Even ranchers.
A year passed.
Rose walked early.
Terribly.
She fell constantly and seemed personally offended every time.
James returned to Denver for school.
Wrote monthly.
Always included a line for Evelyn.
Never sentimental.
Tell Evelyn the blue curtains look better than I remember.
That was James affection.
Nathaniel proposed finally on an ordinary Tuesday.
No sunset.
No flowers.
No audience.
Evelyn was kneading bread.
Rose sat on the floor banging a wooden spoon against a pot.
Nathaniel entered.
Removed his hat.
Then stood there.
Evelyn looked up.
“What?”
He said:
“Marry me.”
She stopped kneading.
“That was romantic.”
“I practiced something longer.”
“What happened?”
“Forgot it.”
Evelyn laughed.
Nathaniel stepped closer.
“I can try again.”
“No.”
She wiped flour from her hands.
Nathaniel looked terrified.
Evelyn enjoyed that for three seconds.
Then:
“Yes.”
Nathaniel froze.
“Yes?”
“Yes.”
He kissed her.
Flour transferred onto his vest.
Rose screamed happily because everyone else seemed excited.
They married in the yard.
Small ceremony.
James stood beside Nathaniel.
Rose tried eating a flower.
The midwife attended.
Stationmaster too.
Nathaniel insisted.
“He saw where this started.”
Evelyn looked toward the old man.
Then remembered the platform.
Dust.
Heat.
Forty-one dollars.
A broken suitcase.
She almost could not connect that woman with herself.
Caleb did not attend.
He sent no blessing.
That was fine.
Not every chapter needed every character.
Before the ceremony, Evelyn stood in the bedroom wearing a cream dress she made herself.
Not white.
She said white made her look like a church curtain.
Nathaniel disagreed wisely by remaining silent.
She looked in the mirror.
Forty.
Heavy.
Mother.
Lines beginning near her eyes.
Not the bride magazines described.
She smiled.
For the first time, she did not mentally edit her body.
No thinner version.
No younger version.
No apology.
Nathaniel knocked.
“You’re not supposed to see me.”
“I’ve seen you before.”
“That’s not how weddings work.”
“I forgot my hat.”
“Leave.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Evelyn laughed.
Then cried.
Then married him.
Their life was not a fairy tale.
Nathaniel became stubborn when frightened.
Evelyn became silent when hurt.
Both habits caused problems.
Once they went three days barely speaking because Nathaniel tried deciding without her whether Rose should visit Caleb when illness was reported in town.
Evelyn accused him of acting like authority belonged to him.
Nathaniel became defensive.
Then remembered.
He apologized.
Not perfectly.
Enough.
Another time, Evelyn nearly packed a bag after Nathaniel made a thoughtless remark during an argument.
He saw the suitcase.
Went pale.
The platform lived inside him too now.
He did not block the door.
He sat.
Said:
“If you need to leave tonight, I won’t stop you.”
“But I hope you come back.”