by Indiana Wake
“I wish my mama would give him a chance. She is convinced that the saying like father, like son, is true in every case.”
“I think it’s fair to say that it is rarely true, my dear. Like most old sayings, a distinct lack of knowledge and a good helping of cheap sentimentality is generally the basis.”
“I daresay you’re right,” Jenny said and laughed. She liked old Jeannie Stanton very much.
“And you are certainly nothing like your mother was at your age, honey. If any girl in this world was going to believe the smooth talking lies of a handsome young rogue, Polly Whitaker was just that girl. I think she knew in her heart that it was never going to come to anything, that she and Travis Hurst had just enjoyed a brief little romance on the Oregon Trail. But she was so determined on everything she wanted that she forced herself to believe otherwise. She wanted that handsome young man, the smooth talker who could charm the birds out of the trees, and she wanted him to love her above all other women. It made her blind to all the things that were so obvious to the rest of us. We all knew that he wasn’t up to much, that he wasn’t the sort of man that would make a good husband. And Jenny, if you’d met him, you’d have known it. So no, like father, like son doesn’t apply. Like mother, like daughter doesn’t apply either.”
“Was he really so obvious?”
“It was obvious to me and I hadn’t even met him at first. Your mother wandered about with big sad eyes until her own parents couldn’t do anything with her. They tried to tell her that it was a first romance, something that could just be forgotten, but she wouldn’t have it. He didn’t write to her once, and I already knew then what sort of man he was. Oh, but then he came to town, and everything I thought about him was right. He was just one of those men, a philanderer, I suppose.”
“And that’s what my mother’s been protecting me from all these years. Not even a philanderer, but from the idea of being a young girl who couldn’t see the truth; or wouldn’t see it. She wants to protect me because she’s worried that I might be just like she was. Surely, she knows I’m not like that.” Jenny shook her head and sighed.
“You’ve never exactly been the romantic type, have you?” Joanne added and sounded amused. “I would have thought your mother had more to worry about in that.”
“Sometimes we get so caught up in what we think we know that we don’t see what’s in front of us. I have no doubt that your mama is driving you to distraction, honey, but she can’t help it. Now, I don’t know what will snap her out of this, what will make her see what’s real and what’s not. But one day she’ll see it, I’m sure of it. Just don’t write her off too soon,” Jeannie said kindly.
“I don’t want to, really. But I don’t want to lose Arlon either just to please her.” She reached for her cup but there was no more tea left in it. “That’s if I haven’t lost him already. Really, the way she treated him.” She closed her eyes and shook her head slowly from side to side.
“Here, I’ll make you some more tea,” Joanne said gently.
“Well, you will have to make sure you get down to that little meeting place of yours,” Jeannie Stanton began. “It’s the only way you’ll know if you’ve lost him or not. But I have a feeling that he’ll be there, my dear. And if he is, then you’ll really know what sort of man you’re dealing with. If he was anything at all like his father, showing up in times of upheaval wouldn’t be his style. None of this is going to be easy, so if Arlon Hurst arrives, you’ll know he’s a very different man.”
“Oh, Jeannie, of course. And perhaps that would even go some way to convincing my mama that he is a good man, that he doesn’t run at the first sign of trouble. You really are so wise.”
“It runs in families, you know,” Joanne said, setting tea down in front of her friend and her great aunt.
“It might do, but it’s always more pronounced in the elderly,” Jeannie Stanton said and there was such a glint in her eyes that Jenny could easily see where Joanne had got her teasing nature from.
“What would I do without you? Both of you,” Jenny said and felt blessed to know such wonderful women.
They had helped her immensely and she knew now, without a doubt, that she would find a way to see Arlon again.
“The thing is, if you go and he is there, then you have a decision to make, Jenny,” Jeannie Stanton went on.
“What do you mean?”
“With things as they are, I think you are going to have to tell him exactly how you feel about him. However soon it is, however much you might think the time isn’t right, I think you have very little choice.”
“I really should tell him?” Jenny said and realized that Jeannie Stanton was right.
What would be the point in creeping out of the house in the middle of the night, waiting for him, if only to pass the time of day on the riverbank for a few minutes before he returned to the barge? It wouldn’t make any sense.
“Yes, you must tell him that you love him, because I think you do, honey.”
“Yes, I think I do also.” Jenny said, realizing there was little point in trying to hide it. “But what if he doesn’t love me back?”
“You won’t know unless you ask. You’re just going to have to have courage.”
“Aunt Jeannie is right, honey. Under the circumstances, you’re just going to have to be brave,” Joanne said and reached for her hand.
“Then brave I’ll be,” Jenny said and wondered if she really could be so very brave after all.
Chapter Sixteen
The sun was barely lightening the sky when Arlon arrived on the riverbank. It was so dark in the woods that he’d tripped twice, almost falling right over. But as he came out into the clearing on the riverbank, the gloom lifted, and he could see Jenny sitting down by the water’s edge.
There was no sign of her tent. No doubt her mother was more determined than ever to stop her roaming about the place. Poor Jenny.
