Goodwin switched up the music, and the sounds of “A Thousand Years” drifted into the air as Echo came out of the house on her father’s arm.

She wore her golden-brown hair down, flowing, a wreath of wildflowers around her head, and had on a simple white gown that looked out of the 1970s. Maybe it had been her mother’s.

Her gaze fixed on Dodge, and Barry looked up.

Thank you, Lord.

Yes, a glorious day, and somehow, he didn’t stumble over his words. Somehow he asked the right questions, gave the right pronouncement, and finally, Dodge kissed his bride.

Even took his time to the applause of the crowd.

Barry introduced the couple, and they headed down the aisle and the entire thing was downright perfect.

All the way up to the moment when, two hours later, on the dance floor, Larke’s water broke.

But that was okay too, because Dodge and Effie simply packed her up in his Beaver, along with Colt and Tae, Noemi and Ranger, Barry, and Echo. They spent the night in the hospital, pacing, waiting for the arrival of Riley and baby Aurora Caroline.

It wasn’t until the next morning, as Barry held his granddaughter—the second-generation Cee—as he stared down at her tiny fingers and hands, those blue eyes that couldn’t quite open, that tuft of dark hair, that he realized . . .

The dreams he’d mourned had no place in this moment of joy. That yes, his yesterdays—all of their yesterdays—held broken, irreversible grief and lost moments that would never return. But with every sundown came a new morning. Redemption. Hope.

And as he looked out onto the day, the faraway horizon, with the sun casting down from the snow-tipped mountains, through the greening valleys, all the way to the deep blue of Cook Inlet . . .

The view was glorious.

Acknowledgments

What a fun series to write! I hope you have enjoyed reading the story of the homecoming and redemption of the handsome Kingston brothers.

When I envisioned this series, I knew the boys were wounded, but I had no idea the journey they’d take to healing, and I’m so grateful to the Lord for the people he put in my path to help construct this trilogy. I’m especially thankful for my sweet daughter-in-law Precious, for her help on Sunburst, and my amazing husband, Andrew, for all his airplane and mechanical expertise.

I need to give a shout-out to the spark for this series, the amazing Dwayne King, an Alaskan pilot and missionary we served with in Russia, who today lives in Alaska, training bush pilots and missionaries. Wise and kind, he was definitely the prototype for Barry.