Five Years Later

Margaret sat contentedly in a rocking chair on the front porch, her eyes closed as she basked in the cool breeze. It was so insufferably hot that she could practically smell the summer heat. 

The light wind wasn’t enough to evaporate the sweat on her brow, but it was appreciated. She had every intention of doing nothing but sitting here until dinner was ready. 

When she heard the front door open, she turned her head to see who it was just in time to see a passel of children burst out the door. After them, Nathaniel stepped into the doorway and then stood there. 

“I presume they were being too rambunctious inside?” Margaret queried with a smile.  

Nathaniel grunted, only pausing to shoot her a warm smile before turning his eyes back on the children as he told her, “Ours most of all.”

Not at all surprised, Margaret spotted her children among the others. Despite there being six women in what was now officially known as Evelyn’s Haven, there were only eight children in that wing of the house right now. 

This meant there were eleven children out on the lawn. Henry, her six-year-old boy, was easy to spot in his bright blue shirt as he raced two of the other kids across the lawn. 

She was glad that blue was his absolute favorite color and the one he wore the most often, and she was even more pleased that she thought his eyes might be shifting to be the same shade as his mother’s. As for his black curls, well, Margaret had been forced to abandon any attempt to keep them in any sort of order ages ago.

Four-year-old Evelyn Grace was trying to keep up with her older brother to no avail. She’d gotten Nathaniel’s dark hair, but Margaret’s green eyes, and her formerly lovely green gingham dress currently looked like it had flour all over it. 

Margaret didn’t think the children had been in the kitchen at all, but it seemed perfectly in character for their daughter to have managed that anyway. Thankfully, Evelyn adored her older brother, who returned the sentiment. 

The only problem with that was it tended to mean that, if one got into mischief, they both did. Margaret chuckled to herself at the many recollections of this happening, the most recent of which had involved them being so covered with mud that they might as well have been made of it. 

At least baby William, at eighteen months old, was too young to get into too much trouble. Unlike his older sister, Willie didn’t seem to get any of his features from Margaret, being a tiny copy of what Nathaniel had looked like as a toddler. 

He was a chubby little thing that everyone loved to pick up and cuddle. In fact, that was precisely what happened now. One second, he was toddling along behind the others, and the next second, one of the older girls had picked Willie up and set him on her hip.

As Margaret watched them, Henry apparently decided to keep running upon reaching the edge of the yard, rather than turning around to head back. From the way the children frequently glanced over their shoulders, it was clear that they were up to something. 

Margaret smiled and shook her head in amusement as Nathaniel went after them with a sigh. Even with his longer legs, he sprinted to catch up with them. 

Knowing it wasn’t her problem to deal with, Margaret closed her eyes once more and wished for another breeze. Her hand moved to rub her large stomach, where their fourth child was currently growing. 

She longed for the days of autumn, not just for the cooler weather, but also because that was when she would get to meet their new child. She drifted off into a light doze while picturing what they might look like. 

Margaret jerked to wakefulness when someone placed a hand on her shoulder. Matilda was at her side, smiling apologetically. 

“I’m sorry for waking you, but I thought you should know that supper is almost ready. You should probably start making your way inside soon.”

Still blinking herself more awake, Margaret nodded. “Thank you for letting me know. I’ll be right there.” 

She took her time before rising to her feet. There was a slight waddle to her steps as she went inside. The home still bore the scent of the lavender and beeswax from candle-making earlier that day, and she inhaled deeply to savor the lovely smell. 

At some point, the children had been brought back in, as she could hear their bright chatter echoing in the halls. She figured they’d probably come inside using the side entrance to the house. Nathaniel had likely done that on purpose so she could rest, and the thoughtfulness warmed her chest. 

The moment she walked into the large dining room, she gave Nathaniel a grateful smile. He responded by pulling out a chair for her, which she happily went toward, giving smiles to the other women who lived there.

At that moment, Matilda entered the room with a hand on her hip. As the children were slipping into their chairs, smiles on their faces, the older woman said with playful scolding, “Now, I know that not all of you washed your hands yet. Whoever hasn’t done so better get back to the kitchen and wash up if they want any of the pie we have for dessert.”

This had a couple of the kids quickly leaving the room. There was a knock at the door just then, but Margaret stayed in her seat rather than going to see who it was. She took advantage of the curiosity of the children, though, to steal Willie back from the girl who was still holding him. 

While she made faces at her youngest and listened to his babble, their guests entered. It was William, his wife, Clara, and their two-year-old daughter, Elizabeth. Since Clara’s husband was holding their daughter, Clara wasted no time in coming over for a welcoming hug from first Matilda and then Margaret. 

Before they could start to chat, Matilda announced that it was time to eat. A large pot of stew was brought out, served with fresh rolls and cooked greens. 

With so many people, most of them children, mealtimes tended to be a bit chaotic. This one was no exception. Matilda presided over the gathering with gentle authority, though the youngest still all ended up with food on their clothes. 

