The Courageous Guardian of Her Heart – Extended Epilogue

Late summer, 1897

Much had changed in the past two years – almost too much for Caroline to process. And it seemed that it had all happened so fast! As she sat with Ada in the Harpers’ spacious new home, she wondered what else would come to pass before the end of the year.

“Ada, this is delicious,” Caroline said. She had just bit into a warm piece of apple crumb cake. The apples had been her gift to Ada – Mrs Granger had sent them all the way from California, as well as oranges and other precious fruits.

“I wouldn’t have been able to do it without your kindness,” Ada said. She smiled as she spread a pat of fresh butter on her own slice.

Caroline smiled. “Well, it’s the least I can do,” she said. “While the new house is being worked upon, at least. And then I can only hope to repay the favour. Many, many times,” she added kindly.

“I love having you here,” Ada said. She wrapped her arms around herself and pretended to shiver. “When Abe is travelling, I hardly know what to do with myself.”

“Still, it was very kind of you to take us in,” Caroline said. She stood up and peered into the next room, where her twins, Jonathan and Letitia, were sleeping soundly. “And you promise that it isn’t too much of an imposition? To leave them here with you, while Jack and I go off?” Caroline shook her head before Ada could make her a reply. “Just thinking about leaving them makes me feel like the worst mother in the world!”

Ada shook her head. “Darling, no! It isn’t like that at all!” She took another bite of crumb cake, holding her hand under her chin to catch any that spilled. “It’s natural, of course, to feel that way. Why, when I had my first, I hardly left her alone for a second!”

“Yes, but we’ll be gone for a month,” Caroline replied. Despite her hesitation at leaving Jonathan and Letitia in the care of Ada Harper for that time, she couldn’t deny that she was also excited. Tara Granger was finally getting married to a Mr Benjamin Aldgate, and Caroline was thrilled for her friend.

It would also be the first time that she had left Bonita Canyon since arriving over two years before. And it would be Jack’s first trip to California. That, along with leaving her babies, was the only thing that made Caroline slightly nervous. Jack had seen large cities in Texas, but nothing like the great gabled houses and rambling streetcars of San Francisco. She hoped that he wouldn’t feel horribly claustrophobic and miserable.

As different as Caroline and Jack were, their marriage was stronger than ever. Her pregnancy had been surprisingly easy – and Jack had watched over her like a hawk. Ellen Charley had never come up in conversation again, but Caroline sensed that he was caring for her as a way of easing his guilt of his brother’s death … and the betrayal of Ellen, which had caused it. The doctor in town had realised that Caroline was carrying twins from almost the very beginning and having two children instead of one was immensely delightful to Caroline, and to Jack who had turned out to be a natural father.

“I wish that I was going to San Francisco for a month,” Ada said archly. She raised an eyebrow at Caroline and giggled. “Will you bring me back patterns? Oh, and fabrics!” she added in a dreamy voice that made Caroline think of Tara, as she often did when talking with Ada. “I know I don’t need any new dresses this year, but goodness. It’s been ages since I’ve had anything new, and I don’t even know about the styles!”

“I’m sure that things haven’t changed too terribly much,” Caroline replied. “After all, it’s only been two years.” But deep down, she was a little nervous. There was no need to dress well in Bonita, and most of the time she wore plain skirts with boots and shirtwaist blouses. In the winter, she had taken to wearing a suede jacket of Jack’s that made her look a little like what Jack had deemed, an ‘outlaw princess.’ Caroline had blushed and demurred, but the compliment had pleased her for weeks. Even now, her cheeks pinked when she thought of it.

“I hope they’ve changed radically,” Ada said, still in that same faraway voice.

Caroline laughed. “Well, perhaps,” she said. “Are you quite finished?”

Ada nodded, and Caroline got to her feet. She carried the crumb cake over to the counter and wrapped it in brown paper before setting it in the larder. Then, she went into the parlour and sat down next to the large bassinet where Letitia lay, sleeping and peaceful.

“She’s a beautiful child,” Ada said, joining Caroline by her side.

