Eventually, he invited her to Cedar Run.
He offered to arrange lodging while they became acquainted and promised that, if their feelings matched their letters, they could marry before winter.
The woman was hesitant.
But her aunt encouraged her.
“You've spent your whole life making yourself useful to people,” the older woman said. “Maybe it's time you let yourself be happy.”
The woman wanted to believe her.
She sold several pieces of furniture, packed her clothing, and gathered the papers her parents had left behind.
Among those papers was an old document concerning a modest tract of land in Montana Territory.
Her mother had inherited an interest in the property years earlier, but the family had never returned to settle the matter after moving east.
The woman knew little about its current value.
She mentioned it in one of her letters because the merchant had asked whether she possessed any property that might complicate their marriage arrangements.
He encouraged her to bring the documents.
He said his local contacts could help her understand their significance.
She considered that another kindness.
By the time she boarded the train, she believed she was traveling toward a life she had almost given up hoping for.
The journey was exhausting.
She traveled in stages, resting when necessary and paying extra for arrangements that allowed her to sit comfortably.
Several passengers stared.
A child asked loudly whether she was the largest woman in America.
His mother apologized.
The woman smiled and assured her that no harm had been done.
But not every encounter was so gentle.
At one station, two men laughed when she struggled to board a carriage.
At another, a porter complained that helping her required more effort than carrying freight.
She kept her composure.
She had spent too many years learning that anger rarely made cruel strangers kinder.
Yet every insult chipped away at the confidence the merchant's letters had given her.
She reassured herself by rereading his words.
I value a woman's character above her appearance.
She whispered the sentence when the journey became difficult.
She imagined meeting him.