Page 103 of Colorado Bride

Epilogue

Saturday, June 10, 1876

The church in Golden.

Emily squeezed Ben’s hand hard.

He turned his head and looked over at her.

“Now?”He mouthed the words conscious of the ceremony taking place.

She nodded vigorously, her lips pressed tight together.

He raised his gaze to the ceiling and shook his head.

“All right let’s go.”

Ben stood.

“Excuse me folks but I need Doc and Mrs.Martin to come with me.The rest of you can carry on.”

“Is it time?”asked Rory from where he stood in front of the reverend.

“Yes,” said Ben who helped Emily to walk down the aisle.

“Can you hurry this up, sir?”Rory asked of the reverend.

Reverend Jacobson just smiled.

“We’ve got time, Rory,” said Reverend Jacobson gently.“These things take a while.Now where were we?Oh, yes.Do you Rory Schroder take this woman, Alexandra Grayson, to be your lawful wedded…”

Emily didn’t hear the rest of the ceremony as Ben swept her into his arms and carried her to the carriage.

“Take her down to my office,” said Doc Martin as he clamored into the back of the carriage after helping his wife in.

Ben got in next to Emily.

“Are you all right?”he asked.

“No, I’m not all right.This hurts.Never again.”

She blew out small breaths, as she breathed through the pain.Her hand under her stomach, seemed to help as did leaning forward.

“You better get used to having one child, because I’m never doing this again.Ahhh.”

“It’ll be fine, son,” said Mrs.Martin from the back seat.“They all say that, but she’ll forget the pain when she has the baby in her arms.Trust me.”

Ben flicked the reins and the buggy started moving.He repeated the motion again and again.

Each time the buggy jolted forward a bit, Emily moaned and held her stomach.

Finally, the horses had galloped the mile or so from the church to Doc’s office.

“Whoa.”Ben braced against the footboard and pulled back hard on the reins.“Whoa, boys.We’re here.”

Doc Martin jumped down with the agility of a man of thirty rather than sixty and then helped his wife out.

Ben came around to Emily and aided her to the ground before sweeping her back into his arms and carrying her inside the doctor’s clinic.