Page 68 of Christmas at the Ranch
Drew took her hand and led her to the car.
“Dr. Parr said it would be good for you to get fresh air. But you have to stay warm,” Drew said when they were seated. The upholstery was buttery leather and there were lace curtains and thick white carpet. A glass partition separated the seats and there were blankets to put over their knees.
“The car is called a snow coach and it does tours of the valley,” Drew said. “In the trunk there’s a picnic basket with sandwiches and dessert.”
Samantha recalled Arthur taking Diana on a hot-air balloon ride. She couldn’t think about the diary, she had to concentrate on Drew.
“You didn’t have to do this.” She turned to him. “I would have been happy eating a bowl of soup in the kitchen.”
“We only have two more days and there’s still so much to see.”He paused. He squeezed her hand. “Plus, I wanted to spend some time together.”
Samantha impulsively leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek.
“I’m glad you did,” she agreed. Her whole body tingled and she felt happy. “It’s a perfect Christmas treat.”
They kept the partition down so Adam could describe the scenery. Adam pointed out the snowshoers on Taggart Lake and the hiking trail that led up to Delicate Arch. In the summer, you could stand beneath the arch and watch the sun rise over the Tetons.
The car drove into Bridger-Teton National Forest. The road had been cleared by snowplows. On either side of them, the fir trees were thick with fresh powder, and the sun made rainbow-colored patterns on the icicles.
Adam stopped the car in front of a clearing. The air was fresh and clear, and smelled of winter blooms. The Elk Refuge stretched below them, and above were the snow-covered domes of the Teton mountains.
“I’ve never seen anything so beautiful,” Samantha gushed.
It was impossible to know where to look first. She didn’t want to miss any of it: the deer that came so close to the car that she could see their wet noses, the tiny footprints in the snow that must be squirrels and chipmunks.
Adam brought out the picnic basket. Samantha and Drew ate thick sandwiches and éclairs, and washed it down with hot chocolate.
“There’s so much beauty in the world. That’s what’s wonderful about traveling to new places,” Drew mused, biting into his sandwich. “This is so different than the fields of Thailand or the jungles in the Amazon, but it’s just as spectacular.”
Samantha put her sandwich on the little tray. Drew spent his life going to places she couldn’t imagine. How could she even contemplate traveling to Thailand to help build schools when something as simple as finding a new dentist after her old one retired made her break out in hives? When Trader Joe’s ran out of her favorite oatmeal, she ate cold cereal for a week because she was afraid to shop at a different grocery store.
It was time to tell Drew about the arrowhead pendant.
She told him about meeting Marigold at the gift shop and that she lent her the arrowhead pendant and it gave her the confidence to ride in the snowmobile and go snow tubing. Now she’d lost it.
Drew waited until she finished. He set down his sandwich.
“When I was in second grade, our teacher taught us to write letters. I was so excited; I wrote a letter to my mother. I told her that I won the spelling bee and my favorite subject was geography. But I didn’t know where to send it. I couldn’t ask my father, he refused to talk about her.” He paused. “Stanley, the doorman in our building, could tell I was upset. He asked what was wrong and I explained. He told me to leave the letters with him, he’d make sure they reached my mother. I asked how he knew her address and he admitted he didn’t.
“He said children wrote to the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. Somehow, the letters arrived. Or Santa Claus wouldn’t know where to deliver presents.
“I didn’t argue. It made sense. Every Friday I gave Stanley a stack of letters. After about a year, Stanley left and we got a new doorman. I stopped writing the letters but somehow, it didn’t matter anymore. I was enjoying life and the things I was doing enough without having to share them,” he finished. “Perhaps the pendant went missing because you don’t need it anymore.”
Samantha pictured Drew as a child, transcribing the events in his life. But this was different. Samantha was a grown woman and her fears weren’t dismissed so easily. What if she joined Drew at some exotic destination and was paralyzed with fear? She’d spoil things for him too.
“I don’t know,” she wavered.
Drew leaned forward and kissed her. The kiss was warm and sweet, and she kissed him back.
There was a coughing sound from Adam standing outside of the car.
Drew grinned. He closed the curtains and pushed the button that raised the partition.
“I believe in you,” he whispered, kissing her again. “You’re the brightest, loveliest woman I know.”
Samantha sat at the dressing table in her room. The rest of the drive had been so romantic. The car wound through the valley, and they talked about books and movies.
Now, Drew went to talk to his father and Samantha came upstairs to rest.
