“Are they here yet?” Charlie asked as he jumped from the horse.

Lena studied her son. At twelve years old, he was tall and handsome. But he rode like— She shook her head.

“Don’t tell me not to ride like a wild Indian. I’m proud of being such.”

“Only you’re not wild.” Although her son was self-sufficient and strong-natured, reminding Lena of herself at a younger age, Charlie was also gentle and loving.

As if to prove her point, he kissed her cheek and tickled baby Anna in Lena’s arms. Anker was always telling her not to worry about Charlie. He would make his own way in life. Of course, Anker was right.

“To answer your question, they aren’t here yet,” she said.

“I guess that explains why you’re standing in the middle of the yard gazing down the road. Do you want me to take the baby?”

“Not yet. I need to hold her while I wait.” She smiled at her eldest. “Just like I used to get comfort from holding you.”

“Aww, Ma. The others are coming. They don’t need to hear this.”

“Hear what?” demanded Lars, the eight-year-old. With a start, she realized he would soon be nine.

Lena shifted baby Anna and reached out to hug Lars. “Charlie doesn’t think you should know that I used to hug him like I do Anna.”

Lars smiled. So much like his father that it tugged at Lena’s heart. “She hugs us all. You were just lucky enough to be born first so you got the most of it.”

John, the seven-year-old, trailed across the yard to join them, and she hugged her youngest son too. Charlie took the baby so she could hold the boys on either side.

They had waited a long time for the only girl in the family, and everyone adored her.

“I see something coming,” John announced, and they all turned to watch the road from town.

“It’s Papa’s buggy.”

Charlie handed Anna to Lars and put his arm across her shoulders. Of all the boys, Charlie was the most like Anker in temperament. The pair had a special love for each other that exceeded blood lines and birthright. Anker considered Charlie his eldest son and treated him as such.

“They’ll soon be here,” Charlie said. “And you’ll finally get to see your father.”

“And you will all meet your grandfather for the first time.”

Unknown to Lena, Anker had hired a private detective to track down her father. It had taken a long time, mostly because her father didn’t want to be found.

“He had an accident years ago and has been crippled since. He’s in a wheelchair and needs assistance. He lives in a home with other crippled people,” the detective explained. “He would never tell anyone his real name or if he had family. I met him, and he seems a very proud man. I think he was afraid he would be a burden to family if he lived with them.”

Anker had smiled at Lena. “Seems to be a family trait.”

She’d reached for his hand and squeezed it. “Not anymore.” She’d learned the joy of giving and receiving love freely and without consideration for repayment.

She vowed she would show her father the same love.

Anker had gone to bring him to live with them.

The buggy grew closer and she strained to get her first glimpse of her father in most of her life.

Anker pulled up close and came around to lift a wheelchair from the back. He lifted down a man then stepped back so she could see her father.

Lena stared. She’d expected a shrunken, helpless man but instead, the man in the chair looked as robust as Anker. His arms were thick and muscular. His skin bronzed as if he’d just come from a day’s work in the sun. And his hair was as thick and brown as she remembered it.

Anker held out his hand to bid her forward.

Charlie gave her a little push.

And then she ran. Her father’s arms came up and engulfed her. “Papa. Papa. I am so glad to see you.”

Tears threatened to drown the poor man so she pulled back.

Tears coursed down the brown leathered cheeks of her father. “I couldn’t believe you wanted me. Not after all—”

“We want you. I’m only sorry it took us so long to find you.” She signaled for her children to come forward. “This is your grandfather.” She introduced them one by one.

Each greeted him in a fashion typical to her individual children.

Charlie shook his hand. “We’re very glad to see you, Grandfather, and we’re looking forward to having you live with us.”

“I hope you’ll be happy here,” Lars said, as he, too, shook hands.

Johnny gave his grandfather a quick hello then turned his attention to the chair. “Can I have a ride in this when you don’t need it?”

Her father laughed. “So long as you don’t break it. It’s my legs, you know.”

Anker set baby Anna in her grandfather’s lap. “Our youngest, Anna.”

As the others watched, Anna studied her grandfather then favored him with a wide, toothless grin.

“She is so like you were as a baby,” Lena’s father said.

Anker pulled Lena to his arms. “I keep saying she’s a beauty.”

Lena knew he meant her as much as the baby and she let herself relax against his chest.

“Let’s get Grandfather to the house,” Anker said.

Charlie grabbed the wheelchair handles and slowly, cautiously, choosing the smoothest route, headed up the path.

Johnny walked at the side, watching the wheels turn, and Lars skipped ahead, waiting to open the door.

Lena turned her face to Anker, loving each dear line of his face. “Thank you so much for bringing him.”

“I could do no else once we found him.”

“I don’t know what I would do without you. You have made my life so full of love and joy. And to think I almost turned this down for—” She couldn’t finish. She could no longer say what she would have had if she didn’t have Anker and her family. Nothing, she suspected, but emptiness and a frightening determination to trust no one.

Anker kissed her quickly then said, “You have given me far more than I have given you.”

She knew he had long struggled with feeling he had enough to offer a woman. As she often did, she said, “Anker Hansen, you are the best man ever.”

He hugged her.

She continued, “Thank God, He has certainly turned my disastrous past into a life of joy.”

“Lena, my darling, I love your more and more each day.” He kissed her.

“Aw, they’re kissing again,” Lars said.

Laughing, Anker turned Lena about. “Let’s get your father settled.”

Lena paused at the doorway and looked at the fine pair of pine trees on either side of the door.

Anker noticed her interest. “God has truly blessed us.”

His arm about her shoulders, they entered the house, ready to begin a new stage of their lives.