He stood still for a moment, careful not to make a sound as he stared at her back. She was peering out across the water, her long dark hair falling in soft waves over her shoulders, and she looked so still; so peaceful.
He wondered if she really did feel at peace, or if her insides were as jangled as his own. His own resolve had wavered once or twice and, even now to see her sitting there with his own eyes, he wondered if she wanted to see him again or if she had simply come to remonstrate with him for whatever it was his father had done.
“Jenny?” He said gently as he began to walk toward her. “How long have you been here? It’s not even light yet.”
“Two hours already.” She turned and smiled at him, and he knew that she was there for the best of reasons; she looked so beautiful. “Sneaking out of the house relies on both of my parents being in a deep sleep. And I don’t really have long, my daddy’s always been an early riser.” She peered up into gray sky.
“I’m real glad you came, Jenny. These last two weeks, I didn’t know if you would,” he said honestly and finally sat down at her side.
The very moment he sat down, she shuffled along until she was leaning against him and slid her hand into his. So, whatever his father had done, Jenny wasn’t about to blame him for it.
“Jenny, I’m so sorry…” he began.
“Arlon, I’m so sorry…” she said at the same time and they both began to laugh. “Arlon, my mother’s behavior was unforgivable. These last two weeks, I wouldn’t have blamed you if you never wanted to see me again.”
“These last two weeks, I haven’t been able to think about anything but you.” He leaned sideways and kissed the top of her head, her gleaming dark hair smooth beneath his lips. “I don’t know what my daddy did, I promise you, but I reckon I can guess.”
“I guess he led my mama to believe that he loved her a very long time ago. It was a romance on the Oregon Trail, Arlon, and my mama was young and silly and absolutely determined to believe every word your daddy said. But it was never anything more than that, Arlon. She had no right to treat you the way she did ov
er dinner, it was awful. I really thought that you’d never want to see me again.”
“The truth is, my daddy had a history of that sort of thing. Well, worse, really,” he said and knew that he must finally tell her everything. “He died when I was a baby, just as I told you. But what I didn’t say was that he was murdered. He had been messing around with a local woman and her husband got to hear of it.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Jenny said and turned to look at him, her blue eyes full of the compassion he had never once seen from anybody else who knew what had happened to his father.
It was a curious thing. He had expected her to spurn him like everybody else had done in that small Californian town. He had expected her to think less of him, as if a man who had only been a tiny baby at the time was in some way responsible for it all, or at least tainted by it. Nobody had ever looked sad about it before Jenny had.
“I wasn’t old enough to know or even to mourn him, Jenny. But I had a lifetime of spiteful looks and even more spiteful comments. The schoolroom was hard for me; a father murdered under those circumstances was big news in that part of California right up until the day I left.”
“You suffered enough, Arlon, and then you came here for a new life only to find my mother. And then you suffer again.” Jenny’s voice wavered and he knew that she was feeling as emotional as he was. “That should never have happened.”
“I was going to tell you all about him, or as much as I know. I was going to be honest—I swear I was.”
“I’m not angry with you, not at all. And you never owed me an explanation about your father, I reckon it was always your business. Either way, it wouldn’t have changed how I feel about you.”
“You’d still have trusted me even when you knew the kind of stock I come from?”
“Stock?” Jenny repeated and started to laugh. “Like father, like son? No, I don’t believe in things like that. If I did, I would have to believe in like mother, like daughter, and I think it’s painfully obvious why I would not want that to be true.”
“Yes, I see what you mean,” he said, wanting to agree with her but not wanting to be in the position of insulting her mother at the same time.
“Don’t look like that, it’s true. My mother has always overprotected me, controlled me, and had never given me a reason for it. I knew there must be one somewhere but, to be honest, I would have thought it would have been something with a little more bite to it.”
“It can’t have been easy for her to have been misled by Travis.”
“People are misled by others every day, Arlon. But we grow up, we see a smooth talker for who he is, and we back away. The problem is that my mother didn’t, she held onto hope because she was determined to have Travis Hurst. She was determined that her first crush was going to be her last and, in the end, she did herself far more damage than Travis Hurst ever did her. And because of it, she did me a little damage along the way too.”
“I promise you, I’m nothing like him. I never did anything like that to any girl, not ever.”
“I know, Arlon. I know it without you even telling me. I’m not like my mother; I don’t blindly accept something just because I want it to happen more than anything else in the world. And I never really had a crush on any of the men here in Oregon before, I wasn’t so romantic. To be honest, it was a surprise to me when I met you, a surprise to find that I liked you so much and so quickly.”
“Jenny, I never felt this way about anybody in my life. These last two weeks not knowing, thinking I might never see you again, have been awful. I don’t want to be without you, I know that now. I mean, I know we haven’t known each other a real long time, but I feel so close to you. I know I risk sounding as smooth talking as my daddy if I go on with this, but the truth is that I’ve fallen in love with you.”
“You don’t sound smooth talking, you sound honest. And brave,” she said and grinned at him. “So, I’ll be brave too and tell you that I’ve fallen in love with you also. I just don’t know where we go from here.”
