Page 70 of Christmas at the Ranch
“How did you know?” Samantha asked in surprise.
“There’s something different about you.” Marigold studied her. “When you came in last time, you carried a certain heaviness. It’s gone now. There’s an openness you didn’t have before.”
Samantha recalled her kisses with Drew. Just thinking about them made her happy.
“Roger didn’t seem too upset.” Samantha shrugged. “He left without texting goodbye.”
“He’s probably embarrassed. Men wound more easily than we think,” Marigold acknowledged. “Tell me, what else has been going on? How is the wedding coming along?”
Marigold had said that Samantha and the groom were developing feelings for each other. That was why Beatrix was rushing the wedding.
“Beatrix left. There isn’t going to be a wedding,” Samantha told her. “You predicted it; how did you know?”
“I don’t have any secret powers, I simply listened to you,” Marigold said with a little laugh. “Everyone is so busy with their own opinions these days; they don’t listen to each other. A Native American friend who belongs to one of the Plains tribes taught me differently. They believe that hundreds of years ago when they started hunting buffalo, they called on the Great Spirit to guide them. The Great Spirit instructed them to only kill what they needed to survive, and to let the rest of the herd roam free. That way Native Americans formed a connection with the animals, and they learned to live together. That belief continues with some tribes today. The Great Spirit guides them to do the right thing for each other and for all creatures; it’s the only way the Earth will survive. It takes concentration to hear the Great Spirit. It’s easy for personal desires to get in the way. It’s the same with hearing people around us. If we really listen, there’s so much we can learn.”
Samantha thought about people she knew who spent all their time posting on social media. No one really listened to each other. The only thing they were interested in was how many likes they got.
“I never thought about it like that, but I understand.” Samantha nodded. “Though that’s not the reason I came to see you.” She fiddled with a postcard. “I feel terrible. I lost the arrowhead pendant.”
“Is that what you’re worried about?” Marigold asked dismissively. “You didn’t lose it. I’m sure it will turn up when it’s ready.”
“What do you mean?” Samantha wondered.
“If you kept the arrowhead pendant with you always, you wouldn’t recognize your own strengths,” Marigold offered. “How could a caterpillar become a butterfly if it stayed in its cocoon?”
“You said the arrowhead protects the wearer from harm, and it was true.” Samantha’s voice became urgent. “After I lost it, I fell off the mechanical bull at the bar; I’ve never been so humiliated. And the barn caught fire. Everyone said I was brave, but they’re wrong. I had to save the horses, but I’ve never been so frightened in my life. Now all the fears have returned. I’ve started checking the weather forecast for New Year’s Day,” she continued in a rush. “I do that before I have to fly. If the weather app says it’s going to be bad weather, I panic. Once I postponed an important trip and the app was wrong. I caused a lot of trouble for nothing.”
“It couldn’t have been too terrible,” Marigold said wisely. “Most things aren’t as important as we think.”
Samantha had been scheduled to sign books and do an interview at a small bookstore in Ohio. The weather app said there were going to be severe thunderstorms, so Samantha canceled her flight. It worked out in the end. She did the interview over Zoom and the bookstore was flooded with orders. The following year they invited her back. Still, she felt awful at the time.
“I don’t know,” Samantha wavered.
Her hands felt clammy and her stomach was doing little flips. She had to tell Marigold about Drew. There was no one else she could talk to, and she didn’t know what to do.
“I’m developing feelings for someone. But I’m afraid it won’t work,” Samantha began. “Our lifestyles are so different and I don’t want to disappoint him.”
“Is it the man you were sitting with on the bench?” Marigold wondered.
“He and Beatrix were supposed to get married,” Samantha said and nodded, feeling guilty all over again. “He has feelings for me too, but what if they don’t last? He just broke off their engagement and I wasn’t completely over Roger until recently. What if this is a rebound relationship for both of us?”
Marigold arranged a stack of postcards.
“Love is scary for everyone. You’re giving yourself to the person you care about most in the world. Love can also make you more fulfilled than anything else in life. We all need to belong to something.” Marigold waved out the store window. “I belong to this town. For me, visiting the Elk Refuge and seeing the deer and buffalo are all I need to be content. None of us were made to be alone.”
“That’s why I never thought Roger would leave New York,” Samantha said grimly. “He couldn’t live without baseball and the hot dogs from Yankee Stadium.”
“New Yorkers are passionate about their food,” Marigold agreed, smiling. “They insist their pizza is better than in Italy. I doubt the people in Naples would agree.” Her tone grew serious. “You’ll know what you belong to when you find it. It’s like coming home.”
“Since Roger left, I believed having my dog, Socks, was enough.” Samantha pulled out her phone. She found the photos of Socks and Molly in their Christmas sweaters and handed it to Marigold. “Socks is spending Christmas with my boss and he’s already made a new friend.”
Marigold flicked through the recent photos. She stopped at a photo of Samantha and Drew in front of the Rolls-Royce.
“That’s quite a car,” she commented.
“It’s called a snow coach,” Samantha said happily, remembering their morning. “Drew arranged it and we had so much fun.”
Marigold studied the photo for a long time. She handed the phone back to Samantha.
