Daniel soon appeared dressed but with his hair sticking up at impossible angles.
"Come here, both of you," Eleanor said, pulling a comb from her pocket. "Let's get you properly groomed."
She smoothed Daniel's hair despite his complaints and was rewarded with something resembling the beginning of a smile.
Samuel accepted a face scrubbing without protest, then asked if she could braid his hair like a girl's.
"Boys don't usually wear braids," Eleanor explained gently. "But I could teach you sailor knots if you'd like."
"Could you really?"
"I had a brother who loved ships."
The memory of her family brought a sudden ache.
"He taught me all kinds of useful knots."
Thomas watched from the kitchen doorway.
Eleanor caught an expression that might have been relief.
Or longing.
She wasn't sure.
"I want to learn knots too," Daniel announced, apparently forgetting to remain suspicious.
"Then I'll teach both of you."
Later, after the boys had eaten and been sent to play, Eleanor found herself alone with Thomas again.
The decision pressed down like the snow outside.
Heavy.
Impossible to ignore.
"You haven't given me an answer," Thomas said.
Eleanor looked around the kitchen.
At a household missing something.
At the doorway through which two boys had disappeared.
She thought of the long winter and the fact that refusing might mean choosing a future she could not survive.
But more than that, she remembered Daniel allowing her to fix his hair.
The way Samuel watched her as though she might be the answer to some prayer he didn't know how to voice.
"If I say yes," Eleanor said softly, "it would be for them as much as for me."
Thomas nodded.
"Those boys need more than I can give them in a few days."
"They do."
"And you'd really let me establish a school here?"
"I would."
Eleanor drew a slow breath.
"Then yes."
The words left her mouth more easily than expected.
"I'll marry you, Mr. Caldwell."
Thomas didn't smile.
Didn't display any dramatic relief.
He simply nodded as though she had agreed to help bring in a harvest.
"I'll ride to town as soon as the roads clear. Speak to Reverend Morrison."
"What will you tell him? About why we're..."
"I'll tell him the truth. That we're two practical people making a practical decision."
Thomas paused.
"Unless you'd prefer a different story."
Eleanor considered that.
A whirlwind romance would certainly sound more acceptable.
But there was something valuable in honesty, even uncomfortable honesty.
"The truth will do."
Thomas extended his hand.
After a moment, Eleanor took it.
His grip was warm and calloused from years of labor.
It felt like sealing a bargain.
Which, she supposed, was exactly what it was.
"Welcome to the family, Miss Hayes."
A crash sounded from the sitting room, followed by the boys arguing.
Thomas winced.
"I should warn you. They're not always as well behaved as they've been this morning."
Eleanor smiled for the first time since reaching the ranch.
"Mr. Caldwell, I've spent 3 years teaching school. I'm not easily shocked by misbehaving children."
As though summoned by the words, Samuel appeared with tears pouring down his cheeks and a red mark on his forehead.
"Papa! Daniel hit me with the wooden horse!"
Thomas sighed and started toward the sitting room.
Eleanor followed.
She was already beginning to understand what she had agreed to.
It would be a long winter.
But for the first time in weeks, she felt something resembling hope.
Three days after the roads cleared, Reverend Morrison arrived at Caldwell Ranch looking as though he'd rather be anywhere else in Montana Territory.