February 1

Noon

After seeing her guest out, Rosemary walked over to the stove and put the remainder of the coffee on low on the back burner. Lee would be home here before too long. In the mean time, she needed something to keep her mind occupied. She looked around the house. Even in the midst of the busyness, it was still immaculate. What she needed was a chore she could take some of her frustration out on and perhaps sort through her thoughts. She snapped her fingers. Yes, she knew just the thing!

An hour later, she heard Lee's Model T rumble into the drive from her spot in the backyard: the wash tub filled with hot water, her wash board and lye soap nearby, and a pile of dirty laundry at her feet. The first load was already soaking in the rinse bucket while she added more soap and agitated the second load in the washtub. Sure enough, a few minutes later, the back door opened and Lee peeked his head out.

"There you are Rosie." He surveyed the scene before him. "What in tarnation are you doing?"

"Laundry, silly." She said holding up the bar of soap.

"I can see that— but here? Now? I thought there were other matters on your mind."

"That's why I needed to wash."

"What?" He closed the back door and stood on the porch, gripping his arms against his chest in an effort to stay warm. "I'm not following you."

"By keeping myself active, I could process some of what Abigail and I talked about this morning."

"Okay, but it is frigid out here. Aren't you frozen through?"

She motioned to the hot water, the steam rising off of it. "No. Plus, I always warm through when scrubbing out your shirts." She motioned to a pile still on the ground, containing Lee's shirts from the past week.

"I'm glad you are finding something to help you heal," he assessed the laundry pile, his eyes landing on his favorite green plaid vest, "but go easy on my vest, would you?"

He cracked a grin at that and she did too. Then, he promptly blew on his hands, which must have already been starting to feel the chill and retreated into the house. Perhaps he'd help himself to some coffee and do some reading and she'd be in before too long and they could have their talk, which would definitely help her with processing all this information and forgiveness business.

The door creaked and Lee returned, this time wearing his red tartan coat, a scarf, and a hat. He also held two cups of coffee, the steam rising off of them.

"Where do we start?" He settled on the overturned bucket next to her and after handing her a mug of coffee, took a long sip of his own and set it on the ground.

"You're going to help me?" She stared at him in disbelief. If there was one thing Lee abhorred, it was the cold winters of Hope Valley.

"Well, of course. In more than one way I hope." He winked at her and she gave him a soft smile. He was ever the gentleman, that Lee Coulter, but lately she realized his behavior was actually conveying so much more than that. He yearned to be her companion. And on so many instances she had turned him away or insisted she had it covered. She handed him the bar of lye soap.

"You can start here while I wring out the rinsed items."

He accepted the bar of soap from her hands but instead of letting go, he pulled her closer to him and laid a kiss right on her lips.

"I love you, Rosemary Coulter."

"I know." Her smile extended all the way from her heart.

She stood and grabbed the first item to wring out. After this, they would take the washed laundry inside and hang them around the stove to dry on this wintry day. Perhaps they would stop after this load of four or five of Lee's shirts. There wasn't much room in their parlor for hanging items. And, it was a mite chilly out.

She looked at Lee from under her lashes as he roughly scrubbed a white button up shirt of his.

"Oh, careful, the buttons—" She called out but was too late as he stopped scrubbing, picked up a small item from the washboard, and examined it. Sure enough, it was a button.

"I was just going to say: the buttons can snap off under pressure."

He gave her a boyish grin, shrugged and put the button in his pocket. "Speaking of pressure, I know you are under a lot of pressure to meet up with Harriet. Did Abigail's visit offer some assistance this morning?"

"Yes, she is very insightful and she is definitely the "Queen of Forgiveness', as you nicknamed her. I had no idea of all the things she had to forgive and let go of."

"And I'm willing to bet that hardly one transgressor apologized for their hurt in the matter."

"Well, Pastor Frank and Bill— they apologized in time— but Gowen, her biggest transgressor… well, of course not."

"He's a tough nut to crack."

"That's saying it mildly. Speaking of which, how did you ever move past the time he tried to swindle you of your money and virtually close up your whole sawmill business before it even got started?"

"That was a tough one. I guess with a man like Gowen, you realize you have to forgive but also keep your distance. Forgiveness doesn't mean you are foolish or naive. It just means not holding onto that wrong and allowing it to corrode you." He tossed the white dress shirt into the rinse bucket and picked up the next shirt to scrub clean. "Now it's my turn. Let me ask you a question."

"Okay."

"If I hadn't forgiven Gowen of his part against me, do you think it would have hurt him?"

She scoffed. "Of course not. He's just out there doing what he wants to do. He doesn't care if he earned your forgiveness or not."

"That's precisely my point. If I didn't forgive Gowen of almost running me out of business, guess what? The only person who would be hurting and suffering still would be me."

"I see what you are saying." She ceased her wringing.

"I forgave him and moved on. Now you won't see me signing up to be his best friend or even partner. I'll keep my distance. But have I forgiven him? Yes."

"So… I have to forgive Harriet so I can move on."

Lee watched her closely and then nodded. "But I'll warn you. Just deciding to forgive once won't be enough. I know that is the case for me. Sometimes when I still see Gowen dilly-dallying around town old bitterness tries to come into my heart. It's then that I forgive again, and walk away. See, forgiveness is a process. A journey. I'm sorry… I don't mean to compare my small issue with Gowen to your situation with your mother." His eyes were splashed with sincerity and love.

"But, they both are a matter of forgiving from the heart." She responded and wrung out the last item of clothing.

Lee finished scrubbing the last shirt from the tub. He transferred the items to the rinse tub and then tipped over the washtub allowing the water to spill out across the backyard.

"Sure feels good washing all that filth away." He motioned to all the dirty water spilling across the backyard, his double meaning not falling on flat ears.

"I agree…I think it's time."

Lee looked deep in her eyes. "Good. Now let's get you inside." Lee gripped her icecold fingers in his. "Let's get you settled and I'll come back for this." He motioned to the tubs and laundry.

She nodded and allowed him to accompany her to the back door. My, how much better she felt after a good scrubbing and a talk with the man she loved. She could do this, in fact, she was doing this… one step at a time.