six

On Sunday, Samantha was more than happy to attend church with the Thompsons, the Logans, Rose, and several others from the boardinghouse. They’d all celebrated her finding a job the night before, and Samantha was beginning to believe she’d made the right decision in coming to Guthrie. As she sat between Faith and Ben on a pew near the middle of church and let the peace of simply being there sink in, Samantha began to relax. The tension between her and the principal of the school she’d taught at had grown over the time. She’d been able to ignore his unseemly remarks and avoid his unwanted advances toward her for months, but the last straw broke the day he’d actually tried to corner her in her classroom and threatened that if she didn’t give in to his advances, he’d ruin her reputation anyway.

As the principal advanced, the Lord must have been watching over her, for He sent her best friend and another teacher, Annie Rogers, to knock on the classroom door and enter the room. The timing was perfect—Annie entered right before Samantha had to defend herself with the small gavel she’d grabbed from her desk and hidden behind her back. Samantha had given notice right then and there.

That very night, with Annie’s help, Samantha had packed the few personal items she had at the boardinghouse, told her landlady she was leaving, and caught the next train headed south. She had no doubt that Mr. Jackson would paint her in a bad light whether she stayed or went, and even if her friend took up for her, she had her own job and reputation to think of. Samantha could only pray that the principal wouldn’t give Annie any trouble over what she’d seen.

But now, for the first time in a long time, Samantha felt she could breathe easy. Well, except for sometimes when she caught Ben looking at her. Then she seemed to get a catch in her breath while her heart did a funny little twist. She was attracted to the man despite her best intentions never to let herself begin to care about any man—ever.

After the episode with her principal, who was married to a wonderful woman, and then the lawyer’s wife who couldn’t trust her husband with a young woman working in his office, Samantha was more than a little determined never to let herself fall in love.

Yet as she stood to sing the first hymn of the morning and found herself sharing a hymnal with Ben Thompson, bringing them into closer contact, she couldn’t ignore the way her heart did a now familiar little flip and dive toward her stomach. Dear Lord, please help me to concentrate on You during this service and not the man beside me. Help me to be thankful for him and his family, but keep me from. . .caring too much about Ben Thompson. You know what’s needed, Lord. Please help me only to concentrate on You.

She sighed as peace stole over her when she finished her silent prayer, and she was able to sing with all her heart and give her attention to the prayer and the sermon that followed. The sermon was taken from 1 Thessalonians and focused on being joyful always, praying continually, and giving thanks in all circumstances. She loved that verse. Oh, it was good to be back in church with other believers, and it felt wonderful to be sitting on a pew full of people who cared enough to take her in when they knew nothing about her. She had much to be thankful for—including the man beside her. Without him, she might not be here today. She only had to protect her heart from caring too much about Ben Thompson.

❧

Ben couldn’t bring himself to leave first thing Monday morning as usual. There was no way he was going to head back to the farm until he saw Samantha safely to work. And he really didn’t want to leave then.

But he couldn’t stay in Guthrie—he had the responsibility of farming Rose’s land, which he thought of as his own place. He’d planned on talking to her about buying her out finally, but with all that had happened with Samantha and moving Matt and all, he hadn’t had a chance to do it. But he wasn’t worried about it right now. Rose wasn’t going to pull the farm out from under him, and there was no real hurry. Still, he had to get back to it. He’d told Homer he’d be back by today, and he would—a little later than usual.

He was taking a last drink of coffee and was about to leave the apartment and head to the boardinghouse when his son came out of his room.

“You leaving this morning, Papa?”

“Sometime—I’m not sure when, though. I want to make sure Samantha knows her way to work first. And I wanted to see if you will make sure she gets home safely when she gets off work.”

“I’ll be glad to. Do you know what time that will be?”

“No.”

“Then how can I—”

“Go by Miller’s Restaurant on your way home from school and check and see.”

Matt nodded. “All right. That’ll be no problem. Is something bothering you, Papa?”

