Then the laughter faded.
They were suddenly very close.
Mabel could smell leather, soap, cold night air.
Gideon looked at her mouth.
Her heart stumbled.
For one suspended moment, she thought he might kiss her.
Then Clara called from upstairs.
“Mama!”
Mabel stepped back.
The moment vanished.
Neither slept much that night.
Autumn arrived early.
So did the first frost.
Cinder Creek continued talking.
They said Mabel had trapped Gideon.
They said Gideon kept a widow for improper reasons.
They said marriage would solve appearances.
Neither Mabel nor Gideon mentioned it.
Until one Sunday outside church.
Voss stood beside the hitching rail with two men Mabel didn’t recognize.
When she and the girls approached, he smiled.
“Mrs. Harlo. Still living at Cross’s place?”
Mabel continued walking.
Voss raised his voice.
“Some might wonder what kind of arrangement that is.”
Annie flinched.
Mabel stopped.
Before she could turn, Gideon walked past her.
He stood directly in front of Voss.
The banker smiled.
“Sensitive subject?”
Gideon hit him.
Once.
Voss collapsed into the dust.
Half the town gasped.
The other half looked delighted.
Gideon flexed his hand.
Then he turned toward Mabel.
She stared at him.
“You cannot solve everything by punching it.”
“No.”
“Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
He nodded toward Voss.
“That one helped, though.”
Mabel bit her lip.
She failed.
A laugh escaped.
Gideon smiled.
Then his expression changed.
He looked around at the staring townspeople.
At Mabel.
At her daughters.
And perhaps something inside him grew tired of fear.
“Mabel.”
“What?”
“Marry me.”
Silence swallowed the street.
Mabel thought she had misheard.
“What?”
Gideon looked just as shocked as everyone else.
But he did not retreat.
“Marry me.”
Someone whispered, “Good Lord.”
Voss sat up in the dirt.
Mabel’s face burned.
“You choose now to ask?”
“I didn’t plan it.”
“I can tell.”
Gideon stepped closer.
His voice lowered.
“I’m not offering because of them.”
He nodded toward the town.
“I’m offering because every night I ride home faster than I used to.”
Mabel stopped breathing.
“Because Clara waiting at the fence feels like something I didn’t know I’d lost. Because Rose asks too many questions and I miss them when she’s quiet. Because Annie pretends she doesn’t need anyone watching over her.”
His eyes found Mabel’s.
“And because when you’re in a room, I know I’m not alone anymore.”
Tears filled Mabel’s eyes.
He continued, softer.
“I can’t promise pretty words. I can’t promise I’ll know how to be a husband again.”
“Again?”
A shadow crossed his face.
“Figure of speech.”
She noticed.
But the moment carried them forward.
“What can you promise?” she asked.
Gideon looked at the three girls.
Then at her.
“That none of you will ever wonder whether you have a home.”
Mabel’s heart broke open.
Not because she needed rescue.
She had discovered she could survive without rescue.
But surviving and being loved were not the same thing.
“What about love?” she whispered.
Gideon swallowed.
“I think that’s already the problem.”
Mabel cried then.
