“You sure?”
Rose smiled.
“I was sure before he was.”
“That is not difficult.”
She laughed.
Then the church doors opened.
Will stood at the front.
He did not blink.
Rose walked toward him.
He had spent years imagining she was beyond reach.
Now she crossed the church because she had chosen him.
When Daniel placed her hand in Will’s, he said quietly:
“Do not make her regret teaching you courage.”
Will nodded.
“I won't.”
Their vows were plain.
No grand poetry.
Will promised honesty.
Rose promised the same.
Will promised never to decide on her behalf what she deserved.
Rose squeezed his hand at that.
The minister noticed.
So did everyone else.
Afterward, Crestfall gathered outside.
George slapped Will’s back hard enough to move him.
Edward Marsh attended.
That surprised some people.
He shook Will’s hand.
“You waited too long.”
Will nodded.
“I know.”
Marsh looked toward Rose.
“Don't do it again.”
“I won't.”
Rose approached.
Edward tipped his hat.
She smiled.
No resentment.
No humiliation.
Just one road not taken.
Winter settled over Crestfall.
Marriage was not the polished ending people imagined.
It was beginning.
Rose discovered Will left boots in impossible places.
Will discovered Rose rearranged his accounts without warning.
Rose believed blankets belonged folded.
Will believed blankets belonged wherever they had last been useful.
Will woke before dawn.
Rose considered dawn an unreasonable hour unless something was burning.
They argued.
They laughed.
They learned.
Will expanded the livery the following spring.
Rose kept the books.
Within a month she discovered he had been undercharging three ranches for winter boarding.
Will defended himself.
“They've been customers for years.”
“That does not make hay free.”
“They had a bad season.”
“So did we.”
Will stared.
Rose continued.
“You can be generous.”
“But decide to be generous.”
“Do not simply forget to charge.”
He looked at the ledger.
“You sound like my mother.”
“Your mother had sense.”
“She liked you.”
“She loved me.”
“True.”
Rose adjusted the figures.
Will watched.
“What?”
She looked up.
“You’re staring again.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Will leaned across the desk.
“Because you are beautiful when angry.”
Rose tried to remain serious.
“You are impossible.”
“Too handsome for you?”