Three Years Later 

December 24

Snow had been falling over Cañon City since before daylight, and it covered the city in white.

Tom glanced up from the papers spread across his desk with one eyebrow raised.

“You haven’t heard a word I’ve said.”

“I heard you,” Josiah answered.

“What did I say then?”

Josiah considered, squinting.

Tom shook his head and chuckled. “That’s what I thought.”

Josiah grinned and leaned back in his chair with a yawn.

Three years had changed the sheriff’s office less than they had changed everything else. The sheriff had retired the year before, and Tom had taken his place, stepping into the job easily. The badge suited him, though Josiah had learned better than to say so too often for fear of giving him a head for compliments.

Tom tapped the papers. “It’s strange.”

“What is?”

“Seeing it written down,” Tom answered like it was obvious.

Josiah looked at the documents again. It was adoption papers.

Tom and Harriet had learned more than a year ago that children of their own were unlikely. For a long time, the two of them were all but inconsolable. 

Then, a sad-eyed little boy had arrived at the children’s home in October and everything had changed.

“You sure you’re ready for this?” Josiah asked, a wry smile on his face.

Tom looked offended. “Are you asking if I’m ready for a child?”

“I’m asking if you’re ready for Harriet telling you how you’re raising him wrong,” Josiah replied.

Tom gave him a flat look and Josiah let out a laugh.

The door opened, pulling in a cold gust of snow with it. A young deputy stepped inside, holding a telegram in his hand.

“It’s for you, Sheriff.”

Tom took it. His expression fell as he read further down the page.

“What is it?” Josiah asked, his heart sinking.

Tom handed him the message, but Josiah already knew.

Horace would spend the rest of his life in prison. Boone and the others remained in custody. They were still awaiting the final proceedings against them.

And Julian—

Josiah paused for a moment, reading his name out loud.

“What about him?” Tom asked, his brows knitted.

“He’ll be released within the year,” Josiah sighed heavily.

Tom nodded. “Testimony and good conduct, I suppose.”

Josiah folded the telegram and put it away.

He wondered how Harriet would receive the news. He wasn’t even sure how to feel.

Three years earlier, the name Julian Vane had been enough to fill a room with grief and hot anger.

Now,  the name belonged to another life. Josiah decided that he didn’t care much.

Josiah stepped outside with Tom a short while later. The two of them stood in the cold together.

Across town was the finest thing Josiah had ever built.

The children’s home stood in the middle of town like a beacon of hope.

His mother would have loved it, and her name graced the front door, forever immortalized in bronze.

He hoped she would have loved Alice too. He was sure that she would have. Alice was very easy to love.

The front door of the children’s home opened before they reached it and Peter came barreling out to meet them.

He was growing taller by the day, all long legs and restless energy.

“Pa!”

Josiah barely had time to answer before Lottie came up behind him.

At nine, she had lost much of the frightened stillness she had carried down from the mountains. She laughed easily and talked as much as she could.

Copper followed more slowly. Josiah’s heart twisted

Gray had begun creeping around the old dog’s muzzle, but his tail still wagged when he saw Josiah.

“Where’s your mother?” Josiah asked the kids as he scratched behind Copper’s ears.

“She’s inside,” Peter said knowledgably. “Rose tried to eat a piece of paper.”

“She did not eat it,” Lottie corrected.

“That’s why I said she tried,” Peter said with a huff.

The door opened again, and beautiful Alice stepped onto the porch. She had their daughter in her arms.

Even after three years of marriage, the sight of his wife could stop Josiah in his tracks.

Rose was only a year old, and she was bundled so tightly in blankets against the cold that not much more than her eyes and pink cheeks were visible.

Alice smiled at him. “There you are.”

Josiah climbed the steps and kissed her. “You miss me, Mrs. Kent?”

She smiled against his mouth.

“Yes,” she whispered. “I missed you very much, Mr. Kent.”

He took Rose from her and his daughter immediately yanked at his collar with her chubby little fingers.

Behind Alice came Harriet, followed by Annabelle.

Annabelle had once told them after their wedding that Colorado was far too wild for her.

She had lasted six months back in New York before returning West for good. She brought a bundle of children from the orphanage with her. They had been adopted out in the first year, with Alice feverishly sure that they got to where they belonged.

The three women ran the children’s home together. The place was all but perfect.

Tom stopped beside Harriet. “I have something for you.”

Her expression changed when she saw the papers.

“Are those—”

“They are.”

Harriet took them with trembling hands. Alice wrapped an arm around her.

The little boy would be theirs. Josiah was so very happy for them.

Once upon a time, none of them had known the others existed. Josiah thought it was so very strange that now there seemed no separating them.

“Are we going to the pond or are we going to stand here forever?” Peter asked loudly.

“The pond!” Lottie shouted to him. “Come on, Peter!”

Copper barked, and that settled it.

All of them made their way beyond town together. At the frozen pond, they found the others waiting for them.

Micah stood on the ice surrounded by children, his smile broad and bright.

“Watch this!” he said, and Alice shook her head with a small smile.

“Micah,” Josiah warned, holding a gurgling Rose close. “Be careful.”

Micah caught two laughing children by their hands and spun them in a wide circle while Alice watched from the side with a hand covering her mouth.

