No One But You by Leigh Greenwood

his enthusiasm, his optimism, the pleasure he took in his work. Most of all, she loved his laugh. She couldn’t remember the last time she or her children had laughed.
    It appeared Salty could find a reason to laugh at anything. At the small pair of chaps Rose had given Zac on his last birthday. At the lazy bull showing no interest in the cows he was to impregnate. At a pullet fleeing the attentions of a rooster. The only time she’d seen him frown was when she told him he didn’t fit her requirements. They ended up in a large garden where the fruit trees were beginning to bud.
    â€œGeorge leaves the garden to Rose and me. He says he got enough blisters digging the first one to last a lifetime.”
    Salty showed her where beans, peas, squash, and a dozen other vegetables would be planted in the days ahead. “Not everything we had in Georgia likes Texas soil or the heat, but I’m determined to find a way to grow apples and peaches.”
    Sarah had never seen an apple or a peach. The only fruits she had tasted were berries that grew wild.
    â€œI expect I’ll have the garden pretty much to myself until George hires someone else,” Salty said.
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œRose will be busy with the baby, and Walter will be with you.”
    Sarah could hear the disappointment in his voice. She wanted to say something, do something, but nothing came to mind. She knew what she had to do. Despite her attraction to Salty, she had to choose Walter.
    â€œI’d better get back up to the house,” she said. “I promised to help Rose.” Did he look disappointed? “Thanks for showing me around. I know it was time you’d probably have preferred spending doing your work.”
    â€œMy work will always be here. I haven’t had a chance to spend this much time with a pretty woman since before the war.”
    â€œI intend to tell Rose what you said.” It was a poor effort at humor, but it was the best she could do. Fortunately, it earned a smile.
    Salty corrected himself. “I should have said ‘a pretty woman who wasn’t married and expecting a baby.’”
    â€œYou’re a very nice man. I hope you find a woman who’s as nice as you,” Sarah said impulsively. Then she turned and hurried toward the house before she could see Salty’s reaction. Whatever it might have been, she didn’t want the burden of remembering it.
    * * *
    Sarah had grown increasingly nervous as the meal progressed. An afternoon spent helping Rose hadn’t been able to distract her from the decision she kept making over and over again. It seemed she only had to think I will do this , and a dozen reasons why she should do the opposite would spring to mind.
    Other than saying that Salty had shown her around the ranch, she was spared questions at the supper table about her decision because the children were so full of what they’d done that day they couldn’t stop talking. While she was pleased that Ellen had been allowed to ride any horse she wanted, she was thrilled that Zac had taken Jared over what sounded like half the ranch. Jared had rarely been a hundred feet from his front door. He must have felt like he’d been given the world.
    â€œTyler said I could ride better than him or Zac,” Ellen told her mother.
    â€œShe hasn’t seen me ride,” Zac protested.
    â€œI have,” Tyler said.
    Zac looked willful. “I don’t care about horses. I’m going to New Orleans when I get big.”
    â€œIf you don’t stop yapping and eat, I’ll send you there,” Monty warned.
    â€œLeave him alone,” Rose said. “The day will come when you’ll wish he was still here.”
    Monty laughed. “I’m not crazy.”
    â€œJared said he’d like to go to New Orleans, too,” Zac informed everybody. “We plan to open a gambling hall together.”
    Sarah didn’t know whether Jared’s flushed