by Ruby Hill
She could see how exhausted he must have been.
“As soon as I had a chance, though, I wanted to come back. I didn’t want you thinking my absence had anything to do with you.”
How could he have known that was exactly what she needed to hear?
“Oh, well I was certain that other important matters were keeping you occupied,” she said generously. “I hope that you didn’t rush for my expense.”
“I certainly did,” he replied. “I made a promise to get to know you, so here I am.”
She swallowed nervously.
“I’ll just…leave you two to talk,” Dorothy said, a wide grin on her face as she stepped out of the room.
Travis watched her go, and then pulled a bundle of parchment from his pocket. “I read through your letters.”
Rose blushed, looking at her fingers knotted together in her lap. “I see.”
“I can see why my sister liked you,” he said, a grin pulling at the corner of his mouth. He leaned in closer toward her, his hands on his knees.
Her heart fluttered. He really was very handsome. His eyes were very easy to stare into. It was as if he hid nothing.
“But I must admit…they told me very little about who you are as a person. What your life was like. Where you come from. Any of those things.”
“Oh, well those sorts of things aren’t very important…” Rose replied.
“I think they are greatly important, especially if they are things I should know about a woman that I might be...”
Those words sent fresh color to her face, and she knotted her hands in her skirt.
He sat back. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to be overly forward.”
“No,” Rose replied, shaking her head. “You aren’t. It’s just…no one has asked me those things before.”
His brow furrowed. “No one?”
She shook her head. “I suppose that my placing the advertisement into the paper was for a twofold reason. One, to meet a man that I could share my life with. The next…to leave.”
“Why ever would you want to leave your home? Your family?” he asked.
“Because I didn’t really have a family to leave,” Rose replied with a small shrug. “I have no siblings, and my parents passed when I was very young. I have lived with an aunt and uncle for most of my life, and they spent a great deal of that time pretending as if I didn’t exist. They have this great big house, you see. It was easy for me to get lost in it, and for them to forget I was even there. I have gone entire weeks without seeing or speaking to them…”
Travis’s face became very concerned. “I am very sorry to hear that…”
Rose shrugged her shoulders. “It was what I preferred, honestly. It allowed me to keep the company I desired.” She held up the book that she had been reading.
“Books…a man’s greatest companion,” Travis said with a small smile. “I too am quite the bibliophile. I never leave the house without one.”
He pulled a small book from the sack he had brought with him.
“I’ve read this one at least a dozen times,” he said, patting it affectionately.
Rose nodded. “As have I with this,” she said.
Maybe Dorothy had told the truth of him after all.
“But to have books as your only friends…what a lonely life that must have been for you,” Travis said.
Rose looked down. “I suppose it was. The days just…blurred together most of the time. Everyone seemed to just…forget that I existed. Even dear friends of mine. As I withdrew, they allowed me to. So, I realized that they didn’t care if I was in their lives or not. I realized how superficial most of them were, and it brought me no sorrow. Life could not be a story, I knew. But when I realized that I had the chance to change it all…to start over somewhere…perhaps with someone who felt the same, I just…” she trailed off. “I just couldn’t miss the chance.
Travis nodded slowly. “I understand.”
She smiled. “Well…even still, I think that this move was the best thing for me. I promise that I will not be a bother to you. I hope to find a place to live so your sister and George don’t have to keep me forever. Perhaps the minister could suggest a place…”
“What are you talking about?” Travis asked.
But Rose went on. She knew she had to say these things. She had to get them off her chest before they ate her alive.
“I didn’t bring very much with me, it should be easy to move to a different town if I must before I find the right place for me—”
“Why are you talking about leaving?”
“What?” she asked, finally hearing his words.
“Why would you want to leave Moss Lake?”
“Well, I suppose you would want to find your own bride, wouldn’t you? Not one that your sister chose for you. I imagine it must be very strange to know that I am here to marry you, but knowing that you had no say in the matter… No, I won’t allow that. You should be free to choose your own wife, not have one forced upon you—”
“Rose…”
“Besides, I have nothing to go back to, so I might as well stay out here. No one there will miss me, and I certainly shall not miss them. And I have nowhere else to go aside from there, and I do not wish to go back to the big, lonely house if I have the choice—”
“Rose?”
She stopped. “Yes?”
He smiled. “I can understand that all entirely. I truly can. However…all of that isn’t necessary.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think…I think you should stay here in town.”
“But I don’t want to be any trouble to you or your family.”
“It would be no trouble at all,” he said. “In fact, I think it is wonderful that you have found a place that you like.”
“I really do,” Rose admitted. “This is the first place that I have ever been in a very long time that has felt anything like home…”
“Well, good,” he said. “I’m glad it’s here.” He laughed low in his chest. “Besides. I think my sister has become rather fond of you.”
Rose brightened. “She is a wonderful woman, and has been a good friend to me since I have arrived.”
