Book Series: Stand Alone Title
Publishing Date: 2001
Author: Anita Stansfield
Publisher: Covenant Communications, Inc.
Category: LDS Historical Romance
Point of View: Third Person Limited: Jon and Maddie
Chapter Count: 13
Page Count: 246
Point of View: Third Person Limited: Jon and Maddie
Chapter Count: 13
Page Count: 246
This book is dedicated to all the men who have faithfully read my stories, diligently putting up with being harassed about reading romance novels. Your wives and girlfriends love you for it. And so do I.
This one's for you. (Spare us, Anita. Only four more years till Twilight)
Prologue
Boston-1894
Meet Jonathon Brandt and his younger sister Sara both keeping vigil at the bedside of their dying mother. Jonathon's father is a very successful doctor with a busy practice. While nobody doubts Phillip Brandt's love and devotion to his wife and family, Jon is just a little put out with his father right now-Mom's dying while Dad's rushing off to spend more time at the office! Phillip reminds his son of his own chosen path in becoming a doctor. Jon resents this because his emotionally distant, domineering father practically forced him into this profession.
Carol Brandt's last words to her son is to make peace with his father.
Chapter 1 Running West
The funeral is over and Jonathon wastes no time packing. He's outta here! Sara pleads with him to stay, keep his promise to mother and reconcile with his father but Jon's not having it. He's taking the next train west. Maybe he'll stop and visit father's sister, Aunt Ellie, who married a Mormon, converted and moved to Sterling, Utah (a small town just south of Manti) when they were just kids.
Jon is impressed with the scenery in Sterling. They don't have mountains like this in Boston. A friendly neighbor offers Jon a ride from the train depot to his destination (everybody knows everybody here). On the way, Jon is given his first lesson in Mormon Community 101-no smoking, drinking, chewing tobacco, swearing or loose women to be found among the people here. Jon flicks ash from his second cigarette and shrugs, accepting everything without taking offense. These Mormons sure are a strange lot.
Jon is dropped off at the end of a long dirt road leading to two farmhouses. Not sure which one is Aunt Ellie's, he knocks at the first house where piano music drifts out through the screen door. A young, feminine voice invites him in, assuming he's Ellie, telling him to leave the plums on the kitchen table.
The young woman seated at the piano in the parlor has wavy blonde hair and green eyes who laughs at the misunderstanding. She is Maddie Jo Hansen, short for Madeline Josephine (and every time she laughs or giggles, the reader should take a drink) and Jon is immediately smitten with her.
Ellie comes knocking and enters the house, just as Maddie predicted. Still seated at the piano, Maddie giggles like a a nitwit while Ellie tries to guess why Jon looks so familiar until Jon reminds her of a Boston family tradition and she recognizes her nephew, all grown up. Of course Jon will be staying at her house with her husband and two boys. The oldest is off at college so Jon can take his room. So far, this visit is indeterminate but now that Jon has met Maddie, he might just end up staying here the rest of his life. They leave the house; Maddie resumes playing.
Chapter 2 Plums and Frogs
Maddie is infatuated with the new single man in town. Except, with his Eau de Cigarette aroma, he's obviously not a member of the church. Sitting at the kitchen table, helping with the plums, she confides her feelings to her mother who reminds Maddie of her "condition" advising she tell Jonathon Brandt the truth before it goes any further but Maddie will never tell.
At the Jensen home, Jon is invited to join family prayer and scripture study that night with David, Aunt Eleanor and their two boys. He's further inducted into Utah culture with stories from The Book of Mormon. He goes outside for one last cigarette while the family goes to bed. Ellie invites him to come with her tomorrow to the Hansen home to help with the plum harvest. Eager to see Maddie again, Jon agrees. Ellie teases Jon about having feelings for Maddie. Jon feigns a frog in his throat prevents him from answering.
Seated at the kitchen table with Maddie, Jon spends the entire morning and most of the afternoon helping cut and pit the fruit. For some strange reason, Jon finds Maddie's constant tendency to laugh at everything endearing! He thoroughly enjoys discussing her Mormon religion with her and is impressed by Maddie's spiritual devotion.
