Lia and LeRoy, along with the boys, hugged them and wished them well. They walked with Owen and Susanna to the depot and waited with them as the freight crept into the station.
“Sorry we couldn’t get you a passenger train,” LeRoy said.
“I’ve resolved that matter,” Uncle Harrison said, smiling. He motioned to the back of the train. “They’re going to attach my private car and then leave it at the Socorro station to be brought back with the next train.” From Socorro, Owen and Susanna would take the spur line into the mountains toward Magdalena.
“The engineer knows to stop at 982.9,” LeRoy added. “That’s where they’ll load your horses and supplies for when you head up to the cabin.”
Owen nodded, recognizing the mile marker for the Mendoza ranch. “Please thank your father for his generous loan of the horses.” Owen had been so blessed by the way people helped him plan their wedding trip.
“And Lia, thank your mother,” Susanna added, “and grandmother and all of them for the food and things we needed to take with us. I’m sure I forgot to thank them after the wedding.”
“It’s not a problem. They know that your minds are on each other.”
It didn’t take long to add Harrison Ragsdale’s private car to the train, and before he knew it, Owen was sitting in the regal furnishings with Susanna at his side.
“Goodness, that was exhausting, and we still have so far to go,” she said, leaning against him. “What an adventure.”
He didn’t say anything. He still wanted very much to reassure himself that the past was behind them. But how could he ask that now?
“What’s wrong?” Susanna said.
“Huh?” He looked at her. “What do you mean? Nothing’s wrong.” That was a lie, and he immediately felt a prick of conscience. “Well, not really wrong.”
She turned to face him, her expression loving. “Tell me what’s bothering you.”
He nodded. “I . . . it’s just that . . . well, I never thought to discuss Mark.”
“Mark? My Mark?”
“Yeah, that’s the problem. Is he still . . . your Mark?” Owen knew he sounded rather pathetic.
Susanna’s face lit up with understanding. “Oh, Owen. He will always be my first husband, but if you think he’s going to be the third member of our marriage, you are greatly mistaken.”
Owen released the breath he’d been holding. “It’s just that I know you two had a great love. You had a long time together as friends.”
“Yes, we had that,” she said, emphasizing the word had. “What we had is in the past. Mark was an important part of that time in my life, but you are my focus for the present and the future. I love you, Owen. You are my life and love and all that I desire.”
He pulled her into his arms, his apprehension falling away. She was his. All his.
“I love you too, Susanna. You are everything to me—my very heart.”
She lifted her lips to his.
Epilogue
MARCH 1901
Oh goodness, this house is hardly big enough for all of us,” Mother declared as they gathered around the dinner table in Susanna and Owen’s home. She reached out her arms. “Let me hold the baby.”
Susanna handed her son to her mother and smiled at the way Mother—Grandmama, now—took to the infant.
“He looks a lot like you did, but there’s an equal amount of Owen as a babe.”
“You don’t know what Owen looked like as a baby,” Gary said, rolling his eyes.
“Well, if a feature isn’t from Susanna, it has to be from Owen,” Mother countered. She fussed over the blanket, and the baby watched her with bright blue eyes. “He’s so attentive. You were like that, Susanna.”
It was hard to imagine that her mother even knew such things, given their long discussion about her mother’s aversion to parenthood. Still, Susanna was delighted to find her parents so caught up in the life of their grandchild.
Lia and LeRoy took their seats on the far side of the table with Emilio and John seated between them. Lia’s large abdomen reminded everyone that she would very soon deliver another child. Susanna was so happy to know they would have children close in age. She hoped Lia’s child would be a girl with Lia’s beautiful features. Then maybe one day her son would fall in love with Lia’s daughter, and they could truly be family.
As if they needed that kind of connection to make them so. In every way that mattered, Lia and Susanna were sisters.
Beside Lia, a new member of their entourage sat. Carmelita Mendoza had caught Gary’s eye at that first shared Thanksgiving at the ranch. The two were now engaged, and plans for a summer wedding were the constant topic of conversation whenever the families gathered. There was no doubt their families would be forever united.
“I’d like to offer a blessing,” Owen said, getting to his feet.
Everyone went silent, even the children. Susanna bowed her head, but she kept her eyes open. She watched her mother with the newborn and smiled at the changes that had made life so much better.
“Father,” Owen began, seeming to read Susanna’s thoughts, “we thank You for Your many blessings. We thank You for the success of the hotel and of Mother and Father Ragsdale’s management of it. We thank You for Gary and Carmelita’s engagement and Lia and LeRoy’s new little one who will soon join us, and for their boys, Emilio and John. I thank You personally for the safe deliverance of my son, Michael James, and for my wife’s recovery. Lord, You have given us all so many blessings, and we are grateful. Bless this food, we pray, in Jesus’ name, amen.” He looked at the people gathered. “Let’s eat.”
They dug in, and when Michael began to fuss, Mother passed him back to Susanna so she could nurse him.
“You never said where you got the names for the baby,” Gary said, surprising Susanna as she started to leave the room. “Is there some relative named Michael James?”
She glanced down at her son and then at the others. “There’s no one we know with those names, and that was our point. A new start—with nothing from the past. Michael is the future.” She smiled and headed to the bedroom to feed her baby.
She and Owen had nothing but hope for the new life they had together with their child. God had mended the past, with all of its problems and heartaches, and blessed the future with His promises. There would no doubt be difficulties, but Susanna knew they would never face them alone.
Tracie Peterson is the award-winning author of over one hundred novels, both historical and contemporary. She is often referred to as the “Queen of Historical Christian Fiction,” and her avid research resonates in her stories, as seen in her bestselling HEIRS OF MONTANA and ALASKAN QUEST series. Tracie considers her writing a ministry for God to share the Gospel and biblical application. She and her family make their home in Montana. Visit her website at www.traciepeterson.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AuthorTraciePeterson.
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