Epilogue Ilsa
Epilogue
Ilsa
Seven years later . . .
“Ilsa Raynes.” Cosi’s voice was mixed with a crackle of static as it came through the CB radio. It was usually a bit dicey on the gravel road to Cotters Lake.
I picked up the microphone, pressing the button as I spoke. “Cosi Raynes.”
No matter how many times I told him we needed more creative radio handles, we still hadn’t come up with anything new. I thought Cosi’s should be Mustache Ride—he hadn’t found my joke funny.
“Where are you?” he asked. “Over.”
“Ten minutes away. Over.”
“All right. Over and out.”
I hung up the microphone and sat taller to look through the rearview mirror of the Bronco. My two beautiful girls were asleep in the back seat with their new puppy sprawled between them.
Summer sunshine streamed through the windows, kissing the freckles that decorated their noses.
Madeline always seemed to fall asleep on the drive to the lake.
No matter what time of day. No matter if she’d slept twelve hours the night before.
Since she was a baby, if we ever had a hard time getting her to sleep, we’d load her up and go for a drive.
It usually only took one lap around Dalton and she’d conk out.
Her dark hair had fallen in her face and her mouth was agape. But even though she was out, she kept a firm grip on the furry black ball beside her.
Bear had been her shadow since the day Spencer had walked through the door with a puppy in his arms for Madeline’s sixth birthday present.
Cosi had about strangled Spencer—a puppy had been a surprise for all of us. But when it came to his little sisters, Spencer would gladly face his father’s wrath if it meant making the girls happy.
Spencer had already warned me that we should expect a kitten for Chloe’s fourth birthday in October.
A cat would fit Chloe’s personality perfectly, just like a dog fit for Madeline.
Where Maddy was sweet and cuddly and shy, Chloe was my spitfire, and she filled our lives with noise.
If she wasn’t laughing or screaming, she was singing or shouting.
She didn’t understand the meaning of quiet, and there wasn’t a timid bone in her body.
The girls were night and day, yet the best of friends. That would probably change as they became teenagers, but for now, watching them together was like magic.
Chloe rarely slept in the car. She loathed naps and had her entire life, always too afraid she’d miss something. But she’d fallen asleep today, slumped sideways on the seat, her hand resting on Maddy’s arm.
Always linked, my girls. I hoped that never changed either.
After Spencer had graduated from Dalton High and moved away for college, we’d given the girls their own rooms. But night after night, Maddy would sneak into Chloe’s room and curl up on the floor beside her sister’s crib. After a month of fighting it, we’d given up keeping them apart.
Now they had bunk beds, and whenever Mom came to visit from Arizona, she could stay in the guest bedroom.
I reached for the window crank, rolling it down so I could rest my elbow on the sill. The warm breeze washed over my face as the scents of trees and earth flooded into the cab. The mountain air filled my lungs, crisp and fresh.
Our house on Pine Street was home. But the cabin on Cotters Lake was our escape. This road was like leaving reality behind and driving into a dream.
It had taken a few years to put the trauma of that first winter behind me. To let the bad memories fade away. But after so many happy times on the lake, Dad’s cabin had become our getaway.
While I was on summer break from teaching, the girls and I would drive out a few times a week to go swimming while Cosi was working.
On the weekends, we’d all come out to motor the boat around the lake.
After every dinner, we’d sit around a campfire to roast marshmallows.
The times when we’d stay overnight, Cosi and I would watch the sunrise from the dock.
As I drove by Sue Anne’s A-frame, every window was dark. She’d moved two weeks ago to be closer to family in Idaho, and it was still strange not to see her face in the window. Robert Aaron had also left his cabin this past winter after some health scares.
At the moment, the only person living on this part of Cotters Lake was Spencer.
He’d graduated from Montana State this spring with a teaching degree, and in the fall, he’d be joining me at Dalton High School.
Somewhere along the way, he’d decided not to become a cop like Cosi, but a teacher like me. And when an opening had come up at the school, he’d been the first to apply.
Eventually, he’d probably move into town, but he loved this cabin more than anyone. He loved hiking in these mountains, searching for that lost Garrack gold. He still hoped that one day, he’d stumble onto whatever my dad thought he’d found.
Maybe that lost legend was the reason he’d decided to become a history teacher.
The sound of a power saw echoed through the trees as we pulled up to the cabin, and the moment I shut off the Bronco’s engine, Cosi came walking around the corner.
He’d left the house early this morning to come help Spencer with the remodeling they were doing together.
Sweat gave his forehead a sheen, and his jeans were dusty. A pair of leather gloves was tucked into his pocket, and his white T-shirt molded to his body, stretching over that broad chest I slept on every night. The smile on his face still gave me butterflies.
“Girls, we’re here.” I twisted to the back seat as Cosi opened my door.
