Mail Order Matron (Brides of Beckham Book 9) (6 page)

Epilogue

Julia and Edward had been married for over four months.  She’d begun to worry that maybe she would never have a child.  She knew it was premature for those worries to set in, but she wanted a houseful of children, and she wasn’t getting any younger.

It was only a week before Christmas, and she had decorated her home in the happiest way she knew.  She’d made tiny little decorations and had made preparations for a Christmas feast.  Edward had promised to hunt for a turkey so she could make it perfect.  They’d had new neighbors move in, a young couple just a mile away who had agreed to join them for the special day.

While she was fixing the bacon for breakfast that morning, she’d had to run outside to vomit up what little was still in her stomach from the night before.  She’d done some counting and realized her cycle was late.  So she decided to make something special for Edward for Christmas.  Something that would tell him that she was carrying the best possible gift of all.

She worked every time he left the house on her gift.  He would come back, and she would hide it under one of the cushions she’d made.  It was hard, because he stayed closer to the house in the heavy snows that came with a Kansas winter.

Finally, Christmas dawned, and she carefully hid the fact that she was losing her breakfast from him as she had every other day.

When they exchanged gifts, he’d had to go to the barn for hers.  Her eyes filled with tears as she saw what he’d made her.  A beautiful rocking chair, perfect for rocking the child she was now certain of.

She gave him the gifts she’d been working on for months first.  Five brand new shirts, new socks, and new gloves.  He’d been alone long enough that all his clothes were in disrepair. 

“Thank you.  This is the perfect gift,” he’d said sweeping her into his arms and kissing her. 

“There’s one more,” she’d said with an impish grin.  “I’ve just made it this week.”

He’d blinked.  “More?  But you’ve already given me so much!”  Truly just having her beside him and not spending another Christmas alone was gift enough for him.  Knowing he had her love was everything.  And she said there was more?

She found the present that she’d wrapped in brown paper and brought it to him, sitting in her new rocking chair while he sat in one of the kitchen chairs facing her.  He gave her a questioning look as he carefully untied the bow and spread the paper.  He pulled out a tiny pink dress. 

He stared at it for a minute, his eyes meeting hers with a questioning look. 

She shrugged.  “Well, I don’t have any way of knowing if it’s a boy or girl, but hopefully we’ll have at least one of each before we’re done,” she told him.

He blinked back tears.  “A baby?  Really?”

She nodded, tears filling her own eyes.  It had been all she could do not to tell him, but she’d wanted to save it for Christmas. Their first Christmas together had to be special. “Are you happy?”

He stood and pulled her to her feet, hugging her tightly.  “I couldn’t be happier.  There’s not a better gift you could have given me!”

She rested her head against his shoulder.  She’d been sure she’d be an old maid all her life.  In the past six months, she’d found the love of her life, moved to a new place, and now she carried a new life inside her.  The gift she’d been given of a new beginning was more than she’d ever hoped for.