Page 63 of A Wilderness Within

“Thank you.” Harry took them and remained silent until Caroline, Ellie, and his mother came back in.

“Rachel, the boy has vaccines for us.” He used one on himself before he sat Lincoln’s mother down in a chair and administered it to her arm.

“Lincoln, what’s going to happen now? We’ve only heard the radio broadcasts,” his mother said, looking to Caroline briefly. “I mean, you make things sound very positive and hopeful…but is it really?” Her face was lined with worries he wasn’t used to seeing since he’d left home.

“Everything is going to be fine,” he promised her.

“I understand your concerns,” Caroline said as she helped his mother pour tea. “Am I just trying to keep hope up in a hopeless situation? Let me just say that things have changed a lot these last three months.” She spoke to them about the future she was helping to build toward, and how they’d organized survivors across the country, setting up CB relays to keep people in touch and to organize food and supply transports. Her next project was international contact, to find out what had happened farther north and south and across the oceans. If they could get a few of the big cargo ships running, things could really start turning around.

His heart was so full of pride that he could barely hold it in. He glanced at his father once and saw tears in the old man’s eyes.

A while later, his parents were settling Ellie in for a late-afternoon nap, and Lincoln walked Caroline out to the shore of the little lake. She reached for his hand and curled her fingers around his, giving him a gentle squeeze.

“You okay, mountain man?”

He laughed and reached up with his free hand to touch the beard he’d started to let grow again. It had been amusing to learn that his rugged look turned his little spitfire on more than anything.

“I’m okay, honey.” He stared out at the beautiful view, the wilderness all around them, and for the first time he didn’t feel so lost within it. The trees creaking in the breeze, the whisper of leaves, and the splashes of fish jumping to catch dragonflies hovering just above the water’s surface…he felt at home.

He turned Caroline’s face toward his so he could lean down to kiss her.

“I love you,” he said, amazed at how easily those three little words came to his lips now, yet how the emotion behind them had such force he often thought his heart would shatter.

“I know.” She gave him a mischievous look and then took off running down the shoreline. He raced after her, their laughter echoing off the water and the distant hills.

Epilogue

You are a child of the universe,

No less than the trees and the stars;

You have the right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you,

No doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

—“Desiderata” by Max Ehrmann

Three years later

Caroline walked up to the palatial mansion, passing through the tall wrought-iron gates. She entered the house, the dust catching beneath her fingertips as she touched a banister leading upstairs. Dawn was breaking over the horizon, and beams of sunlight broke through the windows as she walked ahead. Lincoln followed, carrying Ellie in his arms. She was a bright-eyed, beautiful toddler full of mischief.

“Mama?” Ellie called out, her voice echoing in the grand hallways.

“Yes, honey?” Caroline kept moving, searching for something.

“Check the dining hall,” Lincoln suggested as they walked deeper into the house. Kirby stayed close to Caroline as she entered the dining room. She pulled back some tall brocade curtains and light flooded the room, illuminating the portrait of a solemn, wise-looking man seated in a regal but practical red velvet chair. He leaned forward, one hand braced on the arm of the chair as though he meant to stand. He seemed to be in deep contemplation.

“Who dat?” Ellie pointed a tiny chubby finger at the man in the portrait.

“This, Ellie, is President Lincoln. A very good man. Your father was named after him.” Caroline winked at Lincoln. He didn’t resemble the president at all, except for the beard, which Caroline adored. The reminder of her mountain man who’d rescued her always made her heart race.

“Let’s go find your office.” Lincoln led her this time, showing her the way.

Even after all these years, he remembered the way. He reached the door to the office and opened it for her. She went inside, and Lincoln tested the light switch. There was a hum of electricity above them, and beautiful bright lights came on. They illuminated long yellow curtains and three windows behind a large ornate desk. Two couches filled the rest the room, and a grandfather clock sat dormant against one wall. At least eight flags were resting in stands around the room, three of which were American.

Caroline’s hands shook as she touched the fabric. “I can’t believe we’re really going to live here.”

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