In Wilderness Found

Epilogue

-Five years later-

Summer rain pitter patters against the roof of the cabin. Quiet light from two oil lamps  illuminates the wooden floor and the natural faint glow from the dim morning sun floats through the window. The old hound dog snores softly by the fireplace while laughter echoes throughout the rustic space. 

Ten-year-old Gracie stares narrow-eyed down at the square board in front of her on the floor. After a concentrated moment, she picks up a red rounded game piece and shifts it diagonally to capture one of her opponent’s black ones.

“You got me!” Ellis shouts as Gracie beats him in another game of checkers. She giggles loudly when he reaches over to ruffle her dark hair. 

Madison grins while she watches her husband and daughter from her spot at the kitchen table. It is a dreary, rainy morning, yet her world shines bright from inside the warm walls of the cabin. As she sits there at the table, stringing green beans on what most would consider the dullest of days, she can’t imagine being anywhere else.

Not a day goes by that she’s not reminded of how blessed she is. She has achieved two things she didn’t think would ever be possible - she’s a loved wife in a blissful marriage, and a mother to a vibrant young girl who exudes joy from her very being. 

This life is exactly what her father would have wanted for her. 

“Mama Madison, come play with us!” Gracie demands in between giggles.

“Yeah, Mama, come play with us,” Ellis echoes with a playful grin and a raise of his eyebrow.

“And who is going to do all the work around here, if I don’t do it?” Madison teases as she stands from the table and joins her family on the floor. 

“Hey, you know I help you and Papa Ellis do the farm work,” Gracie says in an offended voice and Madison laughs. 

“You do. You’re the best helper,” she agrees with a smile.

As Madison starts another round of checkers with Gracie, Gal saunters over to them while stretching her legs. The mahogany of her face has started to turn white with age and her hunting expeditions happen much less often these days, but the dog’s gentle, happy demeanor always reminds Madison of how she came into this amazing new life.

Ellis leaves his girls on the floor to their board game, and he slips out the front door with a glass jar in hand.

Madison’s decorative flowers on the dining table have started to wilt, so he makes his way down to his expansive wildflower garden for some replacement blooms. And some more for the cemetery, too.

He picks out a few bluebells for the table and a handful of fire-colored marigolds for Daniel and Sarah. The cheerful flowers are Gracie’s favorite, and she always insists on taking them on the days they visit the graveyard.

I can’t believe it’s been five years already, Ellis thinks to himself. 

He knows one day soon he and Madison will have to have the dreaded conversation with Gracie - the conversation about how exactly she came to live with them. They live in a community too small and too nosy for her to never know the truth.

Clearly, Gracie knows that Ellis and Madison aren’t her real parents. She still remembers Daniel and Sarah, and every now and then she’s struck with sudden memories that trigger an emotional breakdown that Ellis and Madison still haven’t figured out how to handle with grace. They typically just hold her and give wary looks to one another until she stops crying.

But Gracie doesn’t know the whole story. It scares Ellis, and he knows it scares Madison to death to think of how Gracie may resent her when she finds out why her parents died and who killed them.