Let the Heart Do the Talking – Extended Epilogue

Tobias leaned back and stretched as he sat on the front porch, looking out over the land that he and Mary had cultivated.

Ever since combining their two ranches, it felt as though the land was endless.

Conner had taken on the ranch that Tobias had brought up from when he was young, but there was so much that he had merged with Mary that he still felt more or less at home.

In nearly three years of being married to one another, Tobias and Mary had grown to love each other more than they had ever believed possible. But their love was unfailing and unceasing.

“Oh, there you are, my love,” Mary said, coming outside. She had Issa perched upon her hip.

At just over a year old, Issa was a joy that they had not been expecting so soon. Although Mary had not had children with Dirk in their two years of marriage, she had gotten pregnant quickly after marrying Tobias.

Issa, with her sand-colored hair and long lashes, was a reminded of the grace that they had been given and the fact that the Lord was looking out for them, giving them gifts that they did not deserve.

“Yes, are we ready? Is it time to go yet?” Tobias asked.

“Very nearly. I think we will be early if we leave just now, but that probably doesn’t matter. Is the cart here yet?” Mary asked.

“No, not yet,” he replied.

He did miss riding his horse everywhere and Tobias knew that Mary did as well. She rode even less than she had before, now that she was always carrying Issa and felt safer in a cart than on horseback.

But they were still able to run the ranch together and that was something that made Tobias proud. He had done all that he could to assist his wife, but it was still Mary’s ranch and he was simply helping her run it.

They had been able to expand, and had just recently acquired the ranch of none other than Ben Reynolds.
With all the time that he had been in jail, Ben had not been able to do anything with his ranch and he wasn’t making any money. Eventually, he realized that he would have to sell it.

Mary immediately bought it. Not out of spite or to prove any sort of point, but because she wanted to expand the work that they were already doing and this was an ideal opportunity to do that.

Tobias had supported her because he saw her heart and he knew that it was a wise move for their family.

“Where is that cart?” Tobias asked.

“I wish I knew,” she said, pouting.

Tobias took a deep breath in and grew quiet again, still thinking about Ben.

It was a shame that Ben still had not repented for his actions. He felt no real remorse and didn’t seem to think that he had done anything wrong.

But whatever his thoughts, Tobias and Mary had forgiven him, knowing that it was what the Lord would have wanted them to do.

Ben was not a good man, but they both believed that the Lord could help him see his ways eventually and there was no reason to discount him as a person just because they disliked him so much.

No matter how bad things had been, they just hoped that one day he would surrender his life to the Lord. That was something that no man was too far gone to do. Even for someone like Ben who was still in the jail for his crimes, he could find redemption through God.

And all of his men could as well. Although most of them had already been released — if they had been arrested in the first place — many of them were still cautious around Tobias and Mary. Uncomfortable, even.

He couldn’t blame them, but Tobias hoped that they all knew that it had been their own faults. They hadn’t been forced into following Ben. They’d had a choice and they had made the wrong one.

A few of the men had not been charged with anything as they had not been directly involved with any crimes. There had been the men who had helped to steal the cattle, which were later found. And there had been the two men who had tried to set the fire. Mr. Atwater and Mr. Grieves both had to serve a bit of time in the jail as well, but they were free now.

Mr. Atwater had apologized to Mary, but she would never trust him again, even if she had chosen to forgive him.

“Ah, there it is!” Mary exclaimed, looking up and seeing that the cart was on its way.

“Perfect. I think we won’t miss the wedding now, after all,” Tobias said, a grumpy tone in his voice.

“We were never going to miss the wedding. I would not have let that happen, even if it meant you riding into town on your own and me and Issa coming soon after,” Mary said.

“Okay, true. But whatever we might have done, I’m just glad that the cart has come and we can all go together,” he said.

Tobias stood up, excited for what the day held. He could hardly believe that his brother was finally getting married.

First, it had been his sister, finding love from a young age. Then, he had gone through so much in order to find Mary. But now, Conner had finally found the woman of his own dreams.

So, with that in mind, Tobias and Mary lifted their sweet little girl and got into the cart to make their way to the church.

When they arrived, they could see that everything was quite busy already. Guests were milling about, going in to the sanctuary in order to be ready for the ceremony to start. But Tobias was excited for more than just that. He was excited for the adventure that his brother was soon to embark upon.

“Oh, I can hardly believe that Conner and Lindy are finally getting married,” Mary squealed with delight from her seat. She held Issa between her arms and the baby clapped with her chubby little fingers.