By mid afternoon, the women suggest Jon go out and help the men in the fields. Leaving Maddie at the table, (where she hasn't moved since his arrival) Jon stands up, his request to call on Maddie tomorrow morning accepted and takes his leave but when Jon reaches the field, he's as confused as the men, who appreciate his offer to help, but don't need him. He questions Aunt Ellie that night. Were they trying to get rid of him this afternoon? Is Maddie and her family hiding something? Ellie won't tell him anything.
Next morning, Jon finds Maddie seated on the porch swing. He joins her and they talk comfortably as if they've known each other all their lives. Jon tells her he'd like to take her out tomorrow on an official date, a picnic perhaps? Maddie looks uncomfortable but insists his gentile status, even his smoking habit, has nothing to do with her hesitation. She could see herself happily married to him, the attraction is there, but she just can't go out with him and refuses to explain why. He's welcome to call on her tomorrow, of course. Jon stands up and walks back to Aunt Ellie's. He can't help but notice Maddie never moves from the swing.
Chapter 3 The Truth About Maddie Hansen
As if we haven't already guessed by now (For a doctor, Jon, you're an idiot!) the truth about Maddie Hansen's condition is...she can't walk! This is revealed when Jon calls on Maddie the following morning, as promised, to find her sitting on the parlor sofa, all dressed up with nowhere to go. He sits next to her and has to practically force it out of her, plead with her to open up, talk to him!
Maddie starts to cry because her first beau, after learning about her "condition" was quick to dump her and move on. She fears Jon will do the same but Jon insists he's different. Besides, he's a doctor so why would he be uncomfortable talking about her physical condition? Even if she can't work beside him in a field, stand over a stove or conceive and bear children, he still thinks she's the most incredible, the most beautiful, woman he's ever met. Maddie laughs (again) in relief this little issue is all cleared up and agrees to let him take her out tomorrow on a picnic.
There's a hint of autumn in the air when Jon arrives to pick Maddie up who is sitting in a wheelchair on the porch, expectantly waiting for him. Scooping her up easily, he carries her to the buckboard with the packed hamper in the back (thanks Aunt Ellie!) and they're on their way. Maddie obviously doesn't get out much as she finds delight in everything they pass. He lets her offer a blessing on their picnic and they dive in. Jon inquires how she came to be handicapped. Maddie tells him she wasn't born with the problem she fell off the roof trying to retrieve her doll she fell out of a tree when she was a child. (She LAUGHS at the memory.) Her parents took her to a doctor in Salt Lake who prescribed three months of bed rest. If she could get up and walk after that, a miracle, she's cured! If not...well there was nothing to be done, she was crippled for life and would never walk again. (Wow, what a smart doctor.) Jon notices Maddie scratching her leg. She has feeling in her legs! She's not paralyzed. A few questions about her bodily functions, Maddie blushes furiously when he asks her if she menstruates regularly. She does and, no, she doesn't wear Depends, she can get herself in and out of her wheelchair to use the commode with little trouble. She just can't walk. That doctor told her so and Maddie and her parents, believed him. Jon tells her, as a physician, he sees no reason why she can't conceive and physically bear children, maybe even walk one day. They could have a family and live a normal life. Realizing Jon is proposing marriage, Maddie bursts into tears. If he is asking for her hand, the answer is YES! Jon kisses her. Guess that answers that question.
Chapter 4 The Chasm
Already a golden convert, Jon knows he'll have to join the Mormon faith but Maddie insists he not join for her. He needs to find out for himself if her religion is true. Jon has already been reading The Book of Mormon (He also likes to smoke while he reads. What a strange man.) and Aunt Ellie even gave him a copy of The Doctrine and Covenants. He promises to read, pray and ponder on all the new doctrine he's learning. Even if he never converts, Jon already knows he's a better man for having met Maddie Jo Hansen.
Jon is eager to attend his first Sunday Mormon church service but, to his great disappointment, Maddie is not there. As Maddie's parents take their seats, alone, Ellie leans over and whispers to Jon that ever since the accident, they stopped bringing Maddie to church; afraid of how people would treat her or that she might contract some life threatening illness due to her delicate condition. Jon thinks that's the stupidest thing he's ever heard. Hypocrites! Nevertheless, the idea of marriage to Maddie fills him with indescribable joy.
As the weeks pass, several single women in the community begin competing for Jon's attentions but Jon only has eyes for Maddie. He gently rebuffs all their efforts and continues to attend church. Some members treat him with disdain, because he reeks of cigarettes, while others are welcoming and friendly. Jon just wants to get married to the woman he loves, buy a farm and settle here.
