Extended Epilogue

Abbie could hardly believe that it had been over a year since all the mess that had resulted in her marriage and Squire’s imprisonment. Since that upheaval, everything slowly started to calm down.

She took a moment to pause her knitting to look out of the sitting room window from where she sat on the couch. Outside, she could see Lemon in the corral with her newborn foal, which had just been born a few days ago.

The wobbly little thing was enjoying the sunlight for the first time, trying to run around, missing a step, and then catching himself as he learned how to control his feet. The foal was all soft and fuzzy, with the white hindquarters that his mother had, though he would probably turn out to be some shade of brown instead of the golden color of his mother.

Still, he had a sweet temperament, and they all knew the foal would make a lovely riding horse for a lady or child. They just had to come up with a name for him. Well, to be fair, they had come up with plenty of names; they just weren’t able to reach an agreement on one.

Thinking of names and children had Abbie moving her knitting to the side so she could stroke her visibly rounded stomach. She still had a couple of months left to go before she gave birth herself. However, from the way the men in her life were acting, she might as well be an invalid who could pop at any second. It was both annoying and amusing, depending on what sort of mood she was in.

This was why she wasn’t the slightest bit surprised when a moment later, and not even a whole hour since she’d last been checked on, Elliot poked his head into the door of the sitting room to ask, “How are you doing? Can I get you anything?”

“No, I’m fine,” she told him exasperatedly as she resumed her knitting the baby blanket she was working on. “I have a glass of water Spencer got for me an hour ago that is still half full, Richard made sure that I have three different things to snack on while I’m sitting here—including some of the tarts I’ve been craving a lot recently, so don’t bother offering to get me some of those—and I’m about to get up soon anyway to start lunch.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it! That’s why I came in so that I could make lunch without you needing to get up,” Elliot quickly assured her.

Abbie glared up at him as she flatly said, “That’s fine. I can make some cookies or something while you make lunch.”

Since she knew he clearly wanted her to stay seated and not get up at all, she was not surprised when he quickly asked, “What type of cookies are you wanting to bake? Is it a craving? I’m sure I can get Spencer to come in and help me cook so that we can make it for you.”

She thought it was amusing that Elliot had mentioned Spencer and not Richard, but she knew why that was. Richard was the one who had been having to listen to her rants in the middle of the night that she couldn’t sleep because she wasn’t getting to move around during the day and, therefore, wasn’t tired and that it was all their fault for trying to do everything for her and his fault for getting her pregnant.

In short, Richard knew better than to try to keep her off her feet entirely, though he still didn’t want her doing too much. For this reason, Abbie asked Elliot, “Does Richard know you are in here to cook lunch?”

“Yes,” Elliot replied, his voice going high at the end in the way she’d learned was common when he was lying.

She raised her eyebrows at him to call him out on it, not even bothering to pause her knitting to do so. At this, he sighed and admitted, “He said we could go in when we were done with the chores, and Spencer is doing both our chores so I can do the cooking. He didn’t say we couldn’t do that.”

Rolling her eyes at him, she smoothly threatened, “And I’ll be sure to tell him that when he gets in to have his lunch and I complain that you were trying to treat me like an invalid. Again.”

Elliot honest-to-goodness whined at that when he replied, “Abbie! I’m just trying to be nice and take care of you and my little niece or nephew! I already love him or her so much, and the only way I can take care of them right now is to take care of you.”

If this had been the first time Elliot had said something like this, it might have swayed Abbie. Not only was this probably the fifth or sixth time, but she was far too tired of sitting to care about Elliot’s pleading expression.

“Well, you can just store up all that desire to help and save it for after the baby is born,” she told him unsympathetically as she reached the end of a row and then started setting her knitting aside.

Elliot was pouting as he quickly darted forward to help her stand. Though she didn’t actually need the help, she allowed him to assist her. She did, however, roll her eyes at him again as he escorted her to the kitchen, his eyes on her stomach as he excitedly asked her, “Has little Hope or Justice been moving around much today?”

“No more or less than usual,” she replied with a smile, knowing she wouldn’t say otherwise even if there was a difference.

She still remembered the long argument she had accidentally sparked when she said she felt more movement than normal. Richard had been pleased, thinking the baby must have liked something she’d eaten recently or something along those lines. Meanwhile, her father and Elliot had thought that maybe it was the opposite and that the baby was moving around more due to having an upset stomach because it didn’t like what she’d eaten.

On the other hand, she also still remembered when she’d said the baby wasn’t moving around much, and how everyone had gotten worried—including her—that something was wrong. So far, no one had suspected the few days when she’d lied and told them that the amount of movement was staying the same.