“Excellent, Issa. Just like this,” Tobias said, showing her a clap, but keeping it quiet so as not to disturb anyone.

Looking across the church, Tobias saw Danielle and Richard along with their twin boys.

Danielle’s round belly had reminded him of his own wedding when she had been pregnant the first time. Only now, she was a bit further along.

“Danielle looks wonderful, doesn’t she?” Mary asked.

“Yes, she does. I know that they are excited about the new baby. Danielle is convinced that it’s another boy,” Tobias said.

“Oh, goodness! Twin boys and then another boy?” Mary asked.

“I thought you said that twins sounded wonderful,” Tobias said.

“I did say that, but you remember how much sicker Danielle was than other women we know. It sounds like it can be quite difficult and I know how hard it was in those early days with only one child,” she said, reminding Tobias of Issa’s early days of sleeplessness.

“All right, I understand. But either way, I think Danielle can handle it just fine,” Tobias said.

“Oh, I agree. They are wonderful parents and this new child is so fortunate to be born into such a loving family,” Mary said.

“Yes, it will. Anyway, we should be quiet, I think the ceremony is about to begin,” Tobias said.

Mary’s eyes lit up as she watched the two of them make eye contact for the first time that day and saw how the new bride and groom loved one another so deeply through the way that they gazed at each other.

The ceremony began and Tobias and Mary rejoiced as they saw Lindy and Conner recite their vows and make a commitment to live together as husband and wife for the rest of their days.

It reminded Tobias of his own wedding, when he and Mary had made their promises to one another. What a joy and delight that they had been, what a wonder it had been.

It had been a day of rejoicing and gratitude that the Lord had brought them together.

But now, it was Conner’s turn.

After the vows and the pronouncement of husband and wife, Tobias and Mary made their way over to Danielle and Richard, along with their boys, Ethan and Seth.

“You look like you are glowing,” Mary said to Danielle.

“Isn’t that what they always say to a woman who is with child? I do not feel like I’m glowing. It may be easier carrying only one child than two, but you should know that I am not finding it quite as easy as I would have hoped,” Danielle said with a laugh.

“Well, maybe it is a girl then. And she is gentler and taking it easy on you,” Mary suggested.

“No, I think it’s just because it’s only one and not twins. I feel quite sure that it’s a boy,” she said.

Danielle had guessed the same with her twins and she had been right, but it was harder for Mary to say when she was pregnant. She couldn’t take a single guess, but only hoped that the Lord was preparing a healthy baby for them.

“Should we join the others outside?” Danielle asked.

They all agreed.

The wedding had come to a close, but the reception was still going strongly. By the time Tobias and Mary had made their way around to Conner and his wife, they were thrilled at being together.

“Oh, Conner, we are so happy for you,” Mary said, taking his hands.

Tobias put a hand on his brother’s shoulder.

“I have never been more proud of you than I am at this moment. And Lindy! My goodness, Lindy Grace, you are quite a vision. You look beautiful as ever and my brother is such a fortunate and blessed man to be marrying you. May the Lord bless you both as you embark on this life together. I will be praying for your journey,” Tobias said.

“Thank you, Tobias,” Lindy said

“We both will, Lindy. We are so happy for the two of you,” Mary said.

Mary and Lindy hugged one another. Tobias was proud of his wife who had become something of a mentor to the younger woman. Although she was only a couple of years older than Lindy, they had a very sweet relationship and Tobias knew that Mary was going to help Lindy a great deal in learning how to adjust to being a wife.

“Thank you for sitting through that whole ceremony. I know if can be terribly long and boring and dull to attend a wedding that is not your own,” Conner said.

“Not at all. It was a joy to be here,” Tobias said.

But, alas, they reached the time when they had to leave.

“Well, we should be heading home now,” Tobias said to his sister.

“Yes, so should we. The boys are very tired,” Danielle said.

“You look pretty tired as well,” Tobias said.

“Oh, I am. I really am,” she said.

With that, they departed from Danielle and made their way to the cart once more.

It took a while to get back to the ranch, as there were many people leaving at the same time. Nevertheless, as they saw the ranch come interview, Tobias took Mary’s hand and gave it a squeeze.

“That, my dear, is our home,” Tobias said.

“And it is a lovely one,” she replied.

“Can you believe that we very nearly missed out on it? That we might never have come to be together because of our mutually stubborn behavior?” he asked.

“Well, I would have had it. In its smaller version, of course. And I would not have had the same success that we have now,” she said.

