Dean nodded his head in agreement, happy Cynthia's mood had mellowed. "It's nineteen-hundred, ma'am. Close your eyes and just listen."
"Are you going to make me walk back alone, sir?" Cynthia asked as she snuggled even closer, the earlier troubles of the day drifting even further away.
"No, Miss Quincy. There's no prayer meeting tonight."
"I think they really loved each other," Cynthia said.
"Even if they didn't, we'll pretend they did," Dean answered as he shook the rein. The chore of driving the sleigh took little concentration, as Daisy was far more adept at her assignment than the driver. She was as pleased as they at her freedom to trot away the afternoon. Dean continued, "We know we love each other. There's no pretending on that point. And we're not illicit."
Cynthia looked pensive. "Imagine the overwhelming guilt Rev. Martin must have felt over this terrible sin of his relationship with a prostitute. His whole life on the brink of destruction if it were recognized what he was doing. Constant fear of being found out. But perhaps this one afternoon when they were out here together, just like we are, alone in the world, it was different. They were somehow apart from all that, the squalor and wretchedness of her life, the constant fear of being discovered. Out here, it's so peaceful. Everything else is another world. It must have been the same to them. Their love has no limits or bounds. There is only this beauty they can see from the cushions of their sleigh, these very same mountains, the valley, and especially each other." She leaned up and kissed him, with a first-kiss gentleness. "Thank you, Reverend Martin, for taking me away, even for just an afternoon. I know in my heart it can never be, but for today, it is." It was 1900, and the happy couple were the only people in the world.
Neither spoke for more than an hour, until the ranch and stable were in sight and Dean's watch reminded them of reality. Finally, it was he who broke the silence. "It was probably the happiest afternoon of her life. We know she didn't live long after that. But at least Annie Quincy had one happy day to remember. I'm not sure Edith Shipton ever has enjoyed that much."
Cynthia turned to her husband. "We'll not let Jerome Shipton spoil our days for us. No matter what we have to do. Our whole life together is too perfect to let anything as insignificant as him interfere with it."