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“Don’t come back.” Heather turned and looked straight ahead as Patrick drove them just north of town to the ranch where he’d grown up. “I’m so glad she’s gone.”
“I am as well.” He shook his head. “I’m just waiting to hear what Ma has to say about it all.”
“We’ll find out together,” Heather said, jumping down and waiting for him as he unhitched the team and put them in the stable after seeing to their care.
He joined her and they walked toward the house together. Inside, they walked to the parlor, and Sally held up a pair of tiny booties. “I’m ready for a baby to put these on!” Sally said.
Heather laughed, shaking her head.
Patrick scooped his wife up in his arms. “We’ll go see what we can do about that,” he said.
Heather’s cheeks were flaming when he put her down on the bed in their room. “What were you thinking?” she asked.
“You handled your mother. Let me handle mine.” He closed the door behind him and started to remove his clothes. “I think I want that baby as much as Ma does.”
“I know I do. A baby that is part me and part you.” She smiled. “A whole houseful of babies that work as hard as their parents to be good people and to make a living.”
“That would be ideal. I don’t want any of them to be anything like your mother.”
Heather nodded. “And it would be nice if they weren’t as outspoken asyourmother.”
Patrick agreed readily. “That would be wonderful. I do hope we can put in a request for children that are just like that.”
“I don’t think it works that way,” she said. “But it doesn’t matter either. Our children will be loved and cherished and raised the best way we know how.”
“In a home filled with love,” Patrick said, joining her on the bed.
“So filled with love, there’s no room for anything else.”
Epilogue
Eight months later, Heather stared down into the cradle at the baby she and Patrick had made together. She had ten fingers and ten toes, and she was absolutely perfect in every way. They had decided to call her Thelma Louise, and during her first week of life, she’d been a precious little angel.
Patrick walked up behind her and put his hand on her shoulder. “She just gets more beautiful every day.”
“Are you sure you don’t mind that we had a girl first? Not that there’s anything we can do about it.”
“I’m sure. I think our Thelma is the most beautiful child to ever live.” Patrick sighed contentedly. “And Ma said that your hips are just fine to birth as many babies as we want to have.”
Heather smiled, turning to wrap him in her arms. “I think I’m going to invite my mother over to meet her.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Are you certain that’s a good idea?”
“I think so. I’ve had nothing to do with her other than church for all this time. Perhaps meeting her granddaughter will turn her around.”
“And if it doesn’t?”
Heather shrugged. “Then we go back to the way things were. Are you up for carrying her out of the house again?”
“I think I enjoyed that a great deal more than I should have…”
She giggled, burying her face in his chest. “I can’t wait to show her off.”
“I’m assuming you mean Thelma and not your mother?”
“Of course. Who would show my mother off?”
“Invite your mother to meet her. Let her know I’ll pick her up from the boarding house at six and will return her by eight. She gets two hours and that’s all.”
Heather nodded. “I think that’s best. Do we warn your mother?”
He chuckled. “Let’s surprise her…”