One day, Jon has the opportunity to go to Manti with one of Ellie's sons where he sees the beautiful temple edifice, looking like a castle, up on yonder hill. The son explains why temples are so important and Jon feels a great desire to go inside one day and learn more about eternal families. He absolutely LOVES the idea.
Jon and Maddie are more in love than ever but there's just one little problem. Maddie's parents, her father especially, don't approve of Jon and Maddie's courtship and Maddie won't go against her parents' wishes. It's like a great chasm dividing them.
One day, Jon notices Maddie's parents leaving the house in the buckboard. Alone. Which means Maddie is home all by herself and he can call on her. He walks in to find her at the piano. She laughs and places a hand on her heart as he rushes to take her in his arms, kiss her and promise to carry her away from here, take her to the temple so they can be married and he will treat her like a queen for the rest of her life because, as the scriptures say, a man should leave his father and mother and cleave to none other than his wife (or in Maddie's case, her husband). Maddie is ecstatic.
One day, Jon notices Maddie's parents leaving the house in the buckboard. Alone. Which means Maddie is home all by herself and he can call on her. He walks in to find her at the piano. She laughs and places a hand on her heart as he rushes to take her in his arms, kiss her and promise to carry her away from here, take her to the temple so they can be married and he will treat her like a queen for the rest of her life because, as the scriptures say, a man should leave his father and mother and cleave to none other than his wife (or in Maddie's case, her husband). Maddie is ecstatic.
Chapter 5- The Reluctant Doctor Brandt
It is now November. Jon feels right at home with Aunt Ellie's family and the rest of this rural community. He uses some of his Boston wealth to pay off Uncle Dave's account at the general store, discreetly of course. Many winter evenings are spent around the fireplace, studying the scriptures, and having deep religious discussions with the family. Jon's testimony is growing. There is no question about it. He can feel it.
When Dave contracts a bad case of pneumonia, Jon uses his medical knowledge to speed his recovery and keep him properly quarantined. Then one of the sons has an accident in the barn, nearly loosing his hand, if Jon hadn't been there to stitch it up. Word quickly spreads there's a doctor in the community and people start knocking, requesting Jon's services. Jon is embarrassed, Sara insisted he bring his medical bag but he never intended to use it while Aunt Ellie encourages him to accept his calling in life. These people need him. He treats a child's injury and is proclaimed a hero, especially when he refuses to take any money. Aunt Ellie is very proud. Jon declares he's rather be a farmer, like all the other men, albeit a farmer who smokes.
The child's health suddenly takes a turn for the worst and Jon is sent for. Other men accompany him so they can give the little girl a priesthood blessing. Jon feels the power in the room and is overwhelmed by the spirit. This is no ordinary religion. Jon believes! He immediately throws away his cigarettes. He's quitting, cold turkey and wants to be baptized ASAP. (Good luck with that, Jon. As any return missionary will tell you, a convert who can give up smoking, just like that, is very rare.) Two weeks before Christmas, Jon is baptized.
Chapter 6 Hope
Now that Jon's a Mormon, he can get back to pursuing Maddie. He believes Maddie is only suffering from muscle atrophy. With a little physical therapy, it's very possible she can walk again. He tells Ellie who tells him to go visit the Hansens. Jon does, but his meeting with Glen and Sylvia Hansen (Maddie is upstairs, missing the whole thing) does not go well. Glen doesn't believe the word of some uppity Easterner. His daughter needs special care and protection. Jon tells him his daughter is not a worthless cripple who will never make a good wife or mother just because she can't walk or have children. On the contrary, he believes she can do all that and more. If they were married, he could help Maddie with the intimate physical therapy she needs. Glen screams at Jon to get out of his house.
But they have an ally in Syliva. Two days later, she comes to the house to inform Jon her husband is out of town for the next few days on business. Maddie is home alone and if Jon just happens to drop by, nobody would know.
Jon and Maddie make out in the parlor, renewing their promises to each other-Jon to have patience with Maddie who needs to find the courage to stand up to her father and delcare her right to be happy by accepting Jon's marriage proposal.
