“Do you have any real kin?” Sam asked.
“Sure, a cousin up north. He would come if I asked him. He was in the will too.” She nodded. “I just didn’t want to ask him is all…”
“Why not?”
“‘Cause I barely know him and it would be a great imposition. He’s a doctor and as you know doctors are needed people.”
Sam nodded. “Well…you don’t have to. If you have a cousin, all you have to do is impersonate him.”
“You mean show up…looking like a boy again?” Riley screeched.
“Not a boy, a man…but look Mavis swallowed it, hook, line and sinker.” Sam smiled at her. “She never questioned it.”
“Looks like I don’t have much choice…”
Sam nodded. “Good, now give me some time to think this out. I gotta go eat and then we’ll plan it. Is the café you went to good?”
“Yeah, I reckon, I didn’t pay much attention to what I was eating though,” Riley admitted. “It would have been nicer having someone to eat it with.”
Sam sat on the edge of the bed and looked at her, folding and refolding his hands together. “Riley, you really should find you a young man.”
Riley whirled about, her dress swishing. “A young man?”
“Most girls your age have one.” Sam didn’t look at her. “Did you ever…wasn’t there anyone…”
Riley felt the color on her cheeks. “I guess you find that strange too.”
Sam glanced at her then looked away.
“There was one fella I took to, but it didn’t do me any good. He was after the ranch and that was all. He was actually in love with my neighbor, Cilla. They married months later. Look Sam, I know I’m homely, oh…maybe downright ugly compared to most. I don’t have all the social graces, my dad told me that, but he said it didn’t matter; there would be gold diggers no matter and that I shouldn’t set my heart out there to be trampled on. So I turned my attention to the ranch, and I didn’t go to parties like most of the young girls did.”
“You’re not ugly, Riley…” Sam said standing up, but not moving toward her. “You’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever known.”
She stared open-mouthed at him and he cleared his throat.
“I am plain…”
“Beauty is always in the eyes of the beholder, Riley, but I don’t want to hear you say you are ugly, or plain ever again. Come here.” He directed her toward the dresser where an old mirror looked back at them. “Look into the mirror.” He touched her hair, curling his fingers into it. “Your hair is like silk, your eyes are the color of heaven, and when you smile…Lord…when you smile sunshine comes into the room.”
Riley gasped, she wasn’t looking at herself, but him and the way he stood staring into the mirror at her. Their eyes met and held each other for a long moment. It was as if the mirror allowed them the pleasure of looking at each other, holding each other. As though staring into a mirror was safer for them both. Riley felt her heart flutter. She wanted to turn into his arms and be swept away with his kisses but knew he wouldn’t touch her.
“No one’s ever said those kinds of things to me,” she murmured.
He firmed his lips and stepped backwards.
“Well, they should have…”
Sam loved her; she knew it as sure as she breathed and wished she could say the words out loud without him getting upset and mad. But she was sure of it now and it brought sunshine into her heart like nothing ever had. She needed time alone to think on that love.
She looked down now and gathered her thoughts. “You better go eat now…” she murmured.
“Yeah…” His voice was raspy, and he didn’t argue. He left.
“I love you, Sam,” she whispered the words as he closed the door between them. “I’ll always love you.
Chapter Eleven
“You got any money?” Sam asked that night as he checked on her once more.