Unedited. Read at your own risk:)
Epilogue
About 5 years later.
Millie came inside the house after a long day of work in the corn fields, her back aching and her hands blistered. The past few years had been hard on the entire crew at the Shannon Plantation, but she finally felt like they were on the upswing. She had put in long days alongside Clayton and Price in the fields, along with the rest of their hired workers, but when she looked out over the golden fields, she felt a sense of pride that she hadn’t felt before. There was something about being a part of her husband’s dream that warmed her heart.
Walking stiffly up the winding staircase like she had millions of times before, and walked down the hall to look in to the four children that the plantation now had romping around their halls. They were all asleep, and Millie slowly walked to Quinn’s bed. He had turned eight last month, and he was quickly following in his father’s footsteps. He was turning into quite the man of the house. Quietly exiting the room, Millie walked down to her room where Jess had drawn a hot bath for her. She couldn’t wait to feel the warm water on her sore muscles, so she wasted no time lowering herself in. The hot fire in the fireplace crackled and popped, giving her a relaxed feeling as it sent shadows dancing across the room. She undid her upswept red hair, and it’s long curls cascaded around her shoulders, their softness caressing the skin they touch. She heaved a contented sigh and calculated the day. Trey should be home any day now, and her heart sped up with seeing him again. It was a long ride from the state prison, and there was no telling when he would get home. She had forgotten to ask Mariah if there was any news from him, but she figured that the cook would tell her if there was any news at all.
She finished her bath and donned her cotton nightgown before grabbing her brush and sitting on the hearth next to the fire. Pulling all of her hair to the side closest to the fire, she ran her brush slowly through it as it slowly dried. She began humming and was surprised to recognize the tune “Auld Lang Syne”. She smiled, remembering her argument with Trey all those years ago. How she wished she could take back all of those names she had called him.
She heard a rustle behind her, and whirled around. “Hello?”
Nothing.
She eyed her shoes that were only a few feet away and rushed to grab one of them. “Who’s there?”
She heard another rustle to the side and whirled in that direction.
She saw nothing.
Raising her shoe, she gritted her teeth and listened.
“I might feel more welcome if you’d put that thing down. You’re positively dangerous with shoes” a voice said.
She remembered that voice. She whirled around and saw a tall, broad figure standing there, the fire reflecting off of it’s face. She grinned.
“Trey! What’re you…umph” she found herself tightly wrapped in her husband’s arms, his lips gently caressing hers with a fervor that stirred her very soul. After a few moments, he gently lessened his hold on her, but she refused to break the kiss. It had been too long since she had been in his arms, and she had not intention of cutting the moment short. She wrapped her small arms around his neck and melted into him, her heart pounding in her ears.
Trey smiled as his wife shushed him and they entered what used to be the nursery. Someone had taken the wall out that had separated the spare bedroom from the nursery and made it one big room that fit four children.
She led him up to Quinn’s bed, and he knelt beside it.
“He’s gotten so big” he whispered.
“I know. Seems only yesterday he was rattling off senseless sentences, now I can hardly get him to say a word” Millie said.
Trey stared at his son, his heart filling with fatherly love all over again.
“I have to show you something else” Millie tugged at his arm. They went by two other beds that contained two of Mariah and Clayton’s children, Mark and Melissa, but when the came to the third bed, Millie knelt beside it. This child had flaming red hair that covered her eyes, and Millie brushed the strands away to reveal a peacefully sleeping little girl.
“This is Sky. She’s your daughter” Millie smiled.
Trey felt his eyes widen. His child? He had a child? A daughter? “M-Mine?”
“Yes. She’ll be five soon” Millie said.
“Yours and mine?” Trey asked the dumb question.
“Yes. Unless there’s someone I don’t know about” Millie narrowed her eyes at him.
“No, of course not. Wow” Trey smiled and stroked Sky’s hair.
“We better go before we wake them up” Millie stood and Trey followed.
She led him back to their room.
“Wanna see the corn?” Millie asked him.
Trey smiled and nodded. She jerked up the window and slid out like an expert. No telling how many times she had slid through that window in the past five years. He followed somewhat awkwardly, and looked out over the moonlit fields. All he could do was stare. His dream was laid out in front of him, and it was almost surreal. Rolling hills of corn spread out on all three sides, nearly surrounding the house.
“It’s beautiful” he breathed.
Millie grinned with pride. “I’m glad you’re pleased.”
“Pleased? I’m ecstatic. Just look at all that corn, Millie.” Trey smiled, leaning against the white railing that surrounded the balcony.
“You don’t know how many times I came out here to just look at it. It made me feel closer to you, I guess” Millie wrapped her arm around his and leaned her head against his shoulder.
Trey smiled. This was what he had waited five years for. A moment just like this.
Millie was set on the balcony railing to be eye level with her husband. She played with a strand of her hair, content to just sit in silence.
“I see your hair has grown back out” Trey smiled, weaving the ends of a few strands between his fingers.
“Yes, thankfully” Millie smiled.
“I don’t know, maybe I liked it better shorter” Trey said, his eyes smiling.
Millie chuckled. “I really did miss you. How is Jed?”
“He’s out west by now. He went home to his wife in California” Trey said.
“Jed is married?” Millie had never pictured Jed as a family man.
“Yeah, he abandoned her about ten years back when he found out she was pregnant. I think he’s regretted that, though. He accepted the Lord about three years ago while we were in prison” Trey told her.
“Really? That’s great, Trey. Do you think we’ll see him again?” Millie asked.
“I don’t know. He said that he would come visit, but who knows” Trey said.
Millie sighed. “I’m so glad you’re home. Things were so stressful without you” she said, fiddling with a button on his shirt. “Except I wish I had given myself more time to prepare.”
“Why’s that?” Trey asked, looking confused.
“Well, let’s face it. I’m not the same as I was five years ago. My hair is sun-bleached, my hands are calloused from work, and let’s not even mention my complexion” Millie said with her head down.
Trey chuckled. “Silly woman. Don’t you know that every second I thought about you, it wasn’t about you hair, or your complexion, or your hands? I thought of how much I loved you. I love you for you, Millie. I love the girl that pushed me into that creek and watched me near freeze to death. The girl who spouted off every name she could think of when she found out who I was. The girl who shot darts out of her eyes when I didn’t speak very kindly to her.” Trey smiled and cupped her face in his hands. “And the girl who made me fall so much in love with her that not even five years in the state prison could convince me that this thing I felt wasn’t the most crazy, passionate, and senseless love that I have ever felt for anyone.”
Millie felt her eyes haze over. “Not even Karen?”
Trey took a deep breath. “Karen and I had our time together, but she’s gone now. You and me, we’re just starting our forever.”
Millie smiled. “Forever sounds good.”
The he kissed the sense right out of her, as if she had any left after such a speech.
She knew that this was where she belonged, in the arms of her husband as he convinced her that he had truly kept her heart.