How did he tell his son that Samantha Carter bothered him? That he couldn’t get her out of his mind and that he didn’t want her working at a restaurant where single men came to eat off and on all day long? That he was afraid she might be taken when he came back to town. And that he still wasn’t sure about anything concerning her. They hadn’t heard back from the marshal yet and—

“Papa?”

“I’m fine, son. Just got a lot on my mind.” At least that was true. “Let’s go get some breakfast. Your aunt Faith ought to have it out by now.”

“I don’t need any nudging. I’m starving. Let’s go,” Matt said, hurrying out the door.

Ben sent up a silent prayer thanking the good Lord for his children. If Matt sensed that he was in a quandary, he didn’t say so, nor did he ask any questions. He was a great son, and Hope was a wonderful daughter. Ben hadn’t spent as much time with either of them as he would have liked this past weekend, yet they seemed quite happy with the time they’d had.

From all reports, they’d both had a good day Saturday—Hope with her friend and Matt helping with the Beadle place. Maybe he’d encourage them to spend some time doing what they wanted on Saturdays from now on. It’d only be fair, as he hoped to be able to spend some with Samantha. He only hoped it wasn’t all at Miller’s Restaurant, making sure some guy didn’t claim her.

They opened the back door and went into Faith’s kitchen where the aroma of ham and fried potatoes surrounded them. Ben loved the smell of his sister’s cooking. Their mother had taught her all she knew, and Faith’s meals sometimes took him back to wonderful childhood memories. Right now the aromas in her kitchen made his stomach grumble.

Matt headed straight into the dining room to fill a plate, right as Gabe came back into the kitchen, his own plate loaded with food. Rose followed Matt, but Samantha was nowhere in sight. Ben turned to his sister, who held out a fresh cup of coffee to him.

“Thanks, sis. Has Samantha come down yet?”

“Yes, she has. She came down to get a cup of coffee and take it back to her room so she could finish getting ready for work. She should be back down anytime now.”

“Good. I want to make sure she remembers the way to the restaurant. Thought I’d walk downtown with her.”

Faith didn’t look at him, but he caught her smile. “That sounds like a good idea to me. But you know we drove by there again yesterday on our way home from church.”

“I know.”

Faith nodded. “Still, it’s always a good idea to make sure one knows where one is going.”

“That’s what I thought.”

“Well, grab yourself a plate. You might have time to make a dent in it before she gets back downstairs.”

Ben rubbed his jaw and grinned. “Think I’ll do that.”

Hope came in from the dining room right then, and he dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “Morning, sunshine.”

“Good morning, Papa.”

Ben continued into the dining room, but he’d no more than filled his plate and come back to take a seat beside his daughter when Samantha came into the kitchen. She looked mighty fine, dressed in a different skirt and blouse than he’d seen before and a blue bow holding up her curls. She smiled, and his heart warmed at the sight of her.

“Good morning, everyone,” Samantha said. “I must admit to being a little nervous today. Please say a prayer that I don’t drop one of those loaded trays today—or any day, for that matter.”

“You’ll do fine,” Rose said. “Remember to balance like you did last night.”

Last night? What had happened that he didn’t know about?

His sister must have caught his quizzical look because she said, “After you and Matt went to the apartment last night, Samantha voiced her concern over carrying those big trays at the restaurant, so we did some practice runs.”

“Oh, I would have loved to have seen that,” Matt said.

“So would’ve I,” Ben said. “How’d it go?”

Samantha chuckled. “Didn’t go so great at first. I had things sliding all over the place. Thankfully, the dishes were empty at first.”

“She got better, though,” Faith said. “You’ll do fine today. I don’t doubt it for a moment.”

“I hope so.” Samantha turned to him. “I’m glad I got to see you before you left today, Ben. I really can’t thank you enough—”

“Samantha, we’ve already had this conversation. Besides, I haven’t left yet. I’m going to make sure you know your way to the restaurant before I leave.”

“I think I do. There’s no need to take up part of your day—”

“I think you do, too, but we’ll all feel better knowing you do.” Ben grinned, pushed back from the table, and stood.