A few days later, Jon enters, unexpectedly, one morning to pick up Maddie. Literally. After carrying her outside, wrapped in a blanket against the winter chill to the waiting buckboard, he drives her down the road to the empty house both noticed on their first date. Jon bought the property and intends to make it their "Dovecote" after they get married. There's even a spare room for their future baby. Jon presents her with a lovely gold, heart shaped pendant for her to wear under her clothes as part of their "secret engagement." Maddie laughs and cries.
Chapter 7 Refiner's Fire
Maddie's father returns from his trip laden with gifts for his only daughter. Maddie is grateful but she wants the kinds of things his money can't buy-temple marriage to a good man, an eternal family of her own. Jonathon Brandt is offering all that to her but her father won't hear it. Glen is adamant. He knows what's best for his daughter and this relationship is never going to happen.
Maddie goes to bed and cries herself to sleep.
Through spring and summer, Jon hires people to fix up his new home while continuing his unofficial medical practice, reluctantly accepting food and other payments from his grateful patients. He'd rather be working his own land and married to Maddie!
One Sunday, Jon is sitting in church when he feels a strong prompting to get up and leave. Maddie! Just then, Maddie's mother jumps up and bolts from the chapel. Jon follows and everything is made clear. The Hansen house is on fire! Jon runs in and carries Maddie out. He and Sylivia put out the fire which started in the kitchen, the only room damaged. Maddie is okay. She is coughing in Jon's arms when Glen pulls up.
Dismissing his blackened home and distressed daughter, he marches over and is about to lay into Jon when Jon gets up and punches Glen before he can start yelling. Jon does the yelling instead. His daughter nearly died! If Maddie had been in church with her family, this never would've happened. He calls Glen an overprotective jerk whose smothering of Maddie boarders on abuse. Jon is taking Maddie home with him for medical observation. She'll be staying with his Aunt Ellie until the house is repaired.
Dismissing his blackened home and distressed daughter, he marches over and is about to lay into Jon when Jon gets up and punches Glen before he can start yelling. Jon does the yelling instead. His daughter nearly died! If Maddie had been in church with her family, this never would've happened. He calls Glen an overprotective jerk whose smothering of Maddie boarders on abuse. Jon is taking Maddie home with him for medical observation. She'll be staying with his Aunt Ellie until the house is repaired.
Maddie is shocked at Jon's outburst and behavior. He hit her father! Jon begins packing as soon as they get home. Knowing it wouldn't be appropriate for him to stay here, Jon will be taking up residence in his new home down the road. He'll visit Maddie everyday, of course.
To show there's no hard feelings, Jon slips money to one of the carpenters, making him promise to use it in rebuilding the Hansen home; a project the entire community has undertaken.
Weeks pass. The Hansen home is back to normal and the bishop has told Jon whenever he's ready, he can go to the temple. (How can that be possible? Not even a year since Jon's baptism!) Jon is ready but Maddie won't go against her father by accepting Jon's marriage proposal. She's very sorry. Jon is ready to tear his hair out. Maddie slips into a deep depression, refusing to leave her bed and barely eating. She's wasting away. Sylvia begs Jon to come examine her. Glen Hansen enters the bedroom and, once again, orders Jon to get out of his house.
Chapter 8 Light
As requested, Jon leaves the house, banging the door behind him. Maddie weeps silent tears as she hears her parents arguing over the issue. Sylivia is on her side and comes into Maddie's room to encourage her to fast, pray and read her scriptures so she can make a final decision. She owes it to Jon.
A few days later, Jon is summoned to the Hansen home where Maddie, wearing a red dress, tells Jon to get down on one knee. She's ready to offically accept his proposal of marriage. (Glen is not home, by the way. Another business trip.)
Jon puts Maddie on his horse and mounts behind her so they can go tell Ellie the good news and start throwing together an impromptu wedding. Maddie laughs in pure delight.
One year to the day they first met, Dave and Ellie drive Jon, Sylvia and Maddie in their buckboard to Manti where the happy couple will be married. They sit through the endowment presentation. Jon carries Maddie from room to room. The incredible beauty of the blue and white Terrestrial Room make them both catch their breath (Can't blame them, it's my favorite room too!). At last they are married, kneeling across the alter in one of the sealing rooms. It is a very special day for both.
The newlyweds, along with wheelchair and luggage, are dropped off at the train depot where they plan to spend their honeymoon in Salt Lake City. Maddie laughs at being Mrs. Jonathon Brandt.
