Madelaine smiled appreciatively. “You would have liked him. He was just as funny as you are.”
They sat in silence for a while, idly watching the children play in the warm glow of the sun. Madelaine could see Tinsel in the background, running at a fast pace across one of the larger paddocks. She was probably stretching her legs, happy to finally be home, kicking and bucking like a one-year-old filly.
“What have we missed?” Luke’s voice appeared from the other end of the porch as he and Timothy joined her and Caleb.
Madelaine had a newfound appreciation for her husband. He was not only the most handsome man in the entire Bitterroot valley—granted, she was a little biased—but this man had also saved her from a life of utter misery and despair. As the sheriff, he had saved the entire region from the most notorious and violent gang in the history of Stevensville. As a man, Luke had rekindled his love for the Lord, and whenever they showed upin church, she felt so very proud and in love with him; her heart was ready to burst.
Her heart was racing now, as she watched him walk toward her with long strides, before he bent down, pulled her up from the chair, and straight into his arms, swinging her around in one big circle as he planted a kiss on her mouth.
“Mrs. Cross, you look stunning today!” he exclaimed, and Madelaine giggled at his exuberance. She was discovering yet another completely new side to him—the fun Luke. The one who could joke with her uninhibitedly, laugh with her at silly comments, stay up to watch the stars on a moonless night. Since that night in the freezing schoolhouse, they hadn’t had a single fight. It was almost as if that part of their relationship had died with that very last flame in the bucket.
“I’ve missed you, you know?” he said, nuzzling her neck as she laughed.
“Well, I‘ve missed you more. Clearly,” she argued, pushing her fingertips around the back of his neck into the soft curls just below the rim of his Stetson.
“Oh, is that so?” he asked, and as he smiled at her with all the love she never thought she would find, her heart melted like ice cream on a hot summer’s day.
“May I interrupt you two for a moment?” Timothy asked as he handed Madelaine some crisp papers, neatly rolled up and tied together with a red ribbon bow. “I think you’d like to have these.”
“Are these the documents?” Madelaine gasped. Her hand flew to her chest as soon as Luke put her down. “The ownership papers?”
Timothy shot Caleb a deadpan glance. “You told her? It was supposed to be a surprise!” Timothy exclaimed, but when Caleb merely shrugged, he grinned, and all was well.
Carefully untying the ribbon, Madelaine reverently unrolled the papers, as her eyes filled with tears. This was what she’d been fighting for, and while she’d gained so much more than just her ranch—a new family, new friends, and a new husband—she knew in that instant that her mother and father were proudly looking down on her, safe in the arms of the Lord.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Stevensville Fairgrounds
Middle of August
Since the great big win at court, which reallocated Ezra’s stolen fortune to finance the rebuilding of all the damaged buildings in town as well as any affected homes outside of it, the newly elected mayor—who was none other than Timothy Richards himself—came up with the perfect idea to celebrate the victory.
Running it by all the townsfolk at their latest meeting, he suggested organizing a summer fair in celebration of Stevensville’s new era. The idea was a raving success and embraced by all. So, for the last two weeks, the town center had been abuzz with creativity, planning, and building. Suggestions for different variations of stands, entertainment, and events kept pouring in, and as it turned out, this new Stevensville Summer Fair shaped up to be the largest one yet—even bigger than the famous Christmas Fair.
The grand opening would take place on the third Saturday of the month, and the entire town was getting ready to attend.
Madelaine, Evelyn, Mrs. Keagan, her daughter Maggie, and Mary, who was now officially the mayor’s wife, had cometo town to visit the general store and pick out some of the new fabrics from the latest delivery. As it was, they could barely get inside. All the women in town scrambled to get ready for the new summer fair, each of them wanting to look good in their new dresses.
“Goodness!” Madelaine exclaimed as she squeezed through the door, trying to reach the counter where the bolts of fabrics and ribbon displays were located. “We can only hope that we’ll be able to snatch some of that new fabric, but it doesn’t look promising, ladies,” she called out to the others, who followed her single file.
Madelaine was disappointed because she had a very special surprise for Luke and needed to look her absolute best, but by the looks of it, all the newest and prettiest fabrics had already been taken. There were empty paper rolls stripped of unknown silks and velvets everywhere. But then Mrs. Higgins, the store owner’s wife, caught Madelaine’s attention and waved to the women to come over and follow her toward the back of the store.
“Mrs. Cross! Mrs. Richards! What an honor to see you here!” she exclaimed. “Mrs. Whitfield, Mrs. Keagan, please follow me,” she said, leading the little group of women away from the crowd inside the store through a thick curtain, past multiple shelves and storage rooms, into yet another storage room, far in the back of the building. It was much quieter there.
“First of all, I was instructed to keep a certain amount of bolts in the back so you could have a look at the latest ones first,Mrs. Richards. The mayor requested this for you,” Mrs. Higgins informed Mary, who seemed entirely overwhelmed.
“Thank you so much! I did not expect this,” Mary gasped. “Please, ladies, I need your expertise and help with this. I’ve never picked out fabric for a dress before,” she said, almost crying with gratitude.
“There’s something else,” Mrs. Higgins said, as she turned to Madelaine. “It’s for you.” Her expression changed to a solemn one as she pulled out a large box tied up with several strings to hold it all together. The box looked a little dinged up, and it had numerous stamps and writings scribbled all across it. “This came today,” Mrs. Higgins said as she put the large item onto a small table. Madelaine struggled to understand her emotional expression as the woman cut off the strings so Madelaine could look at it.
The women abandoned their hunt for the best fabric as they surrounded Madelaine, who didn’t understand what she was looking at. Mrs. Higgins wiped underneath her eyes and pointed at the address printed and stamped at the top of the lid.
“It came all the way from Paris, in France,” she said to Madelaine. “Eighteen months ago, your father visited our store to order a very special gift for your mother. All he had was a crumpled newspaper cut out and a piece of blue ribbon, which he had supposedly cut from your mother’s favorite dress.” Madelaine could barely swallow around the lump in her throat when she heard what Mrs. Higgins was telling her.
“He wanted me to order this particular dress for her. She had seen it in one of those fancy French magazines,” Mrs. Higgins continued, blinking rapidly, so the tears wouldn’t fall. “I told him that it could take many months before it would get here—if it even made it this far west—but he was adamant. It was supposed to be a gift for their wedding anniversary.”
Staring at the box, Madelaine was in such shock, she couldn’t move. “This is the original order,” Mrs. Higgins said, handing her a piece of paper. Madelaine let loose a gut-wrenching sob when she saw her father’s neat handwriting describing the most beautiful dress. ‘For my beloved Anna,’ it said.
