A Mail Order Bride for His Montana Heart Bonus Scene

On a Saturday morning a few weeks after Julia began to feel better, Anna found herself sitting at the kitchen table with Kent sitting next to her. Tommy and Julia were sitting on the other side. They had decided that it was time to talk to the children about their future.

Tommy looked a bit worried that they wanted to talk to him. Julia swung her small legs against her chair, oblivious to the tension in her brother.

"We have something we'd like to talk to you about," Kent said, starting the conversation.

"I haven't done anything wrong," Tommy blurted out. "I promise."

Kent narrowed his eyes at him. "What are you talking about?"

"Isn't that why you want to talk to us? Because something happened that I got blamed for?"

Anna's heart softened at Tommy's words. She knew that he was always worried that something bad could happen around Ragford that he might be blamed for.

She remembered a trip the four of them had taken to the general store a few days prior. Agnes had apologized to Tommy for her actions and harsh words. Tommy had hardly said a word to the older woman and had left the store the moment he had been given permission to do so.

Anna knew that he didn't believe that Agnes was really sorry. It would take time for Tommy to trust some of the adults in town, including Agnes, and part of her wondered if he would ever be able to.

Anna decided to intervene. "Tommy, if you will just listen for a moment, you will know why we want to talk to you very soon. I promise that you aren't in trouble."

Tommy hesitated before nodding, but Anna was glad that he stayed put. He looked like he was about ready to bolt from the room.

"We would like to see what you both think about becoming part of our family, permanently," Kent said.

"What do you mean?" Tommy asked with confusion, but he seemed to relax a bit.

"Anna and I would like to adopt you."

"What does adopt mean?" Julia asked curiously, her eyes narrowed as she tried to understand the new word.

"It means that we will sign some papers that a judge will give us that say we are willing to be officially your parents, and that you will be officially our children."

Anna kept an eye on Tommy, wanting to see what he thought of their idea. He looked confused, but then his eyes cleared and the largest smile spread across his face that Anna had ever seen him give since Kent first brought him home.

"Do you mean that you would be our pa and," Tommy looked at Anna, "you would be our ma? For real?"

"Yes, that is exactly what we mean," Anna nodded, glad that he seemed pleased with their plans. "Once we sign the papers, it will be like you have always been our children, and we will make sure everyone knows it."

"But we don't expect you to forget your father," Kent jumped in. "He was your father first."

Tommy shrugged, showing by his actions that he didn't seem too upset about Kent taking his father's place. It made Anna wonder what their life had really been like with Archie Burns. She also wondered if they would ever really know.

"When would this happen?" Tommy asked eagerly. "Can it be today?"

Kent laughed. "We need to make a trip into Billings and meet with a judge, but we can start unofficially being a family right this minute. Would you like that?"

"Yes," Tommy said with a firm nod.

Anna exchanged a look with Kent. She knew that he'd been concerned about Tommy's reaction to the idea that they officially adopt him and Julia. He seemed to keep himself emotionally separate from them all the time.

He didn't want hugs or encouraging words. He only wanted to make sure his sister was cared for. Kent wasn't sure if Tommy would want to be adopted by them.

Anna had disagreed. She felt that Tommy was holding himself back because he was expecting that he would eventually get sent away, no matter what she or Kent told him to the contrary.

Because of this, she felt that they needed to talk to him about the idea of adopting them sooner rather than later. Maybe if Tommy knew that they wanted to adopt him and make things permanent, he'd be able to relax around them.

"I thought that we'd take a trip into Billings before the first snowfall," Kent suggested. "We have some things we need to purchase anyway. We can stay there a few days. While we are there, we can meet with a judge and have you both become our children, officially."

"That sounds fun," Tommy agreed. He was still smiling. Julia also laughed, her feet still swinging back and forth against her chair, obviously picking up on her brother's happiness.

Tommy kept smiling as Kent continued to talk about their upcoming trip to Billings, but then he looked at them both very seriously.

"What is it?" Anna asked, reaching out to touch his hand.

"Can...can I call you Ma and Pa?" he asked very softly, as if he was afraid that they would deny him that small pleasure.

She suddenly knew that making the decision to officially adopt him and Julia wasn't going to take away all of his concerns and fears, but it was a start. It would take time and trust to show him that they were serious about being their parents.

That they were now part of their family from this moment forward. That they were wanted as much as the small life that was growing inside her. It didn't matter when the judge gave them papers to sign. They were now a family, the four of them.

"Of course," Kent answered. He cleared his throat as if he was starting to become emotional. "Of course. We would be honored if you called us Ma and Pa."

"Okay, then," Tommy nodded and then looked at Julia. "Did you get that, Squirt?"

Julia laughed again and nodded as she climbed into Anna's lap.

"We have parents, and they are good ones," Tommy told her seriously, but Anna could hear the pure joy in his voice. "The sheriff is now our pa and Mrs. Anna is now our ma."

Emotion flooded Anna's heart at Tommy's words.

Kent suddenly hit his hand on the table, which made Anna and the children jump.

"I have a great idea. I think that we should go and visit your sister," he said with a smile.

Anna immediately loved that idea. She had been wanting to tell Emma that she was expecting. "Can we go today?"

"That was just what I was thinking. We've had a hard few weeks, and now that the quarantine on Ragford has finally been lifted, let's go see how your family is doing."

It didn't take long for Kent to arrange to borrow a buggy from the stables. He helped Anna onto the front seat while Tommy and Julia climbed into the back.

"I think that we need to purchase one of these, along with a few horses," Kent said as they drove out of town.

"We don't have a large enough barn for two more horses or a place to store a buggy," Anna commented.

