CHAPTER 13 #2
cookie jar. Did he have a stroke?
“Are you all right, Mr. Cable?”
“… Sam, please. Call me Sam.” But he didn’t
look like he meant it.
“Dad, what’s the matter? Do you need to rest?
Sandy, let’s get him home.” Sandy signaled for the waitress to
bring the bill and paid it, while Lily got Sam out to the car.
“Should I call a doctor, Dad?” Lily tried to
shift him to make him comfortable.
“No, no, I’m all right. Just let me catch my
breath.” He huffed and exhaled noisily all the way home.
Sandy drove them as carefully as possible.
Back at the ranch, they got him in the front door and into a living
room chair, sinking into the couch nearby.
“Is it a stroke, Dad? You’ve never had heart
problems before.”
“… I do have a heart problem, Lily, darlin’,
but it’s not the kind you think.”
They stared at Sam’s puffy face. Sandy got
him a glass of water.
“So you’re all right physically? Then what’s
going on, Dad? Out with it. We’ve never had any secrets from one
another.”
“…That’s not technically true, Lily.” He took
a sip of the cool water, set the glass down carefully.
Sandy and Lily glanced at each other and he
reached for her hand. This didn’t look good, whatever it was.
“I’m not sure where to begin, sweetie.” Tears
pooled in Sam’s eyes and he shifted again in the chair like he
couldn’t get comfortable.
“How about at the beginning?”
Sam looked right at Sandy. “…You’ve come to
ask for Lily’s hand, haven’t you?”
“Yes, sir, I have.”
Lily nodded her approval.
“I see you’re in agreement with your future
plans. But I just can’t give you my approval. There’s too much
water under the bridge and too many hurt feelings. He’s not the man
for you, Lily.”
“What in the world are you talking about?”
She blinked rapidly at him, moving closer to Sandy. Sam leaned into
his chair, reached back into his memory.
“…You both know that my family lived in
Naples for many years. Happy years... I was born in Reno. Sandy,
your mother, Jeanne, and I grew up and went to school together. I
gather she told you that much.” He glanced at Sandy who nodded.
“What she didn’t say, nor have I, is that
Jeanne was my first love. We were absolutely crazy about one
another and decided to marry once we finished high school. That may
sound old-fashioned to you, but we were ranch kids. Marrying early
and working the ranch was our way of life.”
“And then what happened?”
Sandy fleetingly wondered if he was the one
having the stroke now.
“Dad inherited this ranch in Sonoma and he
moved us here. Jeanne and I were distraught, but I had to leave. We
swore we would be together somehow, but distance, you know…”
“And then my dad entered the picture,” Sandy
grimly added.
“Yes, Miles had grown up with us too and I
guess had been waiting in the wings, as it were, for Jeanne. When I
left, they got together.”
“How does this affect Sandy and me?”
“I’m sorry, honey,” Sam swallowed hard and
had trouble meeting her eyes. “But I’m not sure I can lose another
woman I love to a Johnson man. That may seem trivial or whatever,
but it’s how I feel.”
So there it was.
Sitting in a puddle on the floor in front of
them. The truth that had been a long time coming and now was out
for everyone to see.
Sam finally met his daughter’s eyes, “Don’t
hate me, sweetheart. You’re all I have left.” Lily burst into tears
and Sandy was angry.
“Mr. Cable, you don’t want Lily to be with me
because my dad married your former girlfriend over forty years ago?
Is that what I’m hearing?”
“… It’s not that simple, son.”
“Yes, it is and I’m not your son,” he hugged
Lily tighter. “And you’ve made Lily cry. Especially for a father,
that is unacceptable. Lily, we need to leave.”
Her sobs filled the air. “Dad, you won’t
give… your permission? Even if we love each other?”
Sam shook his head.
She stood and raised her voice. “I hardly
know who you are. You kept a secret like that from me for years?
Why… in the hell did you suggest I move to Naples? Did you want to
get… revenge on the Johnsons after all these years?”
“Of course not!”
“And what about Mother? Didn’t you love her
at all? Did she just pick up the leftovers here?” She turned away
from him and wrapped her arms around her shaking body.
“No, honey. I loved your mother dearly.” Sam
stood and reached for her. “I just don’t think I ever got over
Jeanne. She was Jeanne Murdoch then.”
Lily stepped away and Sam’s arms fell limply
to his sides. He looked exhausted. When he went to his bedroom,
Sandy and Lily were left with the ruins of the evening.
“Lily, we need to get out of here. Please,
let’s go.”
“… No, let’s go in the morning when we have
our reservation. Anything would be too difficult tonight.” Tears
fell steadily and she searched for a tissue in her pocket.
“I’ll drive all the way home, sweetheart,” he
pleaded with her as he took her in his arms.
They embraced for a few sweet moments.
“All right,” she said finally, “but I can’t
talk… for a while.”
Sandy got the bags and loaded the car. Lily
tried to talk to her dad one last time through his closed door. Sam
refused to come out of his room. “Goodnight then, Dad, and
goodbye.”
And they drove off into that unwelcome night.
It had all started so well and ended so miserably.
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