“That sounded confident.”
“I memorized your photograph.”
A nervous laugh escaped from somewhere in the crowd.
The woman’s mouth twitched.
“Then I suppose I should ask the important question.”
His eyebrows shifted.
“What question?”
She gestured toward herself.
The pink dress.
The mud.
The sweat.
The blood.
“Did you change your mind?”
The rancher looked startled.
“About what?”
“Marrying me.”
Nobody breathed.
The woman lifted her chin.
“You asked for a steady wife.”
“I arrived looking like I fought my way through three territories.”
A few people laughed quietly.
She did not.
“So before anyone starts unloading my trunk, I’d like to know whether you intend to put me back on that train.”
The rancher stared at her for several seconds.
Then his face softened.
“No.”
The answer came so quickly that her eyes flickered.
“No?”
“No, ma’am.”
He looked again at the blood.
“But I would like to know whether you need a doctor before we discuss anything else.”
The tightness in her chest loosened.
“No.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
“Whose blood?”
She glanced at the stain as if she had almost forgotten it.
“Oh.”
Half the station leaned forward.
“A man on the train.”
The rancher became still.
“What happened?”
“He believed my seat belonged to him because I was traveling alone.”
His jaw tightened.
“He was wrong.”
“He discovered that.”
A few men smiled.
She continued.
“Then he decided I belonged to him too.”
The smile vanished from every face.
Something cold settled behind the rancher’s eyes.
“Did he hurt you?”
“No.”
“Try?”
“Yes.”
The rancher’s hands curled slightly.
The woman noticed.
“So I broke his nose.”
Silence.
The stationmaster coughed.
A ranch hand behind the giant rancher looked down to hide a grin.
The bride continued calmly.
“He bled more than I expected.”
The rancher stared.
She shrugged.
“I didn’t have another dress near the top of the trunk.”
For the first time, the giant almost smiled.
Not because the story was funny.
Because something like admiration had begun replacing the concern.
“You crossed three states after that?”
“Two and part of another.”
“Alone?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell the conductor?”
“I did.”
“What happened?”
“He moved the man to another car.”
The rancher’s jaw relaxed only slightly.
“Where is he now?”
“I don’t know.”
The woman hesitated.
Then:
“But before he left, he said something strange.”
The rancher waited.
“He asked where I was going.”
“What did you tell him?”
“Nothing.”
“Good.”
“He already knew.”
That changed the man’s expression.
“How?”
“I was hoping you could explain.”
The woman reached into the pocket sewn inside her skirt.
Several townspeople tensed when her hand disappeared.
She pulled out a small silver object.
A battered oval locket.
The rancher stopped breathing.
The woman opened her palm.
“He was wearing this.”
The giant did not touch it.