CHAPTER THIRTY
Honey
“It really looks like a skull,” Daisy says as we finally stand in front of the rock that just might hold the treasure we’ve been seeking.
“Are there any clues in the riddle that tell us where in the skull the treasure might be?” Grant asks.
It wasn’t much of a decision to invite my sisters’ significant others with us to find the treasure.
I feel so much closer with my sisters already, and it’s only been a few weeks since my cave confession. We make it a requirement to have a meal together once a week and we always play a game or practice our instruments after, often hanging out and talking long into the night.
All I asked for was the meal. My sisters have made the time for more because they’ve decided they agree with me that it’s important to really get to know each other as we are now.
“In the eye socket, right, babe?” Jaxon squeezes my hand in his. He’s been around as much as he can, between getting ready for the tour and finishing up the commitments he’d made before he decided to slow down. I’m looking forward to traveling the world with him and sharing a bed with him every night.
“One of them.” I study the rock face, searching out toe and hand holds so I can climb the ten feet up to the left eye socket, but the rock is oddly flat.
“This rock is pretty popular for bouldering.” Grant runs a hand over the stone. “It’s been worn smooth in a lot of places by probably decades of people climbing on it.”
“That’s not good news for a treasure still being here.” Why do I feel like I’m on the verge of tears? The whole point of the treasure was bringing my sisters together, and I’ve already done that.
“If it was well hidden, it’ll still be here. People come here to climb, not to search for treasure.”
“So you know this rock?” Jaxon wraps an arm around me, which means I’ve done a terrible job of covering up my sadness at the idea of the treasure not being here. “You could have helped us find it in one day instead of weeks?”
“Sure,” Grant says. “All the regular climbers around here know this rock. Why do you think there’s a trail down to it?”
“We thought it was a deer trail,” I say. “It’s a tiny trail.”
Grant grins. “The trail can’t be too obvious or everyone would find their way here.”
“How are we going to get up to the eye socket?”
“Let’s try the one over here first.” Clover’s already halfway up the boulder to the eye socket on the other side. “There are plenty of foot and hand holds on this side.”
As a group, we move over there and watch as she climbs. My heart pounds and it feels like the whole forest has gone quiet, holding its breath in anticipation.
Clover reaches the socket, a divot in the rock large enough that she can actually climb into it. “Nothing here. It’s just totally smooth rock.”
Asher stays behind to help her down as the rest of us move back to the other socket. It looks to be even larger and deeper than the one Clover just climbed into.
“I’ll boost you up,” Jaxon says. “Just climb onto my shoulders.”
I stare at him. “Just climb onto your shoulders? Is it that easy?”
Before I can question him farther, Asher’s large hands grasp my waist and lift me in the air. Jaxon crouches and Asher holds me up high enough I can put my feet on Jaxon’s shoulders.
It happens so fast, I don’t have time to protest or even be afraid.
Asher holds me steady as Jaxon straightens to his full height. “Can you reach?”
I raise both my arms, which are shaking, as Jaxon takes careful steps closer to the rock. I can get my fingertips on the lip of the eye socket, but there’s no way I can pull myself all the way up and inside. “I’m not tall enough.”
“Put her down,” Asher says. “I’ll hoist you up there, Jaxon.”
I carefully lower myself to sitting on Jaxon’s shoulders and he crouches down until we’re low enough for me to step onto solid ground again. I want to kiss it.
Jaxon stares at Asher. “How do I get onto your shoulders?”
Asher shrugs. “I’m not an acrobat, man. I guess you just climb me.”
Jaxon looks Asher over, head to toe, and shakes his head. “Just do what I did for Honey. Crouch down and I’ll sit on your shoulders, then climb to my feet.”
Asher hunches right down and Jaxon climbs onto his shoulders. Everything’s going as planned until Jaxon tries to stand on Asher’s shoulders.
“Fuck man.” Asher winces and sways. “Are there spikes on your boots?”
“They’re hiking boots. They’re hard-soled.” Jaxon tips sideways as he’s trying to get to his feet and grabs a hank of Asher’s long-ish hair. Asher lets out a banshee-like scream and leans forward as he swipes at Jaxon.
