Chapter 12 - The Water Everyone Wanted
Rosalie refused to sell exclusive rights.
Instead she proposed a cooperative.
Every ranch paid according to size.
Families received household water first.
The school had permanent access.
No company could purchase the spring.
The church hall overflowed during the vote.
One rancher shouted:
“Who made you queen of Willow Creek?”
Rosalie answered:
“No one. That's why we're voting.”
The cooperative passed.
Wade's ranch paid the largest share.
He voted yes.
The drought worsened.
Someone destroyed the spring gate and diverted water.
Tracks led to Jacob Crane's land.
His cattle were dying.
He confessed.
Rosalie refused to press charges if he repaired the damage and accepted rationing.
“Why?” Wade asked later.
“Desperation isn't greed.”
“And if he does it again?”
“Then consequences.”
Wade smiled.
“What?”
“You'd make a frightening judge.”
“I teach nine-year-olds. Similar occupation.”
Autumn rain finally arrived.
Willow Creek survived.
That winter Rosalie discovered she was pregnant.
She sat alone for hours.
Not because she was unhappy.
Because she was afraid.
What if she became Lydia?
What if love slowly became control?
When Wade returned, she told him.
He stared.
Then smiled.
Then cried.
Rosalie had never seen him cry.
“Are you happy?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Scared?”
“Terrified.”
Rosalie laughed.
“Good.”
Wade looked offended.
“I don't want to be terrified alone.”
He sat beside her.
“We'll be terrified together.”
They told the family at Christmas.
Vivien screamed.
Lydia cried.
Horus hugged Wade.
Then Samuel cleared his throat.
Vivien grinned.
She was pregnant too.
The sisters stared at each other.
Their children would grow together.
Rosalie's pregnancy progressed normally until one afternoon at school.
A sudden pain bent her double.
Vivien caught her.
“Rosalie!”
Another pain came.
Too early.
Samuel rushed inside.
His expression changed.
“Get her home.”
Rosalie grabbed his sleeve.
“The baby?”
“I don't know yet.”
Wade was thirty miles away.
And as Rosalie was carried from the classroom, she realized that independence could protect a woman's choices.
May you like
But it could not protect her from loving something she might lose.
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