Jim sat on the couch and waited patiently as Maddie and Andrew crawled up and over him, finally settling themselves on either side. He began to carefully unwrap the gift, much to his eldest daughter’s disgust.

Katy plopped down next to her sister. "Rip it, Dad!" she urged.

With a glance at his wife, who stood silently nearby, Jim obediently tore at the bright wrapping paper. On impulse, he quickly crumpled the paper into a ball and neatly tossed it so that it bounced from the top of Trixie’s head to the floor, glad when she finally smiled.

"What have we here?" he asked, smiling back at her before pushing aside the red tissue paper that lined the box and lifting out the large photo album. He flipped it open to the first page and went very still.

"I wanted….I found…" Trixie began; breaking off helplessly as Jim slowly looked up at her, the shocked expression on his face causing her stomach to twist.

It seemed like eons before Jim finally spoke. "This picture…my mother. It’s my mother. I don’t….how…"

Trixie forgot how to breathe.

Jim’s hand shook as he began to turn the pages, his eyes welling as he tried to take in everything at once. When he looked back up at her again, his face was like Christmas morning.

Trixie felt the oxygen suddenly whoosh back into her body. "I couldn’t believe that bas…that your stepfather would destroy something so valuable, so I started searching." Trixie broke off and laughed. "And searching!"

Jim shook his head and wondered if the day would ever come when he’d stop being amazed at the things his wife could do. He went back to the first page and gently touched the old picture in a manner that suggested that he still didn’t quite believe it was real. "I thought these pictures were lost forever. I don’t know how you managed it. Where do you even begin to search for something like this?"

Trixie let out an exaggerated sigh. "A magician never reveals her secret!"

Andrew leaned over his father’s arm. "Maddie!" he said, pointing down at the toddler picture of Katje Vanderheiden.

Jim smiled and tousled the little boy’s bright red hair. "That’s my mother, Andrew."

Andrew shook his head. "Nuh uh! That’s a little girl!"

Jim laughed. "My mother was a little girl once, too. Her name was Katje, but everybody called her Katy." He took a deep breath. "We named your sister after her." A single tear took him by surprise. "She would have loved you kids."

Katy leaned in to look. "Look, Maddie, she looks exactly like you!"

But Maddie wasn’t looking at the picture; she was looking at her father, wearing a look of deep worry that looked oddly adult on her. "Don’t cry, daddy," she said.

For a moment it was as if the entire world had stopped spinning on its axis. Even Bernie understood that something important had happened and stopped chewing on the wrapping paper long enough to stare at the little girl.

Jim and Trixie shared an electrified glance, and then Jim closed the book without a second thought and set it on the coffee table. "My sweet baby," he said, drawing Maddie onto his lap. He kissed the top of her head and closed his eyes in a silent prayer of thanks.

Trixie covered her face with her hands, overcome. She wanted to laugh, cry, jump up and down, and curl into a ball, all at once.

"Mom," she heard Katy say, and the shaky tone of it had her reaching down and picking Katy up as if she were a very little girl of Maddie’s age. Trixie sank down onto the sofa and cuddled Katy onto her lap.

"Maddie’s okay, right?" Katy asked, her voice muffled as she pressed her face into Trixie’s shoulder, letting herself be rocked by her mother

"Maddie is just fine," Trixie replied, feeling something in her chest loosen for the first time in days. She reached out a hand and touched Maddie’s cheek. "Everything is just perfectly perfect, as your Aunt Honey likes to say!"

Outside, the sky let out a rumble and there was a spectacular flash as the sound of a million raindrops suddenly pounded above them.

Trixie couldn’t help but laugh at the timing. "Just fine!" she repeated.

Rain slashed at the windows and the room suddenly went dark.

"Who wants to help me get the candles?" she heard Jim ask, cutting Andrew off in mid-whimper, and in the laughing scramble that followed, life went about its business.

By flickering candlelight, the children poured through the album, as Jim told them the stories behind each picture. Before long, eyelids grew very tired and it didn’t require much coaxing to get them into bed.

Much later, when the storm had reached a lull, Trixie stirred in the sudden silence, sleepily reaching for Jim, only to find herself alone in their large bed.

When several minutes passed without Jim reappearing, Trixie, more fully awake, went searching for him.

He wasn’t in the bathroom or checking on any of the kids. Trixie slowly went down the stairs, where she encountered Peeves and narrowly escaped breaking her neck, and finally found Jim in the living room.

So intent was he, as he turned the pages of the large book he was holding that he didn’t even look up. Jim looked sweet and serious in the dim light, his hair falling down endearingly over his forehead. Trixie felt a familiar rush of love spread its warmth all through her and thought she would have gone to the ends of the earth and back if that’s what it would have taken to get the Frayne photos back to their rightful owner.

