“Today might be the first.”
Ben called after him:
“Bring the lady home before you frighten her!”
Nathaniel rode away without answering.
The stage depot at Casper was crowded.
Mud.
Horse manure.
Steam from animals breathing into the cold.
Passengers climbing down stiffly.
Freight being dragged from behind the coach.
Nathaniel stood beside his wagon with his hat in both hands.
He expected to recognize Adeline immediately.
He had no photograph.
But letters create pictures in a man’s mind.
He had imagined someone thin.
Maybe severe.
A woman hardened by disappointment.
He was wrong.
Adeline Foster stepped down carefully from the stage.
She was enormous.
Nathaniel did not mean tall.
She was perhaps five feet six.
But extraordinarily heavy, with a very large, soft body that filled the deep teal traveling dress beneath her charcoal cloak.
Her face was round and beautiful.
Dark brown hair had been pinned into a low bun.
Her eyes moved anxiously through the crowd.
One gloved hand clutched a carpetbag.
The other rested briefly against her abdomen before falling away.
Nathaniel saw two men near the freight platform glance at her and smirk.
Something in him hardened.
Then Adeline spotted him.
She knew him from the description he had sent.
Tall.
Dark hair.
Beard.
Brown coat.
Blue scarf.
She approached slowly.
“Mr. Cole?”
Nathaniel forgot every sentence he had rehearsed.
“Miss Foster.”
Her nervousness increased.
Neither spoke.
Nathaniel finally cleared his throat.
“I’m glad the roads were kind.”
Adeline gave a tiny smile.
“They were mostly roads.”
He blinked.
Then laughed.
Not loudly.
Enough.
She relaxed a little.
Nathaniel reached for her carpetbag.
“May I?”
She looked surprised.
“Yes.”
He took it.
Heavy.
He pretended it was not.
Another trunk waited behind the stage.
Then another.
Nathaniel looked at Adeline.
“You packed light?”
For the first time, she laughed.
It was soft and unexpectedly warm.
“That was me trying.”
Nathaniel carried both trunks.
One of the men near the platform muttered:
“Hope your wagon springs are strong.”
Nathaniel stopped.
Adeline lowered her eyes.
Nathaniel slowly turned.
The man’s smile faded.
Nathaniel did not threaten him.
He simply stared long enough that the man found the ground fascinating.
Then Nathaniel continued loading.
Adeline said nothing until they were away from town.
The wagon moved northwest through open country.
Brown winter grass rolled toward distant hills.
For nearly twenty minutes, neither spoke.
Nathaniel worried she regretted everything.
Adeline worried he did.
Finally Nathaniel said:
“You’ll have your own room.”
She turned.
“I know this is meant to be a marriage arrangement, but I won’t assume anything.”
Adeline stared.
Nathaniel kept his eyes on the road.
“The door locks from inside.”
“I’ll knock before entering.”
“If you decide this was a mistake, I’ll take you back to town.”
“No argument.”
“No debt.”
“No shame.”
Adeline’s eyes filled unexpectedly.
Nathaniel noticed.
“Did I say something wrong?”
“No.”
She turned toward the landscape.