“Not as beautiful as her mother,” Jack’s deep voice boomed from behind Caroline and Ada, who both turned to Jack with a finger held over their lips.

“Don’t wake her!” Caroline scolded gently. “She was fussing for hours this morning!”

A tender look came over Jack’s face. “I’m sorry,” he said. “But she’s still asleep.”

“And Jonathan?” Caroline asked. “Is he sleeping, too?”

Jack shook his head, then took Caroline into the maid’s pantry where she gasped to see her sweet son sitting on the floor, banging on a copper pot with a spoon.

“Jack!” Caroline said, giggling and clutching her husband’s arm. “That pot must have cost a fortune! He’ll dent it!” She was still laughing as she bent at the waist and picked up Jonathan. The twins were almost two years of age, and still as much trouble – and fun – as they had been as newborns.

“Sorry,” Jack said. He was grinning, though, and he leaned down to kiss Caroline’s hair and stroke Jonathan’s head, which was still free of hair.

“I feel so guilty for having to leave them,” Caroline said.

“Ada loves having them around, you just watch. By the time we get back and our new home is ready, she won’t want them to leave.”

Caroline smiled at the thought of their new home. True to her prediction, Hank’s old house on the ranch was too small for a growing family … and Jack had made it clear that he wanted to have as many children as they could. Jack and Caroline had hired men from town to build it on the property, closer to the tree line and the fence. It would be a big, modern, beautiful home with real glass windows and furnishings carefully picked out during their pending trip to San Francisco.

“I have to admit, I’m almost more excited for our home than I am for our trip,” Caroline admitted shyly. In her arms, little Jonathan stirred, and she shifted and hefted him up higher. “Isn’t that wicked?”

Jack shook his head. “No, but I cannot wait for the house,” he said. “It will be so good to be back in our own home, Caroline, safe and private.”

Caroline flushed at the intimate implication. “You take Jonathan,” she said. “I promised Ada that I’d help her with dinner tonight.”

That night, after dinner, Caroline could hardly sleep. Little Letitia and Jonathan snoozed soundly in their cribs, and Jack snored beside her, but she lay staring at the ceiling, her eyes wide with excitement. Her stomach was twisting with the familiar feeling that she’d come to expect before any changes to her life, and while she was no longer as frightened of being anxious as she had been years ago, she desperately hoped that the trip would be happy and relatively uneventful.

The next morning, Caroline bid a tearful goodbye to her twins.

“My poor beautiful babies,” Caroline cooed, rocking Letitia in her arms. “I’m going to miss you so much!” Jack, who was holding Jonathan, brought him closer so that Caroline could plant a kiss on his head.

“They’ll be so spoiled by the time you get back,” Ada said. She took Letitia from Caroline, and her ward, Emily, took Jonathan from Jack. In the two years that had passed since they’d first met, Emily had grown from a giggly teenager into a beautiful young woman. Caroline eyed her with interest – it was entirely probable that by the time she and Jack returned to Bonita, Emily would be married with a husband of her own.

“Thank you again,” Caroline gushed. She hugged Ada, careful not to hurt her daughter. “I appreciate this more than I can say.”

Ada smiled. “That’s what best friends do for each other,” she replied. “And you, too, Jack. Be safe and take good care of Caroline. Don’t let her get hit by one of those …?”

“Streetcars,” Caroline said hastily, with a quick glance at her husband. He looked stony like he wasn’t entirely sure whether or not Ada was joking. To mollify him, she put a hand on his arm. “Ada is teasing,” she said firmly. “Neither one of us will get run over by a streetcar, I promise.”

Jack’s forehead was creased, but he nodded. Then, he took the bags from Ada’s husband and carried them onto the train.

The shrill train whistle sounded, and Caroline felt a burst of bittersweet excitement. Even though she knew she would be returning in a month, she had come to feel more at home in Bonita Canyon than she ever had in San Francisco, and it was as if she already felt a touch of homesickness.

“You’re my dearest friend,” Caroline told Ada impulsively, but she meant every word. “I promise, I’ll bring you the most beautiful patterns that San Francisco has to offer!”

Ada smiled. “Just bring yourself back to me, understand?”

