from her hold.
“My, my, wife. For a female, you’ve got a mighty strong grip. ‘Bout broke my fingers,” he joked as he flexed the affected digits.
“I’m sorry,” she said, embarrassed.
“No, I was teasing, honey.”
Doc came near Dwight’s side and touched his shoulder. “It’s almost time,” he murmured and Dwight nodded. Mary wished that Dwight would stay, but she was too tired to argue.
He leaned near and pressed his lips to hers in a long, sweet kiss that sealed their words of love. Then, he leaned back enough to meet her eyes with his and whispered, “I’ll be right outside. I love you, Mary Christiansen. Now, get this baby born. I want to hold my son or daughter!”
She smiled up at him and watched him walk to the door and turn for one last grin.
Then, the red haze of pain came again.
Epilogue
I t had been six months since the blessed event.
Cornelia Danielle Christiansen had entered the world at sunrise on Christmas morning, and Mary knew she would always consider her sweet daughter the best Christmas gift she would ever receive.
After quite a feisty cry of frustration at having to leave her nice, warm abode, she had settled down and become a sweet, quiet baby. Six and a half pounds of cuteness.
Her adoptive grandfather had argued against her name—a variant, of course, of Cornelius—but Mary had been adamant that she wanted to honor him. The baby’s middle name, Danielle, was to honor Big Dan, Mary’s real father. She knew deep in her heart of hearts that he would have adored his little granddaughter.
Dwight immediately pronounced that she was a beautiful baby girl, and that she was the spitting image of her mother, with tufts of sable hair, sapphire blue eyes, and a gentle nose. Needless to say, the tiny girl already had her papa wrapped around one of her delicate fingers—and he didn’t seem to mind a bit.
Just now, Mary sat watching her beloved husband playing with their daughter. He delighted in getting her to giggle over his antics as he crossed his eyes and made silly faces. She smiled as Dwight burst forth with his special laughter as Lia, as they had taken to calling her, grasped his watch right out of his pocket and tried her best to bring it to her mouth—where everything within her reach ended up if one wasn’t watching her like a hawk.
They were in the parlor sipping punch and eating wedding cake with the rest of their family and friends, having just witnessed Doc and Pearl exchanging their vows.
The house had never looked so exquisite, having been decorated in beautiful summer flowers, ribbons and bows. Doc’s silver-tinged, strawberry blond beard and hair had been trimmed to a neat perfection. Looking splendidly dapper in his recently acquired suit—thanks to his new bride—he stood proudly next to Reverend McKnight in front of the hearth as he waited for Pearl to come to him.
Mary, Pauline, and Olivia had helped the bride get ready upstairs in the room she had occupied since her first day in town. Her elegant, lavender dress, made especially by Charise for the wedding, fit her still attractive figure like a glove. Her bouquet of purple corydalis and anemones with long, trailing, white satin ribbon complemented the hue of the dress. Pauline had descended the steps first, as her mother’s matron of honor, followed by Olivia, and then herself—all of them wearing dresses redolent of the very summer flowers that the house now donned.
Gliding down the stairs, Mary’s eyes had immediately sought out and found her husband. He was standing back, holding their daughter in her new little dress of white lace as he gazed rapturously up at his own bride.
Once again, it struck her that perhaps one day they should have a ceremony to renew their vows to one another. Each time she had mentioned it, however, Dwight always replied that they couldn’t be any more married than they already were—to which Mary always smacked his arm as she became rosy cheeked, causing him to laugh.
Mary heard another laugh now and turned her head to see her best friend, Pauline, lovingly rubbing noses with her husband, Tobias. Mary watched as he surreptitiously laid a hand on her rounding belly and leaned to whisper something in her ear. Pauline blushed prettily and gave him a quick kiss. Mary smiled at seeing the strength of their love for one another.
“Henry Everett Robinson, you give that back!” a voice filtered in from the dining room and Mary snorted softly as her brother appeared in the doorway holding something above his head while Olivia tried her best to pull his arm down and snatch it back. Mary wondered what it was; just something he found that he figured could light a fire under his sister-in-law. He turned and she saw it. Ahh, it’s one of her dime novels. How he loves to tease her. Mary and Dwight had a private bet going that those two would realize they were crazy about one another before the year was up. Maybe by next year, we’ll be attending their wedding…
Next year. That brought with it the realization that it had only been one year since Mary had stepped off the steamboat with that low-down skunk, Hobbs. She’d been depressed and thinking life as she had known it was over and that she had no joy to
