“Good.”
“I had speech once.”
“Forgot?”
“Completely.”
“Good.”
He smiled.
“I love you.”
“I want your mornings.”
“Your tempers.”
“Your bread.”
“Your arguments.”
“I want to hear you complain that I split wood wrong when I’m eighty.”
“You do split wrong.”
“I know.”
“I want to be here when you wake up afraid.”
“And when you aren’t.”
“I want every winter.”
Clara’s laughter disappeared.
Tears came.
Caleb continued.
“And I want summers too.”
“That part took longer to understand.”
She pulled him to his feet.
“Kiss me.”
He smiled.
“Is that yes?”
“Kiss me before I reconsider.”
He did.
They married beneath maples at meeting house.
Clara wore her ocean-blue dress.
Not new.
She added white lace.
Caleb wore a shirt.
People considered that miracle.
Silas Broome brought twelve healthy hens as wedding gift.
Clara stared at them.
He said:
“I thought skinny ones were insulting.”
She laughed.
Widow Cole made cake.
The little girl born during storm was carried by her mother.
Hope screamed through half ceremony.
Reverend Hale paused until she stopped.
Caleb whispered:
“She objects.”
Clara elbowed him.
After vows, Silas gave toast.
Nobody asked him.
Of course.
He stood with cup.
“I owe bride one public admission.”
Clara narrowed eyes.
Silas continued.
“I laughed when she bought twelve chickens.”
“Most of us did.”
Several men looked embarrassed.
“She was right.”
Clara shook head.
Silas said:
“No, let me.”
“She was right not because chickens were magic.”
“Those things were terrible.”
Laughter.
“She was right because she looked at scraps and asked what they could become.”
“While rest of us looked and saw what they weren’t.”
The crowd quieted.
Silas raised cup.
“To Clara.”
“May she never let us forget we were idiots.”
Clara called:
“I promise.”
The settlement laughed.
Years followed.
Not every winter catastrophic.
Most were ordinary.
Snow.
Mud.
Planting.
Harvest.
Births.
Deaths.
The cooperative stores became habit.
Families contributed.
Records improved.
No one starved.
Clara’s chickens multiplied.
She sold eggs.
Chicks.
Meat.
Built a larger coop.