As the other people scattered, Matilda kindly took Willie to get him clean so that Margaret could stay sitting. Even though Clara had been married for a while now, Margaret couldn’t help but still be pleased by how radiant she appeared. 

The younger woman didn’t even flinch as her husband leaned close to her, offering to take their daughter for a while. Margaret recalled how skittish Clara used to be and how quiet she was, but there was no trace of that now. 

Once the dining room had been emptied enough to be quieter—when it was full, it was far too loud to be heard, in her opinion—Margaret caught up with her friend. Clara was more than happy to share the new words Elizabeth had started learning. 

Margaret was, of course, quick to tell her about how her own children were going. Then, the conversation turned to the distasteful need to change diapers, which Clara was understandably relieved to be almost done with for Elizabeth.

It was while they were still talking about this that their husbands found them again. “The kids?” Margaret queried upon realizing that she didn’t see any of their children. 

“Matilda is working with them to make cookies,” Nathaniel told her with an amused smile. 

Margaret snorted, knowing that most of the dough probably wouldn’t even make it onto the cookie sheets. Clara obviously shared this opinion as she huffed and shook her head and said, “I won’t count on eating any.”

After some light chuckles all around, William started up a new topic by inquiring, “By the way, while I’m here, I was wondering if there’d been any more news about Blackwell getting an early release.”

Margaret shook her head and replied, “No, the last we heard was that it was being considered, but that took a while with Hayes, if you recall, so we aren’t expecting anything to happen just yet.”

Nathaniel piped in to say, “We did get another letter from him, though.”

“Yes, he wanted permission to visit Evelyn’s grave so he could pay his respects,” Margaret told them. 

There was a long silence at this. For her part, Margaret could scarcely still believe sometimes that both Blackwell and Hayes had truly found God. 

When Hayes had been released, there had been moments when she was certain he would show up at the ranch for revenge. He hadn’t. Instead, he had started working with reformers improving prison conditions, and he recently gave his testimony before the territorial legislature.

It was William who broke their thoughtful silence by saying, “I think it would be quite strange to see Blackwell after everything that happened.”

“Agreed,” Nathaniel was quick to say. 

However, as Margaret’s eyes met her husband’s, she knew they were both thinking the same thing. So, she had no hesitation as she said, “I think there is plenty of room for forgiveness. People who are genuinely repentant deserve a second chance.”

There was another silent moment, and then Clara broke it by remarking, “I think it would do Blackwell good to see this place and what Evelyn’s Haven is like in person, not just from letters.”

Nathaniel said, “It’s certainly different from the crumbling place it was before.”

“I think crumbling is a bit exaggerative,” Margaret replied. Then, seeing her husband’s incredulity, she admitted, “I can definitely agree that it looks much better now that it is full of people and purpose.”

“Speaking of purpose,” Clara interjected. “How is Judith doing with the midwife training so far? You mentioned that you weren’t sure about her.”

Margaret winced a little. “She would possibly do fine as a nurse, but she is still a bit too prone to panicking at the slightest deviation from what is supposed to happen, which is not good for a midwife. The other three I’m teaching are doing much better, and I hope Hannah will be able to go back East for more advanced training than what I can give her.”

Nathaniel scoffed and pointed out, “Considering the fact that Dr. Mitchell visits here nearly every week to discuss medical treatments with you, and he even made it clear that you’ll be the next doctor in the area when he retires, I doubt that Hannah would learn anything there that she wouldn’t also be able to learn from you.”

“I wouldn’t say I’m that talented,” Margaret protested.

“Well, as much as we’d all be willing to try to convince you otherwise,” Clara said, giving meaningful looks at the men to not do so, “I wanted to talk to you about teaching the children here in a… a private school of sorts, preferably right here on the ranch.”

Margaret perked up at the idea, easily able to see its merits. “Some of the women who come through the haven are rather nervous to send their children to school. In some cases, it is for good reason. So, it would be safer for them to stay on the ranch, what with all our ranch hands being former soldiers and all.”

William and Nathaniel looked at one another. William said, “We’ve been needing a bigger barn, so we could use part of the old one for that.” 

“Do we have the resources for that, though?” Nathaniel questioned. 

“I think so, but we can go over that together,” William assured him. 

Margaret beamed at all of them. She was so glad William was helping with the ranch’s operations, as practically all of her time was devoted to Evelyn’s Haven. The help also gave Nathaniel the free time to teach the children of their guests how to handle horses, which was a useful skill for whatever direction they went in when they were older. 

She knew he enjoyed that. Just as she was about to recommend using another part of their current barn for a sort of workshop for the boys for carpentry or something, Matilda stepped into the room to announce, “Look who decided to drop by this evening!”

Mrs. Jenkins came into the room with a smile, waving a hand about as she assured them, “Don’t worry, I won’t stay long. I just wanted to bring you these three letters that came for you in town and to catch you up on all the gossip.”

Margaret hid her smile as she received a hug. She knew the elderly woman had only come so she could be there when the letters were opened. By tomorrow, everyone would know about the contents. 

