Chapter 40: Life Advice from Sam

~The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too.~ —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“You want to tell me what’s eatin’ you?” Sam walked up to Jake, who was whittling away at a piece of wood.

“Nothin’s eating me,” Jake snapped.

“Liar. The past two days, you’ve been as restless as a skittish horse. Come on—spit it out. What’s makin’ you all angry?”

“Sam, lay off. I’m fine.”

“You’re behavin’ like a teenager.’’ Sam’s patience was beginning to wear thin. “I’m fine, I’m fine, look at me. I’m miserable as hell, an’ angry all the time; I scowl at everythin’ an’ I’m always in a bad mood—but no, I’m fine, and I can handle everythin’ myself.”

Jake glared at him. “Oooh, Papa came by to give me life advice?”

“If I was Papa, I would have whipped you for yer disrespect. Come on, what’s up between you an’ Miz Preston?”

“Nothin’.”

“An’ you expect me to believe that? It was more than obvious the two of you had a fight.”

“Maybe we did, but I have no idea why you should care anythin’ about it.” Jake was annoyed with the way Sam kept pestering him about something he didn’t want to talk about.

“All right, mister, you can quit being fresh with me.” Sam grew serious. “Didn’t your parents teach you to respect your elders? It’s not just you I am worried about, but Dannie Preston as well. What could the two of you possibly fight about? From the way you nearly killed Slim when he compared Dannie to Miz Martin, I’d think you were more than friends. Heck, the way you kept draggin’ out leavin’ the Circle 4, I could swear you were in love with her.”

“Yeah, well maybe I am,” Jake said in a challenging voice.

“An’ this comin’ from the world’s greatest woman-hater.”

“I never once said I hate women,” Jake defended himself. “I just don’t trust most of them.”

“I know, I know, you don’t trust them because of their fickleness. So what made little Miz Preston an exception?”

“Dannie is… Dannie is different. She ain’t fickle, she’s true…too true.”

“Oh my Lord, there is just no pleasin’ this man! One woman isn’t true enough, the other is too true. It’s no wonder you have no luck with women. I’ve never met someone so choosy before. Too true? What the hell does that mean?”

Jake threw away the remains of the stick he had been chipping with his knife. “Before she came out West, she was engaged to a lawyer named Paul Richardson, but he broke the engagement and married someone else.

“When I was bringin’ her to Hopewing, she kept calling me by his name, and I felt like she was usin’ me to be with him. Ever since my accident, I thought she was finally over him. At least, she never brought him up, and I was really beginnin’ to think I had a chance with her.

“But then, right on the day I’m supposed to leave, she gets a letter from him—and it turns out they’ve been in correspondence. If she’s trying to play a double game, then she’s picked the wrong person! I didn’t want to make a scene in front of the whole house, so I just left.”

Sam was silent for a few seconds as he pondered the situation. He walked over to where Jake was sitting and took a seat next to him.

“Does she know you have feelin’s for her?”

“I dunno.”

“You never told her?”

“Not yet.”

“Then, for cryin’ out loud, what are you waitin’ for?”

“As long as Paul is in the picture, I don’t want to talk to her about my feelin’s. It’s like I’m fightin’ a rival that I can’t see!”

“You call this fightin’ a rival?” Sam burst out laughing. “Young people! Why, back in my day, when we fought rivals we got in there with both fists. You always knew who was fightin’ over a girl by the shiners on the eyes an’ the blood coming from the nose. But you, Jake, are usin’ every opportunity to run—an’ give your rival an easy victory. Jake, you’re fightin’ someone who ain’t even here, someone who abandoned the girl. If anyone has the upper hand, it’s you.

“An’ what do you do? You just run off instead of tryin’ to get to the bottom of it. For God’s sake, stop being a chicken an’ be a man. Haven’t you ever heard the sayin’ faint hearts never won fair ladies? Don’t you remember how Abner fought for his girl?”

“Don’t even bring up Abner. It’s thanks to Abner that I’m in this great mess to start with.”

“I can bring up whoever I darn well please. Abner refused to take no for an answer. Even when Mr. Grincher refused to let his granddaughter marry him, even when that old donkey tried to pair the poor girl up with someone else, even when all the odds were against him, Abner plowed on—an’ in the end he got the girl, plus a ranch to go with it.

“Not all girls come easy, Jake. Sometimes you’ve got to fight other men for them. Get Dannie while she’s still your neighbor; don’t wait till she’s on a train back East to go chasin’ after her.”