“I think she would be rather sad if you left town,” he went on.
“I think I would be sad to lose the only person I could consider a friend as well,” Rose replied.
They spent the rest of the morning discussing various interests they had. She discovered that he also enjoyed rainstorms, and had once helped nurse a baby bird back to health. She told him of the caves of snow she would make in the winter to hide in, where she could read in private, and share stories with her young friends.
They had a great deal in common. They both loved books, yes, but they also shared a love for tales of virtue and honor, of mystery and suspense. They loved the same authors, had cherished the same titles. The more they spoke, the more they discovered they had in common.
It wasn’t until Dorothy came in to offer them afternoon tea that they had realized how long they had been talking. Travis rushed off to finish his afternoon chores, and Rose went to the kitchen to help Dorothy prepare for dinner.
“I…couldn’t help but overhear something you said earlier,” Dorothy told her as they peeled potatoes together. “I am sorry for being so nosy.”
“It’s quite all right,” Rose said. “I said nothing that I was ashamed of.”
“Did you really think that you were going to leave?” Dorothy asked.
“Leave?”
“The town! Go somewhere else!” Dorothy said. “Look, I don’t care what happens between you and my brother. I want you to stay here. We can still be your family, even if you don’t marry into it…however…” she cast a sidelong look at Rose. “I think the odds of that happening are far greater with each passing second.”
Rose shrugged her shoulders. “Travis is wonderful. He is very kind, very honest, very upfront about what he is thinking. I appreciate the fact that he was not shy to discuss the le
tters, and he has seemed genuinely interested in what I have to say…”
“And I can tell that he is greatly enjoying getting to know you,” Dorothy said. “I have not seen him sit and talk to someone for so long that they lost track of time the way you two did today. Not ever.”
Rose smiled in spite of herself. “Well, I suppose that is rather easy when two people who love books get together.”
“I am quite serious, Rose,” Dorothy said. “Travis would have chosen you had he known you existed. In retrospect, I should have brought your advertisement to him and allowed him to choose whether to write to you—which, by the way, I truly believe he would have—but I was afraid that he would think it far too great of a chance to work out, and just dismiss it. You and your advertisement seemed worth the risk. And if men are stubborn sometimes, then so be it. They have women in their lives to help them, right? I was just doing my job as his sister.”
Rose and Dorothy laughed as they worked, and as they discussed Travis even more, Rose’s feelings toward the man began to change. It was far less like how she felt about her favorite characters in her favorite books now, and far more like how she hoped that she might one day feel about a real, living, breathing man. She could see him, hear him, reach out and touch him if she pleased.
He wasn’t a figment of her imagination.
And sometimes, she told herself, maybe people really do experience the romances in stories. For the first time, she wondered if all great romances were inspired by relationships that had actually existed.
5
Rose was grateful for George and Dorothy’s hospitality, even though she didn’t know what Travis would ultimately choose. Things were going well for them, all things considering. And Dorothy was insistent that he was going to propose; he was just greatly enjoying getting to know her, and wanted to be sure that she was comfortable with it, too.
Well, she wasn’t entirely sure if she was comfortable with it. Not really. Not that she wouldn’t want to marry him. No…she was uncomfortable because she feared that he would end up refusing her, even though her feelings for him were growing more and more every day. Every time they were together, it was as if there was a great unspoken question between them;
What were they going to choose?
She worried that he would be like everyone else in her life, and once she was out of his sight, she would be out of his mind. And then she would have nothing more than a broken heart to remember him.
September arrived, and with it came cool breezes, ruby leaves and golden grass. Rose found that she appreciated the fall in Colorado better than she had in Pennsylvania. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that she had people that she cared about to share it with. Dorothy, with whom she was becoming very attached, was beginning to treat her like what Rose imagined a sister would. She was happy, and had a contagious laugh. George was wonderful too, and would spend a great amount of time telling her all sorts of stories about the frontier and his family who were gold miners.
Travis would stop by every evening, spend some time with them all, and Rose found herself looking forward to it more and more each night. There was certainly some tension in the air between them, but she was determined to enjoy the time that she did have with him.
Dorothy announced one evening that they were going to have a big dinner for George’s birthday, and invite all their friends from town over for some fun and conversation. Dorothy was overwhelmed. Who was she going to claim that she was to Dorothy?
“A friend, sweetheart,” Dorothy told her when Rose brought this up. “We don’t need to tell everyone your entire life story. Just enough to be polite.”
Still, she was nervous.
The night of the party arrived, along with a slew of guests who were waiting to greet George and wish him well on his birthday. Rose hovered near the door to the kitchen, eager for Dorothy to give her an order so she could slip away from the crowd into the quiet beside the cooking pot. But Dorothy must have sensed her desire for solitude, for she continued to push her out into the room, especially toward Travis.
