Neither complained.
By summer, the cowboy began thinking about marriage.
He did not mention it.
The ranch woman knew within a week.
“You’re strange.”
He looked up from breakfast.
“How?”
“Stranger.”
“That is not useful.”
“You’re hiding something.”
“No.”
“You are.”
The cowboy drank coffee.
She stared.
He lasted forty seconds.
“Stop.”
She smiled.
“Tell me.”
“No.”
“Then I’ll find out.”
That frightened him more than he admitted.
He hid the ring in three locations over the next month.
She found two.
The first was an empty box.
He had anticipated her.
She became furious.
“This is psychological warfare.”
The cowboy laughed.
The second hiding place contained a note.
Stop looking.
She wrote beneath it:
No.
The third location she never found.
Because he kept the ring in his boot.
The proposal happened accidentally.
Not in the barn.
Not at sunset.
Not during a perfect dinner.
During a broken wagon wheel in heavy rain.
They were six miles from the ranch.
Mud everywhere.
The ranch woman held the horse.
The cowboy attempted repair.
The wheel slipped.
He cursed.
The ranch woman laughed.
He glared.
“This isn’t funny.”
“You look miserable.”
“I am miserable.”
“Good.”
The rain soaked them.
The cowboy sat in the mud.
The ranch woman laughed harder.
Then the cowboy began laughing too.
He looked at her.
Wet hair stuck to her face.
Dress covered in mud.
Boots ruined.
Smiling as though nothing could be better.
And suddenly he knew he could not wait for a perfect moment.
“Marry me.”
The ranch woman stopped laughing.
Rain hammered the wagon.
“What?”
“Marry me.”
She stared.
“You’re sitting in mud.”
“I know.”
“You haven’t got a ring.”
The cowboy pulled off one boot.
The ranch woman watched in disbelief.
He shook it.
A small ring fell into his palm.
She screamed with laughter.
“You kept it in your boot?”
“You keep finding things.”
She covered her mouth.
He stood.
Mud from chest down.
Hair dripping.
Ring between two huge fingers.
“I had a better plan.”
“I hope so.”
“This is what happened.”
She looked at him.
His humor faded.
“Marry me.”
The ranch woman’s smile softened.
The cowboy continued.
“You already own the ranch.”
“Thirty percent.”
“Greedy woman.”
“You taught me business.”
He took her hand.
“I want mornings.”
She watched him.
“Arguments.”
She smiled.
“Books in the barn.”
Her eyes filled.
“Your ridiculous coffee.”
“My coffee is excellent.”
“It’s terrible.”
“Continue.”