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Epilogue
Joshua and Katie Bolt lived a long, loving, adventurous, and productive life together. The newspaper and the lumber company continued to grow and thrive as more and more people poured into Seattle. As travel became easier, Joshua accompanied his wife as she covered history making news events across the country. Their lives were a string of fascinating tales and Seattle enjoyed learning about every one of them in The Inquirer.
There was only one dark cloud that cast its shadow over the happiness the couple deep shared. Joshua and Katie were never able to conceive a child. As the years drifted by, Jeremy and Candy were blessed with five healthy babies. Each precious arrival brought both joy and sorrow to the two who longed to share their love with a little one of their own.
Ten years after their wedding, when the paper was well on its way to success, and the pain of attending one more christening became too much for them, Katie and Joshua temporarily turned over their business responsibilities to their very able assistants and took that trip to Scotland. After many twists and turns of fate and the determination of Mr. and Mrs. J. Bolt, the Bolt clan once again possessed Kilmaron. Uncle Duncan spent his remaining years as the undisputed Laird of Kilmaron, which brought the couple no end of pleasure.
When the Bolt clan offered Joshua the position of Laird, he turned them down saying that he and his wife missed their home in the Pacific Northwest too much to stay. The couple returned to their beautiful home on Bridal Veil Mountain five years to the month after they'd left it. The halls were as silent and cheerless as they had remembered, but this time the two were determined not to let their inability to give birth stop them from contributing to the next generation. As the new century dawned, hundreds of adults proudly attributed their success in life to the generosity of "Aunt" Kate and "Uncle" Joshua Bolt who had provided them with food, shelter, education, and most importantly, two compassionate hearts to turn to when the rest of the world grew cold.
Katie Bolt survived her husband by two weeks. At their funeral service in the autumn of 1925, Jeremy and Candy listened to testimony after testimony from people all over the state of Washington and beyond who came together to honor the memory of their beloved brother and sister. The Bolt family took great comfort in knowing that Joshua and Katie had spent their lives exactly as they'd wanted. Both of them had made a pact to do whatever it took to help others follow their dreams.
Jeremy smiled as he gazed at the picture of Joshua and Katie he'd placed in front of the congregation that day. Most of the world had known them this way-as grey-haired, merry-eyed adults, but he remembered them the way that they once had beenback in the simple days of childhood when, as "Squid" and "Brat", they forged the beginnings of their love in the protective shelter of Secret Place.
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