The Unspoken Spark in their Eyes – Extended Epilogue

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Two years passed and Holly was living the life she’d always wanted to live. Instead of taking care of someone else’s children, she was taking care of her own. One so far, and one on the way. She was almost ready to pop – as Marvin kept saying, despite her objections to the phrase.

She leaned over to pick up a basket and felt a twitch in her abdomen that made her stand up straight again. She was almost eight months along, and her belly was large. It was in her way. Sometimes she bumped it walking toward the counter because she forgot it was there. 

“Okay, I won’t be able to pick this up,” she murmured, blowing air through her mouth in the form of an “O” as she pressed one hand into her lower back. “Marvin!” she called out, tilting her head to the side and leaning back slightly to call around the corner of the wall. “Marvin, I can’t get this basket.”

He came around the corner in a rush, giving her a frantic look. “How many times do I have to tell you to let me do this? You go out and sit on the porch and wait for me, woman. Where’s Violet?”

“She’s sleeping in her basket bed,” Holly responded, pointing to the couch on the other side of the room. “I’ll take her out.”

“No, you won’t.” Marvin shook his head at her, frowning. He wasn’t angry with her. He was just irritated. And he had every right to be. Holly refused to stop moving. She wanted to get her energy out and standing so still all the time was just annoying. But she understood why he was concerned. 

Having Violet had been a challenge for Holly. Something about her body made it difficult, and the doctor had trouble getting their daughter out. There was always a chance the problem would arise again. Holly’s life was in danger. Marvin was less concerned about the baby than he was Holly. He was terrified of losing her so soon after finding her. 

Holly was concerned about the child. She spent her waking moments praying the baby would live and be born without complications. 

The couple was on the road an hour later, traveling to Dallas by buggy to visit Penny, Keira, and Bradley. Keira was also with child and expecting hers just a few weeks after Holly’s. They were worried about Holly and her unborn child and had asked them to visit before the birth of the baby. Holly knew they were anxious that she would not live through the birth, and they would never see her again. As morbid as the thought was, she understood and told them she would come visit. 

They were quiet as they rode down the street, both wrapped up in their own thoughts. Holly was excited about seeing their friends again. It had been a year since they’d all been together. Penny and the newlyweds had come to see Violet when she was born. Since then, their lives had been so busy, they hadn’t been able to visit each other. 

Holly thought about how wonderful it would be to see them after so long. She glanced back into the back seat where Violet lay sleeping in her basket. 

Her eyes widened as she felt like she was suddenly floating in mid-air. She watched as the basket with her one-year-old daughter lifted up off the seat and flew forward toward them. 

“Wheel!” Marvin screamed. “Wheel!”

Instinctively, Holly launched herself toward the basket to catch it. At first, she seemed to have nothing under her feet to push off of. She looked down and saw the front of the buggy, the floor beneath her feet, had dropped down about a foot. 

She didn’t have time to think. She shoved both feet down and pushed off as fast and hard as she could, throwing her body in the direction of the basket. 

Both she and Marvin met the same spot at the same time, bumping into each other in mid-air. The basket slammed against Marvin’s chest, tossing the baby from its depths wrapped in a thick pink blanket, sending her straight into her father’s arms. 

Holly felt Marvin’s long arm go around her back and she closed her eyes, waiting for the three of them to hit the ground. 

The pain that followed was something Holly never wanted to repeat again. All she could do was hold her arms around her enlarged belly, wrapping her legs up and curling around it the best she could, desperate to keep the baby safe.

Marvin acted as a cushion for both his wife and daughter when the three of them slammed against the harness of the two horses pulling the buggy. 

“Whoa!” Marvin shrieked, even though he had no reins to pull on. Tears clogged Holly’s throat as fear ripped through her. “Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!”

Holly bounced up and down, slamming on the hard leather and chain of the harness and hitching apparatus. She wanted to reach out and grab something to hold herself steady but was too terrified to remove her arms from around her belly. She had to protect her baby.

The horses came to a grinding halt, causing the buggy to slide through the dirt at a breakneck speed. Holly could feel the wind against her, blowing through her clothes, puffing them up. She was sure she would shoot straight out of the precarious position they were in and slam hard on the ground or maybe up against a tree. Just the thought of what that might do to her child brought the tears to her eyes. 

“I’ve got you!” Marvin cried out. She could feel his arm still around her back and was amazed by her husband.

When the buggy finally came to a stand still, Holly’s face was soaked with tears. She couldn’t move. Much as she wanted to, she couldn’t bring herself to move an inch. She was locked in the fetal position, wrapped around her baby belly. 

Marvin didn’t need her to move. He moved her. With one arm, he lifted her up along with himself, holding their one-year-old daughter cradled in his other arm. Holly wanted to help him. She wanted to unfold her body and take her daughter and let him deal with the broken wheel. 

