Chapter 23
Matthew and I celebrated our engagement the best we could under the circumstances. Willie cried, hugging us both tightly, saying, “I knew it. The first time I saw the two of you together I knew it. I only wish Paul were here to see it. He would have loved having you as his aunt, Grace.” We cried so much everything was blurred for the rest of the day. We had Reverend Smith along, and he said he would be happy to perform our wedding ceremony since we need something to be happy about, but Matthew and I have decided to marry further down the trail. We have some tricky points in our journey coming up and we don’t want to distract anyone with wedding preparations.
Six miles past Independence Rock was Devil’s Gate, another rock formation, this one consisting of a huge, narrow cleft 3