To ensure that Elliot didn’t ask her further about it, Abbie changed the subject by asking, “So, how long do we have before everyone is in for lunch?”

“Well, Spencer shouldn’t take too long, but I don’t know how long Richard will be. He’s still showing the Wilsons some of the horses, and they hadn’t made a decision yet when Spencer and I started putting water in the horses’ troughs,” Elliot replied, looking and sounding as pleased as Abbie felt to hear it.

“Well, I think they’ll definitely end up buying a gelding,” she stated matter-of-factly as they entered the kitchen.

“What makes you so sure?” Elliot asked with a tilt of his head.

“Just think about it. Within the last year, more people have been buying horses from us. So, if Mr. Wilson sees one he likes, he has to know there is every chance someone else could buy it if he takes too much time thinking about it,” she pointed out, knowing her father would be almost as happy as she was about the sale.

Her father had done his best to help put the Matthews family name back up in people’s esteem where it should be, and his work in doing that, plus the fact that her family really did do a great job with their horses, was already starting to get them many more clients.

As Abbie had been serious about baking some cookies, she started to get out the mixing bowl, measuring cups, flour, sugar, and other things she would need to do just that. Meanwhile, Elliot started getting lunch ready as he asked her, “By the way, are you going to visit your father today?”

“Yes, hopefully after lunch so Richard can go with me if he wants to,” she replied. She was so happy that the two had almost completely mended the bridge between them to the point where they definitely considered each other friends.

“Well, I don’t think he has anything he planned on doing this evening—at least, nothing that Spencer and I can’t handle—so I’m pretty sure he’ll take you,” Elliot informed her, his tone of voice thoughtful as he tried to think of anything that would prevent it.

“Good, I’ll let Richard know we decided that when he comes in for lunch,” she teased while she worked.

Elliot gave her a weak glare, at which she laughed. Then, they worked on their separate tasks in silence for a few minutes before they heard someone else come in the front door. While she had been hoping it would be Richard, she wasn’t too disappointed to see that it was Spencer instead.

Of course, the first thing Spencer said when he stepped into the kitchen was, “I can do that so you can sit down!”

She knew without looking that he was talking to her. Glaring at him, she tersely told him, “If you want to help, you can help Elliot. Otherwise, go sit down, or I’ll hit you with the skillet.”

Dramatically clutching his hand over his heart as he exclaimed, “How could you? I’m just trying to help!”

Abbie scoffed and told him, “I don’t need help right now.” Seeing that he looked inclined to insist she let him help anyway, she went on to say, “If you don’t leave me alone, I’ll tell Richard you were bullying me, and that’s if my emotions don’t get the better of me and cause me to burst into tears.”

Considering she had done exactly that when Elliot and Spencer wouldn’t let her put Lemon’s tack on to go for a ride a couple of weeks ago—she hadn’t stopped crying for a couple of hours after that—her threat had the desired effect. Holding his hands up in surrender, Spencer looked at her with wide eyes as Elliot snickered beside her.

“Thanks for being nice to me,” Elliot smugly said, referring to the fact that she hadn’t been as nearly as violent in her threats against him.

“Aww, of course! Until this baby is born, you are still the baby of the family, after all,” she teasingly told him as she reached over and ruffled his brown hair.

It was now Spencer’s turn to laugh at Elliot, who promptly lost his smile. At that, the two brothers started bantering back and forth, but Abbie tuned them out as she got the cookies in the oven. The atmosphere of love and fun in the house was so nice that, at times like these, she just wanted to stand there and bask in it. Stroking her stomach, she could hardly wait for her little one to get to experience this.

Just as she was about to head to the table and take a seat, Richard came in with a grin on his face, and she changed course slightly to greet him. There was no awkwardness at all when he gave her a light kiss on her lips in full view of his brothers before she asked him, “Did you sell a horse?”

“I did and, though he didn’t say anything for certain, he also mentioned that he knows someone who sounds like they might be interested in buying one as well,” Richard replied, obviously beaming with pride at how well the business was doing.

“That’s great!” she replied, just as pleased as he was. “By the way, Elliot says you’re free to go visit my father with me after lunch,” she said with a sly look over her shoulder at the youngest brother.

Elliot huffed as he corrected her, “I said I didn’t think you had anything that would prevent it.”

“Same thing,” she retorted dismissively as she left Richard to go to the table and take a seat.

Richard pulled out her chair for her as he started talking with his brothers about what price he had been able to sell the gelding for and other such details. A moment later, the conversation was put on pause as they were all around the table with the food and saying grace.

Abbie, as per usual lately, had far too much of an appetite to join in on the conversation. She was too busy eating more food than anyone else at the table, in spite of the fact that she had been snacking off and on throughout the morning. Spencer was the one who got up after a few minutes to take the cookies out of the oven.