But the terror she’d been through had paralyzed her. The only movement her shocked body could handle was the ceaseless crying she couldn’t seem to stop. 

“It’s okay,” Marvin cooed in her ear. She squeezed her eyes shut. She didn’t know what Marvin did with their baby, but he freed up both arms to wrap them around her. She felt his warmth and prayed that she could release her paralyzed muscles. She didn’t want to be a burden to him. She was a strong woman, no longer afraid and vulnerable. She was strong. She repeated it to herself over and over, listening to Marvin’s whispered comforting words. “We’re safe. Violet is safe and alive. You are okay, I’m okay. We’ll be all right. It’s okay. It’s okay.” He continued with the same words until she was able to bring herself under control. It took some time, but she managed to loosen her muscles and relax her body. 

The fear that their child had been hurt in the accident was stronger than ever now. She wished she could see inside her belly to make sure the child was okay. It wasn’t moving, but it frequently didn’t move during this time of day. She’d always told herself it would take regular naps, which would be wonderful for both her and Violet. 

“You gonna be okay?” Marvin’s voice was so compassionate, so caring. Holly let herself feel the love he had for her. It was amazing to be cared for the way he cared for her. 

She was sitting in the grass beside the broken buggy a few minutes later, Violet back in her basket, her eyes wide open and gazing all around her. She was generally a quiet baby, very observant. She was babbling some and sitting up, crawling when she could but not aggressively trying to crawl everywhere. She seemed quite content to sit on her mother’s lap and just look around at the world that was so new to her. 

Holly took her on walks outside often so Violet wasn’t afraid. Her hands moved in a playful way. Holly wanted to pick her up, but Violet had a tendency to either kick her in the belly or try to sit on it and neither of those were good things for Holly. 

She reached out and slid her finger into the tiny hand of her daughter, delighting when Violet squeezed her and giggled. 

Marvin was standing by the buggy staring at it. He had been doing that for the last five minutes, walking back and forth. Holly knew nothing about buggy construction or repair, but she had a feeling Marvin was stumped by whatever had happened to the wheel. There was a spare, she knew but it looked like it wasn’t the wheel that had caused the wreck. Something that held the wheel on had broken. And Marvin didn’t have a spare for that part. 

Holly gathered all this information by listening to Marvin’s mumbling complaints. Several times he took his hat off and scratched his head, staring dumbfounded at the broken buggy. 

Just when it looked like he might be about to lose his temper out of sheer frustration, he turned his head and looked up the road. Holly did the same to see what he was looking at. There were two riders coming along from the direction of Camper’s Point; a town they would pass through to get to Dallas, which was thirty miles past that. 

Holly turned her eyes back to Marvin, studying his reaction to the rider’s. There was always a chance the men coming toward them were not friendly. Holly and Marvin – of all people – knew that to be a fact. 

Holly protectively put one arm around her belly and the other over the basket where Violet lay. Marvin looked at her and she met his gaze. He didn’t look worried, which made her feel much better. 

“You stay right where you are,” he said cautiously. “I’ll walk out and meet them. Any sign of trouble…” He moved quickly to the horses. She watched him flip several latches and pull leather straps out of the harness. “You take this horse and get out of here. Ride as fast as you can. But…”

He held up one finger. 

“I have a good feeling. So just be on guard. Don’t look scared.”

Holly trusted her husband’s instincts. She nodded and stayed where she was, with her arms around her children. 

The riders came closer. One of them lifted his hat from his head and waved it at them, a sure sign of friendship. Holly relaxed, letting her shoulders slump and blowing out the breath she’d been holding in. She didn’t want to be naïve, but she was getting a good feeling from the approaching riders, too. 

Stay on guard, she told herself. Don’t let your guard down. Your children could be in danger.

Reminding herself once more, she kept a sharp eye on the men as they got closer. 

Marvin was ten yards from her, waiting for the riders to get closer. Once they were near enough, Holly heard them shout out greetings. They stopped just before reaching Marvin and had a conversation too low for Holly to hear from where she was.

But they were all smiling. Both men – one older, the other young enough and similar enough to be his son – moved their horses slow enough to walk along with Marvin as he came back toward the buggy. Holly could eventually hear him describing what happened and the shocked reactions from the two men.

“I don’t know if we have anything that will help fix your buggy,” the younger man said, “but we can sure ride out to get what you need and come back and help you fix it. Let’s see what the problem is.”

Holly watched the men dismount and go toward the buggy. The younger man seemed familiar to her, but his face was mostly hidden by the long beard and mustache he sported. His father, if it was his father, had the same rugged look, with a long beard and mustache of the same color as the younger man. The older man was slightly taller and much wider than his younger counterpart. 

