I know this assembly better than he does. That is not an answer I like. It's the only honest one I have. Evelyn's eyes filled. You have Lily.
I know. You have me, too. Elias went. It was the first time she had said it so plainly. He touched her gloved hand.
That's why I'm coming back. The rescue that followed was dangerous, but not dramatic in the way newspaper artists later made it appear. Elias did not leap across a chasm or hang over an abyss with one hand. He crawled along secured timber with two men holding his safety line. He reached the jam brake linkage, cleared packed ice and bent metal, and signaled the engineer.
The car rolled forward several feet onto stable track. Then the damaged ledge gave way behind it. Elias fell hard onto the timber. The safety rope held for a few seconds. Evelyn could not see him through snow and dust.
Then his hand rose above the rail. Workers pulled him back. He had bruised ribs, a torn sleeve, and a cut across one palm. Nothing worse. Evelyn reached him before anyone else.
She dropped to her knees in the snow and wrapped both arms around him. "Don't ever make me watch that again," Elias winced. "I was hoping you'd be impressed." She laughed through tears. "I am furious. That's close enough." The men around them began to smile.
Elias reached into the inside pocket of his coat. His fingers closed around a small object he had carried for 3 weeks. "Since you're already angry, I might as well finish this badly." Evelyn stared at him. He opened his hand. There was no diamond.
There was a simple copper ring, polished smooth, made from a thick washer in the machine shop. I plan to do this somewhere warmer, he said. And with fewer people staring, one of the workers immediately looked away. Everyone else pretended to. Elias took a breath.
Evelyn Whitmore, will you marry a man who will probably always smell faintly of coal smoke. Her lips trembled. Is that your entire proposal? I had a better speech before I hit the ground. She laughed again, then held out her hand.
Ask me properly. Elias looked into her eye. Will you build a life with me? Evelyn's answer came without hesitation. Yes.
He slid the copper ring onto her finger. She looked at it as if it were the finest jewel in America. I would have said yes if you had nothing at all. That evening, Lily inspected the ring at the company house. Do you like it more than any shiny one?
Lily considered this carefully. Because Papa made it. Evelyn smiled. "Uh, exactly." They married on Christmas Eve, just over a year after the night Evelyn first came to Elias's cabin. The ceremony took place in the small chapel the railroad had built for workers and their families.