At supper, she told him about children.
He told her about cattle.
They kept separate rooms.
Mostly.
On cold evenings, they sat before the fire.
Sometimes Nathan read the newspaper.
Sometimes Eliza graded papers.
Their silence did not feel empty.
That frightened her.
Temporary things should not develop routines.
Temporary houses should not begin smelling familiar.
Temporary husbands should not remember how much honey she preferred in tea.
Nathan remembered.
He also repaired one loose heel on her boot without being asked.
Eliza found it by the stove the next morning.
“Did you do this?”
“No.”
“Nathan.”
“The boot repaired itself.”
“I married a liar.”
“Temporary liar.”
She threw a cloth at him.
He laughed.
The sound startled both.
Eliza had never heard Nathan laugh freely before.
For a moment he looked younger.
Not the steady man the town trusted.
Just Nathan.
She wanted to kiss him.
So she left for school early.
Coward.
That afternoon, Mrs. Talley arrived during recess.
She looked uncomfortable.
“Mrs. Cole.”
“Mrs. Talley.”
“May we speak?”
Eliza sent the children outside.
Mrs. Talley sat.
Her gloves twisted together.
“I owe you an apology.”
Eliza waited.
The older woman continued.
“I repeated things I should not have repeated.”
“Yes.”
“I believed…”
She stopped.
Eliza said:
“You believed what was convenient.”
Mrs. Talley flinched.
“Yes.”
“What changed?”
The answer mattered.
Mrs. Talley looked toward the window.
“Mr. Grayson.”
Eliza’s stomach tightened.
“What about him?”
“He asked my niece to supper.”
“Louisa?”
“Yes.”
Louisa Talley was nineteen.
Recently employed at the telegraph office.
“Did she go?”
“No.”
Mrs. Talley swallowed.
“He told her she should consider what a recommendation from him might mean for her future.”
Eliza went cold.
Same method.
Different woman.
“He touched her?”
Mrs. Talley’s eyes filled.
“Her waist.”
Eliza closed hers briefly.
Then:
“Would Louisa speak about it?”
“I don’t know.”
“She must choose.”
“I know.”
Mrs. Talley nodded.
“I came because…”
Her voice broke.
“I judged you.”
“Then when it was my family, suddenly I understood.”
Eliza’s anger remained.
But something softened beside it.
“Understanding late is better than refusing forever.”
Mrs. Talley cried.
Eliza did not tell her it was all right.
It wasn’t.
But she poured tea.
Sometimes mercy should not lie.
That evening Eliza told Nathan.
His face hardened.
“Louisa too.”
“Yes.”
“Anyone else?”
“I don’t know.”
“We ask.”
Eliza shook her head.
“No.”
Nathan frowned.
“We do not hunt women through town asking whether Grayson touched them.”