“And I want you.”
Jonah looked directly at Ruth.
“All of you.”
“Exactly as you are.”
Ruth began crying.
Jonah squeezed her hand.
“Will you marry me?”
Ruth tried to speak.
Failed.
Tom whispered loudly:
“Say yes.”
Nell hissed:
“She knows.”
Ruth laughed through tears.
“Yes.”
Jonah’s shoulders dropped with relief.
“Yes?”
“Yes.”
He stood.
Ruth caught his shirt.
Pulled him down.
Kissed him in front of both children.
Tom yelled:
“Disgusting!”
Nell laughed.
Ben shouted from outside:
“Is breakfast still happening?”
The house erupted.
They married three weeks later.
Not in Red Willow’s church.
Ruth did not want the same people who watched her humiliation standing around pretending they had always approved.
Instead, the ceremony happened beneath the cottonwoods at Willow Ford.
The Marshal attended.
Ben stood with Jonah.
Nell carried flowers.
Tom carried the rings and nearly lost one in the river.
Ruth wore dark blue.
Not white.
She said she had already lived enough life to know purity had nothing to do with color.
Jonah wore his best coat.
He looked more nervous than he had during any cattle drive.
Before the ceremony began, he found Ruth alone behind the wagon.
“You can still change your mind.”
She stared.
“Are you trying to get rid of me?”
“No.”
“I want you certain.”
Ruth stepped closer.
“You asked permission before touching Nell’s sewing box.”
Jonah frowned.
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“Everything.”
She put one hand against his chest.
“I was certain before you were.”
He smiled.
“That would have been useful information.”
“You were busy pretending not to stare at me.”
“I failed.”
“Terribly.”
He kissed her.
Slowly.
Then more deeply.
Ruth pressed closer.
Jonah’s hands settled at her waist.
She whispered against his mouth:
“The ceremony is in ten minutes.”
“I know.”
“You are behaving improperly.”
“Yes.”
Ruth smiled.
“Continue.”
He laughed.
Then kissed her again.
The wedding was simple.
The promises were not.
Jonah promised no property arrangement would ever erase Ruth’s independence.
Ruth promised to argue with him before assuming he understood anything.
Ben declared that portion unnecessary because everyone knew she would.
The Marshal laughed.
Afterward they ate beneath the cottonwoods.
Stew.
Bread.