Page 27 of The Rancher's Wedding

“It was, but it’s also the most conversation I’d had with him since the wedding. It makes me feel like there may be hope for us, after all.”

“I don’t understand. You two seem to like each other. I’ve been talking to him, and he has nothing but good things to say about you. And you about him. Why is it so difficult for you two to talk to each other?”

Michael became silent. He wanted to answer her. He wanted to explain everything to her. But the heavy meal was already digesting in his stomach, and just the thought of having to relive everything drained him of any energy he may have had before.

“We’ve been working all day,” Michael said, “and it was a good day. I’m too tired and too scared of ending it on a sour note to go into the past right now.”

Estelle looked him square in the eyes—she was so beautiful in the indoor candlelight—showing him that she was serious. “I’m going to keep asking about it. You’re going to need to tell me eventually.”

“I promise you I will. Soon as I’m ready. But that’s not tonight.”

He patted her on the hand and got the impression she believed him from the look in her eyes. He hoped she wasn’t going to ask again. He didn’t know how long he could keep his defenses up around her. If she kept pushing and it became clear that it would take more energy to argue about it than to just tell the story, then he’d end up just telling her. Maybe she knew that.

But she didn’t press him.

And he was thankful for that.

Chapter Ten

Estelle walked into town, basket in hand, heading toward the general store. As she approached the entrance, she saw her new friend Calvin sitting on the rocking chair, smoking a pipe. She smiled at him and his face lit up.

“Mrs. Holden,” he said. “Good morning.”

“To you as well, Mr. Friar.” She offered a polite nod to him.

“What brings you into town?”

“I wanted to pick up some bread for lunch,” she said, which was true, but mostly just an excuse she gave. Truthfully, she wished to have a slight break from the ranch. It was quite a lot of work, day in and day out, and she preferred a gentle, relaxing walk into town. In fact, she had been hoping to run into Calvin so she could have some friendly conversation about nothing in particular. “I could use a break, though. Do you mind if I join you?”

“Be my guest.”

She sat down in the chair beside him, laying her back against it and allowing it to rock gently and relax her. She had to be careful because she knew that if she closed her eyes, she would fall fast asleep right there in an instant.

“I meant to ask you,” she said, “was there ever a Mrs. Friar?”

“Well,” Calvin said, “there was my mom, but I never did marry. See, when I was around the marrying age, there was a rumor that there was a whole lot of gold out West. So, I figured I’d head out that way from Oklahoma, where I was born and raised, and maybe strike it rich.”

He sighed.

“I take it from your tone,” Estelle said, “that you didn’t.”

“No, ma’am, I did just the opposite. I spent all I had getting out West and never found a single nugget. I had to work for my money just like everybody else. And because everybody had gotten a one-way ticket out there for the gold only to be disappointed, there were a whole lot of people willing to work for next to nothing.

“Through hard work and determination, I eventually made it out of there, but by then I was already a crusty old man that no woman in her right mind would want to marry.”

It was odd listening to him. His story was sad, but there was almost a joyfulness to it, as if each word had an undercurrent of acceptance, saying, “That’s the way it is.”

He looked off into the distance. “It’s a shame, too, because the whole reason I went out there was to get some money so I could propose to this pretty little thing that lived near me. I was madly in love with her. And now, looking back, I reckon maybe she was just as in love with me. I could have just asked her to marry me and she’d probably have said yes.”

“That’s awful,” Estelle said.

He shook his head. “You can drive yourself crazy thinking what might have been. But as you get older, you realize that if things are pretty good, there’s no use trying to make them better. And sometimes the thing you want and think you’ll never actually have is something you’ve already got. Like you and Michael, for instance.”

Estelle was shocked. “Whatever can you mean?” she asked.

Calvin laughed. “Wisdom is wasted on the aged,” he said. “I could tell you exactly what I mean, but you’d tell me I’m wrong. You’ll have to realize it for yourself.”

He spoke somewhat cryptically, Estelle thought. The man thought he was wise just because he was older than she, but Estelle had noticed that with age came a rose-colored view of the past. Was that woman in love with Calvin, or was he just telling himself that now because he had no risk of her turning his proposal down? He’d never know.

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