“Well, for you, I think it had better be straight back home or else the sun will be up and you’ll run smack bang into your parent in the kitchen,” he said, wishing that it was still dark and that he had more time. “In the meantime, I’ll think of something. If I don’t manage to see you before the barge heads south again, I’ll see you here just the same in two weeks.” He quickly got to his feet and held out his hands to her, helping her up.
They slid their arms around one another and held on tightly for some minutes. She tipped her head back and stared into his eyes, and he kissed her. He knew that he was in love, truly in love, and if it meant staying rooted to the spot for the rest of his life, never once seeing another inch of America or the rest of the world, he would. He would do anything to be with her, anything at all.
Chapter Seventeen
As Arlon walked around the edge of a large field, he began to wonder if Ted’s idea had been the right thing after all. Of course, he knew his own nerves were playing their part, trying to convince him to turn around and head back for the barge.
It had seemed like a long day already, although it was not far past midday. When he’d gone back to the barge after seeing Jenny, Ted had surprised him by being up, dressed, and ready to hear all his news. And, when he’d confessed that he didn’t know what he should do next, it had been Ted who said he should try to get Jenny’s father on his own and tell him just how much he cared for his daughter. Surely, any man who took his courage in both hands like that could not be thought badly of. That was Ted’s theory, anyway. But now that Arlon could see Gavin Swain in the distance, he wasn’t so sure. However, he knew he couldn’t turn and leave now. Gavin could easily turn and see him retreating.
When Arlon was just yards away, he could see that Gavin Swain’s attention was fully upon an ox. The creature stood placidly with its hind leg bent as its master dug something out of its hoof; probably a stone or something similar.
“Mr. Swain?” Arlon prompted, realizing that he could have retreated in full anonymity if he had wanted to. Mr. Swain looked truly surprised to see him there.
“Arlon?” He looked up at him, a small blunt knife in his hand. “Don’t look so worried. I’m just trying to flick this stone out. I just can’t quite get it.”
“Here, let me help.” Arlon held out his hand for the knife, leaving Gavin Swain to hold the creature’s leg with ease.
In no time at all, Arlon had popped the stone free and Gavin set the ox to rights again. The ox stood still, snorting a little and hopefully relieved to be free of the stone.
“Thanks,” Gavin Swain said. “Sure does make it easier to have a spare pair of hands.”
“You’re welcome, sir.” Arlon felt awkward. He knew he would have to start explaining his presence any moment.
“Gavin, please.” Jenny’s father smiled at him and looked just about as awkward as Arlon felt. “Look, about the other night,” he began, taking Arlon by surprise. “I won’t insult you by excusing my wife’s behavior, but perhaps I can tell you that she once knew your father and he let her down a little. It really isn’t an excuse, but perhaps an explanation.”
“I can certainly believe that my father did Mrs. Swain some wrong in the past. He treated my own mama appallingly.”
“You don’t have to explain, son.” Gavin Swain looked so troubled and Arlon felt sorry for him.
The poor man had a wife and daughter at odds, and it was clear that he loved them both so much.
“But I would like to. I want to be honest with you so that you will know me for an honest man.”
“Very well.” Gavin nodded and, sighing, he took a few strides across his land and leaned on the fence.
Doing just the same, Arlon joined him, deciding that he would leave nothing out. If Gavin Swain was going to be kind enough to hear him out in spite of his wife’s strong objections, the least he could do was tell him the absolute truth.
“As I said the other evening, I never knew my father.
His behavior, however, is something that I am all too familiar with. It has followed me around my whole life, you could say. I was taunted in the schoolroom; I was shunned by others around me who indulged their small-town mentality. As I am sure you and your wife already realize, my father was not a man to be trusted. Women most certainly couldn’t trust him, and neither could their husbands.” He began to feel the familiar shame. “And that’s how he met his end at such a young age, you see. He had his way with the wrong woman and her husband found out about it and murdered him. But even now, all these years later, the whole town remembers the name of the murdered man and not the murderer. All these years I’ve lived with that shame and then finally, when my mama passed away, I had an opportunity for a different life, one without the whispers, the sneering, and the mistrust. You see, there wasn’t a girl in town whose parents would let them anywhere near me. Like father, like son, right?” He shook his head bitterly. “And then I came to Oregon and began to work on the river, and it was like being born for the second time. Nobody knew my father, nobody knew me. It was a sense of relief like I’ve never known in my life.”
“And then my wife recognized you,” Gavin Swain said sadly. “I really am so sorry. I had met your father myself and, to be honest, I would never have recognized you as his son. But for some reason, my wife has lived on a knife edge all these years, so determined that our daughter wouldn’t suffer as she had. But if I’m honest, all it’s ever done is push Jenny away from us. And it’s unnecessary, because I know my daughter is very different. I love my Polly, but she had her own part to play back then, it wasn’t all your father’s doing. After the Oregon Trail, after his long absence without a word, Polly had the opportunity to choose to forget about him, to see the fleeting romance for what it was. One day I hope she will come to realize it, and sooner rather than later, because I have the greatest fear that she will lose Jenny forever otherwise. We both will.”
