Page 52 of Snow Going Back

Across the room, Sam put down his beer and allowed Jenna’s daughter to pull him onto the dance floor. He swung to the music and twirled her round and round, making her laugh. Kate smiled as she watched him, then Jenna danced over with her son, and as she turned, Sam gripped her hand and twirled her around, too.

A strange pang of wistfulness yanked at Kate’s core as she saw the way they looked at each other, and she blinked, surprised by how it had made her feel. It wasn’t jealousy though. Of course it wasn’t. Sam didn’t mean anything to her in that sense. He was just a friend, at best, and Kate was engaged. She looked over at Matthew and saw him watching her.

‘Sam’s good with Jenna’s kids,’ she remarked. ‘They seem to think a lot of him.’

‘Yep,’ Matthew commented. ‘They’re like brother and sister. Cora pretty much raised ’em both.’ He pushed off the wall and straightened up. ‘Sam looked after Jenna a lot when they were kids, being that bit older. I think he always felt that it was his job to get her through, both of them being without a mom.’

Kate smiled. ‘He’s like Cora then?’

Matthew’s smile widened fondly. ‘He is a lot like her, yeah. He cares about people. But he’s more like Will. Has the same big ideas about changing the world and the same stubbornness to make ’em happen, too.’

The softness of his smile at the mention of Cora’s name suddenly prompted Kate to wonder exactly how deeply his love for Cora had run.Wasit just with the fondness of a close friend, or could it be something more than that? M was still very muchthe focus of Cora’s diary, from what she’d read so far.Matthewstarted with anM, and he’d told her himself that he’d been around from the beginning. What if Cora had never given up this secret love of hers?What if… She studied the side of his face for a moment, then dismissed the idea. It was ridiculous. Of course Matthew wasn’t M. She needed to stop letting her imagination run riot.

Kate turned back to the dance floor, her gaze resting on Sam curiously. ‘Whose side of the family did Sam come from?’ she asked Matthew. ‘I wasn’t sure, with his name being Langston.’

Matthew exhaled slowly. ‘Well, I guess it’s no secret. Sam came from Will’s side. His father was the youngest of the three brothers. Jimmy.’ He shook his head with a grim expression. ‘As bad an egg as I ever did see, I’m sad to say.’

Kate frowned. She’d assumed Sam was William and Cora’s great nephew. That he was the same generation as Aubrey. As if he’d read her mind, Matthew’s next words answered her unspoken wonderings.

‘Jimmy was a lot younger than Will; a good decade or so. And then he was nearing forty when Sam came along,’ he told her. ‘Don’t think he’d ever planned to have kids, so Sam was a surprise for all of us.’

‘I see.’ That explained the wide age gap between Sam and his uncle and aunt. ‘So was Langston his mother’s name?’ Kate asked.

‘Yep,’ Matthew confirmed. ‘Jimmy was, er…’ He made a small sound of discomfort. ‘Well he put Sam and his mother through a lot, from what I understand. He was a bully with a gambling problem. I remember him from the early days, before Sam came along.’ He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. ‘I guess Sam wanted to honour his mother, rather than him. He was very close to his mother before she died. And he’sdone alotin her honour. Always trying to make things better for folks. Those houses of his, the cellulose film…’

‘That wasSam’sidea?’ Kate asked, turning to him with a frown.

‘More than just theidea,’ Matthew told her. ‘Sam set the whole operation up, from start to finish.’

Kate frowned. ‘But I thought he didn’t want anything to do with the business?’

‘Hey, Matthew! Look who made it!’ someone called over, and he turned.

‘I’d best go say hi,’ he said, smiling and raising a hand to the woman who’d just walked in. ‘You alright here?’

‘Ofcourse! You go – I’m fine,’ Kate replied with a smile.

He tipped his head and walked away, and Kate turned her attention back to Sam with a sad frown. He’d been through more trauma and heartbreak in his tender youth than any child should have to suffer. Her heart went out to the little boy he’d once been, but as she looked now at the man he’d become, she realised that the more she learned about him, the less she understood. He’d loved his aunt and uncle and clearly cared deeply about people. He wanted to help people. He’d set up an incredible and cutting-edge new venture within the company. He was the ideal person to take over Cora and William’s legacy on all fronts. So why was he so dead set against it?

TWENTY-EIGHT

Hours later, Kate and Sam said goodbye and set off back to the house. The sky was crystal clear, so although the moon was barely a sliver, the stars shone brightly enough to light their way. The snow glistened, reflecting the starlight with an ethereal silvery dance as they walked down Main Street, and their breaths frosted the air, drifting off in small white clouds.

Kate rubbed her gloved hands together and glanced up at the streetlamps. ‘How come they’re not on?’ she asked.

‘It’s past midnight.’ Sam checked his watch. ‘Yeah, ten minutes ago. That’s when they switch them off.’

‘Midnight? That’s early for a weekend. They don’t have very rock ’n’ roll expectations of the people in this town,’ she commented, instantly yawning.

Sam glanced at her wryly. ‘Can’t imagine why.’

‘Hey, it’s five a.m. as far as my British body clock’s concerned. It doesn’t get much more rock ’n’ roll than that,’ she told him.

‘Mhm.’ Sam shot her an unconvinced look.

They walked on for a few moments in silence, then Kate glanced sideways at Sam. ‘Hey, can I ask you something?’

‘Sure,’ he replied.

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