Ask No Tomorrows (18 page)

“
I
thought they’d hurt you…” he barely managed to whisper between
kisses. The desperation in his voice told her how much he cared. “I
wanted to kill them for hurting you.”

“
I’m better now…” she sighed, clutching him and tiptoeing to
put her lips to his once more. “I’m always better when you hold
me…”

He grabbed her
tighter and kissed her with surprising mastery. His tenderness made
her quiver.

Slowly, he let
their bodies drift apart and kissing her one last time, he let her
go, and stared at her intently, his eyes going over her lazily as
though drinking her in.

After a long
silence, she moved away from him, but her body was still trembling
from his heated embrace.

“
Did I do right, Sam?” she asked in a hushed
whisper.

“
It’s okay, you handled it well. I’m proud of you. I didn’t
know you had that much fight in you.”

“
I’m not talking about that, I’m talking about just
now…I’ve…never kissed a man before you…Sam. Not since I was five
years old…”

“
You did fine, Riley…too fine…” He cleared his throat and
turned away from her. “And we don’t need to go there no
more…”

“
Oh
we’ll go there Sam…as long as we are together, we’ll go there, and
you know it as well as I do. It’s been this way from the start of
it, this feeling between us. Don’t shush me Sam, I gotta say I’m
convinced this thing between us isn’t going away. In fact it just
gets stronger and stronger. When you kiss me, I fall apart. You
don’t kiss with your lips Sam, you kiss with your heart, and my
heart knows it. I feel it inside me, growing like a fire I can’t
put out. You won’t admit it, but I have to, I feel crazy inside.
You won’t say the words. You won’t ever say the words. But you
can’t hide it from me. I was green-eyed jealous when you kissed
Mavis. I wanted you to kiss and touch me like that…She had
something I didn’t. She was black and you could go with her so
easily.” Her breathing was erratic, as though she had to purposely
draw breath just to speak of it.

“
Riley…I didn’t go with her.” He shook his head, but when their
eyes met across the room he couldn’t deny it, and a slow burning
smile lit her face.

“
No…you didn’t, did you?” She shook her head, and steadied
herself. “You don’t have to say the words, Sam. I know. I know
every time you kiss me how you feel, and I know too that because
I’m white you’ll never say the words to me.”

She shrugged.
She went to stand in front of the window. “But right now we got
bigger problems.”

“
What now?” Sam asked, following her.

“
The lawyer says I’ve been declared dead. In order to get my
money I’ll have to either go in person to the bank and have myself
declared alive or send someone in my place to get it,” Riley said,
shaking. “He said he could draw up the papers if I could have
someone else go in my place. A relative.”

“
I
guess that leaves me out. Don’t think they’d believe
that.”

“
No.” She almost laughed.

Sam shook his
head. “Just gets better and better, doesn’t it?” He flopped on the
bed and looked at her. After a long silence, he nodded
slowly.

“
I
got an idea,” Sam began.

“
Good, ‘cause I’m running out of ideas.” She turned to look at
him.

“
No
one said this was gonna be easy,” Sam assured her.

“
I
know. What’s the idea?” she asked.

“
Do
you have any real kin?” Sam asked.

“
Sure, a cousin up north. He would come if I asked him. He was
in the will too.” She nodded. “I just didn’t want to ask him is
all…”

“
Why not?”

“‘
Cause I barely know him and it would be a great imposition.
He’s a doctor and as you know doctors are needed
people.”

Sam nodded.
“Well…you don’t have to. If you have a cousin, all you have to do
is impersonate him.”

“
You mean show up…looking like a boy again?” Riley
screeched.

“
Not a boy, a man…but look Mavis swallowed it, hook, line and
sinker.” Sam smiled at her. “She never questioned it.”

“
Looks like I don’t have much choice…”

Sam nodded.
“Good, now give me some time to think this out. I gotta go eat and
then we’ll plan it. Is the café you went to good?”

“
Yeah, I reckon, I didn’t pay much attention to what I was
eating though,” Riley admitted. “It would have been nicer having
someone to eat it with.”

Sam sat on the
edge of the bed and looked at her, folding and refolding his hands
together. “Riley, you really should find you a young
man.”

Riley whirled
about, her dress swishing. “A young man?”

“
Most girls your age have one.” Sam didn’t look at her. “Did
you ever…wasn’t there anyone…”

Riley felt the
color on her cheeks. “I guess you find that strange
too.”

Sam glanced at
her then looked away.

“
There was one fella I took to, but it didn’t do me any good.
He was after the ranch and that was all. He was actually in love
with my neighbor, Cilla. They married months later. Look Sam, I
know I’m homely, oh…maybe downright ugly compared to most. I don’t
have all the social graces, my dad told me that, but he said it
didn’t matter; there would be gold diggers no matter and that I
shouldn’t set my heart out there to be trampled on. So I turned my
attention to the ranch, and I didn’t go to parties like most of the
young girls did.”

“
You’re not ugly, Riley…” Sam said standing up, but not moving
toward her. “You’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever
known.”

She stared
open-mouthed at him and he cleared his throat.

“
I
am plain…”

“
Beauty is always in the eyes of the beholder, Riley, but I
don’t want to hear you say you are ugly, or plain ever again. Come
here.” He directed her toward the dresser where an old mirror
looked back at them. “Look into the mirror.” He touched her hair,
curling his fingers into it. “Your hair is like silk, your eyes are
the color of heaven, and when you smile…Lord…when you smile
sunshine comes into the room.”

Riley gasped,
she wasn’t looking at herself, but him and the way he stood staring
into the mirror at her. Their eyes met and held each other for a
long moment. It was as if the mirror allowed them the pleasure of
looking at each other, holding each other. As though staring into a
mirror was safer for them both. Riley felt her heart flutter. She
wanted to turn into his arms and be swept away with his kisses but
knew he wouldn’t touch her.