“Let go of my hair, you monster.”
Jaxon, who’s somehow made it to his feet, catches himself on the rock face, his boots sliding off Asher’s shoulders as the big man leans forward and rubs at his scalp.
“It was an accident. If you’d just cut your damn hair, I wouldn’t have had anything to grab onto.”
“He lost a bet,” Clover says. “You can’t blame him for his long hair.”
Jaxon pulls himself up into the eye socket. He’s so high up and the socket is so deep, we can’t see him at all.
We all wait, silent, Asher still rubbing at his head while Clover looks at his bruised shoulders.
“There’s nothing here,” Jaxon calls down. “Just a name and a date carved into the rock. It looks like Chet Vester and the date is 1936.”
“Chet Vester?” Grant narrows his eyes. “Why does that name sound so familiar?”
“Ho-ly shit.” Asher slaps the boulder. “Remember? They took us to the history museum in town for a field trip in fourth and eighth grade. All anyone cared about was the outlaw’s treasure.”
Grant’s eyes go wide. “Yes. We played cops and outlaws for years, and everyone always wanted to be Chet Vester.”
“Either he didn’t know how to spell or weather and time must have changed the carving from Chet Weston to Chet Vester,” Goldy says.
“It’s at the museum?” My blood zings through my veins with excitement. As much as I’d hoped to find the treasure, the odds of it still being out here after however many decades seemed unlikely. “It’s really real?”
“And it’s been there since we were kids,” Goldy says slowly. “Which means while Dad was spending his days tromping through the woods looking for the treasure…”
The smile overtakes me slowly and warms me all the way down to my toes. “It was in the museum in plain sight the whole time.”
I meet the gazes of my sisters and we all laugh together at what can only be described as a fitting punishment for my father.
***
I stare into the glass display case at my grandfather’s loot. There are fancy rings, including a gorgeous emerald one that would still be considered fashionable today, necklaces with sparkling jewels, and gold coins. According to the sign next to the case, some of the stolen goods have been returned to the families Chet Weston stole them from.
What most catches my attention, though, is a miniature portrait of a woman in a blue dress, an elaborate, jeweled necklace around her delicate neck.
“Wow.” Jaxon puts his arm around my shoulders and pulls me close. “She looks exactly like you.”
“That’s Grandma Weston.” Sebastian Sullivan joins us in front of the case. We called the cousins to meet us at the museum as soon as we figured out where to find the treasure. “Mom has a picture of the family from back in the day and she’s in it. I hadn’t realized how much she looks like Honey until now.”
“It’s the eyes.” Jaxon rubs my arm. “And the nose.”
He’s not wrong, but it’s more than that. A feeling I can’t describe that draws me to her, connects me to someone from the past who shares my genes.
“It’s the way she’s staring at the painter.” Dani practically leaves a nose print on the glass she leans in so close, hip checking Sebastian out of the way. “It’s like she’s looking into my soul. That’s how Honey looks at people.”
I snort. “Shut up.”
“I’m serious.” Dani slides an arm around my waist. “You look at the world like you’re seeing everything. You don’t miss a thing.”
“She’s right.” Jaxon presses a kiss to my temple. “The way you seemed to look straight into my soul nearly knocked me to my knees when we met.”
I don’t think they’re right about me, but I know when to give up an argument. “I wish we could have met her. I think I would have liked her.”
“She died in a horse riding accident,” Sebastian says from behind us. “According to Mom, she was racing three men who claimed women couldn’t ride.”
“And she died?” Dani shakes her head. “What a way to go.”
“She beat them all first. But on the way back to the stables, the horse caught sight of a snake and reared up. Grandma Weston slipped off and hit her head on a rock.”
“That’s so sad.” I wrap my arms around the waists of Dani and Jaxon, pulling them tight against me like I can keep them safe.
“A freak accident,” Dani says. “At least she won her race first.”
“That’s what I said.” Sebastian grins. “May we all endeavor to do the same.”
I laugh. “How about we take the map and the riddle to the curator and get the right name put on this display?”
Dani squeezes me. “Sounds like a plan, sister.”