Chapter 9 Home is Where the Heart Leads
Poor Glen Hansen. He goes out of town for a few days and returns to find his only daughter eloped! As related by Ellie to Jon and Maddie upon their return, Glen and Sylvia got into a big fight. Syliva even moved in with Ellie for a few days. Just like in Fiddler on the Roof, Glen has declared his daughter dead to him. No one is to speak her name.
Lucky for Jon and Maddie, they're too blissfully happy to care. They set up housekeeping, go shopping in town for all the things they need for their new home. Jon takes Maddie to church where her parents never acknowledge them but the rest of the congregation shares their joy. When the annual harvest ball arrives, Jon insists they go, even if Maddie can't dance, she can still socialize and enjoy the evening. They go and have a good time. Jon begins Maddie's therapy, exercising her legs and she begins to believe she might walk one day. Maddie starts helping Jon treat his patients and discovers she a natural at nursing.
One winter day, Jon is working her legs but Maddie isn't feeling well today. It doesn't take long for Jon to deduce Maddie is pregnant. Several days later, Maddie discovers she can voluntarily move one of her legs.
Chapter 10 Clouds of Pride
The new year arrives. Glen continues to shun his daughter. Jon and Maddie plant a garden and by the time the seeds (and weeds) are sprouting, Maddie is able to crawl on her hands and knees along the rows, despite her growing belly. One day, Ellie comes over to visit. Maddie declares she can't stand it any longer. She must show Ellie her latest physical therapy accomplishment. She pulls herself up, out of her wheelchair to a standing position and even takes a few steps before she has to sit down again. Ellie weeps along with the happy couple. It's a miracle!
Maddie is eight months along when a telegram from Boston is delivered to the house. It's from Sara. Father is dying. Maddie and Jon start packing for the trip. Ellie can't come but sends her blessing. Jon must be pretty strong because he has no problem carrying his pregnant wife on board the train.
The trip is tense as Jon agonizes over his father dying before he has a chance to say goodbye and mend their differences, as his mother wished. His worst fears are confirmed when they arrive at the Boston house and Sara tells them they just missed Phillip's passing by one hour. Jon can't believe it.
Sara has a beau, Harrison Hartford, who is among the many mourners here to offer their condolences. Alone, upstairs in their guest room, Jon expresses his frustration to Maddie, his disappointment over not getting here in time to make peace with his exasperating father. Maddie comforts him. It's hard to love and let go of prideful men. They can name two in their lives.
Chapter 11 Pride Reciprocated
Maddie helps Sara make arrangements for the funeral. The two women have already become fast friends; as close as sisters. Jon is angry Sara has kept her engagement to Harrison dragging on for so many years because she felt her duty in caring for her father came first. Sara shows Jon their father's office desk and chair where he spent the last months of his life sitting, resting, reading and spending hours just staring at the two prominently displayed photographs of his son and daughter. Their mother kept journals which Sara (and she suspects her father) read. There is no doubt their parents loved them both very much. Jon takes some comfort in that.
Jon and Sara meet with the family solicitor. Phillip Brandt left them a nice pile of money and assets to be divided equally between them. The rest is to be donated to charities and hospitals. Jon tells Maddie to go ahead and go clothes shopping with Sara for something appropriate for the funeral. They can afford it. Maddie and Sara enjoy their outing.
The funeral brings some closure. While cleaning out their father's office, Sara discovers a letter, addressed to Jon from their father who humbly admits how proud he is of his son and hopes he'll return from Utah one day for a visit so they can mend their dysfunctional relationship. Jon is a little freaked out realizing his father wasn't the narcissist he believed him to be. At Maddie's suggestion, Jon takes a long walk and just talks to his deceased father, as if he were alive and by his side, listening. Jon cries and finds some healing.
Chapter 12 The Veil
Harrison takes Jon aside to formally request the family's permission to marry Sara. He is very stiff and sober as he adds he'd like to purchase the family home so Sara won't have to be uprooted. Also, he'd like for them to be married next week. It is to be a quiet affair with only a few guests. Jon agrees to everything and hopes Sara knows what's she's doing because this guy seems like an overprotective jerk to him.