“
No
one’s ever said those kinds of things to me,” she
murmured.

He firmed his
lips and stepped backwards.

“
Well, they should have…”

Sam loved her;
she knew it as sure as she breathed and wished she could say the
words out loud without him getting upset and mad. But she was sure
of it now and it brought sunshine into her heart like nothing ever
had. She needed time alone to think on that love.

She looked
down now and gathered her thoughts. “You better go eat now…” she
murmured.

“
Yeah…” His voice was raspy, and he didn’t argue. He
left.

“
I
love you, Sam,” she whispered the words as he closed the door
between them. “I’ll always love you.

Chapter Eleven

“
You got any money?” Sam asked that night as he checked on her
once more.

“
Yeah, a little, why?” she asked, not prepared for that
question.

“
Because you gotta be your cousin now, and you’ll need Eastern
duds, fancy stuff. Maybe even one of those silly hats they wear,”
Sam insisted. “By the way, what’s his name?”

“
Dr. Ethan Morgan.”

“
A
real dude, huh?”

“
Do
you really think I can fool them?” Riley asked, narrowing her
glance on him.

“
You don’t have any choice. It might be best to go to a barber
here in town and let him fix your hair; it’s a little rough
looking. You have to if you want your place back,” Sam continued.
“It won’t be too hard. We’ll practice it a few times. Then you can
go and collect your money. Do you want to see the ranch
again?”

Riley took a
deep breath. “I don’t know, Sam. I don’t know if I’m good enough to
pull this off, especially alone.”

“
Well, how the heck do you expect me to come with you?” Sam
jumped at her.

Riley flopped
on the edge of the bed. “There’s a way, but you might not like
it.”

“
What way?”

“
Well, bein’ a doctor and all, I’d probably have a man
servant,” Riley explained.

Sam gritted
his teeth, his expression was not pleasing.

“
That way you could help me stay in character,” she
insisted.

Sam sighed
heavily, not looking at her. “I thought I’d be moving on,
Riley.”

Riley jumped
to her feet. “Move on? You can’t do that.”

“
Well, Riley, once you get your money and land…you won’t need
me any longer,” Sam explained, still not looking at her.

“
You’re wrong. I’ll always need you, Sam,” she protested,
coming to stand just in front of him.

“
It
ain’t gonna work, Riley.” He moved away from her.

“
What?” she asked, innocently following him.

“
You and me, that’s what,” he insisted. “You gotta ranch to
run, I got places to see. I’m black and that ain’t gonna change for
sure. I can’t live in your world, Riley.”

“
There’s always a way if you really want it.” She stared into
his somber face and came up close, but not too close. “You are the
best friend I’ve ever had, Sam. Truly. I don’t want to lose that
friendship no matter what. I value it, I keep it close to my heart.
No one has ever taken the time to know me so well, to help me so
much. My gratitude is deep seeded. I need you Sam, I think I’ll
always need you…But I can’t hold you, even I know that. But if
you’ll help me get my ranch back, you’ll be a part of it, a big
part of it. I’ll draw papers up saying we are partners. Whatever
you want, Sam, that’s how much I trust you.”

Sam noticed
she swallowed hard to keep the emotions that were close to
surfacing at bay.

“
I
want you to come with me and be my foreman…for now.” The tremor in
her voice made him consider her words.

“
Why?” He looked up at her, seeing the unshed tears in her
eyes.

“
Because of all the people in the world, I trust you most…with
my life and my money,” she added.

His heart
throbbed with a passionate message, but if he allowed himself to
speak the words, they couldn’t be taken back. Instead of confirming
his own feelings, he squashed them in a small part of his heart and
nodded. “It’s against my better judgment, but I’ll go along with
you as your man servant.”

His lack of
commitment hurt, as he watched her swallow her unshed tears. “Thank
you, Sam…”

“
I
suppose the first thing we need is a proper haircut, and clothes
for you. And the safest place for a haircut like you need will not
be to your liking,” he announced, cutting his emotions with
disguised words.

“
I
don’t understand…” she hesitated.

“
I’ve been thinking. A barber would just ask questions and
consider you strange. It wouldn’t work there. The only people I
know that would give a woman a man’s haircut is at the whorehouse,”
Sam announced.

“
Whorehouse…you’ve got to be kidding. I’d never set foot in a
whorehouse.”

“
No, I am not kidding. I’ll arrange it. You’ll come in the back
way so no one will see you. You’ll get your hair cut there and no
one will say a word about it,” Sam announced. “Well, you can’t very
well go into a local barber and ask for a man’s haircut. What would
they think and say to others?”

“
But I’ve never been in a whorehouse…” she
exclaimed.

“
Doesn’t matter. You aren’t a whore and you don’t want anything
but a haircut. They’ll do it, and keep quiet about it. They are the
only ones I know that could keep quiet. Understand?”

“
How do you know…?” she gasped. “How can you be so
sure?”

“
It’s not important how I know. A man knows these things. I’ll
arrange it all, don’t fret,” Sam instructed.

Indignation
was on the verge of exploding at Sam as he smiled at her. “Do you
want my help or not?”

She nodded,
her face crimson.

“
Good, now you sit tight ‘til I get back,” he
instructed.

***

The whorehouse
was on the edge of town and Sam had no trouble finding it, for the
lights were on way into the night and music and noise came from it
at all hours.

He walked
inside and looked about. The furnishing were the best probably
straight from St. Louis, red sette’s and a big grand piano in the
middle of the room, women adorning every corner with assorted
underclothes on. All of them looked him over, flirted with their
eyes.