Chapter 13 - Not a RescueThey did not marry immediately.
Mave insisted on that.
“A proposal made beside a fence does not create an emergency.”
Caleb had no argument.
They chose June.
Enough time to finish spring work.
Enough time for Mave to complete the Red Bluff order.
Enough time, she said, for Caleb to improve his proposal.
“I already made it.”
“Exactly.”
Word spread.
Dietrich heard first.
Then half the county seemed to know by the following afternoon.
Eli arrived carrying an old horseshoe tied with ribbon.
“What is that?”
“A wedding gift.”
“We’re not married.”
“I know.”
“Then why give it now?”
“Mr. Dietrich said you might change your mind.”
Mave glared toward the road.
Caleb laughed until she threatened him with the broom.
But beneath the humor, something unsettled Mave.
Caleb noticed.
One evening, he found her alone in the forge after the fire had gone low.
She was not working.
That was unusual enough to worry him.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
Caleb leaned against the doorway.
“No more lies.”
She gave him a look.
“That rule was for you.”
“I’ve expanded it.”
Mave looked down at her hands.
“When I came here, I needed somewhere to go.”
Caleb waited.
“I don’t want you to marry me because you think you owe me the ranch.”
“I don’t.”
“You told everyone the ranch survived because of me.”
“It did.”
“That sounds like debt.”
Caleb stepped inside.
“Mave.”
She looked at him.
“You didn’t rescue me.”
He spoke carefully.
“You gave us another way to earn money. You worked harder than anyone should have. You saw something I couldn’t see.”
He gestured toward the ranch.
“But I worked too.”
Her expression softened.
“I know.”
“You stayed because you chose to.”
“Yes.”
“I’m asking you to marry me because I’d rather argue with you about lumber for the next forty years than make every decision alone again.”
A small smile appeared.
“That’s slightly better than the first proposal.”
“I practiced.”
“I can tell.”
Caleb moved closer.
“I don’t want gratitude.”
“Good.”
“I don’t want rescue.”
“Good.”
“I want what you asked for when you came.”
Mave’s eyes shifted.
“A partnership?”
He nodded.
“If I’ve earned the right to use the word.”
For a long moment she said nothing.
Then she reached for his hand.
“You’re getting closer.”
That was enough.
The weeks before June passed with work rather than romantic preparation.
They repaired the front porch.
Not for the wedding, Caleb insisted.
Because it might collapse under guests, Mave replied.
Caleb bought a new shirt.
Mave told him it looked uncomfortable.
“It is.”
“Then why buy it?”
“Apparently weddings require suffering.”
She chose a simple blue dress from town.
When she returned with it folded over her arm, Caleb stared.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re staring.”
“I’m thinking.”
“Again?”
“I didn’t know you owned anything that wasn’t covered in soot.”
Mave threw a rag at him.
The morning before the wedding, Caleb found something near the forge.
The horseshoe Pike had thrown into the dirt months earlier.
Mave had kept it.
He picked it up.
She came from behind the shed.
“Where did you find that?”
“Bench.”
“I meant to move it.”
“Why keep it?”
Mave took it from him.
She turned it in her hand.
“I don’t know.”
Caleb waited.
Finally she said, “Maybe because it reminds me that people decide what something is worth before they understand it.”
“The horseshoe?”
Her eyes lifted.
“Maybe.”
Caleb understood.
Pike had looked at her and seen a woman pretending to do a man’s work.
Customers in Cheyenne had seen the same thing.
Caleb himself had invited her without once asking what skills she possessed.
He had seen what he needed.
Not who she was.
Mave placed the horseshoe on the bench.
“Should I throw it away?”
Caleb shook his head.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because he was wrong.”
Mave looked toward him.
May you like
Caleb smiled.
“Those are worth keeping.”
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