“You can’t lose the income from Bess’s Place.”
“I’ll find a way.” He let out a breath, and I knew it was hard for him to say, “I’ll take out a loan if I must.”
“I don’t want you to do that.” I licked my dry lips, trying to calm my nerves, remembering what I had planned to ask him. “What if—” I paused, unsure how he’d react. “What if I told you that I know where the next big gold strike will be, and we have time to get there before the others? We can collect all the placer gold we need. It will be more than enough to finish your building, and I can put some aside for Father and Hazel.” I was going to tell him my plans to help Mama and Papa, too, but that seemed like too much for now.
He pulled back, confusion on his brow. “What do you mean?”
I tried to take a steady breath. This wasn’t how I had plannedto ask. “I know about a gold strike that hasn’t happened yet on the Yuba River. If we go now, we can get there before anyone else and have all the gold we need.”
Sam took a step back, shaking his head. “I told myself I would never chase after riches. That was my father’s only aim in life, and it destroyed our family. I didn’t come to California for the gold.”
“Whydidyou come?”
He ran his hand over his face and turned away. “To get as far away from my past as I could.”
I was quiet for a moment, then said, “I came for gold. For my father and for my sister. It might be shallow or foolish, but that’s why I’m here. I can’t go alone, and Father isn’t well enough to make the trip with me.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m asking if you will come with me.”
He was so quiet, I was afraid he wouldn’t respond.
But then he turned back to me and shook his head. “I’m sorry. I can’t do it.”
With those last words, he left the kitchen.
Sam hadn’t returned before I began to prepare breakfast. I was still shaking from Jim’s unexpected arrival and surprised that Hazel and Johnnie had slept through it. Paddy and Father had come down, and Father tried to help with breakfast but needed to rest every few minutes.
Even though it was Sunday, Bess’s Place was still open. Miners came into San Francisco on the weekends to spend all the money they made in the goldfields throughout the week. I hated watching these young men, some of them fathers and husbands, wasting all their hard work on gambling, drinking, and women. Even the meals they ate at Bess’s Place were exorbitantly priced and would use up all their earnings.
“Where is Sam?” Father asked as he flipped flapjacks while Paddy and I served plates of food to the guests.
“I don’t know.” I didn’t bother to tell him about Jim’s visit that morning. He’d already been concerned when Hazel had told him about the man who broke into our room the night before.
“I—I look.” Paddy opened the back door and scanned the yard, shaking his head. When he turned back to the kitchen, he simply shrugged.
“I could have done that, Paddy,” Father said with a chuckle.
Paddy offered one of his rare smiles, though half of his face remained paralyzed.
What had happened to cause such damage? And what kind of man was Paddy before? Sam said that he and Bess had been in a relationship, but he hadn’t elaborated. Had their relationship continued after Paddy was harmed? Or had Bess taken him in out of pity and responsibility? I remembered her tenderness toward him that first morning as she had served him breakfast. It didn’t seem romantic, more protective and nurturing.
Cole had seemed to love Bess, and given the information Spencer had told me about the book Cole wrote, it sounded like he and Bess had been close. Had Sam’s anger toward Cole been misplaced? Or was Cole’s book a fictional story, influenced by real people?
There were still so many unanswered questions.
As the morning wore on, my concern about Sam grew. He had never been gone this long, especially without telling us where he went. I hoped and prayed he hadn’t had another confrontation with Jim.
We finished serving breakfast and cleaned up the kitchen, and then I took off my apron. “We’re going to church,” I said to the children.
Hazel made a face. “Johnnie and I don’t want to go to church.”
“Why not?” I asked as I smoothed back my hair.
“You have to stay quiet in church. We don’t like that.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “I don’t think that will be a problem for Johnnie.”
