Hearts Caught in the Moment – Extended Epilogue

---

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

Grab my new series, " Faith and Love on the Frontier", and get 2 FREE novels as a gift! Have a look here!

---

Oswald leaned over Mike with his hot towel and gently laid it over his face. He pressed it softly against Mike’s cheeks, cooling the burn from the shave he’d just given him.

Mike had his eyes closed, reliving the memory of his walk down the aisle with his lovely bride, thinking about how beautiful she looked. They had been married for six months. Their family business had combined with the blessing of both their fathers, changing the name of the company to B&M Coaches. The business had gotten so big, they’d decided to hire more people, create a board of supervisors and let the business go through them when it was not in Greentree directly.

Alfred Storey was the head of the board and took care of everything from scheduling to hiring and firing, though Mike and Belle participated as well. They both still did drives but not as often now. They cut back their schedule to free up time to be together. 

“What do you think of your brother and sister-in-law getting together, Mike?”

He heard the voice of Sheriff Tom Barnaby, who must have been the man who entered when the bell over the door tinkled.

“Oh, I’m not bothered by them,” Mike said through the towel. His voice was muffled so he reached up and reluctantly took the towel from his face. It had started to cool off anyway. He sat up and looked at the sheriff, a man on the shorter side but bulky with ice blue eyes and dark hair. “I’m not bothered by the two of them getting together. They’re good for each other. Balance each other out.”

“They suit each other as well as Mike and Belle do,” Oswald remarked, taking the towel from Mike and thanking him.

“I’m glad you think so,” Mike said. “They really need encouragement. At least, Al does. I’ve never seen him with a woman like this. I know he’s only twenty. He’s got a lot to learn, though.”

“Yeah, seems younger in a way,” Oswald agreed. 

Mike pressed two dollars into the man’s hand. “Here you go, with a tip, Os. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Always welcome in my barber shop, Mike.”

Mike left the shop, running his hand over his mustache and beard. His cheeks were still burning from the shaving, but it would have been much worse without the towel. He just wished he’d been able to keep it on longer.

He headed toward the bank, trying not to think about the slight pain. It would ease and then go away. He just wished it would hurry up.

Samantha popped out of a doorway just as he was about to pass and almost ran into him. They both stopped short.

“Whoa!” he said, taking a sudden step back. He almost lost his balance but regained it quickly enough to reach out and steady her at the same time by grasping her arm. She twisted the hand of that arm and wrapped her fingers around his arm. 

When they were both on their feet again, they started to laugh.

“Well, that was something else,” Samantha said through it. 

“I’ve been wondering what it would be like to dance with you,” Mike replied. “I think I just got a taste. Not sure I want to do that again.”

Samantha let out another laugh. “Where’s our lady?” she asked. “I haven’t seen her in days.”

“She’s around here somewhere,” Mike replied, looking around. “We’re not supposed to meet up till noon at the restaurant. Care to come to lunch?”

“I wouldn’t want to interrupt your time together.”

Mike chuckled. “No need to worry about that. We get plenty of time to spend together alone. Not working quite as much has helped out with that. Maybe we’ll go back to our previous schedules sometimes in the future, but I doubt it.”

“I’m sure once Belle finds herself with child, she won’t ever return to driving a stagecoach,” Samantha said quietly, as if she was telling a secret. She even flicked her eyes from side to side as if looking for someone who might overhear and tell on her. “She will fall in love with your children and forget all about working.”

Mike nodded. “I’m not sure I would mind that. You want to come to lunch or not?” he asked with a pleasant smile.

“I would love to. I think my husband might be joining me, if that’s okay.”

Mike pulled away from her, raising his eyebrows. “Henry is coming out to join the land of the living today?”

“Oh stop,” Samantha replied with a laugh. “He has his own life he lives. He’s not a hermit, you know. Just because he doesn’t spend time with me and my friends, doesn’t mean he doesn’t have his own.”

“I’m just teasing you, Sam. You know I don’t mean anything by it.”

“I know you don’t. I’ll be there at noon. Or we will.”

“Okay, see you then.”

Belle was having second thoughts about the restaurant when she got to it and saw how many people were eating there. She should have known, since that was when most men took off for their lunch break. She stood outside, watching for Mike, intending to tell him they should go to the café nearby instead. 

She saw him approaching, Samantha and Henry with him. That was a pleasant surprise. She couldn’t help smiling from ear to ear. It was rare that Henry joined them for anything. Belle had always thought he had a good sense of humor and a pleasant demeanor. 

“There she is!” Samantha announced as if they’d been looking all over town for Belle. She held out both arms wide, and Belle gave her a hug. “It’s good to see you.”

