Rogue in Texas

this. I won’t stray from my vows.”
“I got no choice.”
She surged to her feet. “If you kill him, I’ll hate you until the day I die.”
“Do you love me now?” he asked, slamming the gun onto the table.
Reaching out, she wrapped her hands around his, stilling his actions. “I care for you, John. You gave me a roof over my head, food in my belly, and children. You gave me everything I needed when I had nothing.”
“But I never gave you the one thing you wanted. I never gave you love. Well, now I aim to give it to you.”
He shoved to his feet and stalked across the room toward the door.
“Killing him will not show me that you love me!” she cried out after him.
He staggered to a stop. “You’ve changed, Abigail.”
“I think the war changed all of us.”
“Made you stronger. Made me weaker. Now I gotta be strong.”
“You’re not weak, John.”
His only response was to slam the door behind him. A few minutes later she heard the sound of galloping hooves and knew a terror greater than any she’d ever known.

Abbie stood on the front porch, watching the sun ease over the horizon. Was it over yet? Was one man dead, another alive? She hadn’t been able to bring herself to go, to watch men die uselessly.
What did they hope to gain? To prove? Damn male pride.