Her Heart’s Inevitable Fate – Extended Epilogue

Three years later

It was the big day of the week for the Mayfield ranch. Rona waved and drew the little wagon to a halt.

“Mornin’ everyone,” she called. “This is my day for dealing with horses.” She picked up the toddler who had been in the wagon with her, and Ellen opened her arms.

“He is a sweet boy,” Ellen said, and the eighteen-month-old Jarvis wrapped his arms around her neck. Ellen had a way with children that she was now free to enjoy. Rona guided the wagon away to the corral and went to see what David wanted her to do. This one day was the only time she worked at the ranch, but she enjoyed it.

“Everything okay with your cattle?” the foreman asked as they walked to the corral.

“Yes. It is coming along nicely, thanks. The two foals are a joy.”

“You won’t find this fella such a joy,” he said and pointed to the new stallion that Buck and Annie had bought.

“He is very handsome,” Rona said.

“And very strong-willed. Doesn’t like the saddle being put on at all. Take care with him. If you need some help, give me a shout.” Rona found a carrot in the barn and slipped inside the corral. The horse was nosey, and she could see he had already spotted the carrot.

“So, you are a smart lad,” she said quietly and looked away from the creature as if she hadn’t seen him.

Annie was on the porch steps and heavily pregnant. 

“Rona is so good at what she does,” she said to her mother and Jessica, who were inside the house with the children. Annie reflected that she was blessed with willing babysitters as the two-year-old twins danced around and the little one of Rona’s tried to copy them. There were toys everywhere, and the place always looked more like a nursery than a living room. Ellen loved it, and Jessica was always there to help out.

“Four generations here always makes me smile,” Jessica said. The two blond boys were the very image of Buck. They were called Elder and Billy. Elder was climbing onto her knee as she spoke.

“I’ll walk across and see what Rona thinks of Brand.”

“He is not to be trusted, that one,” William added as he came across to the house. “I need to sit down for a while.”

Annie walked over to the corral and leaned on the fence. Rona came over, and it was noticeable that the new stallion actually followed her.

“What do you think?” Annie asked.

“He is such a handsome boy.” She half-turned and looked at the big stallion who was right behind her. “And he is really clever. He will do anything for a carrot.” She gave the horse a piece of the vegetable from her pocket. “I’ll gain his confidence before I try the saddle.”

“Thanks for still giving us one day a week.”

“Jarvis loves it, and it lets him meet other children and grown-ups.” They both gazed around the ranch. “This is such a happy place to work now, Annie. The new bungalow looks great as well with Jessica and her tubs of flowers. That is where your gardening bug comes from.”

“I love having them here, and William says it makes him feel useful again. He won’t take any pay for the jobs he does.” She winced a little, and Rona noticed.

“Baby moving?” she asked.

“Starting pains, I think, but I will wait and see how I go. Please don’t let it be another set of twins,” she added with a sigh.

“I will go and sit at the desk for a while. Buck is out with the men. He will be terrified if he thinks the next one is on its way.” She started to walk away and then turned back. “Did I read your mind that Brand would work well with your lovely mare?”

“It did cross my mind.”

“Feel free when the time arrives,” Annie said.

“Hear that, you grumpy creature. That would be a real treat for you if you learn to be good.”

Annie smiled as she heard her friend talk to the stallion as if he understood every word. By the time she reached the house, there was another pain, and she knew the wait was almost over. The ranch could run without her for the time it would take.

Come home early today, please, Buck, she thought. Margie was in the now extended kitchen and preparing the meal for lunchtime. Annie sat down at the table and screwed up her eyes as the next pain made itself felt. The housekeeper stopped what she was doing and came over.

“Pains?” 

Annie nodded. “And quite close together. Maybe I am further on than I thought.” Margie went for Ellen and then to the bedroom to make sure everything was ready for the new arrival. Then she slipped away to ask David to send for Buck.

 Ellen came and sat beside her daughter.

“You on the way?” 

Annie nodded. “I’ll not go to bed just yet.” And then she put her hands on her tummy as the next wave happened. “Maybe I should go to bed. I think this is quite fast.” The two women went up the stairs, and Jessica stayed with the little ones. It was still just mid-morning, and Annie wished Buck was not away on the range. She settled in bed and tried to do some tapestry to take her mind off the birth pains. She told the others to have lunch, and she would shout if she needed them, but Ellen brought her plate to the bedroom and ate beside her daughter. 