Spencer was also the first one to jump to his feet after finishing eating and declare with a grin, “I’ll get the wagon ready for you!”

Abbie couldn’t contain her snicker at the reference to a past prank he had pulled on them. He had claimed it was only to make sure they could be ready to get the doctor at a moment’s notice, day or night, but Richard was still not appreciative of it, if the scowl on his face was any indication.

Good-natured as usual, Elliot quickly rose to his feet to follow and called out, “I’ll keep track of how long it takes you!”

Finding themselves alone, Richard had no qualms about openly grumbling, “At least he wasn’t running out while yelling at the top of his lungs that we needed to get the wagon ready for you this time.”

Abbie laughed a little harder at the memory, and how confused she had been at the commotion outside when, the last thing she knew, she had simply asked Spencer to get the wagon ready and to drive her to see her father one afternoon.

Of course, Spencer had found it hysterical when both Richard and Elliot made an assumption—one which everyone knew he had intended to give—about Abbie being hurt or going into labor early, causing them to rush about to get the wagon ready. They had gotten in each other’s way, agitated the horses with their actions, and literally tripped over each other at least once before catching on.

To that, Spencer had laughingly pointed out that they needed to get better and faster at saddling the horses or hitching the wagon. Abbie, finding it amusing herself, had also questioned why they had even fallen for it since if she was having the baby or hurt they would hardly be taking her to the doctor; they would be fetching the doctor for her.

Seeing Richard give her a weak glare for still finding the whole thing funny, she patted him on the shoulder and told him with as much sympathy as she could muster—which wasn’t much—“You know he means well, and it was only a harmless prank.”

When he looked at her incredulously, it took all her willpower to refrain from giggling again. She decided it would be in both their best interest to change the subject, and so she asked him, “How long do you think you can spare this afternoon to spend with me visiting Father?”

Richard shrugged as he seemed to consider. “I should probably come back in time to help with the evening chores, at the very least.”

Knowing that it wouldn’t take long for Spencer to get the wagon ready and that Elliot would more than likely be unable to resist stepping in to help, Abbie slowly rose to her feet and motioned for her husband to join her in walking in that direction.

As they walked, she remarked, “Oh, that’s right! You didn’t go with me to see him the last time, so you haven’t seen the new flowers he has blooming.”

“No, but you told me about them when you got back with Elliot,” he politely pointed out.

“That’s not the same as seeing them for yourself,” she replied offendedly, nearly tempted to swat him on the shoulder.

“Well, it looks like I’ll be seeing them today then,” he told her, sounding uninterested in the idea.

For that, she did swat him on the shoulder. At his exclamation of surprise, she informed him firmly, “When we get closer to the house, I’m going to take over with the reins while you close your eyes. That way, you will get the full experience of seeing them when you open them again once we are there. You can tell me then how amazing they are. Oh, and be sure to tell my father about it too while we are there because he put a lot of hard work into it.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Richard replied, and her eyes darted over to look at him, unable to tell if his tone was sassy or if he was acknowledging that he had just been rightfully scolded.

As he didn’t appear to be trying to hide a smile, she decided that it must be the latter. He must have noticed her suspicion, however, as he gently told her, “I know that your father has been working very hard on the gardening he has been doing, and I’ll be sure to tell him so.”

Fully satisfied now, Abbie nodded and said as they waited on the front porch for the wagon, “I’m just glad that he had something he’s found he enjoys doing and that other people can hire him for, even if he isn’t nearly as well off as when I was growing up.”

Her father had still sold her childhood home, but he had managed to find a lovely, far more modest house, one that didn’t require lots of staff, close by. He wasn’t as well off as before, but he certainly seemed happier. Lately, he’d taken to improving the garden and people had admired it so much that they had started to hire him to tend to their own. Luckily, following the arrest of Squire, Mr. Whitton senior was also apprehended. It was determined that her father had no involvement with their schemes and people were slowly starting to believe that. She couldn’t believe the change in her father, he had become far softer, especially since learning he was going to be a grandfather. This new, kinder version of her father certainly seemed to be far more well-liked by people, which presumably helped improve his reputation in town, too.

“I’m partially still surprised, I admit, that people were willing to hire him to take care of their gardens, but I’m glad he has something to keep himself occupied with as well,” Richard replied conversationally.

“Well, he’s always liked taking care of plants; he was just so busy with his business deals and whatnot that he didn’t really have time for it before,” she reminded him and then started snickering at one particular memory.

At Richard’s questioning look, she told him with a smirk, “I was just thinking that, if he’d taken more time to garden when I was growing up, he would have known to cover his face and arms better if he was going to be spending so many hours in the sun.”