"We can build one," Kent replied. "I do remember that I agreed to build you a chicken coop, and it sure would be nice to have fresh milk, so we need a cow."

Anna's eyes lit up. "I would love that. It is very expensive to buy all of our meat, milk, and eggs from the store."

"You are going to buy horses?" Tommy asked excitedly, obviously overhearing their conversation. "Can I learn to ride one?"

"I think that is a great idea," Kent agreed. "If you will help me build the barn and a chicken coop, you can learn to ride one of the horses."

"I can do that," Tommy answered. A large grin spread over his face.

The horses Kent had rented from the stables were energetic, and it didn't take long for them to arrive at Emma's ranch. Anna loved the drive, marveling at the changes that nature had made since the last time she had traveled along this same road.

The leaves on the trees that grew on the nearby mountains were changing colors, and the entire area looked like someone had taken a brush and painted red, oranges, and yellows in large spots. The tips of the mountains already had snow on them, another sign that winter was just around the corner. But the sun shone down on them from a cloudless sky, and the warmth felt good on her shoulders.

When they arrived at the ranch, Kent guided the buggy to the side of a fenced field. No one immediately came to greet them from the house, and Anna grew concerned. What if Emma's family had gotten sick?

But her fears left her as she saw Mary Jane open the screen door, a wide smile on her face. She yelled something inside the house and then ran down the stairs. By this time, Kent had helped Anna from the buggy. Tommy and Julia had climbed out on their own and ran towards Mary Jane.

"Hello, Mary Jane," Anna greeted her. "Is your..." She didn't finish her sentence before Emma hurried out of the house.

Emma pulled Anna into her arms, and they hugged for a long moment.

"I'm so glad that you are okay," Emma said as she wiped tears from her eyes. "When we heard about the quarantine, and then how sick Julia was, I expected the worst."

Anna wiped her own tears from her eyes. "It was quite scary for a while, but as you can see, Julia is fine."

Emma tucked her arm through Anna's. "Come and sit on the porch. I want to hear everything that happened."

Kent cleared his throat. "I think I'll go and find Logan and let you ladies talk. I'll take the children with me if you'd like."

"Thanks, Kent," Anna agreed.

After Kent and the children left to go look for Logan, Anna told Emma everything that had been happening over the last few weeks. She was glad to hear that Emma's family and the people who worked on their ranch hadn't gotten diphtheria.

When they heard about the quarantine, they had stayed on the ranch where they belonged. Logan had hired a young man from a neighboring farm to keep tabs on what was going on in Ragford since he was the brother of one of Kent's deputies, Owen.

A few minutes later, Anna's attention turned towards the sound of loud chattering. She couldn't help but smile as Kent strode towards her with their two children beside him. Logan had Mary Jane in his arms as he walked a few steps behind Kent.

Logan greeted Anna and then the two men made themselves comfortable on the steps. Anna smiled at Kent, who gave her a wink which made her face flush. The three children began to play a game of tag.

Emma nudged her. "So that's how it is," she murmured softly to Anna.

Anna looked at Emma in pretend confusion. "What?" she asked softly.

"You and Kent," Emma gave a knowing nod and Anna knew that she understood that things were going very well between her and Kent.

"Tommy," Anna called, trying to get Emma's attention off herself. "Come and tell Aunt Emma and Uncle Logan our good news."

Tommy stopped chasing after Julia and grinned as he ran towards the adults sitting on the porch.

"What is your news?" Emma asked and then looked at Anna. "Or should I guess?"

Julia ran to Tommy's side. "We are going to be...opted," she announced with a grin as she jumped up and down on her toes.

"What?" Logan asked in confusion.

"I think Julia means adopted. We've decided to adopt these two rascals and they seem to want us as parents," Kent teased as he ruffled Tommy's hair.

"Hey," Tommy protested as he pulled his head away, but he turned and grinned at Kent.

Emma clapped her hands. "That is wonderful news. Congratulations."

Anna grinned, feeling just as happy as the children seemed. "We will be going into Billings before winter hits to make it official."

"You two are lucky to have such good parents," Logan said to Tommy.

"We are lucky that we can be parents to such wonderful children," Kent answered. He reached out to ruffle Tommy's hair again. The boy moved away but he laughed as he did so.

Julia jumped into Kent's lap and pointed to Anna. "She is my ma and he is my pa."

Mary Jane had also joined them and climbed into Emma's lap. Anna could see the telltale sign that her sister's pregnancy was showing, and she found herself bursting with the news of her own.

"Guess what this means, Mary Jane?" Emma asked her daughter. "You now have two cousins, Tommy and Julia."

"Really?" Mary Jane asked with delight as she jumped off Emma's lap and hugged Julia enthusiastically. "We're cousins now?"

Julia hugged Mary Jane back so hard that they both fell to the ground in giggles.

"You sure are," Logan answered. "This seems to be a day for good news. You don't know how relieved we are to know that you all pulled through the diphtheria scare."

The three children began to chase each other around the yard again. When they were out of earshot, Emma turned to Anna.

"You know, I am very glad that you and Kent are going to adopt those two children, but I thought that you were going to tell us some other news."

Anna flushed again. She knew exactly what her sister was hinting at. "I actually do have one more piece of good news. I am expecting."

"I knew it," Emma squealed, acting just as excited as the children had just moments before. She gave Anna another hug. "When are you due?"

"Dr. Gill thinks it will be in the spring. We are going to be raising our children together."

"It looks like things worked out very well for both of us, haven't they?" Emma asked.

Anna looked at Kent, who winked at her again. Yes, things had worked out very well. She had found a good husband, a wonderful man who had shown her many times since their last talk his love for her. He had given her the family she had always wanted.

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