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After a moment of silence, he looked at Cora, "It' none of my business but I've been wondering something about you for some time."
"What's that?" Cora chuckled.
"Why didn't you ever have children Cora?"
Her face mirrored a pain she hadn't talked about with anyone. She shrugged; a strange look came in her eyes. "We tried, just never happened. After a while we both settled out and realized that we were fine without them. When you don’t have children, you sure have to learn how to get along with each other as that's all you have."
"I worry about you out here alone." Charlie told her. "No kids to see to you."
"Nothing to worry about, I get by." Cora said her voice going a bit husky. "I got a nice home, and I'm familiar with it too. I work every day."
"I know, I worry about that too. If you was to fall off a ladder, or someone come upon you out there, no tellin' what kind of fix you'd be in. Why don't you let me help you off an on, when you got something heavy to do?"
Cora looked at him strangely, "Why Charlie, that's awful nice of you to offer. Alright, next time I got something I need doing I'll holler."
They were silent a moment, then she looked at him, "You know as newlyweds, they are gonna need some time alone. And I do have a project I can't handle. I been meanin' to do something about it for a while, but I just couldn't get inspired. And I'll admit I'm scared of ladders too."
"Name it?" Charlie chuckled.
"I need to paint the place."
"Say, I'm a good painter. Alright, name the time, and I'll come over to help."
"Well, say after they marry, you and the baby come over and I'll watch Elan and you can paint some for me every day for a while. You won't have to rush to get it done or anything. They need that time Charlie. That way they can have some privacy and I can get this old house painted."
"I think that's a crackerjack idea."
"Good, then I'll buy some paint."
He turned her chin around, saw the tear in her eye and kissed her solidly on the lips.
"Why Charlie," she murmured as he pulled away.
"Been wantin' to do that for a long time, Cora. Guess I'm as slow as Clay about some things." He smiled and got out of the buggy and went to put it up for her, then got on his horse. "You didn't object, so I reckon there'll be more of them surprises."
"No, Charlie, I didn't object at all. After the weddin' then?"
He chuckled, "After the wedding."
They stared at each other for a moment.
She shook her head, smiled and stared after him a long while as he rode home, kicking up the dust as he went.
Chapter Sixteen
A couple of days later, Cora came over early.
"Well, to what do I owe this pleasure," Charlie asked as he helped her out of the buggy, he'd heard her arrive and came out to greet her.
"I thought we could go get some paint and whatever else your gonna need to do the job." Cora told him as he invited her inside for some coffee.
"Sounds like a good idea." He smiled and poured them both a cup of coffee. "I need to pick up a few things too."
"Good, I didn't want to take up the entire day, that's why I came so early."
"Where's Willa?"
"She takes a bath in the creek with Elan early mornings."
