“Your place?” She asks. She shakes her head confused. “But I thought you lived in a cabin in...” She purses her lips. “Where exactly do you live?”
“I love outside of Faro, in the Yukon. But I have a place here that I keep as an investment property.”
“Investment property?” Sophia asks, looking at me to see if I knew about this. I shake my head, as confused as she is. His words don’t match the image we have of him in our minds.
But then I laugh to myself because this is Samson. Has he ever been anything I thought he was? I thought he was incapable of love, of opening up, being humble and being open. But that isn’t the case all. I got to know him as HeartofGold and realized there’s more to him than meets the eye.
“Why do you have an investment property?” Sophia presses. “I thought you lived in a cabin. In the middle of nowhere.”
“I do live in the middle of nowhere. But, I have a mine up there.” Samson looks at the ground, clearly uncomfortable with her line of questioning.
“A mine?” I ask, thoroughly confused. I guess I assumed Samson hunted bears and foraged for food.
“I, uh, bought some land when I moved up north, and, there was some veins of gold in the Heartland Mountains, which I own.”
“What do you mean, veins of gold?” Janet asks. “Like, a gold mine?”
Sophia is typing away on her phone, lips pursed. Then a shocked gasp escapes them. “Holy shit. You’re not joking.” She turns her phone to face us, images of his mine, his properties, and even a Wikipage on him are listed.
Samson runs his hand over his beard. “Look, I’m a miner, and there was a gold rush a few years back.” Samson nods stoically, looking at the ground, crossing his arms. It’s as if talking about money and his accomplishments is the most uncomfortable thing in the world.
I smile at that, appreciating how he isn’t bound by the trappings of material things. He doesn’t lead with what he has always done. He’s himself, and I can’t help but think maybe I’m not the only one who wears her heart on her sleeve. Maybe Samson does too.
“A gold rush? What does that mean?” Sophia asks.
“It means he’s billionaire.” Taylor says. “Don’t look at me like that, Sophia,” he continues. “I had no idea either. He just told your dad and me just now. But I think this plan is a good one. Solid. It’s not perfect, it’s not the dream you had planned, but we can still get married, you and me. We can still start our life together.”
Taylor wipes away her tears and then she wraps Samson in a hug. “Thank you, thank you so much,” she gushes.
I’m relieved to see my sister finding a way to roll with the punches after so many years of being uptight.
“So how far is your place?” Janet’s husband asks Samson. “Because it’s fucking cold out here. And it’s only gonna get colder.”
“Only thirty minutes away. It won’t take long.”
“And should we order dinner to go?” my mother asks. “Is there, I don’t know, pizza delivery?”
“Oh, my God,” Sophia laughs. “I’ve never heard mom order pizza in my life.” She calms down and says, “I can’t believe the hotel burned down, all of our things are destroyed, were’ standing in snow, and eating pizza for my rehearsal dinner. This was so not the plan.”
We all shake our heads, still not believing what’s just transpired.
“We don’t need to get pizza, Cora,” Samson tells her. “I already called my cook and she’s called in a handful of extra staff for tonight. There will be a dinner for you, Sophia, I promise.”
Cook? Investment properties? The gold rush?
I shake my head in disbelief. Samson saved the day, proving that he truly has a heart of gold.
“Then, let’s not sit around anymore, I’ll sort things out with the hotel later, but for now let’s get everyone out of the cold,” my father says.
“Before you go,” Samson says my father. “I need to speak with you.”
My dad nods and everyone begins to go separate ways, Samson telling them that he’ll text them his address.
I look at my sister, Taylor, and my mom, deciding who I should ride with, grateful we’ve all rented cars when we landed in Whistler.
“Ava Grace,” a voice calls to me. I turned and find Samson looking at me. “I need to talk to your father, but then, you’re coming home with me.”
18
I pull Ava Grace’s father aside so we can have a talk. Because later, Ava Grace and I are going to have a talk.
A talk that’s going to change everything.
“What’s this about, son? It’s freezing cold out here you know,” he tells me.
“I know, sir, it’s important.”
“Well then?” He looks at me, waiting for me to continue.