Maddie throws herself into the wedding plans as the bond between her and Sara grows even deeper. With Sara looking deliriously happy, she and Harrison are married in the front parlor of the family home. Jon and Maddie house sit while they go off on their honeymoon.
It's not long after their return when Maddie goes into labor. Jon and Sara deliver the baby themselves. It's a girl! Jon is overcome with emotion at this circle of life for he feels his father's presence and knows he's finally made his peace. They name the baby Elizabeth.
Two weeks later, Jon and Maddie say their farewells and board the train west. As they step off in Utah, it seems the whole town is there to witness Maddie descend the steps of the train, all by herself, and take a seat on a nearby bench. That's right folks, she can walk.
A little late picking them up, Dave and Ellie are delighted to see them; especially the new baby. They drop the couple off at their house where a hot dinner has been laid on the table, waiting for them, which explains their tardiness. Jon and Maddie are grateful to have such good friends. As soon as they've finished eating, they impulsively decide to surprise Maddie's parents with a visit. They need to meet their new granddaughter and Maddie can walk for them.
Maddie and Jon are standing at the threshold when Sylvia answers the door and nearly goes into shock at the sight of them. Glen enters and, before he can start yelling, Maddie walks over to her father and places the baby in his arms. She's in the middle of a little speech about how Jon is the best thing that ever happened to her and how much they both love and respect Glen when he hands the baby back, turns and exits the room. Awkward.
Sylvia invites them to sit down so they can tell her everything that's happened over the last few months. She is completely accepting and delighted to be a grandmother.
Chapter 13 Dancing with the Doctor
No one can deny it, Jon is the community doctor and he is very good at it. So many people come to see him that their kitchen and parlor have become unofficial waiting and examining rooms. Keeping house and cooking is getting difficult. Maddie suggests they use some of their new inheritance windfall to add a clinical wing onto their home. Jon is about to protest he was planning to use the money to purchase land so he could live his dream of becoming a gentleman farmer but quickly realizes Maddie is right.
A few days later, in an amazing display of burying the hatchet, Maddie's parents send over the piano for Maddie who is very glad to have it. She played duets with Sara in Boston and loved it but now, back in Utah, Jon could tell she missed her music.
Another day, while Jon is working alone in Dave's fields, helping out, an even more amazing event occurs. Glen interrupts Jon so they can have a real, manful, heart to heart talk.
Glen explains how hard it was crossing the plains in a handcart company as a young boy and losing every member of his family except his father. While he knew the church was true, after his father died, Glen was getting weary of losing everyone he cared about. A young man at this point, marrying Sylvia was the best thing that ever happened to him and while Maddie's pregnancy and birth were difficult and they couldn't have any more children, Maddie was his pride and joy. Until she had her accident. That was when Glen convinced himself if he didn't "helicopter parent" he would ultimately lose Maddie. Now that he sees how happy she is with Jon, how far she's come, he's a changed and penitent man.
Jon shares his own story about his troubled relationship with his father. Now that he's lived here for so many years, meeting and marrying Maddie especially, using his medical knowledge to help her walk, delivering his own baby, Jon has come to realize his place in the world is to be a doctor and his father knew it all along. Both men agree all is forgiven.
Jon and Glen walk back to the house where Maddie gives them lunch. Glen leaves to fetch a special present for the baby. While he's gone, Jon and Maddie acknowledge this miracle in their lives. The present is a cradle that Glen made himself. Sylvia is also here to help bring it into the house.
Everything comes full circle at the harvest ball where Maddie dances with her father while Jon holds baby Lizzie in his lap. Then Jon gets his turn. Plans are underway for the new addition to the house. Jon thinks they might need a few extra rooms to accommodate the large family he plans to have. Maddie just laughs while Jon declares life is perfect.
And Jon and Maddie lived happily ever after.
The End
Chapter 8 Light
As requested, Jon leaves the house, banging the door behind him. Maddie weeps silent tears as she hears her parents arguing over the issue. Sylivia is on her side and comes into Maddie's room to encourage her to fast, pray and read her scriptures so she can make a final decision. She owes it to Jon.
A few days later, Jon is summoned to the Hansen home where Maddie, wearing a red dress, tells Jon to get down on one knee. She's ready to offically accept his proposal of marriage. (Glen is not home, by the way. Another business trip.)
Jon puts Maddie on his horse and mounts behind her so they can go tell Ellie the good news and start throwing together an impromptu wedding. Maddie laughs in pure delight.