Caroline smiled happily. The brief, tense pang that she felt was already fading as she climbed the steps of the train and sat on the same dusty bench where she had ridden years before.

As the train pulled out of Bonita, she turned to Jack and took his hand in both of hers.

“Thank you,” Caroline told him quietly. “I know that this trip isn’t something that you’ve been anticipating, like I have. But I love that you’re coming with me.”

Jack nodded. “I’ve always been curious about the city,” he said.

Caroline smiled. It was a polite reply, one that she took to mean: I have been curious about the city, but never curious enough to actually bother travelling there. Still, she appreciated that Jack was at least trying to make an effort.

The trip took days. Caroline had brought knitting and several ladies’ novels for the train, but she grew tired of trying to keep her stitches in order without her booklet, and the swaying motion of the train cars made her feel too nauseous to read. Instead, she occupied her time by looking out the window and wondering how the great city had changed in her absence.

She wondered if Vera was still as rude as could be, and if Pearl had learned any sense. Perhaps, Caroline surprised herself by thinking, everyone can change. After all, I did!

Jack spent the time reading a farmer’s almanac and planning furniture for their new home. While Caroline had her heart set on picking a bedroom set from a furniture warehouse in California, Jack had only agreed under the condition that he be allowed to build a dining room table and chairs. He talked often of a long table that his father had built, that he’d always wished to have for his own. Caroline was so happy to see her husband enjoying the domestic life that she didn’t even ask him what it would be like – anything that made Jack happy would surely make her happy, too.

When the train finally arrived at the San Francisco station, Caroline felt as if she had been thrown into the middle of a hurricane. Everything was so large! And dirty! And jarring – she was nearly knocked over by a boy riding a bicycle on the sidewalk, weaving madly in and out of the pedestrians.

“Good heavens,” Caroline said after she had righted herself. Jack took her arm and guided her close to the row of buildings. Now he was staring at her with a shocked and horrified look on his face.

“I’m all right,” Caroline said, pre-emptively expecting a surge of concerned questioning from her husband. “I am just no longer used to the city, that is all.”

Jack widened his eyes at her and shook his head. “I do not see how anyone could get used to this,” he replied, looking around.

From behind him, the porter whom Jack had hired made an impatient noise, and Jack turned to him in real anger.

“My wife was almost killed,” Jack said sharply. “So excuse me for not caring if I hold you up.”

Caroline was stunned – nowadays, Jack had the mildest of tempers, and she had not seen him truly angry since the horrid night he had rescued her from Warren’s clutches. But after a few seconds, she began to giggle. Putting a hand on his arm, she pointed down the street.

“The Grande Hotel is just up there,” Caroline said. “It was only a bicycle. I am quite fine,” she added.

After a short walk to the hotel, Caroline was feeling much more comfortable. True, it was a jarring change from the relaxed atmosphere of Bonita, but it had been her first home … at least, the first home that Caroline had remembered.

“My,” Caroline said. “Doesn’t that air smell so fresh?” She closed her eyes and sniffed, anticipating the familiar briny scent of the Bay. But the only scents that hit her nose were those of city life: trash, waste, dust, even different kinds of foods from the stalls that lined the sidewalks. When she opened her eyes, she felt vaguely nauseated.

“I never noticed the way the garbage smells before,” Caroline said. She wrinkled her nose. “Everything seems so very changed to me!”

Jack only eyed her. She hadn’t noticed it at first, but she realised that she and her husband had proven to be objects of fascination. As she truly took in the poor condition of Jack’s moleskin trousers, cowboy boots, and soft-collared shirt, she realised with a horrible pang of guilt that she should have made sure he had better clothing.

Jack, however, did not seem to notice, for which Caroline was grateful. The two of them stepped inside the cool interior of The Grande Hotel, and Caroline sat in the lobby while Jack went to check them into a suite.

When he came back for her, his face was stony. Caroline guessed that the desk clerk had given him trouble on account of his appearance – a guess that turned into a fact when Jack told her that he’d had to pay for their entire stay, in cash, ahead of time.