“Well, all right, but your breakfast is going to get cold.”

Faith grabbed his plate and shook her head. “No, it won’t. I’ll keep it warm for him. And he’s right, Samantha. We’ll all feel better knowing you know your way there and back.”

“Everyone’s concern means more to me than I can say.” She looked up at Ben. “I’m ready to go, if you are.”

He was ready to see her to the restaurant. But he wasn’t too happy about having to leave her there. “Let’s go.”

❧

Samantha was glad Ben hadn’t left without saying good-bye, but she wished he didn’t feel he had to watch over her every minute. He’d done more than most men ever would by keeping her out of her burning tent that day—he certainly owed her nothing else. But she owed him.

She stopped in the street and turned to him. “Ben, I really don’t want to take up all your time. You have a farm to work and all kinds of chores to do, I’m sure. I do know my way to the restaurant, and I hate to be a burden to you.”

“You couldn’t be a burden to anyone, Samantha. I only want to put my mind—and everyone else’s in my family—to rest so we’re all confident that you know your way.”

“You know, if I got lost, I could stop and ask someone for directions.”

“I’m certain you could. But please, indulge me at this?”

After all he’d done for her, now he was asking her for something, and she wasn’t about to turn him down. She gave in and took the arm he offered. “All right. I suppose that is the least I can do.”

As they walked along, she read out the street names and told him which way to turn at each one until they ended up right outside the restaurant about five minutes early.

“See? I did know my way here.” She grinned up at him.

“You did. And that relieved my mind greatly. I guess I’d better let you get in there to work.”

Samantha nodded. “I suppose so. Will you be coming back in this coming weekend?”

“Yes, I will.”

Suddenly the weekend seemed a long way away, and Samantha was surprised at the sudden twist in her heart at the realization that she wouldn’t see Ben Thompson for several days. “Have a good week.”

“Thank you. I hope you have a good one, too. And that the work isn’t too hard.”

She chuckled. “I hope it isn’t either. But I guess I’d better get in there and see.”

Ben smiled and nodded. “See you Friday.”

“See you Friday.” Samantha hurried inside, trying to hide how much she hated to see him go.

“You did come,” Mrs. Miller greeted her as she took a loaded tray to a nearby table. “I was a little afraid that you’d changed your mind.”

She very nearly had the night before when she couldn’t keep things from sliding across Faith’s tray. But Samantha had given her word, and she never liked to break it. “I’ve got to try. By the end of the day, you may decide I’m not waitress material.”

“Oh, no. There is nothing in this job you can’t do, and so what if you drop a loaded tray or break a dish or two? It won’t be anything the rest of us haven’t done before. It happens in this business.”

For a moment, Samantha wondered if the older woman had read her mind, but she knew that was impossible. Evidently accidents were something that happened often enough that they didn’t bother Mrs. Miller too much, and Samantha felt relieved that she wouldn’t be fired if she dumped a whole tray. But she prayed that wouldn’t happen.

The day flew by as she learned what Mrs. Miller expected of her. To begin, the proprietor went to a table with Samantha and showed her how to ask for the order, write it down the way the kitchen liked it, and then turn in the order. But first off, Mrs. Miller looked each of the men at the table in the eye and said, “This is my new waitress, Miss Samantha Carter. You are to treat her with respect and watch your language around her. Is this clear?”

Each man looked from Mrs. Miller to Samantha and back again. They all nodded profusely but seemed to be tongue-tied for the moment.

“Furthermore, she has my permission to dump your food in your lap or on your heads if you get out of line in any way. Is that clear?”

“Yes, ma’am.” A man about the same age as Ben and Gabe said, although he did wink at Samantha.

Mrs. Miller raised an eyebrow at him. “None of that either, Nolan Powell.”

“It is perfectly clear, Mrs. Miller,” the other man of the same age said.

“We won’t be gettin’ out of line to Miss Samantha,” a man who might have been their father said.