One year to the day they first met, Dave and Ellie drive Jon, Sylvia and Maddie in their buckboard to Manti where the happy couple will be married. They sit through the endowment presentation. Jon carries Maddie from room to room. The incredible beauty of the blue and white Terrestrial Room make them both catch their breath (Can't blame them, it's my favorite room too!). At last they are married, kneeling across the alter in one of the sealing rooms. It is a very special day for both.
The newlyweds, along with wheelchair and luggage, are dropped off at the train depot where they plan to spend their honeymoon in Salt Lake City. Maddie laughs at being Mrs. Jonathon Brandt.
Chapter 9 Home is Where the Heart Leads
Poor Glen Hansen. He goes out of town for a few days and returns to find his only daughter eloped! As related by Ellie to Jon and Maddie upon their return, Glen and Sylvia got into a big fight. Syliva even moved in with Ellie for a few days. Just like in Fiddler on the Roof, Glen has declared his daughter dead to him. No one is to speak her name.
Lucky for Jon and Maddie, they're too blissfully happy to care. They set up housekeeping, go shopping in town for all the things they need for their new home. Jon takes Maddie to church where her parents never acknowledge them but the rest of the congregation shares their joy. When the annual harvest ball arrives, Jon insists they go, even if Maddie can't dance, she can still socialize and enjoy the evening. They go and have a good time. Jon begins Maddie's therapy, exercising her legs and she begins to believe she might walk one day. Maddie starts helping Jon treat his patients and discovers she a natural at nursing.
One winter day, Jon is working her legs but Maddie isn't feeling well today. It doesn't take long for Jon to deduce Maddie is pregnant. Several days later, Maddie discovers she can voluntarily move one of her legs.
Chapter 10 Clouds of Pride
The new year arrives. Glen continues to shun his daughter. Jon and Maddie plant a garden and by the time the seeds (and weeds) are sprouting, Maddie is able to crawl on her hands and knees along the rows, despite her growing belly. One day, Ellie comes over to visit. Maddie declares she can't stand it any longer. She must show Ellie her latest physical therapy accomplishment. She pulls herself up, out of her wheelchair to a standing position and even takes a few steps before she has to sit down again. Ellie weeps along with the happy couple. It's a miracle!
Maddie is eight months along when a telegram from Boston is delivered to the house. It's from Sara. Father is dying. Maddie and Jon start packing for the trip. Ellie can't come but sends her blessing. Jon must be pretty strong because he has no problem carrying his pregnant wife on board the train.
The trip is tense as Jon agonizes over his father dying before he has a chance to say goodbye and mend their differences, as his mother wished. His worst fears are confirmed when they arrive at the Boston house and Sara tells them they just missed Phillip's passing by one hour. Jon can't believe it.
Sara has a beau, Harrison Hartford, who is among the many mourners here to offer their condolences. Alone, upstairs in their guest room, Jon expresses his frustration to Maddie, his disappointment over not getting here in time to make peace with his exasperating father. Maddie comforts him. It's hard to love and let go of prideful men. They can name two in their lives.
Chapter 11 Pride Reciprocated
Maddie helps Sara make arrangements for the funeral. The two women have already become fast friends; as close as sisters. Jon is angry Sara has kept her engagement to Harrison dragging on for so many years because she felt her duty in caring for her father came first. Sara shows Jon their father's office desk and chair where he spent the last months of his life sitting, resting, reading and spending hours just staring at the two prominently displayed photographs of his son and daughter. Their mother kept journals which Sara (and she suspects her father) read. There is no doubt their parents loved them both very much. Jon takes some comfort in that.
Jon and Sara meet with the family solicitor. Phillip Brandt left them a nice pile of money and assets to be divided equally between them. The rest is to be donated to charities and hospitals. Jon tells Maddie to go ahead and go clothes shopping with Sara for something appropriate for the funeral. They can afford it. Maddie and Sara enjoy their outing.
The funeral brings some closure. While cleaning out their father's office, Sara discovers a letter, addressed to Jon from their father who humbly admits how proud he is of his son and hopes he'll return from Utah one day for a visit so they can mend their dysfunctional relationship. Jon is a little freaked out realizing his father wasn't the narcissist he believed him to be. At Maddie's suggestion, Jon takes a long walk and just talks to his deceased father, as if he were alive and by his side, listening. Jon cries and finds some healing.