“You used to say this place was civilised,” Jack said. “Well, it is and it ain’t at the same time; you know that?”

Caroline flushed. “Yes,” she said. “I think I know exactly what you mean.”

When they got to their room, Caroline washed her face, hands, and hair in a china bowl of cool water. Jack uneasily paced the room, frowning down at the furniture.

“What’s the matter?” Caroline asked. “Do you not like it? I could ask for a larger room,” she added. “Although I thought that we would likely be so busy that there wouldn’t be time.”

Jack shook his head. “I’m afraid to sit down on this,” he said as he gestured to a dainty chair in the style of Louis IX, with spindly delicate arms and a silk cushion. “I might break the darned thing.”

Caroline giggled. “I know how you feel,” she said. “I was always afraid of damaging the furniture in Mrs Granger’s parlour. Once, when I was a child, I accidentally snapped the head off one of her china figurines when I was playing with Pearl – oh, how I wanted to die!”

Jack made his wife a sympathetic face, joining her at her side and taking her hand. “I can imagine that,” he said. “Poor child.”

“I miss Letitia and Jonathan so very much,” Caroline said. She sank down into the aforementioned chair, and to her surprise, found it monstrously uncomfortable. Getting up, she moved to the bed and lowered herself, reaching down to unhook her boots.

“Aye,” Jack said. “As do I. But they wouldn’t be safe here, Caroline. All this dirt in the air! It can’t be good for one’s vitality.”

Caroline shook her head. “Wait until you see the smoking room at the Grangers’, after we dine there tonight. It’s practically a fog of cigar smoke.”

Jack made a distasteful face.

“And I’m sorry, I really should have thought about our costumes,” Caroline said. She gestured down at her own travelling dress of heavy cotton. Three years ago, it had been fashionable enough, but she had enough self-awareness to know that she looked like a dour schoolmarm. “I thought everything would be fine, but I believe I’ve been out of the city for too long.”

Jack slid a finger under her chin and tilted her face up to meet his. “You have been out of the city for just long enough,” he said. “At least, based on everything I’ve seen today.”

Caroline kissed him briefly, then gently disentangled from his grip and lay back down on the soft bed.

“This bed is quite nice, though,” she said, closing her eyes and resting her head on the soft feather pillow. It seemed to her that she’d never lain in anything more comfortable.

“Any bed is comfortable with you in it,” Jack replied.

Flushing, Caroline sat up and took a drink of water from a glass on the nightstand. The water, too, was blessedly free of dust, unlike the water back home. Oh, if only there was a way to reconcile the creature comforts of the big city with her home in Bonita!

“We should rest,” Caroline said. “Before we dine with the Grangers tonight.”

Jack didn’t reply, but he lay beside Caroline and closed his eyes. Seconds later, his soft snores filled the room.

Later, when they woke up, Caroline had the hotel porter go out to a department store and gave him a slip of paper with Jack’s approximate size, and her own. She was still slender, having lost the pregnancy weight within a matter of months after having the twins, but she lamented that her waist would never be as small again as it had once before. Her hips and breasts were larger, too.

“I welcome the changes,” Jack said, eyeing Caroline as she changed into her evening gown. The one that the hotel porter had brought her was alarming revealing – it was never something that Caroline would have chosen on her own. The neckline was daringly low, and the bodice clung to her in a way that made her feel extremely self-conscious.

“Mrs Granger’s eyes will fall out of her head,” Caroline said, staring at herself in the mirror. It was the first new glamorous piece of clothing she’d had in years, and she’d nearly fainted when the porter had handed her the bill.

“But I bet Ada would admire you,” Jack said.

Caroline laughed. “I’ll give this to her when we get home,” she said. “It isn’t as if I’d ever wear it again.”

Jack grinned. “What, you don’t think it’s fittin’ for a trip into town?” he asked, exaggerating his slight Texas drawl and making Caroline turn red.

“Not exactly,” she said primly.

But when Jack was dressed in his evening dress of a dark tail coat with trousers, white bow tie, and starched white shirt, she blushed just looking at him. With his hair slicked back and a freshly-shaven face, he was about as handsome as she had ever seen him. And while it pleased her to look at him like this, there was something that just didn’t feel quite right about seeing comfortable Jack attired this way.