Travis seemed to be quite the popular man. Everyone seemed to know him, and they all were eager to speak with him. She watched as person after person, a few young women included, would walk over to him and ask him questions or tell him a story, and he would politely listen to them all. He was kind and patient, and Rose found herself content to just watch him.
“Good evening.”
Rose nearly dropped the plate she had been holding; on her way back to the kitchen, she was stopped by a young man with sandy blonde hair and green eyes. His smile was wide, and he was wearing a wide brimmed hat.
“Uh…good evening,” Rose replied, pushing a stray curl from in front of her ear.
“I don’t think we’ve met,” the man said heartily, holding out a hand to her. “The name’s Carl Stevens.”
“Rose Samson,” Rose replied, shaking his hand.
“Rose? Well, that’s a pretty name,” he said. “Where you from, Rose?”
“Pennsylvania,” she replied. “And where are you from?”
He laughed. “Montana, actually. My brother and I moved down here with our old man about six years ago to work in the quarry. It’s back-breaking work, but it certainly has allowed us to build up this town to be what it is. How long you been here, Rose?”
“About three weeks, now,” she said.
“And how are you liking it?”
“It’s lovely,” she said. “I find it far more pleasing than Philadelphia.”
“Philadelphia? You don’t say,” Carl said, tipping his hat. “My cousin moved out there not long ago. Something about working for the papers.” He shook his head. “Don’t see the appeal, myself. I think I’d go crazy living in such a populated place.”
“I understand,” Rose said. “That was part of the reason I came out here.”
“And what was the other reason?”
“To be with me, of course.”
Travis had appeared, grinning broadly as he stepped up beside Rose.
Her heart began to beat rapidly, and she felt color rise in her cheeks. It was inevitable now, whenever he appeared.
“To be with you, Travis?” Carl said, laughing. “What do you mean?”
“Oh, you didn’t know?” Travis said. He reached over and put an arm around her, pulling her close to his side. Her shoulder pressed up against his chest, and she could feel the warmth of his body against hers.
She froze.
“We are engaged,” Travis said.
Carl and Rose both looked up at Travis with wide eyes.
“Engaged?” Carl said.
Rose recovered quickly, smoothing the features of her face. She smiled, rather liking the sound of those words, having played them over in her mind time and time again.
“Yes,” Travis replied, nodding his head. “You won’t believe this, but I found her advertisement in the paper. The idea of Colorado appealed to her, so she moved out here so that we could be married.”
That was the condensed version of it, and he was covering his sister’s tracks. He really was a good man.
“I…I didn’t know,” Carl said. “Well, congratulations, both of you. I hope that we can be fast friends. Maybe you could even help me find a wife in the same way, Travis. Heaven knows I could do with a good wife.”
He tipped his hat to her again. “Well, it was nice to meet you, Miss Samson. I’ll be seeing you around.”
And with that, he wound his way back through the crowded room.
Rose turned on him. In a muffled voice, she said, “Engaged? Since when are we engaged?”
He grinned and led her through the busy dining room toward the entrance hall, his arm still wrapped around her. It was quieter in there, and Rose felt like she could finally breathe again.
“I thought that you needed some help,” Travis said. “You were uncomfortable. I could see it written all over your face.”
“Was it that obvious?” Rose asked, twisting the f
abric of sleeve of her dress.
He nodded. “Carl’s a nice guy, but he’s not right for you.”
She furrowed her brow. “What do you mean, not right for me? We were merely conversing, I had no intention of—”
“Oh, but he was,” Travis said. “A single man like him, meeting a beautiful woman like you?” He laughed. “Oh, come now. Surely you can see that he was hoping that you would notice him so that he wouldn’t have to be lonely any longer.”
Her cheeks burned. He thought she was beautiful?
He reached his hand behind his head and scratched the back of his neck, looking sheepishly at his feet.
“Really…I don’t think that any man in town is good enough for you, honestly.”
“What do you mean?” she asked. “I have not been looking. I haven’t even been thinking—”
“I was jealous, to be honest,” Travis said quietly, his eyes returning to hers.
“Jealous of what?”
“Carl, talking to you, attempting to get you to notice him. I haven’t had to compete with any other men. I have had the luxury of having your undivided attention. I never thought what it would be like to have to watch you speak to another man…but I’ll be honest, I didn’t care much for it.” He winked at her. “We are supposed to be getting married, right?”
The both of them started laughing. The whole idea, the whole situation, was just so funny that neither of them could take it anymore. They laughed and laughed, and Rose felt a great weight lift from her chest.
“But Rose…I really would like to get to know you better. I have been very happy to spend time with you these last few weeks. If I had made you upset in anyway, I apologize. I was also trying to keep my distance, unsure of what you wanted. I thought for sure that when you found out that it wasn’t me who had been writing to you that you would want to turn around and head home.”
“I told you…I have nowhere else to go,” Rose replied.
“Even still…I have been hoping, waiting, attempting to be patient and learn more about you, so I could tell if you were truly interested in me.”