“Neither have I.”
“About myself.”
That surprised her.
He swallowed.
“I won’t ask you to marry me tomorrow unless you still want to.”
“And if you do not?”
“I’ll pay whatever I can for your return.”
“With what money?”
He looked away.
She understood.
The fifty dollars.
Nearly everything.
The woman sighed.
“You really are desperate.”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
He stared.
“Good?”
“At least one thing in your letters was completely true.”
That night they slept in separate rooms.
Neither slept well.
The reverend arrived after noon.
The rancher expected the woman to refuse.
Instead she stood beside him wearing a clean brown dress she had packed carefully inside the heavy trunk.
The rancher wore his best shirt.
The foreman and his wife served as witnesses.
Before the ceremony began, the woman pulled the rancher aside.
“I have one condition.”
He stiffened.
“What?”
“If you ever speak about that fifty dollars as though you bought me, I leave.”
His face changed immediately.
“I would never—”
“You thought it.”
He stopped.
She continued:
“The agency charged you.”
“The coach charged you.”
“I was not purchased.”
The rancher nodded.
“You’re right.”
“Say it.”
He looked toward her.
“I didn’t buy you.”
“No.”
“What did you do?”
The rancher thought.
Then:
“I paid for a chance to meet you.”
Her expression softened.
“And I chose to come.”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
They married.
There was no kiss until the reverend awkwardly cleared his throat.
The rancher looked toward his new wife.
She looked toward him.
He asked quietly:
“May I?”
Her surprise softened into something almost tender.
“Yes.”
He kissed her briefly.
Gentle.
No passion yet.
But respect.
A beginning.
The first three days of marriage confirmed nearly every fear the rancher had.
Not because his wife was lazy.
Because she worked harder than he expected and he did not know what to do with the guilt.
She woke before him.
The first morning she hauled water.
He returned from checking cattle and found her scrubbing the stove.
The second morning she washed bedding in water so cold her hands became red.
The third she swept out mouse droppings from the pantry and reorganized the food stores.
She never complained about work.
But her knees hurt.
He noticed her rubbing one beneath the table.
“You all right?”
“Yes.”
“That means no.”
She looked toward him.
“You have learned one thing.”
He almost smiled.