Still, as she accepted the letters and recognized who they were from, Margaret didn’t think there would be anything too personal in them. So, she did what she knew Mrs. Jenkins wanted, and she opened the first one right away so she could skim the contents.

The elegant scrawl was perfectly fitting for Mrs. Eliza Thornton. Her letter, as usual, told how things were going in the territorial capital. Eliza mentioned that she was able to pass one of her reforms thanks to Evelyn’s ledger. 

Margaret’s eyes watered a bit when Eliza shared that a young woman had come up and told her story. Seeing Evelyn’s clear strength from the ledger she’d written had given her the confidence to forge her own path and to get away from her cruel family.

Of course, Margaret’s tears caused concern from those around her, Nathaniel grabbing her arm and asking if the letter was bad news. Shaking her head, she decided she wouldn’t be able to do the letter justice. 

So, Margaret quickly glanced through the rest of it, which was just daily anecdotes from one friend to another. Satisfied that there was nothing in the letter that would need to be kept private, she handed it over and motioned for them to read it for themselves. 

She took a moment to wipe some of the moisture from her eyes. Then she opened the second letter. 

This one was from Henry’s grandparents. One of the things that Eliza had helped with was finding the family of Evelyn’s first husband to let them know about their grandson. Though they lived far away, they had managed to visit more than once. 

There had been a lot of tears when they’d first met Henry, but they proudly shared stories of their son when he was younger. Margaret wrote some of them down and repeated them sometimes, wanting Henry to know about his parentage. 

The letter started off by saying that they hoped to be able to visit again soon and asking about how Henry was doing. What surprised her was their offer to pay for Henry to go to medical school, should he want to do so when he was older. 

Margaret didn’t know if he would or not, as he was only six. However, it was true that the last time he’d been asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, Henry had proudly said that he wanted to be a doctor, just like his first father had been.

As she set this letter aside, she made a mental note to take Henry to Evelyn’s memorial garden soon. In another month or two, Margaret knew she wouldn’t want to make the trip. 

Finally, seeing that the others were still reading the first letter, she opened the last one, which was short. This was one was from Mrs. Brennan, the elderly housekeeper who slipped the ledger into her coat on that fateful night. Mrs. Brennan had only written a couple of other times. 

In this letter, she let Margaret know that she’d finally settled down in California, where, in her previous letter, she’d mentioned she had family. Other than this news, Mrs. Brennan also mentioned the peace she’d found now that she’d been free of Blackwell’s shadow for a while. 

By the time Margaret had finished skimming this one, the others had finished reading the first letter. She smiled at the fact that there was more than one teary eye about the story Eliza had shared about the young lady. 

After they’d chatted about the letters for a while, Mrs. Jenkins got up to leave. She was quickly followed by Clara and William, who wanted to get home with Elizabeth before it was past their daughter’s bedtime. 

Goodbyes were said, their own children were put to bed, animals were cared for, oats were set to soak for the next morning, toys were picked up, and many other small tasks were done. By then, the sun was setting, and Margaret was back on the front porch. 

This time, though, she was standing near the edge to watch the sun set. She glanced up when Nathaniel came and stood next to her. For a moment, they did nothing but sit and take in the colors as they changed and the sky grew dark. 

Somewhere nearby, an early owl was already letting out a screech. The crickets were striking up their songs, and the horses nickered every now and then as they settled down to sleep. 

It was Nathaniel who broke the peacefulness of the moment by remarking, “It is hard to believe we are the same people as we were six years ago. You are no longer the anxious woman who lacks self-confidence, and I’m not the bitter man who was trying to turn everyone away.”

Margaret gave a thoughtful hum, inwardly marveling over the changes herself. When he put an arm around her and tugged her close, she thought nothing of it, but then she felt a barely perceptible tremor in his hand. 

Looking up at him, she saw from his frown that something was bothering him. She sent him a questioning look to ask what it was. He shook his head, but then he admitted, “I just think at times about just how close we came to missing all of this.” 

As he put a hand over her stomach to feel the babe in her belly, he continued, “If you had walked a slightly different direction, or if I had let my stubbornness send you away…”

Though he didn’t finish his sentence, it was obvious where his thoughts were going. “But that’s not what happened,” she pointed out gently. 

At this, he smiled, and his shoulders relaxed slightly. “You’re right.” 

“Of course I am,” she teased. 

Nathaniel huffed at her, shook his head again, and then leaned down for a kiss. She freely returned it. Then he pulled away and gave her that particular stare that never ceased to put butterflies in her stomach. It was as though he thought she was something incredible. 

“I will never stop marveling that you chose me… that our marriage of convenience was able to grow to have so much love,” he tenderly told her.

She knew he still saw himself as damaged at times, but Margaret reminded him about his inward beauty enough that she felt no need to do so right now. 

As far as she was concerned, their marriage, born of desperation, was one of the best love stories ever. Sometimes, God’s greatest gifts came wrapped with painful situations, and sometimes God led people to those He knew you were meant to be with. 

Though she sincerely hoped her life wouldn’t hold any more trouble, she knew she could handle it with her family around her. She looked forward to what her future held.