Rose's Gift

Some say life is a cycle, but it’s really a spiral. Seasons come and go, but when they return, it’s to a new place.
A sixty year old widow, Rose has her life set out in a comfortable way-- bridge, tea with friends, family dropping by, and a nice little home. She went through a depression when she lost her husband four years earlier but has come to terms with life as it must be—or so she thought, until a man comes along to challenge her assumptions.
Ollie, nearly sixty, has been cowboy, rustler, and ranch foreman. When he saw something he wanted, he has come to Tucson to claim it. Knowing more about cattle and horses than women, he set out to woo Rose by showing her the kind of man he is.
Except, is it too late? Can she give up her comforts? This man won’t be satisfied with living in the city as she has. She will have to change more than adding a man to her bed... He has made it clear what kind of marriage he intends it to be.  Is she up to that? Accepting his proposal could upset his friends and hers. A new life? A new home? A wedding? A happily ever after? Or is it all too late?
From the first three Arizona historicals, the novella, Rose’s Gift brings together characters for a birth, a death, and a wedding-- all in the holiday season. Change is on its way. None of them are ready for it, but ready or not, here it comes.
Snippet from Rose’s Gift:
The knock at the door stopped her ruminating. Was Ollie going to demand an answer she didn’t yet have? She opened the door and managed a smile. He was wearing a shirt she had never seen and had a bouquet of flowers in his hand. She stepped aside to let him enter her parlor. When Grace had entertained her beaus there, she had never imagined she might do the same.
“I am sorry, Rose,” he said as he handed her six red roses before he sat on the sofa. “I came on too sudden. I should’ve not pushed you like I did. I was acting like an unbroke colt.”
She held onto the roses. It had been years since anyone had given her any. Had they ever? She dropped into a chair across from him. She should put the roses in water. She didn’t want to release them. “I didn’t feel you did that.”
“I just... Wal, getting to my age, I don’t see the years in front of me that I left behind. I was rushin’ ya and I didn’t mean to do that.”
“Are you taking back your question?” she asked meeting his gaze levelly.
“Not at all. Just figured I should do some courtin’, not expect ya to just know what ya want the way I did.”
She knew suddenly. It was such a shock to realize how much she did know. She only had one question first.
“Do you like me?”
He gave a little laugh. “What’s not to like? I like you a lot. You take care of those around you, offer loving touches to everybody, you cook real good, you think, and I like a woman who can think. Yes, I like you.”
“All right... if you really do want me to marry you, the answer is yes.”
He smiled then. It was at first a small smile but then a broader one. “You will be my wife?”
She nodded.
“Then, come sit here on the sofa with me, gal.”
“Why?” But she knew.
“I told ya what I wanted. I want to give you a little taste of it.”

For Rose, saying yes is just the beginning.