This was to become their unacknowledged Friday routine. And though on principle he had never yet stayed more than the one night, his departure the next day had gradually got later.
On the Saturday before Thanksgiving, the three of them had gone for breakfast at the Bakery. It was the first time they had been there as a family since the accident. Outside they bumped into Harry Logan. He made a big fuss of Grace and made her blush by telling her how grown up and gorgeous she looked. It was true. He asked if he could stop by and say hi to Pilgrim sometime and they said sure he could.
As far as Annie knew, no one in Chatham had any idea what had happened in Montana other than that their horse had gotten better. Harry looked at Annie's protruding belly and shook his head and smiled.
'You guys,' he said. 'Just the sight of you - all four of you - makes me feel so good. I'm really, really happy for you.'
There was much marveling at how, after so many miscarriages, Annie had managed this time to go full term without trouble. The obstetrician said strange things often happened with elderly pregancies. Annie said thanks very much.
The baby was born in early March by planned caesarean. They asked her if she wanted to have an epidural and watch and she said absolutely not, she wanted every kind of dope they had. She woke, as once she had before, to find the baby on the pillow beside her. Robert and Grace were there too and the three of them all wept and laughed together.
They named him Matthew, after Annie's father.
On the breeze now, Annie could hear the baby crying. When she turned away from the gate and started to walk back down toward the cherry trees, the horses didn't lift their heads.
She would feed him then take him inside and change him. Then she'd sit him in the corner of the kitchen so he could watch her with those clear blue eyes while she got the supper ready. Maybe she could persuade Robert to stay the whole weekend this time. As she came past the pond, some wild ducks took off, their wings clattering the water.
There was only one other thing Frank mentioned in the letter he had sent her last summer. Sorting out Tom's room, he said, he'd come across an envelope on the table. It had Annie's name on it and so he now enclosed it.
Annie looked at it a long time before she opened it. She thought how strange it was that never till now had she seen Tom's handwriting. Inside, folded in a sheet of plain white paper, was the loop of cord he'd taken back from her on that last night they spent together in the creek house. On the paper, all he'd written was, In case you forget.
THE END