Sherry chuckled. “You know you’ll do anything to get out of doing work around the house.”
“Who, me?”
“No. The storks.”
“The what?”
“We’ll talk about it later,” Sherry said.
“Uhhh,” Hickok began sheepishly. “There’s something we need to talk about right now.”
Sherry leaned back and pecked him on the tip of his nose. Ringo was squeezing the gunman’s right leg. “Whatever is it, I’m sure it can wait,” she stated.
“I’m afraid it can’t,” Hickok replied.
“What is it?”
“Promise you won’t get all riled?”
Sherry’s eyes narrowed quizzically. “Uh-oh. What have you done now? Whenever you say that, it means you’ve gone and done something off the wall.” She grinned. “Men are so predictable. And here I am, outnumbered in my own family.”
Hickok cleared his throat, his mouth twisting in a cockeyed, reserved grin. “Not any more.”
“What do you mean?”
“I brought you a little surprise,” Hickok said.
“Oh?” Sherry smiled. “You’ve never done that before. What is it? Jewelry? Clothes?”
“Do you remember telling me that you’d like our next young’un to be a girl?”
“Yeah. So?”
Hickok nodded at the cabin.
Perplexed, Sherry looked, and the sight of the blonde girl wearing a blue jump suit, framed in the doorway, caused her to release her husband and step back in astonishment. “Who—?” she blurted out.
“This is Chastity,” Hickok introduced the child. “Chastity, this is Ringo,” he said, and patted his son on the head. “And this is Sherry, my missus.”
Chastity walked over to them, her anxious gaze on Sherry. “Will you be my new mommy?”
“Your mommy?”
“My mommy and daddy were killed,” Chastity explained with naive simplicity. “My new daddy said you would be my new mommy.”
Sherry, still stunned and confused, squatted. “Your new daddy?”
Chastity pointed at Hickok. “He said you’re the nicest lady in the world.
He said I could be your girl.”
“How about it?” Hickok asked. “Look at the bright side. You won’t have any morning sickness this time.”
“Where—how—when—?” Sherry began, and then discerned the unease, the incipient fear, in Chastity’s eyes. She reached out and impulsively embraced her. “Don’t worry. Everything is all right.” She paused, watching tears form in the corners of Chastity’s eyes. “You’ve found a new home.
Yes, I’ll be your new mommy.”
“Thank you,” Chastity stated politely, and started crying.
“What’s wrong, princess?” Hickok inquired as he lifted Ringo in his arms. “I figured you’d be happy.”
“I am,” Chastity blubbered.
Sherry clasped the girl and stroked her hair. “There. There. It’s okay.”
She glanced up at Hickok, and for an instant her eyes seemed to reflect all of the love in the world.
“Wow, Dad. Thanks,” Ringo said.
“For what?”
“Now I can be a Warrior.”
“Fine by me,” Hickok responded, and gazed at each of them in supreme happiness. “How about this? Everything has worked out just fine.” He paused. “Now I won’t have to help with the dishes any more.”
“Dream on,” was Sherry’s reply.
In the western section of the compound, not far from the lowered drawbridge and the dusty jeep parked a dozen yards from the moat, purposely avoided by the other Family members to allow them some measure of privacy, stood Blade, Jenny, and Gabe. They were embracing tenderly, not even speaking, simply savoring their reunion, with Jenny weeping softly, Gabe sniffling, and Blade feeling an overwhelming sense of sheer joy.
Thirty feet to the north, partially obscured by a towering pine, oblivious to everyone and everything as they kissed passionately was the Family’s preeminent martial artist and a red-headed woman wearing a yellow blouse and brown pants.
“I never want you to leave again,” she said when they came up for air.
“I’m a Warrior, Lexine. I must leave when Blade orders me to do so.”
“I love you so much, Rikki.”
“And I love you.”
“Don’t you think it’s about time we did something about the way we feel?”
“I do,” Rikki said.
“Then let’s go find a clearing in the woods,” Lexine suggested.
“I have a better idea,” Rikki proposed.
“What is it?”
“Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
A poor red squirrel, busily gnawing on a pine cone on a limb 25 feet overhead, nearly lost his footing and fell at the sound of a screech from one of the two humans below. He chittered at them for a minute, then scampered higher to enjoy his meal of pine seeds in peace.