"You say to the little lady; Sara, will you, please marry me?"
Roy was scared and had no idea what was happening. His head was spinning and everything occurred rather fast. He hesitated too long.
"Gosh, darn it, Roy. Ain't you ever asked a woman before?"
Roy shook his head.
While Roy clutched the ring in his fingers, Tom grabbed Roy's wrist and thrust it up toward Sara. Then with his big meaty paw, Tom grabbed Roy's lower jaw and worked it up and down like a puppet.
"Sara, will you marry me? I mean Roy?" said Tom in a high pitched voice.
"Tom, my voice doesn't sound like that."
Sara burst into laughter.
Roy looked up and pleaded. "Well, will you, Sara?"
"Yes Roy Folsom, I would be happy to marry you." Then realizing she probably should have cleared this with Abe and Billy first, she glanced over at the boys. "Well, Abe, Billy, what do you think?"
Billy was nodding his head and grinning. Abe looked contemplative with his arms folded and said, "I don't know Maw; maybe we should think about it." Then Abe started smiling. "He'll be okay Maw."
"See Roy, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Tom then slapped Roy on the back. "Congratulations you two; you'll make a great couple."
Roy jumped to his feet and began kissing Sara. Wrapping his arms around her, Roy lifted Sara off the ground. Suddenly the burly, sweaty, blacksmith workers were hugging Roy, Sara, and each other with vocal noises. The workers acted like elderly church ladies breaking up from a tea party.
On the ride home, Sara snuggled close to Roy, pausing now and then to look at the ring on her finger. As she rolled it around, she looked up at Roy and smiled.
"We'll need to set a date for the ceremony."
Shocked, Roy stared at Sara. "In a few weeks, Sara, today was difficult enough. I need time to recover."
Sara laughed. "Oh Roy, you are such a dear man."
"There's no rush, Sara. It takes me time to absorb all the changes. Besides, the church isn't ready yet."
"Okay, Roy, take your time. But don't make me wait too long."
A week elapsed and Roy was at his homestead tending to his garden. He was berating himself for ignoring his place because parts of the vegetable plants were beginning to wilt in the heat. Off in the distance, faint multiple gun shots rang out with a slight echo in his small canyon. Looking across the desert, Roy saw nothing indicating trouble.
He scrambled up the mountain behind the cabin for a better view. Against the far hills of the flat valley, Roy could barely make out some activity. The heat waves coming off the desolate floor obscured the details making it impossible to discern exactly what was going on. Additional shots rang out and Roy could almost make out men and horses scurrying about in the distance. More shots were fired, and then everything went quiet. Straining to look at the scene, Roy watched for several minutes but could see no more activity.