Land had been his savior and he always thought he had enough until he rode his holdings and then he would always find there was more land to be had and there was more money to buy the land with. Finally he had enough to work for the rest of his life. He had settled down to working on his new house and was determined to find a wife to share his life with but up to that point he was spending his time getting all his land holdings gathered up and producing income. 

He had finally secured the next to last piece of land he wanted.  He now had over 20 thousand acres of Arkansas land in his name and with only one more track needed to completely secure his water rights for years to come  he was close to completing his life’s dream of being a landholder.

The final piece to the puzzle for Samuel was a track of land with 320 acres that fronted the White River.  This would give him a total of over a thousand acres that fronted the river and easy excess to move his goods down the river to the Mississippi River and the major markets.

The land was owned by Thomas Ackerman, a man of big dreams and little backbone for hard work.  The hardest work he had done over the years was produce one of the most beautiful daughters in all of Arkansas.  This he knew and decided she would be his meal ticket in his old age.

Samuel Lowe knew of the dark haired daughter of Thomas Ackerman but had never actually met her.  This changed when he rode up to the rundown shack setting back under a ridgeline among a grove of huge popular trees.   Ackerman was no where around so Lowe hailed the house and the poorly hung door opened and the most beautiful woman he had ever seen came out of the shack wearing a feed sack dress that did little to hide the full mature figure she had.

She had dark brown hair that ended at her waist and she was one of the tallest women Samuel had ever seen.  Lowe never a man to be shy at the thought of courting women found himself at a loss for words as the young woman placed her hand over her eyes to shield the sun from her eyes.

“Good afternoon ma’am is this the Ackerman place? “

“Yes it is”, “but my father is not here now he went down to the river to fish for supper,” “can I help you”?

Lowe had by this time lost all composure and decided it would be best to get off the horse before he fell off the darn thing.  

“Do you expect him home soon”?  “My name is Samuel Lowe and I would like to talk some business with him.”  Samuel asked, Trying to start a conversation that would at least give him a few minutes to get his composure back and then maybe he could find out more about the beautiful young woman he had just meet.

“Glad to meet you Mr. Lowe my name is Hannah and to tell you the truth he is more than likely asleep under a shade tree somewhere on the river bank, I never depend on him to bring in supper.”  She looked on the tall lightly gray haired man and wondered what he wanted with her father. Hoping against hope he had not made more debts as they were close to losing the place already.  If you want you can set a spell, maybe he will be home soon.  Saying this she started back to the shack to continue with getting supper ready for her father hoping the handsome stranger would stay for a while.

Unknowing to her Samuel Lowe was not about to move from the front yard until he had a change to do more talking with her even if he had to buy the place on the spot.

Ma’am would you happen to have a cool drink of water around for a man who has traveled a lot today?

“Why yes just a moment and I will get it for you, I just drew a fresh bucket from the well.”  Moving across the yard she knew she was being sized up by the handsome stranger and for the first time she felt like she was being watched by a man who knew what the world was about and could take what he wanted from it.

This was a strange sensation for her, most of the boys and men who came to the farm had only one thing in mind and that had nothing to do with making her a wife and providing her with a decent home.  They were the kind of men who would be happy to take what they could get and move on to greener pastures.  She had once told a suitor her pasture was not going to be grazed until a fence had been built.  She had kept that promise to herself despite the pressure she got from her father to find a man to do the work he would not.

Bringing the old white granite ladle over to Samuel after filling it full of water from the water bucket resting on the side of the rotted well cover she handed it to him.

“What business do you have with my father that would bring you out this far with all the heat we are having?” Looking up into the deep green eyes of Samuel she suddenly feel as if she was looking at a man she had known all her life and could ask or tell him anything.

“You don’t know who I am do you?’

“No I am afraid I have never heard of you before today.”

“I own most of the county and all the land surrounding your father’s tract and I am here to make him an offer on it.” This statement was not made to sound as a braggarts boost but as a statement from a man who had worked and earned the right to make the statement.”