“It’s good to see you, too, Sam. It’s been at least two weeks since we got out to do anything. And hello, Henry. How are you? I haven’t seen you in an age!”

Henry grinned, his eyes sparkling at her. “I’ve been quite busy, but I’m holding on. I thought it would be nice to have lunch with my lady and her friends. I haven’t done this in forever.”

“You’re right, you haven’t,” Samantha scolded him lovingly, slapping his arm playfully. “You should more often.”

“I might. I might.”

They all laughed.

“I was thinking we should go to the café for lunch instead,” Belle said, glancing behind her into the windows of the packed restaurant. “It’s really full today. Unless we want to wait an hour or so for it to clear out.”

“We could go for a walk all four of us. Work up an appetite.”

Mike didn’t look too keen on Samantha’s suggestion. For his part, neither did Henry. 

“No, dear, I don’t want physical exercise. I do enough of that at work. I’d like to sit down and enjoy a meal.”

“I know,” Belle said, sweeping her eyes over the three of them. “Come back to our house. I’ll have the cook whip something up for us. That will be much more intimate, won’t it? And it will be nice for Henry, who doesn’t get to spend much time with us. What do you think?”

“I like that idea,” Mike replied warmly, putting his arm around her shoulders and squeezing her to him. 

Samantha and Henry looked at each other before both nodded. 

“Wonderful idea, Belle. That will be much nicer than the crowded restaurant with so many people talking, it’s hard to hear yourself think.”

“Let’s take our buggy,” Mike said. “There’s room for you two in the back, and it’s right up the road.”

They walked to where the buggy had been left and all piled into it, Samantha and Belle carrying on a conversation while the men did the same. Belle got in the back with Samantha so they could continue their conversation without having to cross talk over the men. Henry asked if she was sure about three times before he would finally take the passenger seat next to Mike. 

“Well, this is exciting,” Samantha said, her voice an octave above normal. Belle was always surprised by how pleased Samantha was when her husband made an appearance with her. She’d had the same look on her face when he attended their wedding and gone to spring festival with her and her friends. “When Henry said we should have lunch together, I didn’t expect it to turn into an intimate gathering.”

“It’s nice to get together sometimes. I think this will be healthy for him.” Belle kept her voice down, not wanting the man to overhear and think she was insulting him. 

“Not just for him,” Samantha muttered under her breath. “Healthy for me, too. And for our marriage. I don’t like to think things could get dull or stale with him. He’s so amazing and always makes me feel like I’ve just won the biggest prize of the fair when he so much as looks at me.” Samantha sighed. “It’s always been that way, the whole time we’ve been married. I hope it never goes away.”

Belle understood Samantha’s passion for her husband. She hadn’t been able to recognize it before. Without having been deeply in love before, there was no way she could have understood. She had no point of reference.

But now she did. Now she understood Samantha’s passion for the man she married. All Mike had to do was catch her eyes and her body would pulse with love for him. She would feel suddenly hot and need to fan herself. He’d caught her doing that several times and, although he blushed while he was doing it, he teased her about being so attracted to him. 

“I think I understand now,” she said, keeping her voice low. “I feel that way about Mike. It hasn’t stopped since the day I fell in love with him.”

“He was always in love with you, did you know that? Ever since he was a kid.”

Belle raised her eyebrows, scanning her friend. “I didn’t know that until recently. How did you know?”

“Apparently he told Henry ages ago how he felt. They were in the barber shop. It wasn’t an intentional meeting, they were just there at the same time. He told Henry and the other men that he’d always wanted to marry you. He’d been keeping it secret in his heart since you were both at the schoolhouse together.”

Tingles flooded Belle’s body. She swerved her eyes to look at her husband’s profile in the front seat. She was behind Henry and could see her husband from the side. She wondered if he was listening to their conversation. When he responded to Henry without hesitation, she knew he wasn’t. Men were like that, she thought with an internal giggle. They could tune out women with no problem at all.

The thought made her giggle become audible, and Samantha gave her a curious look. Belle leaned close to her and said quietly, “I was just thinking about how easily they can tune out what we’re saying when they have no interest in it.”

“And they can just as quickly chime in when you don’t think they’re listening.”

The two women collapsed in giggles. They remained close together and Belle said, “We’re not like that. Are we? No. We don’t do that. We don’t have selective hearing.”

Samantha transformed her face into a very serious expression that only lasted until she was done speaking. “Who, us? No, no. We would never do that. We listen to everything, and we hear everything.”

Again, the two women laughed as quietly as they could.

“What are you two ladies laughing about back there?” Mike asked, twisting his upper body to look back at them. His eyes caught Belle’s, and she couldn’t help laughing even harder. Mike turned his eyes to Henry, who had a curious look on his face. “What did I say?”

