Chapter 7 - The Proposal With No Audience
Wade waited another month.
Vivien became furious on Rosalie's behalf.
“Is he slow?”
“He manages five thousand cattle.”
“That doesn't answer my question.”
Rosalie secretly wondered too.
Then one evening Wade asked her to come to the schoolhouse.
It was empty.
No townspeople.
No family.
No audience.
Candles burned along the windows.
On Rosalie's desk sat her cedar box.
Inside was a key.
“The stone house?” Rosalie asked.
“You already own it.”
“Then what's this?”
“My key.”
“You had one made?”
“Yes.”
“Without permission?”
“I haven't used it.”
Rosalie smiled.
Wade took her hand.
“I loved the girl who helped pull me from Cottonwood Creek.”
Rosalie's eyes filled.
“But I didn't court that girl.”
He continued.
“I courted the woman who told six cattlemen their saddles could pay for a school roof.”
She laughed.
“The woman who argues when everyone expects her to agree.”
He reached into his vest.
A simple gold ring rested in his palm.
“I don't want you because you saved me.”
His voice softened.
“I want a life where neither of us has to save the other to deserve staying.”
Rosalie began crying.
Wade looked alarmed.
“Should I stop?”
“No.”
“Rosalie Bennett, will you marry me?”
There it was.
Clear.
Private.
Hers.
Rosalie looked at him.
“Yes.”
Wade closed his eyes briefly.
Then she kissed him.
Something crashed outside.
Rosalie opened the door.
Vivien, Lydia, Horus and several schoolchildren nearly fell through it.
Rosalie stared.
Vivien straightened.
“We heard nothing.”
“Vivien!”
The children erupted into laughter.
For once Rosalie didn't mind the audience.
Wedding plans began.
But before a date could be chosen, a lawyer arrived from Cheyenne.
Nathaniel Price carried an old property challenge involving Rosalie's inherited land.
“Who filed it?” she asked.
Nathaniel hesitated.
“Horus Bennett.”
Rosalie stared at her father.
May you like
Once again, the future someone had promised her was entangled in a secret her family had never told her.
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