“Hey, baby.” He kissed the corner of my mouth as I got out. Then he flipped the driver’s seat forward to reach back and unbuckle Chloe’s seat belt, lifting her out.
“Hi, cricket.” He brushed the brown curls off her forehead as she rested her head on his shoulder.
“Hi, Daddy.” Chloe wasn’t the snuggling type, not like Maddy. She always preferred to chase around. But the one person she’d cling to without fail was Cosi.
He tucked her into his arm, then went to open the back for the cooler and tote I’d brought, along with a change of clothes.
I rounded the hood for the other side to get Maddy. “Time to wake up, honey bear.”
Her eyes fluttered open as I settled her on my hip. She took a groggy look around, then wrapped her arms and legs around me, clinging tight as I made way for Bear to jump out.
“Did you have a good nap?” I kissed her temple, then shut the door, carrying her toward the cabin.
Spencer came from around the back side of the cabin, wiping his brow with a red handkerchief. At twenty-two, he looked so much like Cosi it was uncanny. They had the same hazel eyes. The same tall, muscled frame. All Spencer was missing was a mustache.
Bear spotted him and tore off running, tail wagging as he crashed into Spencer’s shins.
“Hey, pup.” He bent to scratch Bear’s ears as we walked over to join them. “Hey, Ma.”
From the day Cosi and I had gotten married in the Dalton courthouse, a month after he’d slid a ring on my finger, Spencer had called me Ma.
Gwen was still living in Missoula, and they’d see each other from time to time. She called him every week, and this past Christmas, he’d invited her to join us for dinner. Their relationship had evolved from strangers to acquaintances to something akin to friendship.
But she would always be Gwen. And I would always be Ma.
He was as much my son as he was Cosi’s.
“Hi, bud.” I scrunched up my nose as he stood and gave me a sideways hug. “Eww. You stink.”
“I was waiting to jump in the lake until the girls got here.”
Maddy lifted up, staring at her big brother. The smile they shared was identical. Both girls had my brown eyes, my nose and the shape of my face, but their smiles were Cosi’s.
“Hey, Mads.” He touched the tip of her nose. “Wanna go swimming?”
“Yeah.”
“Me too.” Chloe squirmed out of Cosi’s arms, ran to Spencer, grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the yard. “Whet’s go.”
“Life jacket, Chlo.” Cosi pointed to where they were hanging on a hook outside the cabin.
“Get yours too,” I told Maddy, setting her down.
She nodded, but rather than following Chloe and Spencer, she walked straight into Cosi’s arms. “Daddy, will you swim with me?”
“Of course, baby girl. But I need to show Mama something first, okay? You get ready. I’ll meet you on the dock.”
With a kiss on her hair, he sent her off after Chloe, who was already taking off the sundress that I’d pulled on over her swimming suit.
“What do you have to show me?” I asked.
“Baby.” He put his hands on his hips, shaking his head as he laughed. “You’re never going to believe this.”
I groaned. “What now?”
So far, this remodeling project had been one unexpected problem after another. The roof had started to leak this spring, and when they’d gone up to patch the shingles, they’d realized the entire thing needed to be replaced.
Spencer wanted new appliances in the kitchen, which had led to completely rewiring the cabin. And when they’d brought in a new toilet, they’d realized the old lead pipes were a disaster waiting to happen, so they’d been working to replace them all with copper.
“Come on.” Cosi held out a hand, threading his fingers with mine as he led me around the side of the house.
The access panel to the crawl space was open. And beside it was a pile of cans.
Campbell’s Tomato Soup cans. Western Family Whole Kernel Corn cans.
Years ago, when I’d moved into this cabin after Dad died, I’d been up to my elbows in those cans.
Each of them was capped at one end in silver duct tape.
“He put empty cans under the house? What on earth?”
“Better take a closer look.” Cosi nodded to the pile.
“Okay,” I drawled, walking over to pick one up. Something rattled inside as I peeled away the tape. Something like rocks.
Except it wasn’t rocks.
The can was full of nuggets.
Gold nuggets, stowed in empty cans and hidden under my father’s cabin.
My jaw dropped as I stared at the gold in my palm. “Cosi. Is this . . .”
“Yeah, it is.” He laughed, still shaking his head. “I can’t believe it. I’m guessing he made the atlas and left those clues behind in case he never found it himself.”
Except Dad had found the gold. Probably right before he died. Probably at the time he’d sent me the letter about the legend of Garrack’s gold. And after he’d found it, he’d kept it hidden in these empty cans beneath his house.
All those hikes Spencer had taken us on, his treasure hunts, scouring these mountains. The gold had been here in this cabin all along.
“Oh my God.” I threw my head back to the bright sky, and when I laughed, I was sure that Dad was somewhere looking down on me, laughing too.
Watching me and my family in his favorite place.
Watching as we discovered Bluebird’s gold.