Page 36 of Christmas at the Ranch
I wouldn’t say anything just for me, I’m thirteen and soon I’ll have to leave school and work. But I think about my younger brothers and sister. They have a chance to learn in a classroom with a blackboard and books. I can’t let that slip away.
My mother would be furious if she knew I contacted you. You are a rich, important American, you have your own life to worry about. I know you better than she does. You would be disappointed if I didn’t keep my promise to take my mother to afternoon tea at a fancy hotel whenI grow up. I’ll never be able to do that without going to school.
I don’t know if you can do anything from America, but I thought you’d want to know.
Please give my regards to your lovely girlfriend.
Warmest regards,
Kaman
Drew stopped reading. He placed his phone on the table.
“I taught Kaman how to write a letter,” he said. “His punctuation is perfect.”
Samantha realized there were tears in Drew’s eyes.
“He’s a lovely writer,” she said, feeling a lump in her throat. “How can that happen to the school? There must be someone in charge.”
Drew paced around the room. He slipped his hands in his pockets.
“All it takes is for someone to pocket the money and the whole thing shuts down.” His brow creased together. “The only way to fix it is to go back to Thailand and supervise the construction myself. How can I do that if Beatrix refuses to come, and if my father is already picking out my office furniture?” He turned back to Samantha. “I can’t disappoint Kaman when his future depends on it.”
Drew reminded her of herself whenever she visited an animal shelter. She wanted to take home every dog: the beagle whose tail wagged faster than a windshield wiper, the golden retriever mix who was so big, his paws hung out of the cage.
“You said you were going to talk to Beatrix after you went dogsledding,” she reminded him.
“We never did.” He shrugged. “Now it’s even worse. Don’t you see? Yesterday, she really hurt herself. But a big black car whisked her back to the ranch, and an hour later the doctor made a house call. Now she’s recovering in a soft bed with hot soup served on a silver tray and a cabinet of medicines to make her feel better. If the same thing happened in Thailand, she’d be shivering in a tent. Her ankle would hurt for days, and the only medicine would be some aspirin dug out of my suitcase that was probably expired because we’d been traveling for so long and I always forget to replace it.”
“Yes, I see,” Samantha said doubtfully. She thought about her promise to Beatrix.
“Someone must be able to take over the building of the school,” Samantha tried again. “You can’t take on all the responsibility yourself.”
“It will simply become another failed attempt,” he sighed. “I shouldn’t take it personally. There are dozens of villages like it scattered over northern Thailand.” He picked up his phone. “But this e-mail is personal. Kaman wrote to me; how can I ignore him?”
“Perhaps when Beatrix is better…,” Samantha said, and stopped.
This was harder than Samantha imagined. How could she keep her promise to Beatrix and counsel Drew at the same time?
Samantha believed in what Drew was doing. But Beatrix had a point. It was impossible to start a family while Beatrix and Drew were traipsing around the globe, cooking on a camp stove and washing their clothes in a river.
She tried to imagine facing a similar situation with Roger. There was a time when they would have solved it together. They’d sit in Central Park and hash out the pros and cons. Eventually they’d finda solution. Samantha would feel that familiar thrill of knowing they could do anything.
Roger hadn’t even given her the chance to decide their future. He simply sold his snow boots on eBay and moved to California.
“What would you do if you were me?” Drew asked.
Samantha pulled her mind from her thoughts. “It has nothing to do with me.”
“Yes, but on the plane, you said you were afraid of everything,” Drew persisted. “But you still flew to Jackson Hole. And you’re doing things you don’t want to do.”
Samantha couldn’t tell Drew about the arrowhead pendant. Somehow, she felt it would only keep working if she kept it private.
“I had to come, your father insisted,” Samantha reminded him. “I didn’t want Charlie’s job to be in jeopardy.”
“That’s the thing,” Drew said urgently. “You did it for other people, even though it made you uncomfortable.”
Samantha shifted in her chair. She tried to think of what to say.