Their shrieks carried across the pond.

Cassius sat on the bank. Their father worked much less these days. It had taken both sons and one stern daughter-in-law to convince him that the ranch wasn’t going to fall apart if he occasionally sat down to rest.

Josiah handed Rose to Cassius and the old man’s face went soft immediately.

“Well, there’s my girl,” he cooed.

Rose grabbed his beard, and Cassius winced.

Micah laughed from the ice. “She loves your beard.”

“Don’t encourage her,” Cassius called out.

Alice came beside Josiah. He put an arm around her waist.

For a while, they simply watched the people they loved.

Children skated and slid across the frozen pond. Peter raced Micah and lost very quickly. Lottie fell into a snowbank and emerged laughing with snow covering her hair.

Copper was resting near Cassius’s boots. Apparently he’d decided that he’d done enough running for one lifetime.

Later, while the children built a snow fort near the bank, Alice sat next to Harriet and Annabelle.

Josiah wasn’t trying to listen, but he heard Julian’s name anyway. He couldn’t help but hear them talking.

Harriet stared across the pond. “I’ve forgiven him, I think.”

“Have you?” Alice took her hand. “Truly?”

“I think so.” Harriet swallowed, looking down at her lap. “That doesn’t make what he did go away. But I don’t want to hate him for the rest of my life.”

Alice nodded. “He’s still your brother.”

“I pray that when he comes home, he’ll be different,” Harriet whispered.

Annabelle had gone quiet. Her daughter looked toward her.

“I’m sorry.”

Annabelle shook her head. “Don’t be, my love. A mother’s love doesn’t end because her child has done something terrible,” she said softly. “It only gets heavier to carry. But it’s still mine.”

No one answered for a moment, but then Peter came running toward them with snow in both of his hands.

The solemnity between the women ended abruptly in laughter when he threw it at Micah, making the older boy screech.

By the time the purple dusk covered the sky, the whole town had begun gathering around the great Christmas tree in the middle of town.

Josiah held Rose against his chest, standing under the glow of the lantern lights.

The lamps on the tree were lit one by one. A cheer went through the crowd.

Alice slipped her hand into Josiah’s.

“Come with me,” she whispered.

“Where?” Josiah asked, confused.

 Alice laughed softly. “Just come.”

She drew him a little away from the crowd. Snow had begun falling from the sky again, light enough that flakes caught in her long, glimmering hair.

Josiah brushed one away. “You’re being suspicious.”

“Well, I have something to tell you.”

That caught his attention. But he couldn’t help notice that Alice looked nervous.

After three years, he knew every expression on her face and she almost never looked nervous around him.

“What is it?”

She took his hand and pressed it against her belly.

For a second, Josiah didn’t understand. And then he did. 

His breath caught. “Alice?”

Her smile trembled.

“Come summer, Rose won’t be the youngest in the family anymore,” she said, her voice wet with tears.

“Truly?” Josiah stared at her. A wide smile spread across his face.  “Another baby?”

She laughed. “Yes, my love.”

He swept her into his arms and Alice laughed against his shoulder.

“You’re going to crush me.”

He let her go only enough to look at her. “You’re sure?”

“Very sure,” she assured him. 

Josiah kissed her.

Behind them, the church bells began to ring out.

It was officially Christmas Eve.

He rested his forehead against hers.

“I love you so much.”

“I love you too.”

A shout came from behind them.

“Pa!”

Josiah turned to see that Peter and Lottie were waving them back to the glowing tree.

Rose had begun fussing in Cassius’s arms. He was doing his best to soothe her. Micah was laughing about something, probably his father’s attempts. Tom and Harriet stood together, their future son standing between them with a bright smile on his little face. 

Annabelle waited beside the children from the home, her expression pleased and content.

Josiah took Alice’s hand, and together, they walked back to the lights.

There had been a Christmas once, three years earlier, when every road seemed to lead farther from the people he loved, or took them farther from him.

He knew better now. Not every wound went away. And not every wrong could be righted.

But the world felt better than it had before. Children who had been unwanted were wanted now, finding homes almost as soon as they entered the doors of the orphanage.

Those who had been lost and taken now had names, beds, warm meals, and arms waiting for them at the end of the day.

Tom and Harriet would soon bring their son home to complete their family.

Peter and Lottie had grown up knowing they belonged and that they were loved.

Rose would never wonder whether she was loved either.

Come summer, a new child would enter a family already overflowing with love.

Alice squeezed his hand. Josiah looked down at her.

“What?” she asked him. “You’re smiling.”

“Am I?”

“You are,” Alice said with a small laugh.

He pulled her closer as they reached the tree.

Above them, bells rang across the snow-covered town.

Three years ago, the darkest season of Josiah’s life had brought him to Alice and to the children who needed a home.

The road had taken him to a family larger than anything he had ever imagined. He would never regret any of the choices he made along the way. 

Josiah looked at the faces gathered beneath the Christmas lights and understood at last that belonging was not something a man simply found.

It was something he gave and something he built himself. 

He kissed Alice’s temple and held her close as the bells rang out across the snow-covered town, announcing the arrival of the Christmas season.

After all the miles they had travelled and all that they had nearly lost along the way, they were finally right where they belonged.

THE END