Her father had never mentioned the name Samuel Lowe or who had owned the land adjoining his. He had always made the brag that one day he would buy her the land surrounding theirs.  She never dreamed that one man could own most of the land in the county

Now she was having a deep feeling in her soul that she was about to lose the only place of security she had ever known. The land had been bought with money her mother had received from her father’s estate and then she died before the house was built.  The family had moved from promise to promise and job to job until there was nowhere left to go.  After the money had caught up to them in St. Louis her father was once again full of dreams and wanted to use the money to buy land in the newly settled area in central Arkansas. The first winter had been long and the snows had stayed deep and the little lean to built by her father was not substantial enough to keep out the winter winds completely.  Hannah had tried to make it tighter by finding branches and leaves and placing around the outside but it was too little to late.  Her mother had died before the winter had ended and she was left alone with her father.

Her father even in his best days was not a worker.  He would start a project with great energy and before the day was out the work had gotten to hard and the rewards were to far away.  Hannah had built most of the cabin by herself while her father was off pretending to be hunting or working for someone else.  This was agreeable with Hannah as she could get more done if her father was not there to boss her around. 

Now she was going to lose all she had worked for simply because her father was a worthless shiftless shell of a man.  She knew he would take any offer for the land that would put a little money in his pocket and make him feel important.  She had to find out more from the stranger before he met her father and made an offer on the place.  Perhaps the best way was to tell the truth up front and that way if Mr. Lowe was an honest man as she felt he was she would know how to proceed to protect the last thing her mother had done for her.

“Sit down Mr. Lowe you and I need to talk before my father returns and I am put in a bad situation.”

“What do you mean I would never do anything to place you in harms way, that is not my way of doing business.”

“Thank you for saying that Mr. Lowe”

“Wait call me Sam not Mr. Lowe that was my father, I am simply Sam to my friends which I hope you will be one soon.”

This land is all I have, my mother died on it and I have tried to make a go of the place even if it is in my fathers name and I have no claim to ownership.”

“If you buy the land he will just take the money and gamble and drink it away and I will be left with nothing and no place to live. You see my father is not a man of statute, meaning he does not like to work but thinks he can live on his dreams.  For some men dreams can be worked on and made to come true but not for my father, he refuses to do the work needed to make any dream come true.”

Samuel was deeply touched by the speech she had made and during that time watching her he knew she was going to be his wife.  There had been women in his life but he had never found the one who felt as he did about land and what it meant to own some.

“Hannah, May I call you that?”

“Yes Please do.”

“I came here to buy this land to finish a dream of my own and that is to own as much land as I can manage and make money with for my future and my wife and children’s future. I have no use for more than I can use but I can use this land to finish off the riverfront I need to move and ship logs down river.  The creek up stream about a quarter of a mile will give me excess to floating logs down stream during the spring floods.”

“Sam I am begging you to get on your horse and leave before my father gets home.”  You are going to take my life away and I don’t think I can survive that.”  Hannah has just about reach the point of begging on her knees to get him to leave knowing that he would not.

She had dropped her head and was starting to cry not to get his attention but from a feeling of despair knowing her life about to change for the worst.

“I don’t know what to say, I need the land and intend to have it if your father will sell it to me.” Sam was trying not to hurt the woman because now it was hurting him for he had fallen deeply in love with her in the few minutes since riding up to the run down cabin.

Raising her head she saw her father come out of the woods from the direction of the river and knew she had but minutes to control her future.

Standing up and walking over to where Sam was leaning against a post of the front porch she stood close to him and looked directly into his eyes.

“Sam leave now and I will be yours body and soul for the rest of my life, that is all I have to offer to keep my life.  There has never been another man before you and there will never be another until you are through with me.”

Sam smelled the scent of womanhood from her, the smooth look of the skin on her face and the feeling of wanting her more than anything in his life.

“Hannah I can not leave here without buying this land, but before your father gets here let me say something I have never said to another woman.  Since the first moment I rode up here and laid my eyes on you I have fallen more in love with you by the minute. I know that is hard for you to believe but I mean every word of it.”  This land is not your future. Let me be your future. Marry me and I will try to make you the happiest woman on earth and care for you every way I can.  Leave with me today and I will buy this land and put it in your name and your name alone. It will always belong to you, but I want you to belong to me.”

