Laurey knew the night it happened. Went to bed with a special sort of lightness she couldn't place. Being with Jud had started to feel so natural the last few weeks, and every night she looked forward to curling up next to his large, warm body and falling asleep after making love to him. But that night somehow felt even better than usual; even more comfortable, yet more exciting at the same time.
She dreamed that night, the sweetest dream she had ever known. She was standing outside the house, and there he was, on his old horse Dunn. Sitting there so straight and proud like he was still a cowboy, the way he always sat in the days she first knew him.
"Miss Laurey." He grinned and tipped his hat, his face obscured by its shadow.
"Curly!" She walked up to him and put a hand on Dunn's neck. "I'm sorry, I thought you was dead."
"What? Think I'd be crazy enough to leave the prettiest girl this side of Lone Ellum all on her lonesome?"
She laughed, not wanting to question him any further. "I guess not. But, um," she didn't quite know how to spring the news on him. "I been spendin' some time with Jud. D'you mind?"
Curly shrugged, a familiar gesture she'd almost forgotten about. The tiny inclination of his head to the side, the air of nonchalance; she ached seeing that little shrug.
"He'll take care of you. And the little one. You just—you don't forget about me, you hear?"
"No, Curly. Never. Please, can't you stay?"
"Got a cattle run, darlin'. Life of a cowboy."
"I love you." She pressed her hand into his.
"Love you, too"
She woke up with a smile on her face, woke knowing the dream had to be true, that her mind couldn't just invent that. And even if it had—did that matter? She wanted to think Curly was still there, watching over her and loving her the way he always had. The way she'd always love him.
Jud rolled over a few minutes later and stroked her cheek. She leaned into his touch, nuzzling his hand.
"I had the best dream last night."
"That's good. What was it?"
"I saw, um, Aunt Eller." She knew that she could love Jud and Curly at the same time, but also knew that it would be impossible for Jud to understand. "She seemed happy for me. Seems to like you a lot."
"That's good. Hope she'd have liked me."
"Of course she would've." Laurey bumped her forehead against his. "You make me so happy."
She'd had a few false hopes with Curly and didn't want to burden Jud with her disappointment like she had back then. So, she waited to tell him, waited until she was absolutely sure.
"Hey, Jud" she greeted him a few weeks later as he walked in from the farm, her heart fluttering in her chest. "I'm gonna have a baby."
He beamed, broader than she'd ever seen. "Oh, Laurey! That's—" He suddenly shifted his demeanor, and looked at the floor. "You gonna keep it?" She ached for him, ached at how wary he still was of any good thing, wanted to show him that the world could be good to him, that he deserved every good thing it had to offer.
"Yeah" she slipped an arm around his shoulder, standing on tiptoes to bump her forehead against his. "But only if a big, handsome man I loved more'n anythin' in the world proposed to me."