An Engagement in Seattle

Epilogue

“Grandma, Grandma.” Three-year-old Justin Goodman tore out of Lesley’s grasp as they stepped into the small airport and he ran into the waiting arms of June Campbell-Sterne.

June hugged her grandson and lifted him from the ground. “Oh, my, you’ve gotten so big.”

Justin’s chubby arms circled his grandmother’s neck and he squeezed tightly.

“Justin’s not the only one who’s grown,” Chase said, slipping his arm around Lesley’s thickened waist.

“You would have, too, if you were about to have a baby,” Lesley reminded her husband.

Chase chuckled and shook hands with Ken Sterne.

“Good to see you again,” Ken said. “June’s been cooking for three days. You’d think an army was about to descend on us.”

“Hush now,” June chastised her husband. “How are you feeling?”

Lesley sighed. How did any woman feel two months before her delivery date? Anxious. Nervous. Eager. “I’m okay.”

June put down her grandson and kissed Chase on the cheek.

His eyes met Lesley’s and he gave her a know-it-all look. It had taken time, but Lesley had been right about the effect grandchildren would have on the relationship between her mother and her husband. When they’d first met, four years earlier, her mother had been convinced Chase was some kind of demon. These days he was much closer to sainthood.

“How’s Twin Creeks?” Ken asked, steering the small party toward the baggage area.

“The population has doubled,” Lesley informed him proudly. It had started soon after her arrival. Pete had gotten married the following spring and he and his wife already had two children and another on the way. Even Jim had married, which surprised them all. A widow with four children had found a place in all their hearts.

It seemed there was a baby being born every few months. The community was thriving. Lesley believed Chase was the one who’d put everything in motion; his venture into Seattle to find himself a wife was what had started the process. Soon the other men working at the pump station were willing to open their lives.

Chase, however, was convinced that once the other men saw what a wonderful woman he’d found, they’d decided to take their chances, as well.

Whatever the reason, there were fifteen more women residing in Twin Creeks. Ten of them had apparently made it a personal goal to populate Alaska.

She placed one arm around her husband and smiled softly to herself. How different her life would have been without him. Each and every day she thanked God for that crazy billboard she’d seen on her way to the store.