"Emma, what do you do when you love someone but you aren't ready to get married?" Erin sighed.
Emma turned to look at her slowly from where she was washing the dishes with Joy. "Um, are you talking about G. W?"
Erin nodded, looking at the floor. "He... proposed to me last night, and, uh, I said no. He's been acting so strange. It didn't seem like him. I'm only seventeen. I want to wait a while before I settle down."
Emma left Elizabeth to finish up, and sat beside her sister. "I think it's wise to do what you did. Marriage when you aren't even twenty isn't for everyone. Just because Mary Ellen did it doesn't mean you have to."
Erin nodded. "I think I just want us to be friends..."
Jason rushed in, out of breath. "Erin, did you hear? G. W is hurt real bad. Ike found him lying on the road, real badly hurt, beaten nearly to death."
Erin grew pale and she stood up quickly. "W-what? What happened?!" Emma bit her lip. This was extremely unlike anything that had ever happened before on Walton's Mountain.
Erin walked quickly towards G. W's room, with Ben and Emma right behind her. "Curt? How's G. W?"
Curt looked extremely tired. "Dying. He wants to see you."
Erin blinked back tears before rushing into the room and kneeling beside him. "What happened?"
G. W looked at her weakly. "I fell into the wrong crowd in Rockfish... they threatened me... I had to pay them money... I thought if I married you I could live in happiness for at least a while..."
Erin was crying now, salty tears flowing down her cheeks. "George William Haines, why didn't you tell me?" G. W was too weak to speak, and he kissed her lips with one simple act of love before passing away.