Consequences Be Damned
Epilogue: 4 Years Later
"Jeremiah's already courtin' Billy's sister, why can't I?"
"Because Jeremiah is older than you. He's at the age where he needs to think about settlin' down and startin' a family of his own. You still have a few years to go."
"Come on Kid, sissy would let me," Teresa begged as she and Kid approached the house.
"I already told you, no. You're too young and I don't like the way he looks at you. In another year or two then we can talk about you courtin' but until then..." Kid stopped when he saw Lou on the porch swing. "There she is!"
Teresa quickly got down off the buckboard and ran to her sister. "Sissy! There you are. We were worried when you didn't pick me up from school, and then when Kid arrived, we saw Lightning outside the doctor's office but he said you had already left. Are you ok?"
Lou barely heard her younger sister talking a mile a minute. She had too much on her mind and just nodded as if she heard every word.
Kid arrived behind his sister-in-law and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Teresa, why don't you go put the buckboard up and cool down the horses while I talk to Lou, ok?" Teresa nodded and ran off towards the barn. Kid sat down on the swing next to his wife.
"Lou?" He placed his finger under her chin and lifted her head. He could tell she'd been crying. "Honey, what's wrong? Why did you leave Lightning?"
Lou wiped her tears from her eyes and smiled. "I'm fine. Doc said I shouldn't be ridin' for awhile."
"If you're fine, then why have you been cryin'? When you didn't come back with Teresa I began to get worried. I knew you were runnin' errands in town, and it's not like you to forget about things, 'specially something as important as your sister."
"I'm sorry, Kid. Thanks for gettin' her. What were you two arguing about?"
"Apparently, Billy asked her to the town social next week. I told her she was too young to start courtin'." Lou started sobbing again. "Lou, you ain't fine, what's wrong? Is it because I told her no? You knew I was gonna be overprotective of her, she's only thirteen, she's too young to date. I mean look what happened to you when you were her age."
Lou smiled. "That's just it Kid, if you're this worried about her, and she's not even your flesh and blood, what are you going to be like in five months?"
"I told you I couldn't help but be protective of her, she is like my daughter. I love her almost as much as I love her sister and always will no matter if it's five months or five years from now."
Lou smiled as she realized Kid didn't understand what she meant. She could hardly believe it herself and was still in shock. She shook her head, "Kid, you don't understand. Doc Johansson doesn't want me ridin' Lightning or any other horse for the next four or five months for a reason."
"Why, are you hurt?" he asked suddenly concerned as he checked over her to make sure there wasn't an injury or something he missed earlier. "You're scaring me Lou, what's wrong. Why are you cryin'?"
Lou's smile reached from ear to ear as she shook her head. "Nothing's wrong, everything is fine. These are tears of joy." She paused as she looked lovingly at her husband, knowing what his reaction would be. Finally she took a deep breath and continued. "Kid, the doctor in St. Joe was wrong, very wrong."
"Wrong about what?" Kid watched as she gave him her frustrated look and then he noticed she'd had one hand below her stomach and another resting on top of it the whole time they talked. His eyes nearly popped out of his head and his jaw dropped nearly to the ground in shock. "You mean... Lou, are you absolutely sure?"
"I wasn't at first. I just thought I caught that bug that's been goin' around town. Remember how sick Jeremiah got, then you, then Teresa?" Kid nodded. "Well then I realized that I hadn't had a regular cycle since... well, I couldn't remember when I last had one at all."
"And then last week, there was this." Lou took his hand and placed it over her stomach. She moved it around for a few seconds before she finally found the spot she was looking for. "Did you feel that?" Kid nodded. He was speechless. "Doc Johansson recommends I take it very easy for the rest of the pregnancy, just as a precaution, but other than that, he says everything is fine. That he sees no reason we won't have a beautiful and healthy baby."
Kid lovingly bent down and kissed her stomach before moving back to kiss her forehead. After everything they had gone through, they had some how proven the doctor wrong, and indeed created a miracle together. All that pain and suffering that had almost torn them apart forever had been for nothing, but he realized that as long as he still had his beloved Lou in the end, he would go through it all again!