by Leigh Smith
Destiny, that predetermined, usually inevitable or irresistible, course of events, which changes the path you travel. Has it happened to you? If you had asked that question of Chris Chambers or Samantha Fremont on that cold crisp late September morning, the answer probably would have been something like, we make our own destiny. On that day, however, destiny took a hand and this is the story of how nature stepped in on a snowy road in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Christopher Matthew Chambers grew up in upstate New York, along with a brother and one sister. His family was wealthy, the kind of wealth that was passed on down through the generations. He attended the best prep schools and graduated from Princeton University and the Wharton School of Business. His manners were impeccable and his charm well known to all the mothers in his parents' social set. He was always at the top of every invitation list and was the most fantasized husband of many of the daughters of his parents' friends.
With his brains and degrees, Matthew Chambers always imagined his son Christopher joining him in the family business. Matthew had taken over the business from his father, and he assumed his oldest son would do the same. His father had died at his desk, something Matthew didn't want for himself or his wife, Nancy. He planned on retiring and enjoying his later years. His marriage was one of those rare relationships in that he actually loved Nancy and enjoyed spending time with her, even after forty years of marriage. He wanted them to be able to travel the world together and enjoy the fruits of their labors. He thought Chris would come in and take over after graduating from Wharton. He was mistaken. Chris wanted nothing of the sort. It shouldn't have come as a complete shock to Matthew as Chris had been telling him for years that wasn't his plan, but Matthew refused to believe that he wouldn't change his mind once he had graduated from business school.
Chris realized how lucky he was and appreciated the opportunities but sitting in some stuffy office building, amassing another fortune to add to the already amassed fortunes of his family didn't fit into his life plan. He felt life should be lived, and he was going to enjoy all the time given to him. He knew his brother, Paul, was more suited to that corporate lifestyle than he and this gave Paul his chance to shine. After graduation from Wharton, he packed up and said good-bye to the East Coast. It was not where he wanted to spend the rest of his life. He hated leaving his family, but that life was much too steeped in protocol and the expectations of someone with his name and credentials. He wanted to strike out on his own. Thanks to a small trust fund he came into at twenty-one, he could do just that. He planned to travel across the country, not on the main highways and byways, but the back-country roads, meeting the people who populated the small towns and communities along the way. Americana always appealed to him; he envied the early settlers not knowing what panorama lay over the next horizon. Even though he knew geographically what lay ahead, seeing, learning, and experiencing that adventure for himself, is what called to him.
Occasionally, a town would truly resonate with him, and he would settle in for a couple of months. He would take a job, so he could seriously blend in and get to know the people and the lore of the place. Acceptance as Christopher Chambers instead of as a member of the famous New York Chambers family was important to him. He kept a journal and someday hoped to write a book about his life's journey.
He had been living this nomadic existence for almost ten years when he got the phone call from his brother Paul that would change his life. As he knew he would, Paul had stepped into the slot at the family firm, originally meant for Chris. It worked out fine for Paul; he didn't mind at all. He was no stuffed shirt but reveled in making and spending money while living as a well-to-do member of a prominent New York family.
"Hey brother, how are you? I haven't heard from you in a while."
"Yeah, well you know how it is with us working stiffs."
Paul always razzed him about something or other. It was all part of their brotherly relationship. "Don't you go giving me that bullshit. You have no idea what it means to work."
Chris, being Chris could never let Paul get away with anything. "I beg to differ with you. I do meaningful work while you, brother, just make money."
"Oh, here we go again. Should I go get my violin and play a tune while you fill me with the woebegone tales of the working man," Paul told him?
Chris laughed. "Okay, bro, to what do I owe the pleasure of hearing the sound of your voice."
"You know, if you were here right now, I would deck you." Paul could hear his brother's laughter once again. He loved the way they had been able to continue their friendship as well as their sibling rivalry.
"Yeah, you and who else?" It was Paul's turn to laugh.
They got down to business. Paul told him they had had a letter from an attorney out his way, looking for relatives of Michael Cameron.
"It seems Michael was a great uncle of mother's who had traveled somewhere out west in the early 1900s. According to mother and stories she heard from her mother, Uncle Michael was the black sheep of the family, and no-one had heard from him since the depression."
"So why are you telling me about this."
"I've called the attorney. Mitchell Cameron, son of Michael, recently passed. The only surviving relative found was our mother. She would like you to contact the attorney and make whatever funeral arrangements are necessary and clear up any remaining legalities."
