Chapter 10 - The Woman Who Came for the Wild Rose
Margaret Hollis demanded the brooch.
She also challenged Eleanor's trust.
Wade became furious.
Rosalie listened.
Eventually Margaret revealed the real wound.
Eleanor had defied their father.
She refused an arranged marriage to a banker and married Thomas Hollis instead.
Their mother gave Eleanor the brooch when she left Missouri.
Margaret considered it stolen inheritance.
Rosalie placed the brooch on the table.
“If it legally belongs to you, take it.”
Margaret stared.
Wade did too.
“But if you're taking it because you're angry with your dead sister, metal won't solve that.”
Margaret's hand hovered over the silver flower.
Then withdrew.
For the first time, she talked about Eleanor.
Not property.
Not inheritance.
Her sister.
They had once climbed apple trees together.
Shared a bedroom.
Whispered about boys.
Then pride separated them.
Margaret never attended Eleanor's funeral.
By the end she was crying.
“I hated her for leaving.”
Rosalie said quietly:
“Perhaps you hated that she could.”
Margaret looked at her.
The next morning she withdrew every claim.
Before leaving, she visited Eleanor's grave.
Rosalie accompanied her.
Margaret touched the headstone.
“My sister believed stubbornness was a virtue.”
Rosalie smiled.
“Wade inherited it.”
Margaret glanced at her.
“So did you.”
Wedding plans resumed.
But Rosalie no longer cared about creating a perfect ceremony.
She wanted something honest.
She chose the schoolhouse.
The place representing the first decision she'd made entirely for herself.
On the wedding morning, Horus offered to walk her down the aisle.
Rosalie kissed his cheek.
“I want to walk alone.”
His eyes filled.
“Because you're angry?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
“Because I'm not being given away.”
Horus nodded.
“I understand.”
Rosalie walked beneath the cottonwoods.
Halfway down the path she stopped.
Vivien gasped.
“What?”
Rosalie touched her throat.
“The brooch.”
Vivien burst out laughing.
She hurried forward and pinned the silver wild rose onto Rosalie's dress.
Their eyes met.
Once it had represented everything dividing them.
Now Vivien whispered:
“Go get your cowboy.”
Rosalie reached Wade.
When the minister asked whether Wade took her as his wife, he said:
“I do.”
When Rosalie was asked, she paused just long enough to make Wade nervous.
Then smiled.
“I do.”
The town laughed.
They kissed.
Rosalie Bennett became Rosalie Bennett Hollis.
Not because she disappeared into Wade's name.
Because she chose to add his story to hers.
Marriage began.
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And almost immediately, life demanded that they discover whether the principles that sounded beautiful during courtship could survive ordinary days.
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