“Thank you, I appreciate that.”

“And I’ll be watching you all to make sure you mind your manners,” Mrs. Miller said.

She did the same thing at each and every table Samantha waited on that day, and each and every man who came in promised to treat Samantha with respect. But that didn’t stop them from asking if she had a beau and if they could court her. By the end of the day, she’d had ten requests to see her safely home, but she’d refused each one. Obviously the town had a drastic shortage of marriageable women.

Mrs. Miller also helped her bring food to each table and showed her how to put each plate down in front of the customer. After half-a-dozen times, Samantha began to think she really would be able to handle the job.

But she’d had never been so glad to see quitting time come as she was that day. By then, each new step she took shot pain from her foot to her hip, and she was sure her arms might fall off at any moment from carrying the heavy trays. Ben had been right. This job was hard. But she wasn’t about to quit. Not now. She had no other prospects for work, and Mrs. Miller did need her. Surely she’d get used to carrying the trays and all the walking in a few days.

When she told Samantha she could go on home, Mrs. Miller added, “We never discussed your schedule and which days you wanted off, but I’m assuming that since Ben Thompson comes into town on the weekends, you might not want to work then?”

“I could probably work awhile on Saturdays, but I would like Sunday off if that is possible,” Samantha said. She wasn’t sure what to say about Mrs. Miller’s remark about Ben. And although she would like Sundays off, Samantha quickly realized her employer was right. She would like to see Ben when he was in town.

“How about this schedule through the week, work on Saturday until after lunch and all day Sunday off?”

“That will be fine.” More than fine. She wasn’t expecting to have that much time off, but she certainly welcomed it.

“And I’ll have you out of here before supper each night. Sometimes we have some rowdy cowboys in here in the evenings, and I’ve found it’s easier to have men or older women work that shift.”

That suited Samantha fine. She had no desire to work at night. That was when she would be able to spend time with Faith and her family and the boarders. “Thank you, I appreciate that.”

Mrs. Miller nodded. “You’re welcome. I’m glad you’re willing to work here at least for a while. We’ll be having a busy week with more people coming in for the celebrations this weekend. You go on home and get some rest.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Miller. I don’t think I’ll have a problem sleeping tonight, that’s for sure. See you in the morning.”

“See you then.” Mrs. Miller hurried off in the direction of the kitchen, and Samantha waved good-bye to the other workers. She took a deep breath as she walked outside. How wonderful to have light left in the day.

“How did your first day go, Miss Samantha?” a familiar voice asked.

She turned to find Matt Thompson leaning against the restaurant wall. “Why, Matt, how nice to see you. My day went fine. I’m a bit tired, I must admit, but I didn’t drop a thing.”

“I was sure you’d do fine. May I walk home with you?”

“Of course. But where is Hope?”

“Oh, she walks home from school with her friends most days. This was on my way home, so I thought I’d see if you might like company if you were about to get off work. And you happened out right as I got here.”

“Well, I’m glad of the company.” Samantha wondered if his papa had asked him to see her home, but she didn’t want to ask. It might put him in an awkward position.

“Did your papa get off this morning?”

“Yes, ma’am. He dropped me and Hope off at school on his way out of town. He said you knew your way to the restaurant real well.”

Maybe Ben hadn’t told his son to see her home, after all. Still it was nice to have someone to talk to as they walked.

“I think Papa gets a little lonely out on the farm, but he loves what he does. Still, I think he would have liked to have stayed in town a little longer this time.”

“I’m sure you all miss each other when you are separated,” Samantha said.

“We do. I wish Mrs. Rose’s place were a little closer in so we could live with Papa and go to school here. It’s not all that far on a weekend, but to go back and forth each day would take a chunk out of Papa’s time. And Aunt Faith is glad to have us. It’s hard to think of him out there by himself, though. I wish Papa. . .”

Samantha waited for Matt to finish the sentence, but he didn’t. And she hadn’t known him long enough to prod. But she couldn’t help but wonder what it was he was wishing his papa would do.