Rose stared at him.
“So did you.”
“Different.”
“No.”
“He has no money.”
“Neither did you.”
Will frowned.
Rose smiled.
“Careful.”
Will looked at her.
She continued.
“You may be about to become my father.”
“That is not funny.”
“It is extremely funny.”
Their daughter came outside.
“Papa.”
Will straightened.
“Yes?”
“Caleb asked if he may walk me home after church.”
Will looked toward the ranch hand.
The boy looked ready to faint.
Will opened his mouth.
Rose touched his arm.
He stopped.
Their daughter waited.
Will sighed.
“What do you want?”
She smiled.
“To walk with him.”
Will looked miserable.
Rose nearly laughed.
“Then you may.”
The girl kissed his cheek.
“Thank you.”
She left.
Will stared after her.
Rose leaned closer.
“You learned.”
“I hate learning.”
“I know.”
He put one arm around her.
“You enjoyed that.”
“Very much.”
The years passed.
Crestfall changed.
The railroad grew busier.
New buildings appeared.
Old men disappeared.
Children became adults.
The livery eventually became a freight and carriage business.
Rose ran accounts better than any man Will could have hired.
Their daughter married.
Their son took over much of the stable work.
George grew gray and still claimed responsibility for the marriage.
Edward Marsh married a widow from Montana and seemed perfectly content.
Daniel lived long enough to hold every grandchild and complain that none listened properly.
Rose remained beautiful.
Not in the same way she had been at twenty-six.
Better, Will thought.
Lines appeared near her eyes from laughing.
Her hair silvered near the temples.
Her hands changed after years of ledgers, children, bread dough, and winter work.
Will loved every change.
One morning, nearly thirty years after that August afternoon, Rose found him outside the livery.
He was standing exactly where they had once spoken.
She approached carrying two cups of coffee.
“What are you doing?”
“Remembering.”
“That is dangerous at your age.”
He smiled.
Rose handed him a cup.
Will looked across the street.
The general store had changed owners twice.
The old brass bell remained.
“I stood here like an idiot.”
Rose sipped her coffee.
“You stood in many places like an idiot.”
“This one mattered.”
She smiled.
“I told you I loved you.”
“You told me you saved your heart.”
“I did.”
“And I said nothing.”