They had adapted a set of chairs in the living room containing the youngsters, and the three were quite contented. After she had eaten, Ellen put her grandchildren in their beds for a nap and did the same for Jarvis in the living room. There was peace and quiet for a short while, and then Annie shouted that she needed help. They were there in an instant. Mother, grandmother, housekeeper, and Rona, who came over to find nobody about downstairs.

“It’ll be over quickly at this rate,” Jessica said. “That is always a blessing.”

Annie gripped their hands and pushed as she had done when the twins were born.

“I can see it,” Ellen said as the head that emerged was not blond. “It’s not blond. More like your color, Annie.”

“Don’t care about the color,” Annie shouted out loud as the baby pushed its way into the world, and the mother breathed a sigh of relief. Then she looked at her mom. “Is it a girl?” Ellen smiled broadly and nodded.

“You have a  little girl, and I think she looks like you and Jessica.”

“Oh, Lord. I got my wish.”

“And it was quick, thank goodness,” Margie said. They wiped the baby clean and wrapped her in a towel for Annie to hold in her arms. The tiny cherubic face opened its eyes, and Annie felt her heart flip inside her chest.

“Love you, Eleanor Jessie,” she said. Ellen and Jessica both smiled. Then they heard the sound of the door thrown open and Buck calling out as he pounded up the stairs.

“Come in,” Annie called out, and the man stopped dead in the doorway.

“They sent for me. Are you okay?” 

Annie smiled and held up the baby in her arms. His face was a picture as he came and sat on the bed and took his daughter.

“It’s a girl,” Annie said. The other women slipped away and left the new parents to some time together.

“And I was not here. I am sorry, Annie.”

“I had plenty of help, and it was very quick. I guess I should have taken notice earlier in the morning. Can she be Eleanor Jessie?”

“Of course, she can. Ye gods, Annie. We have three children.” He handed the baby back to his wife, and she started to feed it. “That is such a lovely picture,” he added and sat beside his wife. “You have to take it easy for a while,” he told her. “The ranch is fine if you have some time off.”

“I know. I am lucky here. I have you, Mom, Gran, and William. Go and get something to eat, and I will rest with the little one” He kissed her on the forehead and went downstairs.

“Well Eleanor, welcome to the world.” She stroked the baby’s cheek and lay back on the pillows. “Now I can think about the next phase of expansion. I need another woman around here to manage all these men.” The baby burped and closed her eyes.

Two weeks later, almost every person in the town had sent good wishes or been to visit. Paul Carstairs had driven his mom over in the carriage. Carrie Carstairs had found another soul mate in Jessica, and they talked gardens and plants. Shannon and Marty had been and chattered for a long time about anything and nothing.

“What are you not telling me?” Annie asked in the end. Shannon was nursing the baby girl and talking about how wonderful it would be to have a little girl to wear fancy dresses. Annie asked again and looked hard at her friend. The marriage to Marty suited her so well, and her dad was about to retire. Marty was tipped to be the next sheriff in town. There was something more. A light went on in Annie’s head, and she smiled.

“You are having one yourself.”

Shannon glanced at her husband.

“Nobody knows. I want to be sure.”

“It is on the way. I can tell by looking at you. Wonderful. I will keep it to myself.”

The ranch was almost back to normal. Annie managed to keep her eye on things and still find time to feed little Eleanor and play with the boys. They had done two more successful drives and made a handsome profit each year. 

“We have done well,” Buck said as they sat on the porch. Annie had the baby, and the two boys were wrapped around their father’s neck.

“How many more head can we put on this amount of land?” she asked him. 

He grinned at her. “You are moving on again. I can feel it.”

We make a great team.” She laughed. “I have the ideas, and you make them work.”

He told her they could take a certain number more, and she asked if they would keep back more youngsters from this year’s calves. It seemed like a sensible thing to do to keep on making the business better, and they decided to talk to David about it. As they spoke, the foreman came over to see them.

“Have a seat,” Buck said. “Is there a problem? 

The man shook his head. “Barney says that Janet is now divorced from that awful husband, and he asked her to marry him. Can she come and move in with him, and if she does, can we hire another helper in the cookhouse?”

Annie looked at Buck, and they both said yes together. 

“Good,” he said. I can tell him that.”

“There is more?” Annie said.

“Rona will tell you herself.” Her friend was coming across to the house. The foreman left them to it.

“Tell us. What is wrong?”

“Nothing wrong, but Carl and I are going to try some sheep. Paul is willing to come and work for us and build it up. Could you let him go, please? I will still do my one day here and Carl his four, but Paul will be full time at the homestead.”

“Well, I never saw that one coming,” Annie said, “but go for it, girl. We will come and see how sheep are managed.”