“You look very handsome,” Caroline told her husband, blushing furiously. She was screwing in the back piece of her earbobs and eyeing his reflection in the mirror behind her.

“Shall I take these back with me?” Jack teased. “And wear them for you every day? If it makes you happy, I will,” he said in the gruff manner he adopted only when speaking the most tender of words to his wife.

Caroline didn’t even have to think about it: she shook her head so vehemently that her earbobs jingled and danced against the sides of her neck. “No!” Caroline cried loudly. “Definitely not.”
Jack’s smile faded, and he narrowed his eyes.

“What is it, wife?”

Caroline bit her lip and shook her head, more demurely this time. “It is just not … not, well, not you,” she said, groping blindly for the words. “And you are clearly uncomfortable.”

Jack grinned at her again, then made a production out of swallowing. “I hope the food is terrible,” he said. “Because trying to swallow in this noose of a collar is painful as heck.”
Caroline giggled. “Have you seen Mrs Granger? She makes sure to employ none but the best cooks,” she replied.

Jack patted his waist comfortably. “Then maybe I’ll wind up going home skin and bones,” he said.

Caroline playfully swatted his arm. “I promise you, that won’t happen,” she said.

The Charleys took a carriage from The Grande to Nob Hill, where the Grangers still lived in their absurdly ornate home. Caroline had once been used to the splendour and grandiosity of the wedding-cake wooden spires and elegant scrollwork that festooned the mansion, but now it seemed ridiculous to her. Why, they have so much money, she thought as she climbed the stairs, with effort, in her new velvet high-heeled slippers. And this is how they choose to spend it! She felt a moment of pity for her late Uncle Hank, and wished that he could have known comfort like this. But seconds later, she rebuked herself. The Grangers were generous – they had raised her from childhood!

And Caroline was not in a position to be judging them.

It felt strange to ring the bell, instead of just walking inside, but they didn’t have to wait long. Seconds after Caroline and Jack had arrived, the door swung open, and Caroline was greeted by a familiar face.

“Lucy!” Caroline gasped in happy surprise. “My goodness!”

“Miss Caroline!” Lucy shrieked, hurtling forward and throwing her arms around Caroline’s neck. “Miss! I never thought I’d see you again!”

Happy tears formed in Caroline’s eyes as she hugged the girl, who had changed in the past few years. Lucy was not a sprightly, spunky little girl anymore – now, she was a young woman in a long skirt, with a pert white cap on her head and a crisp white apron around her still-narrow waist.

“I feel so stupid,” Caroline breathed, wiping her eyes. “Why, of course you would still be here!”

Lucy’s eyes danced as she made a spirited reply. “Miss, oh, it’s not as if I’d have run off to Arizona!”

Caroline laughed, then quickly turned to Jack. “Lucy, I’m so sorry – I’ve forgotten my manners completely. This is my husband, Mr Jack Charley. Jack, this is Lucy – she was my maid, and one of my dearest friends in this home!”

Jack dipped his head in greeting – a charming gesture, even when he was clad in evening wear. Lucy’s eyes widened at the word ‘husband,’ but she smiled and blushed and dipped into a low curtsey.

“Ma’am,” Lucy called loudly into the house. “It’s Miss Caroline, and her husband! They’re here!”

Caroline stepped into the familiar foyer, and she smiled. Everything was done up in beautiful flowers and streaming silks and banners for the wedding, and she had never seen the inside of the Granger home look so lovely.

“You must have been working hard, Lucy,” Caroline said. “This is all so beautiful!”

“Well, the wedding is tomorrow, miss,” Lucy said breathlessly. “If you’ll excuse me!” And then, she darted off down the hall.

Caroline soon realised that even though Jack was clearly uncomfortable in the Grangers’ home, she had worried for nothing. He was charming and polite – well, for Jack – and the Grangers were perfectly kind to him. Vera and Pearl were both at their own homes that evening, so it was an intimate and small dinner that Caroline enjoyed with Jack, the Grangers, and Tara. It turned out that Mr Granger had a distant relative in Texas, and that was all the prompting Mrs Granger needed to endlessly pepper Jack with questions about his upbringing.