“But you did so well with it even when you were on your own. You were a magnificent rancher from the moment you became one,” Tobias said.

“Thank you, but I failed a lot. I didn’t realize how much I needed to learn until I had you by my side to teach me,” Mary said.

Tobias tried not to laugh. He understood that Mary was being sweet and trying to build his confidence.
The truth was that she didn’t need him at all. All Tobias did was provide someone to speak with in times when they tried to do business with men who might not respect having a woman talk to them about business matters.

Otherwise, Tobias felt pretty useless most of the time when it came to the way that Mary ran her parts of the ranch.

Still, he had been doing very well with his own responsibilities and had seen growth at the ranch as a result.

Both Tobias and Mary knew what it took to do the job well, but they had very different strengths and this came in pretty handy at times. Now, they were able to divide up their various tasks and arrange things so that they could each focus on the things that they were best at.

“I am so thankful to God for everything that we have built here,” Tobias said, taking it in.

“So am I. Honestly, I don’t know why he has blessed us this much, but it is remarkable. Do you think everyone has moments of being overwhelmed by his provision or are we just more fortunate than others?” Mary asked.

“I think that no one is any more or less fortunate than they acknowledge from God. There are those who have so much, but they see it as a small thing. And there are those who have so little, but they are filled with gratitude,” Tobias said.

“Mmm, you are right,” Mary said as she carried Issa up the stairs and to her nursery.

Tobias followed and sat with Mary as she nursed Issa to sleep and then put her into her little crib. They left the room and closed the door silently behind themselves as they made their way to their own room.

“I’m sorry, you were saying?” Mary asked, reminding Tobias of the conversation they were previously having.

“Oh, right. I was just saying that everyone has something to be thankful for. Everyone has a reason to praise the Lord and to give him the glory for the things that they have,” he said.

“If only everyone would actually do it,” Mary said.

“Exactly. So often people don’t realize what they have, but that doesn’t mean they have nothing,” he said.

“Well, I think we have a whole lot of extra,” Mary said.

“As do I. So let’s thank God for it,” Tobias said as he knelt in front of their bed.

Mary joined him and they bowed their heads and closed their eyes.

“Thank you, Lord, for the gift of watching my brother get married today,” Tobias prayed.

“Thank you, Lord, for the sweet moments of nursing Issa,” Mary prayed.

“Thank you, Lord, for this beautiful property that my wife has chosen to share with me,” Tobias continued.

“Thank you, Lord, for a husband that I can trust,” Mary prayed in her turn.

They went on and on, back and forth, each one thanking God for something that he had given them.

Finally, once they had exhausted all of the big things, they started thanking him for their senses and the fact that they could enjoy the taste of coffee or the smell of hay or the sights and sounds and sensations that were all around them every day.

In the end, they thanked him once more for one another.

“Amen,” they prayed in unison.

“Well, I don’t know about you, my dear, but I am very tired,” Tobias said.

“Yes, so am I,” Mary said.

They got into the bed and laid back. Tobias closed his eyes and was ready to drift into a wonderful sleep when Mary rested a hand on his arm.

“Tobias?” she asked.

“Hmm?” he replied, half-asleep already.

“Can I talk to you about just one more thing?” she asked.

Tobias forced his eyes open and turned to her.

“Of course, anything you want. You never need to ask my permission to talk about things,” he said.

“Well, it’s kind of a big thing that I want to talk about. But we don’t have to go through it all right now. Just something to think about,” Mary said.

Tobias was feeling nervous. She wasn’t normally this anxious when she broached a subject with him.
“What is it?” Tobias asked.

Mary smiled at him and bit her lip.

“Just seeing Danielle today, it made me…it made me wish that we had another child,” she said.

“Really? You made it sound like you were happy to not be pregnant again,” Tobias said.

“I know, but I think that I actually really do want to have another child soon. What do you think?” she asked.

Tobias was surprised, but it thrilled him to think about seeing his wife as a mother of two, seeing her pregnant again, seeing her as happy as she was with Issa, only twice as much.

“I think that if you are ready to have another child, we certainly should,” Tobias said.

“Really? You want another child this soon?” Mary asked.

“I wanted another child the moment I held Issa in my arms. I just thought that you wanted to wait. But, yes, my dear. If you are ready, I am ready,” Tobias replied.

Mary was thrilled and she did not hesitate to show it. She threw her arms around Tobias and they shared a sweet kiss before exhaustion took them once more. Mary lay next to him and Tobias closed his eyes again, this time allowing himself to drift into a happy, contented sleep.

THE END

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