Henry shrugged. “I regularly admit to not understanding the shenanigans of women. If they’re laughing, I just let them be. It’s when they’re crying you have to be attentive.”

Belle couldn’t help laughing even harder at Henry’s observation. She was joined by the others – all except Henry – whose serious expression made their laughter continue longer. 

When he finally broke into a grin, their laughter died down. 

They reached the house, and all piled out of the buggy. They left it in front of the house. The groom would see to the comfort of the animals while they were inside. 

“Let me run to tell Abigail to make us a nice light lunch. You all go out on the veranda and sit. Shall I bring drinks?”

“I would love a cocktail,” Henry spoke up. “I haven’t had a day off in quite a while.”

“This isn’t your day off,” Samantha pointed out with a curious undertone. 

The man looked at his wife. Belle could see the love plainly in his eyes. “I worked a half day. Now I am off. I consider it a day off. Now.”

“Oh. Of course.” Samantha lifted up on her tiptoes and planted a firm kiss on his lips. “And I’m glad you’ve chosen to spend the rest of your day off with me.”

“No one else I’d rather spend it with,” Henry claimed, shrugging his shoulders as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Belle felt that way about Mike. When she moved her eyes to look at her husband, thinking those thoughts, she noticed he was gazing at her, too, the same look that was on Henry’s face when he looked at his wife on his face when he looked at her.

It made her heart do a jump in her chest. Her stomach immediately filled with fluttering butterflies. She decided to hurry to tell Abigail to make lunch and get the drinks out on the veranda as quick as she could. She felt a longing sensation when Mike turned away from her and headed toward the tall glass doors that led out onto the marble floored veranda. 

She was heading from the kitchen having told Abigail to take the food to the parlor where she was preparing to make drinks for her husband and their friends when a knock on the door got her attention. 

She turned on one heel and headed to the door.

When Belle pulled open the door, she was a little surprised to see Nellie and Alonzo standing there. He was looking sheepish as ever, and Nellie was looking ever as confident.

“I am so glad you are home!” Nellie cried out, throwing her arms around her sister, catching her off guard so she almost fell backwards. She caught herself and hugged her sister back.

“What in heaven’s name …” She let the exclamation trail off, exercising patience until she found out what her crazy sister was so excited about.

“We’re going to get married!” Nellie announced loudly, turning her eyes excitedly to Alonzo, who was completely red in the face. He met eyes with her but didn’t look at Belle.

Exhilaration burst through Belle, and she cried out happily, throwing one arm around her sister and the other around her brother-in-law, who would become her brother-in-law again when he married Nellie.

“This is wonderful news!” she gushed, enthusiastically. “Come! You must tell everyone!”

Nellie reacted with a surprised expression. “Everyone? Who is everyone?”

“Well, our folks aren’t here, but Mike and Sam and Henry are, and I know they will want to celebrate with you both, as well. I wish all our parents were here right now.”

“Oh, where is Sam? I want to tell her right now!”

“She’s out on the veranda with the men. Go on out there. I’m heading to the parlor to make drinks. Do you want one? Something light? Some wine?”

“Wine would be good. Unless you have champagne.”

Belle laughed, shaking her head. “No, we don’t keep champagne stocked here. I’ll bring the white wine and six glasses.”

Nellie dragged Alonzo by one hand toward the double doors leading out to the veranda. As he passed her, he gave Belle a dazzling smile. She could see his happiness all over his embarrassed face.

Belle laughed to herself as she went to the parlor to fetch the glasses and the bottle of wine. She found one in the icebox that was cool and would be refreshing on the hot summer day.

By the time she got out to the veranda, Nellie and Alonzo had announced their news. Belle couldn’t help noticing the standing tears in Mike’s eyes as he watched his brother relate to the women and to Henry. He’d probably already given his brother a hearty pat on the back and congratulations, but Belle knew he was still feeling the joy and happiness at seeing his brother make such a huge leap forward in his life. Not too long ago, the young man had been scampering around like a hurt animal, scared to make a move without his father’s consent. 

He was no longer that young man. He was looking at a bright future, and Belle was sure she would be there for it all. She and her husband had gotten to watch both Nellie and Alonzo transform into the adults that were sitting at that table drinking wine in celebration of their engagement. 

She hoped her life would always be this fulfilling. She sat down next to Mike and took his hand under the table, leaning in her chair toward him even though her eyes were across the table, watching Nellie excitedly talk to Samantha about her initial wedding plans. 

It was a happy, fulfilling life.

Belle was a blessed woman.

Readers who read this book also liked

---

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

Grab my new series, " Faith and Love on the Frontier", and get 2 FREE novels as a gift! Have a look here!

---