“They say Southerners have such large families, is that true?”

“And what of the climate?”

“And the Indians? Are they truly as fierce as everyone says?”

At the end of the night, Caroline could tell that Jack was worn out. She feigned a headache, and the two of them returned to their hotel suite, where Jack eagerly shucked his evening wear off and put on an old pair of long johns. Caroline smiled to herself as she saw him washing the pomade out of his hair and climbing into bed.

“Are you quite tired?” Caroline whispered to Jack as she turned out the light.

Jack turned to her and kissed her. “Yes,” he said. “But you seem quite happy.”

“I am,” Caroline said. She sighed and rested her head on Jack’s shoulder, content to be falling asleep with her very own cowboy.

The next day, Caroline sat in the front pew and watched as Tara, resplendent in an ivory silk wedding gown, married Mr Benjamin Aldgate, a banker with strong local ties to the city. It was so beautiful that Caroline kept forgetting to breathe during the ceremony. Everything was so much to take in –the flowers and the decorations and the polite words of the priest. Tara’s veil was a thing of loveliness, with sheer lace that fell in a cathedral-length spread of flowers to her knees.

“How beautiful it was,” Caroline whispered to Jack, as the recessional began to play.

Jack turned to her and nodded. He was in a morning coat and top hat, and Caroline herself had a new suit of light pink silk, with flowers embroidered on the bodice and the hem of the skirts.

“But not as nice as our wedding,” Caroline added impulsively. She slipped her silk-gloved hand into Jack’s and squeezed.

Jack cocked his head to the side and looked at her with surprise. “Why? We didn’t have a real wedding, not like this, anyway,” he said quietly. Beside them, Tara and her new husband passed down the aisle, arm-in-arm.

“It was real,” Caroline replied. “We were married under the eye of God, and with all of our friends in Bonita,” she added softly, leaning close and whispering in Jack’s ear. “And now we have two beautiful children.”

Jack smirked. “And a big house to fill up with more.”

Marriage was a funny thing, Caroline reflected. To be brought together before witnesses and God, without knowing each other well at all. Even though she didn’t doubt the sincerity of Tara’s feelings for her new husband, she recognised the same nervous glint in her eye. Unlike Caroline, Tara’s marriage would be real from the start.

But perhaps our way is better, Caroline thought. With Jack, I always know where I stand. And I always know that he loves me now, genuinely, when before it may never have been possible.

That night, Jack was lying asleep when Caroline came to bed in a new French nightgown, sheer and silky against her skin. She curled up against him and put her head on his chest.

“I love you,” Caroline whispered.

Jack shifted and stirred beneath her. He took her arm and pulled it across his chest until she was snug against his body. “What’s the matter, dear wife?” he asked in a low whisper.

“Nothing,” Caroline said. “I am perfectly and completely happy right now; do you know that?”

Jack kissed her temple. “I do now,” he said.

“It’s just … well, I know that we have so much time ahead of us, here in the city, but I cannot wait until we return to the ranch. It’s our home, Jack. A home that we’ve built together – just you and me.”

Jack squeezed her tighter. “It is,” he agreed huskily.

“And it’s because of you that I know true love and happiness,” Caroline said. “Before, I never thought it would happen to me. And I never thought you would fall in love with me, and return my feelings, and make me the happiest woman in the world.”

Jack rolled onto his side and gently kissed Caroline, brushing a loose blonde curl out of her face.

“Darling, not a man in the world could keep from falling in love with you,” he said gruffly. “I’m just the fortunate one.”

As Caroline closed her eyes and began to drift off to sleep in the arms of her husband, Jack Charley, she knew that she had found true contentment and happiness. She did not know what the future would bring – and had been alive for long enough to know that sometimes, tragedy could strike at the strangest of times – but she knew that no matter what happened, she and Jack would always be together. They would always care for each other, always look out for each other, and always raise their children in the most loving of homes.

Their love would always be perfect.

THE END

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