Friday Night…

Timothy kneeled beside his humble bed to pray before he went to sleep every night. He prayed for every person in Colorado Springs, for every person from his past, for the weather, good crops, and good business for the town. Tonight he added a special prayer for himself…the first time he'd been selfish before God in a long time.

Dear Heavenly Father, please forgive all of my sins I have committed in thought, word, and deed, and please make me worthy of your glory. Tonight I find myself in special need of your guidance. I will accept your will for my life, Lord, but I am feeling more a bachelor than ever before. In my own heart I have wanted a family of my own since I left my past and found You. I have attempted courting twice before, and neither time the woman was your choice for me, but I pray that you help me to gather the strength and courage I need to try one last time, God. Lucy Greene is such a spirited, beautiful, intelligent woman, and I know that I can lead her back to You as well. But that's not the only reason why I want to court her. I just feel as if she was left here for a reason, and that reason is to be with me. Again, Lord, I cannot know your Divine Will for both of our lives, but I pray that you look upon the both of us as lonely people who need each other and show us your plans for our lives. In Your Holy Name I pray…

He conveniently left out the admission that he'd fantasized about her sexually twice more since Sunday. He figured the Lord knew his thoughts anyway, so there was no need to bring it up again. Ever, if possible.

Preston and Lucy had a relatively quiet supper that evening, followed by the promised moonlit walk (although the moon was obscured by thick, bleak-looking clouds that evening, and the air hung heavy with the promise of rain).

"So, enough about me, tell me a little more about you," Preston said after a lengthy discussion about his past. Lucy shrugged. "I mean, what's a gorgeous woman from New York doing in a tiny settlement like this?"

"There isn't much to say other than what I've told you already," she admitted. "What else would you like to know?" Damn, this is a boring conversation.

"Your interests, maybe? Your hopes for the future? I mean, you don't want to work at Grace's for the rest of your life, do you?" Preston snickered a little under his breath, as if Grace's café were a dirty ghetto worse than Hell's Kitchen.

Lucy sighed. "Well, I like reading about history, especially biographies of famous people."

Preston yawned and tried hard to conceal it.

"I also love animals, especially cats. The boarding house had eight wandering around to catch mice. And, I love dancing, even though the only lessons I've ever had were in the streets back in New York," Lucy's voice got softer and less confident as she went on. "I know that I want marriage and children, but I also want to opportunity to see more of the country, maybe even the world. I would need a man who was willing to take an equal role in raising our babies—"

"—equal? How?" Preston asked.

"Well, equal share in their education, discipline, as well as the cooking, cleaning, watching out for their health and caring for them in sickness."

"I suppose you get that from living in a city all your life. Trust me, I know what that's like," Preston said.

"You do now? How so? What makes us city people different from someone like Jake Slicker or Loren Bray?" Lucy asked, name-dropping a few of the people she'd become familiar with over the past week.

"City folks like us are raised with a certain maturity. We have to adapt to sharing smaller, more intimate surroundings with more people. We're exposed to a lot more when we're younger. Out here, morals take on a much stricter definition because people have never seen examples of what life is like without rules. In fact, even most men around here are expected to have never lied with a woman before they marry them!" he mused as they strolled down the main street. "Except for maybe those who frequent The Gold Nugget."

"I've never been with a woman," Lucy chuckled. Preston laughed.

"I don't suppose you have. But have you ever been—"

"—while I believe that is none of your business in particular, no, I've never slept with a man, either." Lucy felt her face getting warm. She hoped the conversation would get boring again, quickly.

"I didn't think so," Preston said.

"What do you mean by that?" Lucy replied quickly.

Preston stopped and turned to face Lucy. He gently places both of his hands on her elbows to pull her close to him. "Because you're so young and beautiful, so naturally you're a virgin. No man in his right mind would want to spoil you."

"SPOIL ME?" Lucy cried, suddenly outraged. "Listen, Preston, even if I'd slept with fifty men, I wouldn't be spoiled, as you call it. I still have my dignity, my independence, and my own set of rules! My love life is no concern of any man who would want to share my bed, and it is not equal to my worth as a woman and a person!"

"Alright, alright," Preston muttered, suddenly feeling a bit uncomfortable. What a temper on this one! "I was just trying to be kind. You are very beautiful."

"I thank you for the complement and forgive you for your nosy indiscretion," Lucy said after a moment of thinking, lowering her voice once more. Preston continued to gaze into her eyes.

"I feel like I want to kiss you," he murmured gently. "But I feel compelled to ask your permission first."

"That would be a new twist," Lucy said, stone-faced. Preston stepped back and snorted.

"So you HAVE kissed men before?" he overreactingly asked. Lucy scowled.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I have. Twice."

"When?"

"I really don't feel like telling you," she said. "I honestly feel like going home and going to bed."

That was when the first rumble of thunder rolled overhead. Moments later, the rain followed in sheets as the beginnings of the storm moved in.

"I guess that's a sign that you're right," Preston sighed. "Come, I'll make sure you get there." He offered his hand to Lucy, who stared a moment at it with hesitation. "COME!" Preston urged.

Lucy finally took his hand, and the pair ran down the main street towards the hotel. The mud was thick, and it slowed them down considerably. Lucy began laughing as the hem of her good dress became stained.

Finally, they reached the hotel, and Preston led Lucy up the steps to under the porch overhang, so that they would at least be dry for a moment.

"I hope we don't catch cold!" Lucy moaned. Preston shrugged.

"It would be my honor to get sick on account of you, Miss Lucile," he crooned, taking her hand and kissing it delicately over the knuckles before finally letting it go. "I am sorry for offending you earlier. It's just…I'm a man who speaks before he thinks. I hope you understand."

"I do," Lucy agreed, nodding. Preston smiled.

"I would like to call on you again sometime, if you would allow it," he asked. Lucy looked out into the stormy night. She could see the church at the other end of town through all of the dark rain, only because a candle was lit in the window. In just another second, it was snuffed out.

Lucy turned to Preston again to answer him. "Maybe. Preston, I just got to town, and I feel like I need some air first."

"Well, the Rockies are the best place for fresh air—"

"—you know what I mean," she replied, giving a stern look that even a man like Preston couldn't misinterpret. "Tonight was fine…mostly fine, anyway. I need to think and have time to myself to settle in first. Then, as time goes by we can do something."

"So you want to? Just, after you're a bit more acquainted with the town?" Preston was beginning to badger Lucy to the point where she was uncomfortable, so to end the night, she nodded quickly.

"Yes."

It was as if an angel had shaken Preston's hand, and then left one hundred dollars in his palm. He grinned with victory.

"Then, may I leave you with one kiss? Until we meet again?" he suggested. Lucy nodded again with reluctance.

As they were nearly the same height, Preston did not have to lean down far to reach Lucy's lips. The kiss was pleasant, but also relatively mechanical and formal. Preston kissed by the book, as Shakespeare once described it.

It was the only kind of kiss that Lucy knew, so she didn't mind.