Chapter 12 The Veil
Harrison takes Jon aside to formally request the family's permission to marry Sara. He is very stiff and sober as he adds he'd like to purchase the family home so Sara won't have to be uprooted. Also, he'd like for them to be married next week. It is to be a quiet affair with only a few guests. Jon agrees to everything and hopes Sara knows what's she's doing because this guy seems like an overprotective jerk to him.
Maddie throws herself into the wedding plans as the bond between her and Sara grows even deeper. With Sara looking deliriously happy, she and Harrison are married in the front parlor of the family home. Jon and Maddie house sit while they go off on their honeymoon.
It's not long after their return when Maddie goes into labor. Jon and Sara deliver the baby themselves. It's a girl! Jon is overcome with emotion at this circle of life for he feels his father's presence and knows he's finally made his peace. They name the baby Elizabeth.
Two weeks later, Jon and Maddie say their farewells and board the train west. As they step off in Utah, it seems the whole town is there to witness Maddie descend the steps of the train, all by herself, and take a seat on a nearby bench. That's right folks, she can walk.
A little late picking them up, Dave and Ellie are delighted to see them; especially the new baby. They drop the couple off at their house where a hot dinner has been laid on the table, waiting for them, which explains their tardiness. Jon and Maddie are grateful to have such good friends. As soon as they've finished eating, they impulsively decide to surprise Maddie's parents with a visit. They need to meet their new granddaughter and Maddie can walk for them.
Maddie and Jon are standing at the threshold when Sylvia answers the door and nearly goes into shock at the sight of them. Glen enters and, before he can start yelling, Maddie walks over to her father and places the baby in his arms. She's in the middle of a little speech about how Jon is the best thing that ever happened to her and how much they both love and respect Glen when he hands the baby back, turns and exits the room. Awkward.
Sylvia invites them to sit down so they can tell her everything that's happened over the last few months. She is completely accepting and delighted to be a grandmother.
Chapter 13 Dancing with the Doctor
No one can deny it, Jon is the community doctor and he is very good at it. So many people come to see him that their kitchen and parlor have become unofficial waiting and examining rooms. Keeping house and cooking is getting difficult. Maddie suggests they use some of their new inheritance windfall to add a clinical wing onto their home. Jon is about to protest he was planning to use the money to purchase land so he could live his dream of becoming a gentleman farmer but quickly realizes Maddie is right.
A few days later, in an amazing display of burying the hatchet, Maddie's parents send over the piano for Maddie who is very glad to have it. She played duets with Sara in Boston and loved it but now, back in Utah, Jon could tell she missed her music.
Another day, while Jon is working alone in Dave's fields, helping out, an even more amazing event occurs. Glen interrupts Jon so they can have a real, manful, heart to heart talk.
Glen explains how hard it was crossing the plains in a handcart company as a young boy and losing every member of his family except his father. While he knew the church was true, after his father died, Glen was getting weary of losing everyone he cared about. A young man at this point, marrying Sylvia was the best thing that ever happened to him and while Maddie's pregnancy and birth were difficult and they couldn't have any more children, Maddie was his pride and joy. Until she had her accident. That was when Glen convinced himself if he didn't "helicopter parent" he would ultimately lose Maddie. Now that he sees how happy she is with Jon, how far she's come, he's a changed and penitent man.
Jon shares his own story about his troubled relationship with his father. Now that he's lived here for so many years, meeting and marrying Maddie especially, using his medical knowledge to help her walk, delivering his own baby, Jon has come to realize his place in the world is to be a doctor and his father knew it all along. Both men agree all is forgiven.
Jon and Glen walk back to the house where Maddie gives them lunch. Glen leaves to fetch a special present for the baby. While he's gone, Jon and Maddie acknowledge this miracle in their lives. The present is a cradle that Glen made himself. Sylvia is also here to help bring it into the house.
Everything comes full circle at the harvest ball where Maddie dances with her father while Jon holds baby Lizzie in his lap. Then Jon gets his turn. Plans are underway for the new addition to the house. Jon thinks they might need a few extra rooms to accommodate the large family he plans to have. Maddie just laughs while Jon declares life is perfect.
And Jon and Maddie lived happily ever after.
The End
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