I have it in my head that he brings her the ring the next week, but I could be wrong.

Nope, you're right. He slipped it over her hand at the end of the ride, and said, "You said it would depend on the ring. Do you like this one?" After she looked at it and heard his description of what the stones were, she said that she liked it very much and accepted his proposal, and then they kissed in the starlight. And it's really sad that I know all this by heart.

I love Laura and Almanzo. She seems to have really adored him, and I hope that made up for the hard times they faced.

They were so great together, especially the way that he had no problems with her being as stubborn and "independent" (as he called her once) as she was. I think that his being around Eliza Jane growing up had something to do with that. Laura never seemed to get along with her much, but her daughter Rose adored her Aunt EJ.

My favorite post-THGY story I've read about them was during the early 1930s, after the first book was published, they were able to afford a vacation away from the farm and drove back home to DeSmet for an Old Settlers reunion. They were able to meet many friends that they hadn't seen in some 40 years (although Cap Garland had been killed before they even moved to Missouri, in a harvesting machine explosion).

ETA:

Does her ring have a pearl in it, or am I mixing her and Anne Shirley up?

A pearl with garnets, I think--I'm sure about the garnets, but not about the pearl.

I remember in THGY, when he comes back unexpectedly from his winter trip to visit the folks back in Minnesota, and she says, "It is pretty, this ring," and he replies, "I would say the hand." Awwww!

Does her ring have a pearl in it, or am I mixing her and Anne Shirley up?

Don't remember Little House well enough, but Anne's ring is definitely pearls. She said she'd always been disappointed in diamonds when the reality didn't match up to her imagination.

I think that Laura's ring was a pearl and garnets.

Thanks for the link -- that would be a great accompaniment to a reread of the books!

A question for fellow romance readers: Are books with heroes who rape the heroines actually still out there? As in, published by a reasonably major print publisher in the last 5 years as a new work, not a reissue of a Woodiwiss or something?

(This question may or may not be related to a writing contest entry I'm judging, with a hero who may or may not be the complete opposite of anything I'd ever find heroic.)

Susan, I do not know of any in at least 5 years, and I read a lot of romance.

I didn't think so, but I'm a fairly selective reader, so I thought there might be a whole mini-trend I'm missing out on. In general, I'm surprised how many contest entries I've run across that feel like throwbacks to those 1970's bodice rippers.

The wip has a scene where a villain attempts to rape the heroine--she fights back, buying herself enough time that the hero is able to come to the rescue. I remember writing the scene and thinking, "Back in the day, a lot of authors would've had the rapist be the hero," and finding the idea sickening.

Are books with heroes who rape the heroines

Laura Kinsale's The Shadow and the Star. Twice. It's Micole's favorite Kinsale, and it seriously put me off her. Although I don't think it came out in the last 5 years, don't know how old it is.

Pretty sure that's older than 5 years. I've never read it, but I generally adore Kinsale. Interesting.

Is there a web site where you can search for a book by describing it? (Versus the way you search on Amazon, for instance.) I seem to remember someone mentioning something like that a while ago....

abebooks.co.uk? I've never used it, but I've heard good things about their BookSleuth forum.