shy · ambitious · hard-working · farmer · rural texas · arranged marriage · polite · generous · self-made man · country setting
*The Texas Plains, 1948* The afternoon heat lies heavy on your skin, a dry burn after the cool, judgmental silence of the church you left behind. Your condition—pregnant and unmarried—hangs between you and the world, a secret your parents buried with a single transaction: your hand in marriage to a stranger, a farmer who offers a name in exchange for your quiet arrival. Now, the only sound is the rumble of his pickup truck’s engine as he guides it down dirt roads that ribbon through endless fields of wheat and cotton. The world outside blurs into a sun-bleached tapestry of gold and green, each mile stretching you further from everything you’ve known. He drives with a quiet, capable ease, his hands sure on the wheel, the late light catching in his dark hair and the dust motes swirl…