“Oh no, don’t start on sheep as well as more cattle,” Buck groaned and exaggerated the pain he felt. She threw a cushion at him. Little Elder caught it and threw it back with a giggle. They let the twins have a little cushion fight and told Rona it was fine.

“Buck will talk to Paul. He needs to give us a week’s notice.”

“We asked him if he would like to help build a cabin for his own house and, until then, live with us. He seems really keen on the idea.”

“Sounds good to me.” She paused and looked at Buck. “Maybe Barney and Janet would like their own place. His is fine for one man, but she has two growing boys.”

“I’ll see what he says.” Rona went off to pass on the news to Paul, and the man came over to say thanks, and he would work as much notice as they wanted.

The summer was drawing on, and the next drive was on the horizon. Annie always left it to Buck to go and sell the stock since she had the children. He and David worked well together, and they could take Carl’s at the same time. She was sitting thinking about that when a man arrived on horseback, and at first, she did not recognize the older man who stood at the gate. Then she gasped and rushed inside to find her mother.

“At the gate,” she said urgently, “Dad.”

Ellen’s hand flew to her mouth, and Annie sent Margie to run to find Buck. Mother and daughter went to the front door together to meet Bartholomew Mayfield. He stood at the foot of the porch steps and said nothing.

She had not needed to send for Buck because he came striding across the yard with at least ten of the hands behind him.

“Not armed or causing trouble,” her dad said. “Did my three years and was let out.” He looked around. “The place looks good. You are doing well.”

“We are better off without you, Bartholomew,” Ellen said. “I have a little business of my own arranging events for people. I like it, and I also look after our three grandchildren.”

“And I have a bungalow here,” Jessica stepped out from the house beside her granddaughter.

“You look well, Mother,” he told her. 

“You can say what you like in front of the crew. We work as a team here,” Annie said. 

Her father shrugged. “Those deeds to the other land, I want to sell them, but if I do, they will take the money for the factory people. It is still a bit of a fight.” He looked around. “They are yours for ten dollars a plot, and you can sell them or work them. The piece owned by Jake is left to go wild and all of the stock gone.”

“What will you do?” Annie asked.

“I have money in another name, and I will live in New York.”

“Well, men, what do we all think?” She looked at Buck. “Could you run something at a distance?”

“We could let David have a crew and manage another place.”

Everyone looked at David, who held his hands in the air and said, “Why not?”

“You still have the deeds?” her dad asked, and she nodded.

“Okay, we will do that, and that ties up the last loose end. Annie stood up to go inside, and a shot rang out and hit her father in the shoulder. He fell to the ground, and the men all went for their guns as Annie and Ellen knelt to see how badly hit he was.

Margie came with a towel to staunch the bleeding, and Buck came back from the gate with a shaking Benjamin Callow by the arm. David had the rifle used, and Martin said he would ride and get the sheriff.

“Why did you shoot him?” Buck asked. “You were the one who robbed him of the money.”

The man was shaking like a leaf.

“That was what he said, and it means I have been chased for three years. I had no money, and I never stole any. The business people took it themselves and said it was stolen. I have been called a criminal and lost everything. It is his fault, and I decided to follow him and see what he did.”

“Is that right?” Ellen asked her husband. He nodded, and his face twisted in pain.

“So, you did it again, Dad. You blamed someone else and let them be badly treated to get you out of a tight spot. You will never change. You always want more and more money, and you don’t care who you hurt.”

The sheriff and deputy arrived riding fast, and the doctor was not far behind. They heard the story, and the doctor took out the bullet with the help of a lot of whiskey to clean the wound. Bartholomew Mayfield moaned and shouted out loud.

The sheriff heard the tale.

“What do you think I should do?” he asked Annie and Buck. 

“I will tell you what I would like to do,” Annie said. “I could give one of these plots of land to Mister Callow. He could sell it and make a new start somewhere else.”

“Would that call an end to it?” the sheriff asked Callow, who looked a lot brighter and nodded.

“The far plot,” her dad said in a shaky voice.

“I am not completely stupid,” she said and went for the deeds. Her father, assisted by the sheriff and Marty, signed the land over to his daughter, and she signed over one of the plots to Mister Callow.

“Off you go, Mister Callow,” the sheriff said. “Thank your lucky stars that Annie Gaunt has a big heart.

“More than her father has,” the man retorted, and Marty helped him onto his horse. The sheriff emptied the rifle and handed it over. David slapped the horse on the rump, and everyone smiled as the rider wobbled off into the distance.

