Excerpt from Wiley's Dilemma

Wiley walked back to his place and into his house.  Heidi was there washing dishes, while Luke was taking a nap.  "How long has he been a sleep?" Wiley asked.
"Just about an hour.  He will probably be waking up soon." Heidi answered.
"I thought I would take him with me to the Hoffmann's.  I need to tell them about the burial. But I hate to wake him. Poor little guy, he has been through so much this week."
"Yes, we all have, none more than you." Heidi said looking at him. 
"The last thing I need now, Heidi is more pity.  I have had too much spent on me already, and I have used all my tears. Peter is next door, that is his land now.  Why don't you take a break and let him walk you around the place?  I'll give Luke a few more minutes to sleep then I will take him with me to the Hoffmann's." He squeezed her shoulder and thanked her for everything.
Heidi wasn't sure what to make of his comment.  She knew he was as tired of crying as she was.  Her eyes hurt so badly and the lump in her throat seems to have become permanent.
She put the last dish on the drain and dried her hands with the towel. "There is a stack of clean diapers by the crib. Don't forget to grab a couple before you leave to the Hoffmann's. She nodded and walked out of the house. 
Wiley put Luke in the wagon then climbed up himself. He saw Heidi and Peter holding hands walking around the front of Peter's place. He smiled and hoped Peter would ask her now to marry him.
Peter held Heidi's hand as they walked around looking at the land.  He saw how exhausted she was and noticed her swollen eyes.  He knew his own eyes were swollen also by the way they felt.  They mostly walked without words.
Finally Peter broke the silence.  "Heidi...I just want to tell you something that I told Wiley the other day, the day that Jenny got sick.  It was right after our luncheon, when we were cutting trees, and we stopped for a break.  He was still very uncertain about me, and I guess I have given you all plenty to be uncertain about.  He asked me if I was accustomed to hard work in the hill country.  He assumed I was, since in his words, I had no trouble keeping up.  I told him that I really wasn't, but I was athletic and competitive by nature.  So he asked me if I thought we were competing for something.  I told him that I thought that I was in the competition of my life, for you.  He told me that you'd come around, and that is when I told him that you had already told me we did not suit and you would not marry me." 
"Oh Peter, so much has changed..." Peter gently put his finger over her mouth.
"Let me finish." He said softly, looking into her eyes.  Then he looked away, "I asked him why you looked at him the way you did, was it because it was him, or because of the things he did?"
"Wiley told me that he wasn't sure about what I was asking, but he was certain that we were not competing for you.  He said that he loved his wife, and she was the only one for him."
Heidi listened intently, but wondered why he was telling her all of this. 
Peter continued, "I told him that Jenny had to be awfully special for him to pick her over you. He assured me that Jenny was the only woman for him and she was perfect in his eyes.  But that he didn't choose between you, as you came later."
Heidi nodded, still listening.
"I mentioned how much you love his babies, he answered that you love them because you love Jenny, not because you love him."
Heidi averted her eyes as she felt them welling up again. 
"I told him that I had to do something to win your heart, because I had never met anyone like you, and I couldn't bear to not make you my wife..." He hesitated for a few minutes.  She could see that he had more to say, so she said nothing and waited. Peter took a deep breath and cleared his throat.  "Heidi, those babies need you, and...I think you could love Wiley."
Her mouth fell open.
"You need to marry him, Heidi." Peter said as tears dripped from his chin.
Heidi turned around and covered her face with both hands and cried out loud sobbing very hard.  She was still facing away from him when he put his hands around both shoulders and whispered in her ear.  "They need you Heidi."
"What makes you think Wiley would even consider it?" Heidi asked between sobs.
"Because...he is going to have to, honey, he can't do this all by himself, he needs you as much as the babies need you.
"If you cared for me so much, how could you just hand me away like this?" Heidi asked him.
"I just know..." Peter almost choked trying to hold in his pain, "that it is the right thing for everyone."
Heidi shook her head, "Wiley won't do it, he won't. He loved Jenny too much." 
"We are not going to talk about it right away.  I just wanted you to know where my head or my heart... was right now. I wanted you to know why I haven't asked for your hand.  But one last thing Heidi, please don't mistake any of what I said, as me not caring for you, or not wanting you for myself." He held his breath to stifle a sob. "That is all I should say on this matter to you."
Heidi looked up into his eyes and buried her face in his chest.
She never was so confused in all her life.  She lost her best friend in the world, and even though she hadn't told anyone, especially not Wiley, she thought about Jenny's last words to her, when Wiley took Jenny Beth to Raphaela.  Jenny had told her to marry Wiley, and be her children's mother.