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Epilogue
It was early spring, and the ground was still covered with snow. Cassandra stood watching out the window for Cameron to return home. Every day all she could think about was him joining her after work.
He was a little later than usual, but that happened sometimes. Especially during calving season. When he came in, there were bloodstains on his shirt. “Hard day?” she asked.
“Not as hard as yours.”
She looked at him curiously. “Why would you say that?”
“Well, you’re growing a human inside you. I’m only helping cows push their calves out.”
“Growing a little human isn’t as difficult as it sounds. My body seems to know exactly what to do.” Her pregnancy had been relatively easy so far.
Ma came called to him, “Go change your shirt and bring that one down to me. I’ll soak it and see if we can get that blood out.”
Cassandra grinned as Cameron sighed. “I was just hoping for a few minutes to talk to my beautiful bride.”
“Well, every minute that stain is setting in harder. Go change and then talk to her.”
As he climbed the stairs, he deftly stepped over Minnie who had taken to sleeping on a stair halfway up. At least this time there wasn’t a half-eaten mouse carcass on the stair beside her. In their room, he changed and carried the shirt back down to his mother. It was a work shirt, and he’d wear it for calving year after year, so he had no idea why she was making a fuss over it.
Back downstairs, he moved to the table. “How are you feeling?” he asked, obviously worried about Cassandra.
“I’m fine! Oh! I almost forgot to tell you. Wade dropped off a letter to the matchmaker who sent me here. He wants me to proofread it so he can copy it back over and then send it. I told him no one would mind if there were a few misspelled words, but he didn’t want his future bride to know he was illiterate just a year ago.”
Cameron nodded. “Sounds like Wade. Now that he has his own spread, I rarely see him.”
“I know. We need to have him over for supper soon, and I can’t wait to meet the girl who travels out to be his wife.”
“Sounds like you’re looking to make a new friend.”
Cassandra shrugged. “I’m always looking to make new friends, though I love spending time with Ma.”
“I can’t wait for you to make friends because then I get alone time with my grandbaby. Maybe you should spend a month in Massachusetts,” Ma said, grinning at her.
“If I didn’t think you were joking, my feelings would be hurt! That baby is going to need me to eat, so you can’t get rid of me that easily.”
“Very true…” Ma went back to her baking. “Just used our last jar of pie filling. We need there to be a good crop of berries this year. Just think, in another year there will be a baby crawling around and getting into everything. And he’ll be fighting his daddy for that jam.”
Cameron reached out and squeezed Cassandra’s hand. “It won’t be very long at all before the baby comes. I still think we should call him Myron.”
“I hate that name!” Cassandra said. “I want to name her Elizabeth, after the woman who got us together.”
“I think we’d have to name her Miriam then,” Cameron responded.
Ma turned from the counter where she was removing a pie from the oven. “I approve of that name.”
“I keep telling you both, this baby is a boy!” Cameron insisted.
Cassandra shrugged. “It’s a girl, but I won’t argue with you about it. You’re too pigheaded to agree with reason.”
“I’m pigheaded?” he asked. “Sassy Cassie. I hope if it is a girl, she turns out exactly like her mother.”
“You want a sassy daughter?”
“Just like her mama.” Cameron kissed her softly. “Then she’ll be perfect.”
Cassandra put her hand on her burgeoning belly. The baby was due in just three weeks, and the midwife was certain it was a girl, but she wouldn’t tell Cameron that. No need to burst the man’s bubble. Time would tell.