Not knowing what to say Hannah knew she would say yes because she knew he was the man for her. She could see the pain in his eyes as she spoke and there was tenderness about the way he had just spoken to her.

“Yes Sam I will leave with you today and I will be your wife but I will not lay in your bed until you have made me your wife and I will take the deed to this land as a wedding gift.”

“Reaching down and taking hold of his hand she held it to her breast and spoke softly. ‘Sam I am not doing this just for the land and a future but I too felt something when we first spoke. I believe we have found each other and were meant to leave here together.”  Now let’s break the news to my father and then I will pack my belongings and we will leave here for our new future.”

Thomas Ackerman noticed the tall man leaning against the post of his front porch as he came out of the woods and a feeling of fear came over him.  His gambling had almost caused him to be killed several times in the past and he now owed several hundred dollars to a gambler in Little rock with no way of paying the man his debt. He had been hiding for weeks not going into any town along the river for fear of the man finding him for if he did and the money was not paid back he knew he would be a dead man.

He thought about running back into the woods until he saw his daughter standing next to the man and he knew he could not run and let her see the fear in him. If it was time for him to go then so be it.

Walking into the yard he saw his daughter holding the hand of the tall stranger and wondered what was going on.

“Father I want you to meet Samuel Lowe, Samuel this is my father Thomas Ackerman”

Samuel reached out his hand to shake Mr. Ackerman’s Hand. “Glad to meet you sir I have been wanting to meet you for a long time.”

Thomas Ackerman tried to remember where he had heard the name before but he could not place it.

“Dad Sam is here to make you an offer on the land.” And I am going to be leaving with Sam to become his wife.”

Thomas could not believe his ears. Here was a man who could save his life and also allow him to sell the land without his daughter trying to kill him.  But there was something he had missed.

“Wait, you are saying Mr. Lowe is here to make me an offer on buying the land but I did not get the last part of what you were saying.”

Jocelyn laughed, “Dad I said Mr. Lowe is here to make you an offer on the land and I am going to leave to day to become Mr. Lowe’s wife.”

“Jose where did you ever meet Mr. Lowe this is the first time I have seen the man.”

“Yes father this is the first time I have saw Mr. Lowe too but still I am leaving here today to marry Mr. Lowe.”  You have an offer to sell the land and I am not going to be moving with you. It is time I had my own future so you can have the money and I will have my life, now is that settled.” She standing tall and erect beside of Sam and he knew something had happen while he was away and he was not part of it.”

Still dumfounded by the events in the past few minutes Thomas Ackerman was afraid to say anymore or it might be a dream and he would still be afraid to wake up in the mornings.

“Well the marrying is up to you but selling the land is up to me and I have to have my price or I won’t be selling. This is a find piece of farm land with lots of potential.”

Sam Let go of Hannah’s hand and walked over to her father. “Mr. Ackerman just what is your price?”

“Well with all the improvements and well over 320 acres of fine black fertile farm land I will have to have 5 dollars an acre for it.”

“Do you have the deed to the land and is it a good clear deed?”

“Yes sir you show me the money and I will sign the deed over to you.  Do you want me to bring the deed to your farm next week”?”

“No if you have the deed in the house I will pay you now and you can sign a quit claim on the deed and the deal will be done.”

“You mean you have the money to pay me now on you?”

“Yes if you want to sell the place go and get the deed Jocelyn and I have a long ride to get home before dark.”

Thomas was not going to argue with the man although he did think it was strange his daughter was leaving with a man she had just met and he hated to loose her cooking but the deal was just to sweet and he could start to live again without the farm hanging around his neck and now he did not have to worry about his daughter having a place to live if something happened to him. The problem was he was not concerned about the daughter only his own personal skin.

Hannah had her meager bag of clothing packed in a short time and had the bag tied on the horse before her father had found the deed and signed the back of it.  The money changed hands and she was waiting patiently astride the horse.