“I don’t feel like eating either. Perhaps a glass of water.”
She hurried to pour him a glass of water from the pitcher while he sat at the table. She sat beside him and regarded him with loving eyes as he gulped down the water.
“How did it go?” she questioned as he wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt.
He smiled. “Just as I prayed it would.” He held her hand. “The cowards were just about to start the raid when he caught up with them. Carlton and three other marshals were assigned to help me. Along with Amos Sanders, we apprehended all of them. There was a shootout, but none of us got hurt. The outlaws got injured, but we killed none of them.”
Olivia listened eagerly, grateful that no one died.
“We took them to the next town so the sheriff and Gabe wouldn’t know what went down. The lily-livered ones hastily confessed, fingering the sheriff and the banker. Swiftly, we had the sheriff arrested. It turns out he’s a coward, all bark and no bite. He sang like a bird when he knew it was over and the outlaws already confessed. To get a lesser sentence, he cooperated with us. He admitted that Gabe Winters was the mastermind behind the whole thing. He also provided proof from the development company that paid them handsomely to get the whole of Ruby Rock for them within the space of ten years so they could build houses for only wealthy people and make an enormous gain.
“We promptly arrested Gabe. This time around, he will stay behind bars for a long time, unlike the other two times I had him arrested. He tried to bribe his way out of it. Thankfully, no one was corrupt amongst us. So, his plan failed woefully.”
“So, it’s over.”
He cupped her cheek. “It’s over, my love. I reckon that with all of them behind bars now, the townsfolk will be bold enough to testify against the banker in court. And you don’t have to if you don’t want to. Thanks to Amos and the sheriff, we have sufficient evidence to put him away for a long time.”
“That’s wonderful news.”
“Indeed, it is.” Adam squeezed her hand. “Thank you, Olivia, for never giving up on me. Thank you for always being by my side and praying for me. I will always love and cherish you.”
The words were like music to her ears. She cradled his chin. “I bless God you were the one He sent to rescue me in the forest that day. You’re everything to me.”
Adam gently kissed her lips.
“None of that in my kitchen,” Annie teased by the door and they all burst into laughter.
Epilogue
Adam tried to hold back his laughter, but he couldn’t. However, he put his hand across his mouth to stifle it. Perhaps it was mean of him to laugh at his brother when he was ridden with anxiety. But Stephen would do the same to him if he were in his shoes.
As if his brother read his thoughts, he stopped pacing and said, “You can laugh all you want now, Adam, but be sure I’ll be the one laughing when it’s your turn.”
Adam shrugged. “I would be shocked if you didn’t behave that way.” Getting serious, he added, “You’re going to wear a hole on the floor if you continue pacing like that.”
Wiping his damp forehead on the sleeve of his shirt, Stephen rasped, “Do you expect me to sit calmly when my wife is in labor? Why is it taking so long?”
Adam sighed. “Stephen, we have prayed. We have asked God to take control. Where’s your faith?”
“I know I’m not supposed to worry after handing it over to God, but I’m human. And it has been hours. Cora and Olivia refuse to say anything to us. They keep moving about carrying things.”
The annoyance in his brother’s voice brought a smile to Adam’s lips. The women had been moving up and down carrying one thing or the other from water, to towels, to basins.
“Do you know I can hear Annie’s cries from here?” Stephen went on, running his fingers through his tousled hair. “I wanted to be with my wife, to offer her comfort and support, but Cora practically pushed me out of the room. Since when is it wrong for a man to want to be with his wife when she’s bringing their child into the world?”
Adam simply shrugged. “You’d be in the way. Why don’t you allow the women to do their thing?”
Eyeing him, Stephen remarked, “I dislike how calm you are. Let’s see if you’ll be this calm when it’s Olivia in labor.”
Adam chuckled. He wasn’t as calm as he pretended to be. He was also worried about his sister-in-law as her time had passed by a week. The midwife who had come to check up on her the previous day before she left town had feared that something might be wrong with the baby, hence the reason he or she is still in the womb.
They had all rebuked anything happening to the baby and had joined hands in prayers for Annie and the child. It had stunned Adam when he had woken up to cries from Annie that morning that she was in labor.
“Please fetch Cora and Olivia,” Annie had begged. The midwife, having waited for Annie to go into labor and she didn’t, had traveled out of the town to help her daughter with her birth.
And that was another thing that worried Adam. With the midwife away and only Cora and Olivia to handle the birth, he feared they might not have enough experience to take care of it.
Magnificent, please take control.
