"No."
The answer came quickly.
Then Thomas looked almost embarrassed.
"I mean, you can work if you want. That's not what I'm asking."
Anna's mouth curved.
"You're doing badly."
"I know."
That made them both laugh.
Thomas removed his hat.
"I loved Margaret."
Anna's expression softened.
"I know."
"I need to say that first."
"You don't need to apologize for it."
"I'm not."
He looked down at the hat in his hands.
"For a long time I thought loving anyone else would mean what I had with her mattered less."
Anna remained silent.
"Then you came here."
He gave a small, almost helpless laugh.
"Actually Lily brought you here."
"Important distinction."
"Very."
His face became serious.
"You didn't make me forget Margaret."
Anna waited.
"You made me realize remembering her wasn't the same as ending my own life when hers ended."
Anna's eyes filled.
Thomas continued.
"I care about you."
Her heart pounded.
"I think about you when you're in town. Lily talks about you every day. The house feels wrong when you aren't there, but that isn't the reason I'm asking."
"What is?"
Thomas looked directly into her eyes.
"Because when you're there, I don't feel like you're filling an empty place."
His voice lowered.
"It feels like you're making a new one."
Anna could not speak.
Thomas took a breath.
"I don't expect an answer tonight."
"You don't?"
"No."
"Good."
He looked nervous.
Anna almost laughed.
Then she reached over and placed her hand on his.
Thomas stopped breathing.
"I'm still not giving you an answer tonight."
"Understood."
"But you can ask again."
"When?"
Anna looked toward the stars appearing over the mountains.
"Not tonight."
Thomas smiled.
For the first time, she saw what he must have looked like before grief settled into his face.
Three months later, Thomas asked again.
This time Anna said yes.
Not because she needed a roof.
Not because she needed wages.
Not because a frightened woman at a railway station had nowhere else to go.
By then Anna had nearly fifty dollars saved.
She had permanent work available at the school.
Widow Chandler had offered her the room indefinitely.
Anna could have remained in Willow Creek alone.
She chose Thomas.
That distinction meant everything.
They married in October.
It was a small ceremony at the white church outside town.
Mrs. Dalton cried and denied it afterward.
Samuel Price attended in his best suit.
Deputy Harris stood near the back.
The ranch hands scrubbed themselves so thoroughly that Lily claimed she barely recognized them.
And Lily stood beside Anna through the entire ceremony.
Just before the vows, she tugged Anna's sleeve.
Anna bent down.
Lily whispered, "I told you there was a place."
Anna looked at her.
"What?"
"At our house."
Anna almost cried before the ceremony had even begun.
Afterward, the three of them returned to the ranch in the same wagon Thomas had used the night he found Anna at the station.
Only this time her battered suitcase did not sit behind them.
Anna had finally replaced it.
Thomas wanted to throw the old one away.
She refused.
Instead, it remained in the attic.
Years later, Lily would find it while searching for Christmas decorations.
By then she was nearly grown.
She carried the suitcase downstairs.
"Why do you still have this terrible thing?"
Anna was standing at the kitchen table kneading bread.
Thomas sat nearby repairing a harness.
Anna looked at the old suitcase.