In the short story "Wild Horses" by Rick Bass, how does Karen get over her grief of the loss of her fiance?

Everyone hears stories about a person’s fiancé dying the
day before the wedding.  No one believes that it will happen to her.  In “Wild Horses,”
by Rick Bass, Karen really experiences this terrible loss.  Her grief is palpable with
her anger directed toward Henry’s [her dead fiancé] best friend who saw him
die. 

After a bachelor party, Henry and his friends go out
to a cliff above a lake.  Henry dives off the cliff, and he is  never seen or heard from
again. His body was never discovered. 

The narration is
third person point of view with a limited omniscient narrator. The story takes place in
the northwest near to tree logging.  

The theme of the
story pertains to the struggle to survive the deep grief and guilt that the people who
are left behind when someone dies.  Every person handles his/her pain in different ways.
Inferentially, the two main characters learn that it is best to share the sorrow with
someone else. 

Karen was twenty-six and already has been
engaged twice and married once. Her husband had run away with another woman.  She really
loved Henry, but now he was gone. Sydney, Henry’s best friend, tries to help Karen.  He
does feel that he should have done something to save Henry even though he and the other
friends dove in and searched everywhere to try to find
him.

“I’m
sorry,” he called out.  “But I can’t bring him back!” He waited for her to answer, but
could only hear her
sobs. 

Sydney, a horse
breaker and trainer, also grieves for his best friend.  He carries his guilt with him
wherever he goes; but particularly, he feels it the most when he is with Karen.  Sydney
knows that he is falling in love with Karen, who is not ready to consider any kind of
relationship.

To get her mind off her troubles, Karen works
with a veterinarian.  She and the vet travel around the area taking care of large
animals.  Recently, they went to a logging camp where an old mule had hurt his knee. 
The mule pulled the logs up the slope.  The doctor drained his horribly swelled knee and
gave him some pain pills.  Eventually, Karen rescues the mule by buying a Clydesdale and
trading the horse for the old mule.     

Sydney breaks his
bones regularly in his job.  Within six months, he broke his leg twice.  As he spends
more time with Karen, Sydney knows that he wants Karen in his life.  Many times at the
end of the day, Karen would take her shower, come out and Sydney would rub her neck and
brow. She would fall asleep, and he would wake her up and help her to
bed. 

As time goes by, Karen feels less anger toward Sydney
although she seems to be settling into her grief. It really was not Sydney’s fault; yet,
Karen is comfortable with the fact that Sydney should have stopped Henry or saved
him.

Eventually, Karen relents and reaches out and squeezes
his hand. Finally, Karen was letting go and giving in to her feelings that she had for
Sydney. She even calls him one night just to say “hello” and
“goodnight.”

In the end, Sydney tells Karen how much he
misses Henry.  She says that she knows and that she will help him. The tables have
turned.  She holds his hand as they sit on the porch.