Texas Woman

Epilogue

TEXAS

FEBRUARY 19, 1846

SLOAN STOOD WITH BAY AND CRICKET AND stared at the headstone that had just been erected beside Rip’s. It had seemed appropriate to place the second headstone here, beneath the sheltering branches of the majestic live oak that had taken root long before there was a Republic, and would be here long after Texas had achieved greatness as a state of the Union.

The strong one, the gentle one, and the rebel all bowed their heads in respectful acknowledgment of what death had taken and what it had left behind.

The sound of children’s laughter could be heard in the distance as the three women paid homage to their father by sharing this momentous occasion with him in the only way they could.

The three sisters weren’t left alone for long. Cruz joined Sloan and handed her the tiny child that moved restlessly in his arms. “I think Ana María is hungry.”

Sloan took her daughter and cradled her close to her breast. Cruz moved up behind her and slipped his arms around her to help support the child.

Long Quiet stepped up to Bay and circled her very pregnant body with his long arms. Meanwhile, Creed handed Cricket their sleeping daughter, Miranda, whom they had nicknamed Muffin, and slipped his arm around her slim waist, pulling her snug against him. Luke and Tomasita strolled over to join them, their fingers clasped and trailing occasionally across Tomasita’s slightly mounded abdomen, their son Rafael in tow.

“Whose idea was it to put up the second headstone?” Cruz asked.

“Mine,” Sloan admitted.

“But Bay found the marble,” Cricket said.

“And Cricket found the man to carve it,” Bay added.

“It’s beautiful, and a fitting tribute,” Creed said. “You should be proud of yourselves.”

The three sisters shared smiles of remembered times as they leaned back into the shelter of their husbands’ arms and read the messages they had left for posterity.

On Rip’s gravestone had been carved:

RIP STEWART

Beloved Father

And on the second marble stone:

THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS

1836-1845

LONG MAY SHE LIVE IN MEMORY

“Guess the Texas flag is coming down at Washington-on-the-Brazos about now,” Luke said, “and being replaced by the Stars and Stripes. President Anson Jones will be handing over power to the new governor, Pinckney Henderson, and Sam Houston and Tom Rusk will be on their way to Washington as Texas’s first two senators. Hard to believe it’s really happening.”

“It’s happening, all right,” Sloan murmured. “It’s just too bad Rip-”

Whipp’s gleeful shout, “Pick me up!” as he discovered where his father, Long Quiet, had disappeared to, startled Ana María, who began to cry with all the strength of a lusty six-week-old. Meanwhile, Cisco cheered in triumph as he discovered a bag of cherry sticks amid the several baskets of food, while Cricket’s three-year-old daughter Jesse trailed in his footsteps, babbling with excitement, her eyes wide with wonder at this unexpected delight.

Sloan laughed at the cacophony of children’s demands and said, “I guess that’s about all the peace and quiet we’re going to get today.”

Cricket agreed with a chuckle. “I just heard Jesse begging for a cherry stick. If I hope to get that child to eat anything wholesome at all on this picnic, I’d better intercept that candy.”

“You are wise to make sure she grows up strong,” Long Quiet said. “For as the children grow, so grows the new state of Texas.”

“Are you saying we women hold the future in our dainty hands?” Sloan asked with a teasing smile.

Luke grinned. “In your dainty hands, and your burgeoning bellies.” He swept Tomasita into his arms and swung her in a circle. Her delighted laughter was interrupted by his quick, hard kiss.

Smiling, her face aglow with happiness, Sloan turned to Cruz and took the hand he held outstretched to her. They walked together toward the blankets that had been laid out for the picnic. She sat down and leaned back against the lightning-scarred trunk of the live oak, unbuttoning her dress to nurse her child.

Sloan looked up into the adoring eyes of her husband, then let her gaze drift to the sight of her family gathered around her. Life was beautiful in Texas. Life was sweet. There was no doubt the future belonged to the sisters of the Lone Star.