“But why would she be writin’ him?”

“I don’t know. Why didn’t you ask? That was the first thing you should have done. Actually, if you would have confessed earlier, maybe there wouldn’t have been any correspondence to start with. Maybe the girl is tired of waiting; maybe she’s confused by your long silence.”

Jake didn’t quite know how to answer. He didn’t appreciate Sam coming here and lecturing him, but he had to admit Sam had a point. He hadn’t actually confessed anything to Dannie, and she had never made any promises, so it wasn’t like she was cheating on him.

But still. Why write to someone who had abandoned you? Did he write to his former lovers? No. Did he communicate with Amy? No.

The only reason he could come up with was that maybe Paul was trying to get her back. And if she was writing to him, maybe that meant she wanted to go back. After all, Dannie had confessed that she didn’t feel at home here in Arizona.

Jake picked up another stick and started cutting off slices with his knife. The anger he had felt when he’d first found out about the correspondence had subsided a bit over the past two days, and it was easier for him to think about the whole situation with a clear head.

He didn’t want Dannie to go back East. He wanted Dannie to stay right here, so that he could see her whenever he wanted to, and listen to her talk about her parents and her life in England.

He wanted to hear her quote poetry, play the piano, and sing in her sweet voice.

He never thought such things would ever interest him, but somehow they did—and all because of Dannie. As long as she was talking or singing, he could listen all day.

What was more, Dannie didn’t just talk, she listened. She wanted to know about Jake, about his work on the Cora Belle, about the horses he trained and the cattle he drove.

Dannie had always been genuinely interested in Jake’s lifestyle, in his past, in his plans for the future. The more Jake thought about it, the more he realized he would die before he let Dannie go anywhere, especially back to some stupid lawyer in some stupid city.

But how was he to keep her here?

If Paul were here, he’d just chuck him down, tie him up, and send him as far away as he possibly could.

Sam seemed to be thinking along the same lines, because he didn’t say anything for a long time. Suddenly he burst out, “Jake, I figured out how to solve your problem.”

“Much obliged,” Jake retorted.

“No, I’m serious,” Sam persisted. “Let’s go to the harvest dance.”

Jake rolled his eyes. “No can do! You know I hate dancin’ and I hate socializin’ with women, and those are the two very things I’d have to do there.”

“Dimwit, don’t you realize Dannie Preston is probably going to be at the dance?”

“Oh.” Jake tossed the remains of the stick away. “You think she might be?”

“If I know Sophie Martin, which I do, Dannie is gonna be there for sure. You’ll go to the dance, meet her there, an’ get to the bottom of everythin’.

“You’ve got to make her fall for you, an’ when she does, she’ll forget all about that lawyer fellow. That’s the best way to make a woman forget an old lover—give her a new one, a better one.

“Come on, the dance is in two days an’ we’ve still got to get you dressed up.”

“What’s wrong with my old clothes?”

“That’s exactly what’s wrong with them. They’re old. How do you plan to impress the young lady with those old, tattered things? Besides, we’ll probably have to take Slim with us, and if yer all old and ugly you’ll ruin his good image.”

“Slim’s good image?” Jake smirked. “Talk about a dimwit. I don’t know why Clay agreed to take on that fool. Life on the ranch has become a nightmare with him around.”

Jake had not forgiven Slim for his insult to Dannie.

“Because Clay believes that every man deserves a second chance,” said Sam, “an’ when you can’t get one yourself, the next best thing to do is give one to someone else.”

Sam’s blue eyes grew dim, and for a minute he looked off into the distance. He quickly snapped back to reality. “Anyway, I’ll tell Clay of our plans an’ we’ll leave tomorrow.”

“Why tomorrow?”

“To git you some proper clothes. Unless you’ve got somethin’ fancy stashed away, which I highly doubt, the only place to git you somethin’ suitable is from the mercantile at Hopewing.”

“I don’t want to waste money on fancy clothin’!”

“Everyone gets dressed up for a dance, Jake, an’ you are no exception.”

“But…”

“No buts, just be glad you are spendin’ money on yourself. Trust me, in a couple of days, you’ll be wastin’ dollars on a heap of useless things, none of which will be for you.”

“And you know this because?”

“Because I’m twice your age!!”

“So, just because you’re old means you know how I’ll be spendin’ my money?”

“Now listen, smarty pants, I know what I’m talkin’ about. Let’s go make Dannie forget about everyone in this world but you.”