“You must tell me more than that!”
Marian had to admit it was nice to relive the evening through sharing it with her sister. When she got to the part where Cole asked to kiss her, Jessilyn squealed.
“Ssh!” Marian glanced at the door, half expecting Mama to come rushing in at Jessilyn’s outburst.
“I’m sorry!” her sister said more quietly. “Please tell me it was wonderful!”
“Well . . . it didn’t happen.” Marian went on to tell her about the rock, the window, and the end of the evening, leaving out the part where Cole asked her for her thoughts and her own now swirling feelings.
“Jessilyn, have you heard of a teacher being married?” Marian didn’t know why she was asking her sister when she knew the answer already. And yet, she clung to a shred of hope that Jessilyn would say,Yes! Don’t you know of that teacher in Grand Platte?
“I haven’t,” Jessilyn said, looking thoughtful. “Is that what worries you? That you’d need to give up teaching if Cole were to ask you to marry him?”
Marian nodded, and yet that low, sad sense of disappointment crawled through her again like a fog.
“Well.” Jessilyn leaned forward and took Marian’s hands. “It’s nearly a new century. I don’t know why things can’t be changed with all the progress happening around us. Perhaps there are some married teachers in the cities already.”
Marilyn smiled at her sister, but she didn’t feel it. She had a strong sense the answer didn’t matter anyway.
Because she’d figured out what it was that sat so heavy in her mind—it seemed Cole was not interested in marriage.
Chapter Fourteen
Cole strode acrossthe road, pleased with all he’d accomplished so far that day. He’d spoken with the mayor about the broken window at the schoolhouse. He’d assisted Sheriff Granger with handing over an outlaw to the federal marshal. And then he’d found the perfect little polished stone by the river earlier as they’d seen the marshal’s horse and the prisoner out of town.
He paused outside Mrs. Shomburg’s saloon-turned-boardinghouse and examined the stone. It was a shiny black and gray pebble with hints of silver when held to the light. It had caught his eye, and he’d immediately imagined it sitting upon Marian’s table in the schoolhouse, perhaps holding down the pages in a book.
She would be at the schoolhouse now, with the children due to head home in about an hour. Cole returned the stone to his pocket. He’d have to wait to give it to her. And oddly, that felt like a great relief at the moment.
The evening before, he had confessed feelings he never could have imagined speaking aloud before meeting Marian. And while he was thrilled she’d agreed to let him court her, the entire situation frightened him more than anything ever had in his life.
It would be far too easy to mess this up. And he certainly was good at tucking tail and running when it came to romance. But this was different—and he knew it. He’d known it all along. If he hurt Marian, he would never forgive himself.
He wouldn’t, though. He had no desire to leave her or Last Chance. In fact, it was all quite the opposite. The more time he spent with Marian, the more he imagined a future together for the two of them. He’d never had such thoughts before.
Cole turned the stone over in his pocket as he watched a wagon and a team of horses make its way down the road. Perhaps it wasn’t that he feared losing himself in Marian or running way . . . Maybe it was something else.
