Clara’s throat tightened.
“Do they?”
Nathan looked toward her.
“You know they do.”
She looked down.
He continued:
“I do not want to ask because the ranch runs better.”
“That part is very true.”
Nathan smiled faintly.
“I do not want to ask because I am afraid of being alone.”
Clara looked up.
“Are you?”
“Yes.”
Honesty.
Always more dangerous than romance.
Nathan returned to the table.
“I want to ask because when something happens, you are the person I want to tell.”
Clara stopped breathing.
“When I’m angry, you make me less foolish.”
“Sometimes.”
“When I’m wrong, you say it.”
“Frequently.”
“When the children laugh, I look for whether you heard.”
Her eyes filled.
“When I wake and you are not downstairs, the house feels wrong.”
He swallowed.
“I loved Mara.”
“I know.”
“I still do.”
“I know.”
“I don't know how to make that sound fair to you.”
Clara stood.
“You don't need to.”
His eyes searched hers.
She continued:
“I am not competing with a dead woman.”
“Mara is theirs.”
She gestured toward the children’s voices.
“Yours.”
“This ranch.”
“She existed.”
“Loving me does not need to reduce her.”
Nathan’s face broke open.
Relief.
Grief.
Love.
Everything at once.
Clara stepped closer.
“But I am not marrying you because a letter sent me here.”
“I know.”
“I am not raising five children alone while you hide in the pasture whenever feelings become inconvenient.”
He almost smiled.
“Understood.”
“And Samuel goes to school.”
“Yes.”
“Ethan chooses how much ranch work he wants.”
“Within reason.”
“Lucy gets drawing paper.”
“Yes.”
“Rose needs boots.”
“I ordered them.”
“Ben is not punished for spilling milk.”
Nathan’s voice softened.
“Never.”
Clara looked into his eyes.
“And if you ever compare me to Mara during an argument, I will leave you sleeping in the barn.”
Nathan laughed.
“Fair.”
She held out her hand.
“What?”
He asked.
“The question.”
He stared.
Clara smiled through tears.
“You still have to ask.”
Nathan looked suddenly terrified.
Good.
He took her hand.
“Clara Whitmore.”
“Yes?”
“Will you marry me?”
She waited just long enough to make him suffer.
Then:
“Yes.”
The children screamed from behind the kitchen door.
Nathan closed his eyes.
Clara laughed.
Ethan opened the door.
“All of you are terrible spies.”
Samuel said:
“Ben breathed too loud.”
Ben looked offended.
Lucy ran toward Clara.