“I suppose that we have to offer to look after you until morning,” Annie said and looked at her mother for agreement.

“He can lie on the sofa, and we will take him into town tomorrow.”

There was a shout from the twins’ bedroom, and Annie went to bring them in to meet the visitor.

“These twins are Elder and Billy,” Buck said and held a boy in each arm. “Annie had a baby a few weeks ago, and that is a girl.” Annie came in and let her father see Eleanor Jessie.

“You don’t deserve to see your grandchildren,” Jessica told him. “I would not look after you even though you are my son.” She moved towards the door. “Tell me when he is gone,” she said and left to go to her bungalow.

“I can understand that,” Buck said, “but we will take you into town tomorrow. The one good thing you did was have a wonderful daughter.” He took away the boys to play outside until supper time, and Annie sat on an armchair and looked at her dad.

“You have to know that if you had run the ranch properly, you would have made more money. We sell at least two hundred head each year at getting towards ninety dollars these days. The money goes back into the business, and we expand all the time. Rona and Carl have the homestead and do the same. They are going to try sheep as well.” She paused. “Thank you for giving me the ranch. I do appreciate it and try to make it successful.”

“There is more of me in you than you care to admit,” her dad told her.

“I like making it work, but I like to help people as well.”

“And that is where we differ,” her dad said and accepted a plate of food that Margie brought for him.

Buck brought in the boys, and they went into the kitchen to eat, leaving Bartholomew on his own.

“Well, there was more to the story of the money than we knew,” Buck said.

“Poor Mister Callow was blamed for something he didn’t do,” Ellen said. “Will you tell my husband tomorrow that we don’t want him back here?”

“I will,” Buck said, “and I will sleep in a chair in the living room. The man is still capable of trouble.”

His wife and mother-in-law breathed a sigh of relief when they heard that. Annie knew that her dad was capable of taking documents from the study or money from the safe. She made a mental note to change the combination.

The baby was upstairs with Annie, and Buck found a blanket to keep himself warm. He stoked up the fire and lay back in the chair. He knew Bartholomew was finding it difficult to rest. He had been shot himself and knew how it felt. He resisted the temptation to open his eyes until his father-in-law spoke.

“I know you are awake, Buck.”

Buck looked across at the sofa.

“We have some laudanum if the pain is bad.” 

The older man shook his head. 

“Strange how things work out,” he said. “My biggest mistake was going for land as an investment when I knew nothing about it.”

“You knew how to ruin someone else, though. That applies to any industry.” There was a silence, and then Bartholomew cleared his throat.

“I do wish that I had never done that.” Buck said nothing, and the older man took a breath. “I am sorry.”

“I accept the apology. I have a wonderful wife, three children, and a half share in a good business. Annie saved me from taking revenge. She was the one who made everything right.”

Annie stepped out from the stairway wrapped in a robe.

“Thanks for the apology. Buck and I have put everything behind us and are building a future for the children. Please stay away from now on. Let me know your address and presumably your new name. I will let you know how your grandchildren are doing.”

“You can just sell those plots. I don’t think they are worth very much.”

“Not as land,” Buck said, “but as thriving farms, they will make a profit.”

“We might be able to give you the value of the land at some stage. Then I will feel as if we have done the right thing.” She turned and went back up the stairs. Bartholomew closed his eyes, and Buck sat thinking about his wife and her generosity. In the morning, he helped Bartholomew into the carriage, tied his horse behind it, and a group of silent hands stood and watched the man be driven away.

Later in the day, Buck and Annie were having a last drink before going to bed.

“You are a really wonderful woman, Annie,” he said and offered her a hand to help her up. “How did I manage to get so lucky?”

She wrapped her arms around his waist and said that without him, she would not be any use at all.

“We are lucky to be together, lucky to have three healthy children, and lucky to have a business we can build.” She paused. “Dad could have left us homeless, and he could have taken those plots. They were in his name. He did actually buy the land in the first place, and we owe him something for that.”

“I agree with you, but I am glad you told him not to come back.”

“You and I and the crew can deal with that, but Mom and Gran? They have suffered at his hands, and they would be unhappy. Mom has a life that she likes now. She is good at planning these events.”

Buck tilted her face towards him and took her lips with his own. The magic that had always happened when they kissed was still there. They turned at the end of the kiss to go to the bedroom, and he took her hand.

“I love you, Missus Gaunt.”

“I love you right back, Mister Gaunt, “and I always will.”

They both thought the words happy ever after but left them unsaid and climbed the stairs together.

THE END

---

Readers who read this book also liked