Jim slowly closed the book, and Trixie was surprised to see that it was one of their family photo albums. It was then that she noticed he had several of them on the coffee table in front of him

"Jim?" she said as he picked up another volume.

Jim looked up. "Couldn’t you sleep?"

Trixie sat next to him, snuggling in as he wrapped an arm around her. "It got too quiet. And when my big, studly husband wasn’t even available for jumping, I figured I’d better investigate." She laid her head on his shoulder. "What are you doing?"

Jim knew she didn’t mean literally. "Couldn’t sleep. Thinking about a lot of things, I guess. Like being jumped by my sexy wife."

Trixie wasn’t fooled for a moment. "Your parents?"

Jim nodded before rubbing the top of her head with his chin. "Some." As he pressed his lips onto her curls he knew he’d always feel the old sadness, but he also knew it would never again rule his life—the life he’d built since coming to Sleepyside. It was a part of who he was, but only a part.

Maddie’s silence had spoken more loudly than anything ever could about that.

Trixie lifted her head and looked at him. "I know I have this habit of just leaping into things without thinking them through, but I never want to hurt you. Ever. I hope you know that."

"Of course I know that. What are you talking about?"

"The pictures. I couldn’t bear you not having them. I just wanted to, I don’t know, give you…" Trixie broke off for a moment, unsure of how to put it. "Family, I guess. You know?"

Jim slowly closed the book. "I can never thank you enough for finding those pictures. But as for family…Trixie, you are my family. From the first moment I met you."

Trixie let out a loud sniff that had Jim hurriedly adding, "Shamus, I don’t know if I can take you crying right now. Not after Maddie, earlier…"

Trixie swallowed hard. "I know."

"I have so much to be thankful for I don’t even know where to begin."

Trixie took a nice, deep breath and let it out slowly. "Me either."

"It’ll be nice having things get back to normal around here, that’s for sure."

Trixie laughed. "Well, as normal as they ever get, at any rate."

Jim laughed then too, looking at his wife who sat there with her tousled curls, wearing an ancient tee shirt gone gray from repeated washings.

"I love you."

Trixie’s smile curved. "I know." She felt her pulse begin to trip at the expression on Jim’s face, feeling her muscles go loose in the most wonderful way.

"And didn’t you mention something before about wanting to jump me?" His hands got very busy removing her shirt.

Trixie reluctantly tugged her shirt back down. "What if one of the kids comes downstairs?" But she couldn’t resist slithering into Jim’s lap, pulling him close and letting out a soft moan as their lips met in kiss already heated and full of promise.

"Why’d we have to have so many kids?" Jim said, doing his best Jimmy Stewart impersonation.

Trixie laughed with joy and threw caution to the wind. "Oh, the heck with it," she replied carelessly, pulling off her shirt in one swift motion and hurling it onto the floor. "I’m not sure, but I think there was sex involved. Lots and lots of it."

"Lots and lots," Jim agreed, leaning back onto the sofa and pulling her down with him.

It was still dark when they made it back to their bedroom. The storm had returned full of force, and they were just sliding under the covers when the thunder boomed so loudly the entire house seemed to shake.

"Wow!" Trixie said. "This is really something."

The flash of lightning lit up the entire room for a moment before the darkness once again reclaimed the space.

Jim settled her against him and closed his eyes. "It sure is," he replied.

***

Sunlight—the butterscotch kind that likes to remind the world that there are larger forces at work, poured through the bedroom windows the following morning.

Jim slowly awakened, feeling the warmth of the sun on his cheek, the gentlest of caresses, and stretched. There was an odd heaviness weighing down his long legs that, upon further investigation, turned out to be the small but sturdy figure of his son stretched along the length of them, fast asleep.

Next to him, curled like two spoons between he and Trixie, lay Katy and Maddie. They were also asleep, and Jim took a moment to just look at them, so guileless, pretty, and sweet.

Trixie was on her side, facing him, a small smile tilting her mouth up at the corners as she silently watched him.

A feeling that went far beyond contentment filled him. He knew that this was one of those moments that stores away in the soul, forever preserved. It belonged to him. Nothing, and no one, could ever take it away.

And there was only one person that he wanted to tell this to, and there she was, right by his side, right where he needed her.

"My whole life," he said, meeting Trixie’s gaze with his own, "is on this bed."

The End (Finally!)

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Author’s Notes: Wow; I cannot believe it took me so long to finish this! And I felt pretty silly when I went to work on this chapter and realized how close I had been all along to the ending I wanted.

Many thanks to Jenn for editing this; any and all mistakes are mine alone. And thank you to anybody who is still bothering with this story!

Note: Trixie Belden® is a registered trademark of Random House Books. These pages are not affiliated with Random House Books in any way. These pages are not for profit.   All stories copyright © Mary, 2007 - 2012. All rights reserved.