"And I am elected because I'm the only one not doing anything worthwhile."
"Chris quit being an ass. You're already practically there, can you do this or not? I have to get back to this guy."
"I'm sorry, Paul. I'll be glad to see to it. Give me the address and phone number. I will keep you posted."
"Thanks brother."
Chris loved his brother Paul and loved giving him a hard time, but he knew he would do almost anything Paul asked. He was glad to be able to do this for his family; maybe it would move him up a notch in his father's eyes. According to his father, he was throwing his life away, so contact with his parents over the past eight years was sparse. The reunions were painful for everyone because his father couldn't understand Chris's wanderlust and constantly reminded him of what a disappointment he had turned out to be. Matthew Chambers would not just have these conversations privately but unfailingly around a dinner table with everyone present. Chris constantly felt bad for Paul during these conversations because it had to make Paul feel as if he was a fill-in for the real thing. His mother Nancy would try to placate his father and change the subject to no avail. Kimberly, his sister, would get up and leave. As the years progressed, Chris came home less and less and instead used the telephone to keep in touch. He was tired of trying to convince his dad that he enjoyed his transient life. Lately though, he started thinking about finding a place and someone with whom he could settle down. The only 'never' was that he would, at no time, join the family business; everything else was on the table.
The following day he called and made an appointment to meet with the attorney, who was located about an hour's drive from Midville. He had been living in Midville for the past year and a half, a long time for him. He had fallen in love with the area and had taken a job as a substitute teacher and assistant librarian for the county. During the drive, he thought about how beautiful the countryside was and tried to imagine how pristine it must have been when his ancestors first set foot here. He was anxious to learn about the western branch of the Cameron family.
From the attorney, he learned that Michael Cameron sought his fortune in the area around Virginia City, Nevada and made his living as a gambler. He became the owner of a 10,000-acre tract of land known as Sutter's Ridge, the result of winning a poker hand. The details of this transaction were recorded in a journal he kept containing notes about his winnings and his losses. The attorney gave him a copy of this journal and told him Mitchell Cameron and his wife recorded the entire history of Sutter's Ridge and Sunrise Peak. The journals were in a safe at Sunrise Peak.
Christopher also learned that Mitchell's wish to be cremated and have his ashes scattered on Sutter's Ridge had already taken place. The details that still needed attending to could not take place until the transfer of property to the beneficiaries was completed. Nancy Chambers and her children were the sole surviving relatives of Mitchell Cameron and thus the beneficiaries of his estate.
Chris's head was reeling from the information he had learned from the attorney. He knew he had inherited some of Michael Cameron's adventurous spirit, and he was even more anxious to learn all the details recorded in those journals. He barely contained his excitement when he called his brother Paul.
"You're not going to believe this," was his opening statement to Paul.
"Hello Paul, how are you, would be the usual conversation opener."
"Fuck you brother. Do you want to hear or not?"
"This must be good to have you this excited brother."
"It is. Hang on to your hat but Mom and the three of us are the surviving relatives of Mitchell Cameron, who just happened to own 10,000 acres of prime real estate known as Sutter's Ridge."
"That is some news brother."
"Yes, I can't wait to check it out. According to the attorney, Michael Cameron built a gentlemen's hunting and fishing lodge and when the property reverted to his son upon his death, Mitchell and his wife converted it to a family resort. The resort closed in the seventies, but Mitchell Cameron lived there until his death. I am so anxious to get up there and see the property. We have to meet a couple of conditions before they fully transfer the property, and those are outlined in the paperwork that I'm faxing to you. You can have the family attorney look them over. Are you coming here soon?
"What about the funeral arrangements?"
"He has already been cremated, and his ashes scattered according to his wishes."
"Can you take care of things on your own until I get there?"
"Yeah, sure. There's not that much to do until we can make some decisions. I can look around and let you know what I find out."
Christopher arranged to take a couple of days leave from his job to go to Sutter's Ridge. The weather was unusually nice for this time of the year, although there was some bad weather due by the end of the week. It was early in the season and snowfall accumulations at this time of year were usually not too bad. He packed for a couple of days, loaded his dog Whitey in his truck, and took off. According to the attorney, the utilities were still on in the main house and Chris figured he could stay there. He was more excited than he had been in a long time.
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