epilogue

One year later. . .

Alexa brought the bowl of popcorn to Graeme and gently lowered herself on the sofa, which was becoming more difficult with each passing day. At eight and a half months pregnant, she felt like an elephant the way she lumbered around, and feared Graeme no longer thought her attractive, especially with the way he seemed to go overboard at convincing her that she was.

The baby kicked hard this time. “Oh, there was another one.”

Graeme smiled and placed his hand on her huge belly. “I think I can actually feel Little Ricky’s feet there,” he said.

The commercial ended, returning the programming back to PBS and the documentary Diminishing Returns, about man’s battle to protect nature while securing energy resources.

Alexa grabbed some popcorn and enjoyed the buttery flavor. She was relieved to be back in the redwoods, in their own home, expecting their first child. Filming the documentary had taxed her energies and creativity, and their relationship when she and Graeme learned she was pregnant—but she’d finished and quickly sold the film, creating a name for Westover-Hawthorne Productions.

For now, she decided, she was all Graeme’s, her focus on her husband and her baby. She would follow God’s leading to the next important documentary. After all, that plan had definitely been working for her.

She tilted her head sideways to watch her handsome husband as he leaned forward on his elbows, caught up in the story playing on the television. The scene was a particularly confrontational one in which Alexa and her cameraman had been threatened by Jarvis Construction.

Graeme exhaled next to her. “I hope you’re done with this type of story for a while.”

A deep, long ache sliced up her back. Surprise hit Alexa. She hadn’t expected so much pain. “I just got my inspiration for our next story.”

She tried to stifle her cry.

Eyes wide, Graeme turned his attention to her. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m having a baby. It’s time, Graeme. I think there’s another contraction coming.”

Graeme sprang to his feet. “Is that normal? I mean, isn’t that a little fast?”

Alexa tried to breathe through the contraction the way she’d been taught, but instead she ended up holding her breath, concentrating on enduring the pain.

“I’ll call the midwife.”

Graeme tried to leave her side, but Alexa grabbed his wrist, squeezing with all her strength. “There’s no time,” she said between gritting her teeth.

“What do you mean?” His panic-stricken words seemed to magnify her pain.

Still gripping him, she worked to steady her voice. “You have to deliver the baby, Graeme.”

“I can’t—I can’t. Let me call the midwife.”

Alexa screamed. “The baby’s coming now.”

She wasn’t sure how, but she had Graeme’s hand again, and she burrowed her gaze into his, summoning all the strength to make him understand. “You. Can. Do. This. I know you can. You’ve climbed the redwoods; you’ve escaped a killer twice. You can deliver a baby.”

Minutes later, Alexa was breathing easier and holding little Ricky—the nickname they’d given their little girl Raquel—in her arms, the cord still attached. Graeme insisted they wait until help arrived before cutting the umbilical cord. Sheryl, the midwife, was on her way, along with the ambulance Graeme had called. Dispatch had been able to talk him through the delivery.

He smiled down at her. “Ricky has your gorgeous eyes.”

Alexa focused her gaze on the forest-green color of his. “You know their eyes change color, don’t you?”

“She’s keeping this color, and considering her impatience to be in this world the minute she decided it was time, she also has your strength of will.”

Alexa could live with that. “You did it, Graeme. You delivered our baby.”

“Sweetheart, you did all the work.” Graeme leaned down and kissed her; then his gaze shifted from her to Ricky. The man was in love with their little girl.

“But I couldn’t have done it without you.” He’d been there for her since she’d met him. Kept her safe in the wilderness and protected her in Costa Rica. He never stifled her creativity and was her biggest supporter. And in him, Alexa had found home again. She knew who she was and who she wanted to be as long as she was resting in Graeme’s sheltering love.

Dear Reader,

Growing up in Texas, I was always fascinated with the famous and mysterious redwood trees I saw in pictures and movies. They captivated me, and it was my dream to see them one day, but living far from Northern California, that idea seemed impossible. I couldn’t have known that one day I would live in southern Oregon in a small town whose main highway was called Redwood Highway because it was the same highway that ran all the way into Northern California and the redwoods state park systems.

God blessed me beyond measure with this dream. Hiking in the redwoods with my family quickly became one of my favorite pastimes while living in Oregon for five years. Now I’m back in Texas, and I’ve returned to dreaming, but I’ve had the privilege to write Heartsong romance novels set in the redwoods.

In Sheltering Love, Alexa climbs a redwood tree with Graeme. In the real world, she would need to be an experienced tree climber in the arborist style, and then Graeme could teach her how to climb a redwood with a technique that’s only been developed in recent years by a tree canopy scientist at Humboldt University. As you can imagine, one wrong move could be fatal. I took artistic license for the sake of the story and because I wanted you to experience climbing a redwood with Alexa.

Thank you for taking this journey with me.

Blessings,

Beth