Richard smiled as well at the memory she had brought up, likely recalling how red from sunburn her father had been for weeks, and told her in a playfully scolding tone, “You are being awfully cruel with your teasing today, just so you know. I think your father is still several shades tanner than he was a few months ago.”

Abbie knew her husband was probably right, on both counts, but she shrugged her shoulders uncaringly just as Spencer and Elliot announced that the wagon was ready. Heading in that direction, Richard helped her up to her seat before going around to the other side.

Meanwhile, Spencer and Elliot were telling them to be safe and giving other such instructions that Abbie paid no attention to whatsoever. She knew her husband picked up on this as well, especially when, as soon as they were out of sight and on their way, he leaned over and told her, “You know they mean well.”

His tone was playful and clearly meant to remind her that she had said almost those exact words earlier. She stuck her tongue out at him, not caring that it was a childish action, and Richard laughed. She nearly laughed as well, due to no other reason than it was a bright, sunny day, everything felt right with the world, and she loved her husband and the sound of his laughter.

“They’re just excited, you know,” he said after a moment in a less playful tone of voice. “Oh, and while we were working today, they both added things to the list.”

“What?” Abbie asked disbelievingly, knowing without asking that he was referring to the list they’d started of things they wanted to do with the baby before he or she reached one year old. “So, on top of taking them riding, going on a picnic, going into town, going to church, picking berries, picking flowers, and everything else already on the list, they added something else?” she asked incredulously.

“Yes,” Richard replied with an amused grin.

Abbie thought it was sweet, but at the same time, she couldn’t help but scoff. “At this rate, I’m becoming more and more positive that there is no possible way everything on that list is going to get done in one year,” she said with a skeptical shake of her head.

“Oh, I know, but… They are just so excited that talking them into being more reasonable is hopeless,” he replied with a shrug.

Glancing over at him with a vague suspicion in her mind, Abbie asked him with narrowed eyes, “Tell me that you didn’t add to the list as well.” She knew she was right when he blushed a little and focused his eyes on the road ahead instead of looking at her. “Richard!”

“All right, so I added one more thing,” he reluctantly confessed. “I just got to thinking about how Elliot and Spencer are making all these plans, each one having every intention of being the favorite uncle, and I don’t want Hope or Justice to like them more than they do me,” he complained.

“What did you add?” Abbie ordered him to tell her, even going so far as to cross her arms as she stared at him.

“Only that we would have an outing, just the three of us. No Spencer, no Elliot, just you, me, and our baby,” he quickly informed her. “I don’t think that is anything too big or too much, do you?”

Abbie nearly choked as she got a sudden mental image of Spencer and Elliot’s reaction to that idea. “There is no way they agreed to add that to the list,” she stated incredulously.

“They didn’t want to, but I told them that it was my right to have such special privileges since I am the father and that, if they wanted to do the same, they would have to get married and have kids of their own,” Richard proudly told her, clearly pleased with himself for winning that argument.

Abbie couldn’t contain herself any longer. She burst out laughing as her imagination showed her exactly what that argument would have looked like. Once she started, she found she couldn’t stop, especially not with the look Richard gave her. It was clear he was mildly insulted that she didn’t appreciate just how hard it was to win the argument with both of his brothers ganging up on him.

She laughed so much that it made her side hurt, and she had to twist herself in her seat in a vain attempt to ease the pressure as the tears started rolling down her cheeks. Eventually, she managed to get herself under control, and Richard asked her offendedly, “Are you done yet?”

“Sometimes you are as bad as both of your brothers combined,” she scolded as she wiped the moisture from her eyes.

However, there was no heat behind her words, as she was inwardly very pleased to see how excited her husband was about the baby they were having. She just wasn’t going to tell him she was pleased with him right now when he was being ridiculous.

“But this is my kid, and they keep acting as though it might as well be theirs!” he splutteringly protested.

She had to refrain from laughing at him once more. As she set about gleefully reminding him of all the ways he’d gone overboard—including that it had been his idea to suggest that they could have a midwife come and live with them until the baby was born when, at the time, Abbie had only been four months along—she inwardly basked in the feeling of happiness.

Over a year ago, when she had still been living with her father, she wouldn’t have thought it was possible to be this happy. Sure, she had hoped that one day she would fall in love and get married. However, not having much in the way of a family herself, she had always pictured just herself and her husband starting in a home of their own.

Though there were moments when she wished she could have more time alone with Richard, she wouldn’t trade his loving brothers for the world. More people in the family only meant that more love went around, and she knew she would never get tired of soaking it all in.

What’s more, she would never have thought that she would truly ever be able to count her father as someone she was close to, but that just made everything all the sweeter. Yes, Abbie was certain that her life was pretty much perfect.