Holly looked at Violet when the little girl cooed and gurgled. Her heartbeat had normalized and she was breathing regular, so she lifted her arm from her belly and reached in the basket to take the one-year-old out. 

Violet laughed, her head bobbing from side to side.

“What are you doing, silly girl?” Holly asked her softly. “You know how to hold up your head. Are you being silly?” She giggled when the baby seemed to understand, forming an “O” with her baby lips and rounding her eyes as if she was shocked by the insinuation. 

Holly held the little girl against her in a warm hug before turning her around so she could watch what her father and the helpers were doing. All the men had their backs to the two as they examined the damage to the buggy. 

“Is that Papa over there?” Holly asked, maneuvering her baby’s arms so it seemed she was waving or pointing at Marvin. “What’s he doing, huh? What’s he doing?”

She continued asking nonsensical questions until Marvin turned and approached. 

“They don’t have anything to fix the buggy,” he told her. “But they’re going out to Camper’s Point to pick up a block of wood. What do you think of riding the horses to Camper’s Point, and we can get a hotel room for you and Violet while I fix this? We can unhitch the horses.”

Holly lifted one hand and held it out to him. He took it and she used his strength to pull her large body to her feet. Grunting once she was straightened up, she said, “What about our things? We can’t leave all this here unguarded. Someone will come and take it all. You know that’s a good possibility.”

Marvin nodded, chuckling. “Yeah, I do. But I think we should go to town and-“

“Holly?”

Holly immediately recognized the voice when the young man said her name. She jerked her body to the side and looked around Marvin, who had twisted abruptly when his wife’s name was spoken. 

“Lucky?” Holly could hardly believe it. As soon as she recognized his voice, she looked into his eyes and knew who he was. “Oh my Lord in Heaven, it is you! I can’t believe it!”

“Holly Goodman!” Lucky cried out her name, throwing his arms up in the air. He was hugging her the next moment, and she didn’t know how he’d closed the distance so quickly.

“I can’t believe it either! You look completely different.” She laughed and hugged him back.

He stepped back, looking her up and down, holding both her hands out to the sides. “And you look exactly the same! Except for this right here.” He nodded at her belly. “Going to have a baby, I see.”

“The second one,” Holly confirmed, jerking a thumb over her shoulder at Violet, who was now sitting in the grass beside her basket, pulling green blades out of the earth with her small fingers. 

“I see that, too! This is amazing. I’m so happy to see you are doing so well.”

Holly nodded. Her smile was about to break her cheeks. She studied his face, looking for the young man she’d known three years ago. 

“There certainly is a big difference between fifteen and eighteen!” she exclaimed. “Did you find a family?”

“I did. These folks took me in and gave me a home.” He looked at the man he’d come with, who was watching with an amused look on his face, his large arms crossed over his chest. “He’s actually my uncle ,but he’s more of a friend than anything else.”

Seeing he was being talked about, the big man walked over to them, holding out his hand. 

“Mark Landry, young lady. Good to meet you.” He turned to Marvin after shaking her hand and repeated the words.

“I’m Marvin Rhodes. This is my wife, Holly, and our daughter, Violet, over there in the grass.”

“Sweet lookin’ little girl,” Mark said, his voice booming loudly, reminding Holly of Sid and making her miss the man for a brief moment. “Listen, we got some things to do in Camper’s Point. How about you stay here with Holly, Lucky, and me and Mr. Rhodes here will head out there and pick up what we need. I’ll rent a buggy or a coach and come back for you, Mrs. and your child so you can get a hotel room and be comfortable for the night. You won’t be wantin’ to head on to Dallas once that’s repaired. Nobody likes to travel in the dark.”

Holly didn’t think it would be dark when the buggy was fixed, but she liked the idea of catching up with her old friend. She had so much to tell him about what happened to her after they last parted company. She looked at Marvin, her eyebrows raised.

“You all right with that?” he asked, his eyes darting to Lucky and back to her. 

She grinned. “I am. Lucky here won’t hurt me or Violet. He’s my friend.”

“As long as you’re sure,” Marvin said. “You’ll protect them with your life, right, Lucky?”

Lucky looked solemn when he gave Marvin his answer. “Yes sir, I will. My life and my soul if necessary.”

Marvin laughed. “Doubt that will be required. All right.”

He came over to put his arms around Holly and give her a hug. She laughed when he bumped gently into her protruding belly. “Watch out,” she murmured affectionately. 

He kissed her gently. “Be safe, Holly. You know I don’t want to live without you.”

“Nor me you,” she replied. “So you be safe. And come back in a hurry. We need you.”

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OFFER: A BRAND NEW SERIES AND 2 FREEBIES FOR YOU!

Grab my new series, "Hearts of the Untamed West", and get 2 FREE novels as a gift! Have a look here!

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