The young woman parked her jeep in front of a building that advertised that it was a gas station, post office, and general store. She climbed out of her Jeep, and looked around at the town with amusement. It was just as small as she had been expecting.
She walked into the store finding that it was packed with merchandise from floor to ceiling. An elderly man was seated in a wooden chair next to a small Franklin wood-burning stove. At least the stove wasn't lit.
The man rose from his chair. In a warm voice, he asked, "Can I help you?"
"I'm looking for the Dan Daniels place," the woman answered.
"You must be Violet," the man said startling the woman.
"I am," Violet said.
"My condolences on the loss of your mother," the man said while taking his cap off and holding it over his heart.
"Thank you," Violet said.
Seeing the surprise on her face, the man said, "Dan stopped by and said that you might be around asking for directions to his place."
"That makes sense," Violet said.
It struck her that life out in the country was a little different than life in the city. This wasn't her first time away from the city. Her mother and father used to take her camping when she was younger. They would pack up a trailer and head out to the national parks for one-week vacations. However, it was her first time to interact with the locals on more than a superficial level. It seemed to her that there was a lot less privacy out here than in the city.
"Vincent is over at the diner having lunch. He'll take you most of the way to Dan's place," the man said.
"There's no reason for him to go out of his way," Violet said.
"He's kin to Dan. Besides, it is no problem for him to take you by Dan's place. He lives right down the road from him," the man replied.
"He's at the diner, you say," Violet said.
"That's right. It is right next-door. I wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't expecting you," the man said.
"Thank you."
The man said, "It is a shame about your mother. Sonny speaks very highly of her. That cancer is a nasty disease."
"She spoke very highly of Sonny," Violet said.
It seemed strange to her that although her mother had never made it there, the folks ... complete strangers ... spoke about her as if she was a dear departed friend. She didn't know how to take that, but it didn't really surprise her. Part of the reason she was there was to meet the people who had been so nice to her mother during her last days.
Before Violet had a chance to leave the store, an elderly woman entered from the rear door.
She looked at Violet and said, "I didn't realize that we had a customer."
"This is Violet," the man said.
"My condolences for your mother," the woman said resting a hand on Violet's arm.
"Thank you," Violet said.
"You're a pretty young woman. I imagine that Sonny is going to fall for you like a ton of bricks," the woman said.
"Thank you," Violet said.
The woman said, "Sonny is a good boy. You could do a lot worse than him."
"I'm not really here to find a man," Violet said amused by the assumption that she was there to meet Sonny. Her mother's descriptions of Sonny had intrigued her and she had come out there, in part, to meet the man who had so thoroughly charmed her mother.
The woman smiled at the denial. She wasn't fooled for a minute.
Patting Violet on the arm, she said, "Of course you aren't."
"I'm sure that Vincent is waiting for you over at the diner," the man said.
Violet went over to the diner. A young man waved at her to get her attention. She walked over to his table.
Rising from his seat, he said, "You must be Violet."
"I am," Violet said.
"I'm Vincent. Dan said that you might need some help finding your way to his place. Why don't you sit down a spell? I'll take you by his place once I finish eating," Vincent said. He pointed to the chair across the table from where he was seated.
"No need to go to any trouble on my behalf," Violet said.
"No trouble. I live right down the road from him," Vincent replied.
He examined the young woman for a second while she took a seat at the table next to him. She was an attractive young woman full of energy. Her blue eyes sparkled with excitement. It was obvious to him that she was dressed for the country as evidenced by her hiking boots, blue jeans, and casual blue jean jacket.
Returning to his seat, he said, "I hope you don't mind me saying this, but Sonny is going to be able to resist those blues eyes of yours, for just about one second."
"I don't mind you saying that," Violet said.
Forty minutes later, the sound of a car pulling up to the driveway filled the air. Dan was standing by the corral looking at the Brahman bull inside. The noise of the car wasn't enough to distract him from his dark and angry thoughts.
The bull was two thousand pounds of fury backed by an angry disposition. That particular animal had managed to buck every cowboy that had tried to sit upon its back and had been earning good money on the rodeo circuit. Some idiot had cut the bull with a pocketknife while it was parked in the parking lot at a truck stop. Dan had the handler bring the bull back to the ranch for treatment.
Looking at the bull made him wonder what the world was turning into. Although the man was arrested, that didn't heal the cut. Dan was glad that he wasn't there because he would have cut the man back. He didn't like cruelty to animals.
He felt old and tired. The events of the summer had aged him. It bothered him that ending the gang's reign of terror had required him to intervene. Social conditions should never have made joining a gang an attractive alternative to getting a real job. The local citizenry should have prevented the gang from ever getting so powerful. The police should have been able to end it.
At the sound of the car door opening and closing, Dan turned to look at his visitor. The young woman stood by the jeep looking around at the scenery. She was wearing blue jeans, hiking boots, and a blue jean jacket. Her long hair was tied up in a ponytail. If she were to substitute cowboy boots for the hiking boots, she would look just like a native.
The woman was a lot younger than he had thought she would be. She looked to be the same age as Sonny. He wondered if his expectations had been set by how old the cancer had made her mother look.
Tipping his hat to her, he said, "Hello, Violet."
She smiled at him and approached the corral. She said, "You must be Dan Daniels."
"I am," Dan said. "I was sorry to hear about your mother."
"Thank you," Violet said. "She really appreciated your offer to come out here for a visit."
"It's a shame that she didn't make it," Dan said softly.
"Cancer is a harsh disease."
"Yes it is," Dan said.
The woman looked around at the scenery. It was everything that she had imagined it to be. She said, "She would have loved it out here."
"It is God's country," Dan said.
Violet said, "My mother really enjoyed Sonny's descriptions of it. She would tell me about his visits whenever I stopped by to see her in the hospital."
Dan said, "He'll be over for dinner."
"Good," Violet said. "I can't wait to meet him."
He looked her in the eyes for a moment and then said, "I hope you don't mind me saying this, but Sonny is going to be able to resist your blue eyes for about one second."
Violet laughed and said, "You're the second one who has told me that."
Dan said, "Sonny has had a rough time. He needs someone in his life."
Violet said, "I heard about the gang problem."
"He was in the news for a bit," Dan said noncommittally.
Violet said, "That's not what I was talking about."
"What are you talking about?" Dan asked.
"I'm talking about you destroying the gang," Violet answered.
"Huh?" Dan asked feeling sick to his stomach.
Violet answered, "My mother figured out what was going on, there. She knew that you and Joe had visited Sonny after he was shot the first time. You aren't the type of men to stand by and do nothing when your family is threatened. She knew that you were the ones that took care of the gang that attacked Sonny."
"She believed that?" Dan asked confident that he was going to jail.
"Yes, she did," Violet said.
Her mother had told her that men like them were rare in today's world. They were the kind of men who would take care of their women while treating them with the respect they deserved. In thinking about it, she had come to the same conclusion.
Wondering why she wasn't afraid to be out there, Dan asked, "What do you think?"
"I think that Los Angeles owes you a great debt and, unfortunately,
you'll never be able to collect on it. It's a pity, really."