“I know.”
“I don't want your father choosing.”
“He no longer does.”
“I don't want your brother making jokes for the next thirty years.”
“That is impossible.”
“Probably.”
The frontiersman took a breath.
“I want to wake up and know you might be beside me because you decided to stay.”
Her smile disappeared.
“I want to argue about coffee.”
He stepped closer.
“And dead beans.”
Closer.
“And cards you cheat at.”
“I do not cheat.”
“You absolutely cheat.”
She laughed softly.
Then he took her hand.
“I love you.”
The daughter's eyes filled.
The frontiersman continued.
“I don't have much.”
“I know.”
“That sounded harsh.”
“It was meant to.”
He smiled nervously.
“I have this cabin.”
“With a bad roof.”
“I fixed the roof.”
“It leaks near the chimney.”
“I have a horse.”
“Your horse likes me better.”
“I have twenty-three dollars.”
“You had thirty before cards.”
He sighed.
“Could you let me finish?”
She smiled through tears.
“Yes.”
The frontiersman looked directly at her.
“I have a past I cannot change.”
Her smile faded.
“I have days when I'm angry for reasons I don't understand. Nights when I still wake up in Tonto Basin. I don't know where I belong.”
He squeezed her hand.
“But when you're near me, leaving no longer feels like the answer.”
The daughter's breath caught.
“So I'm asking.”
He did not kneel.
There was no ring.
No audience.
No debt.
“Would you choose to make a life with me?”
She stared at him.
The silence became unbearable.
Finally she asked, “Are you asking whether I will marry you?”
“Yes.”
“You speak too much.”
“I've been told.”
She stepped closer.
“Yes.”
The frontiersman blinked.
“Yes?”
“Yes.”
“That's all?”
She frowned.
“You wanted a speech?”
“No.”
“Yes.”
He laughed.
She kissed him.
Then pulled away.
“One condition.”
He became suspicious.
“What?”
“No one says my father gave me to you.”
“Agreed.”
“No one says you earned me by saving my brother.”
“Agreed.”
“No one says I became yours.”
The frontiersman smiled.
“What do they say?”
The daughter took his hand.
“That we chose each other.”
He nodded.
“That sounds right.”
She kissed him again.
Outside, the gelding lifted its head from the grass.
Somewhere far up the trail, the chief's son—who had apparently followed his sister to learn what happened—shouted loud enough for the entire valley to hear.
“HUSBAND!”
The daughter closed her eyes.
The frontiersman began laughing.
She grabbed the dead bean plants.
“What are you doing?”
“Finding my brother.”
The stranger caught her around the waist before she reached the door.
For once, she let herself be stopped.