Epilogue
April 28th, 1877
What will be Chadron, Nebraska
The man stood on his porch gazing out over his fields, water dripping about the edges of the overhang. Pelting raindrops produced the familiar pinging sound above his head, knocking upon the shingles of his farmhouse.
He was overtly tall and thin, as he had been his entire life. He wore his hair longer now; glints of red shone through the brown. His face was aging, but his dark, brilliant green eyes were as youthful as they had ever been.
"I never knew anyone besides me who liked to stand outside in a rainstorm," said his companion, a second, older man. This man’s dark skin was lined with wrinkles, his once black hair was patched with gray. He needed thicker glasses in his older years, but his brown eyes, much as his friend’s, held their gentle demeanor from his youth.
"Lizzy gets on to me about it from time to time," Edgar replied. "Have I told you how glad I am at your safe arrival?"
"Several times." Clarence smiled.
"My Lenora has taken quite an attachment to your son, and I don't blame her.”
"By the time we next return, you'll have another to introduce," said Clarence, looking over his wire-rimmed spectacles.
"Lizzy thinks it's a boy. I think it's a girl. Her moods are exactly the way they were before Lenora," Edgar mused.
The wooden framed wire screen door swung swiftly open and a little girl of seven bounded on the porch, curly red hair tied back, trailing like a narrow water fall behind her. She hugged her father around the knees and Edgar was nearly knocked over in the process.
"Mama says it's almost time for dinner and to not make our company stand in the rain," the girl said, looking straight up to Edgar. He was phenomenally tall compared to the grinning child.
"Thank you, Lenora."
"Are you going tell us a story?"
"What story would that be, Lenora?" Edgar asked.
"Timothy said you and Mr. Clarence were going to tell us one." The girl looked up to him, her shining blue eyes swimming in sincere wonderment. "Did you write it in one of your letter books?"
"Not that one. I was saving it just for you." He smiled as Lenora let out a small gasp of joy, and pride began to glow on her face. "After dinner, we'll tell you, all right?"
The girl nodded excitedly.
"Could you tell Timothy to get washed up and that I'll be there in a moment?"
"Yes, Mr. Clarence." Lenora gave one final squeeze to her father's knees and spun around. Reaching up for the door handle, she stopped short. Squinting, she cupped her hands around her eyes and leaned in, peering through the crude screen of the door. The giggles elicited from both sides of the door indicated that the boy was mirroring Lenora’s actions on the other side.
"C’mon!" The boy said from inside and Lenora eagerly unlatched the handle and vanished to the indoors.
"She's beautiful," Clarence said, looking back where the last flash of red hair had disappeared.
"She's her mother," Edgar nodded.
"But can she cook like her?" Clarence asked, eyes laughing. "I may have to extend my stay unless I get over Eliza's cornbread."
Edgar laughed. "She'll soon be as good, there’s not a thing in the world that girl doesn’t remember or try to take on herself. Shall we go in and treat ourselves presently?"
"Certainly," Clarence said, passing one last swift look over the flat Nebraska farmland. "Besides, look! It's stopped raining."
The two turned and walked back into the farmhouse.
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About the Author
AJ Pearson-VanderBroek graduated in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in language arts. Through high school and college she worked at various museums in her Nebraska hometown and spent many campfire lit nights dancing a Virginia Reel at Civil War reenactments. She currently works as a library clerk where she assists in historical and genealogy research. This is her first novel.
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