Chapter 43Charlotte Lane
Chapter 43
Burying the Past
Charlotte Lane
C harlotte ran her finger through the loose dirt covering the cave floor, drawing the old brand etched into the wall across from her. The morning sun had peeked into their cave hours ago, and she sat in its warm glow, appreciating the kiss of the sunlight on her skin. Her ankle had swelled through the night, but if she didn’t move, the pain wasn’t too bad apart from the ache that seemed to throb in time with her heartbeat.
Wade stopped behind her, staring over her shoulder.
“Do you think you should fire three more shots? Just in case?” she asked.
It seemed like an eternity since Wade had fired his pistol into the air three times. The Double K’s signal for help. But they hadn’t heard a response. She knew the ranch was massive. What if the cowboys hadn’t been able to tell which direction the shots had come from? What if they were searching in the wrong area?
“I’ve only got a few shots left.” He moved underneath the hole they’d dropped through and stared up. “My shirt’s still out there, flying like a flag almost. It’s bright red, so hopefully someone will see it and get the hint.”
Charlotte tried to ignore her rising anxiety. What if it took days for them to be found?
He sat on the floor next to her and bumped her shoulder with his. “What are you doing here? Trying your hand at a little archaeology?”
A smile tugged at her lips. “No. That’s one thing I’ve never wanted to do. Digging in the dirt to find old skulls and stuff.” She shuddered at the thought of finding a dead body. “No, thank you. I’ve always preferred to get my information from books.”
“I think you’re just scared that you’ll get one of your fancy dresses dirty.”
She swatted at him.
“Here,” he said, “just try something for me.”
He pulled a small leather pack, slightly bigger than a wallet, out of his back pocket. He untied the strings wrapped around it and unfolded it. Inside were what looked like miniature tools. A chisel, a trowel, and a paintbrush, all small enough to fit in a child’s archaeology play set. He lifted out the small chisel and dropped it into her hand.
Charlotte raised an eyebrow. “What is that? And what do you expect me to do with it?”
“Come on, Dr. Lane. You’re smarter than that.” He picked up the trowel and gripped it like a weapon. “I brought these, hoping we’d find the cave. Let’s excavate this place. You’re already playing in the dirt anyway.” He winked.
“All right. Where do we start?”
He stood and reached his hand down to help her up. “While you were over here scribbling, I was walking the perimeter of the cave and I found something.”
Charlotte glanced around the small space, wondering what more there was to see.
Wade threw his arm over her shoulders, helping her walk to the corner where he’d lit their fire the night before.
He took two steps to the right and Charlotte gasped as he disappeared. She moved to where he’d been and saw that he was standing in a small alcove, pointing down at something.
Dozens of stones were piled on top of each other in a small circle. It reminded Charlotte of the old stone burials Western settlers and Native Americans would make for graves. But this one was so small, it could hold only a child.
Wade dropped to his knees. “I think we should try here. Even if the first Kirklands didn’t stack these, someone did. What do you think? We seem to have some time and nowhere else to be.”
Wade started removing the rocks without waiting for her answer. She could feel the excitement flowing off of him.
Charlotte was worried, exhausted, and in pain, but in that moment, his excitement began to rub off on her. What an adventure this was. Before she’d come to Crossroads, every day had been like living on autopilot. But here, she looked forward to teaching each day. She enjoyed her classes, and the town had come to feel like home. She coached football and rode horses. And last night she’d climbed a twenty-foot rise in the pouring rain, only to jump into a hole without knowing what lay at the bottom.
She’d come alive lately, and she knew a lot of that had to do with Wade.
Putting her weight on her good leg, Charlotte picked up a flat orange rock that looked like it had been pulled from Ransom Canyon, and tossed it with the others Wade had removed. The work was slow and tedious, but it was good to do something other than sit and wait to be rescued.
It didn’t take long to uncover the dirt floor. After that, Wade used his trowel to scrape away a few layers of dirt.
“What are you hoping to find?” she asked as she set to work on the dirt with the tiny chisel.
“Treasure,” Wade responded.
A laugh burst from her lips before she could stop it. “Are you serious?”
Wade grinned at her. “I have no idea what might be here. Or if there’s anything at all.”
“Then why were you so obsessed with finding this cave?”
He sat back on his heels. “I just liked the idea of solving a mystery. I grew up not too far from here, and I always heard the legends about the Kirklands who’d conquered this part of the Wild West. As a kid it fascinated me. Then I heard about the missing cave the first settlers had lived in, and I just had to find it. I guess I always thought it’d be like living in part of history.” He shrugged. “So, after retiring from the Army, I moved here.”
She smiled. While she had been trying to live out scenes from her books, Wade had been wanting to experience the past. Maybe they weren’t so different after all.
“Is it what you hoped it would be?” she asked. “The cave, I mean.”
“It’s better, because you’re with me.” His smile warmed her soul.
She turned her attention back to the hole they were making in the ground and continued chipping away at it. Suddenly, a hollow thud bounced off the dirt. They stared at each other for one split second before Wade began yanking the dirt away with his hands. Within moments, he had uncovered what looked to be the top of a wooden chest.
“I can’t believe it!” he shouted, reaching over and pulling Charlotte into a hug. “We actually found something.”
“You sound surprised, Mr. Parsons.” Charlotte laughed. “And here I thought you knew what you were doing the whole time.”
“Oh, I do.” He winked. “This is all part of my master plan.”
“So, what now?”
“Watch and learn, Dr. Lane.”
Over the next hour, they carefully freed the chest from the ground. Then Wade carried it into the larger area where they’d slept. With the light now pouring in, Charlotte ran her hands over the rough wood and noticed that the Double K brand etched on the wall was carved on the lid.
The chest was beautiful. It looked handcrafted. Made out of a light wood that was now stained with the red and orange dirt of the area. An antique brass latch held it closed.
“How old do you think this is?” Charlotte sat down and spun the box around to examine the craftsmanship from all sides.
“It looks to be from the mid to late eighteen hundreds. After the Civil War.”
The smell of wet dirt filled her nose as he lifted the lid and pulled out a bundle of old cloth.
Sitting back on his heels, he held the material to his chest. “They buried the past,” he said. Charlotte could have sworn he had tears in his eyes.
“What is it?”
He carefully unfolded the clothing in his hands. “It’s an old Confederate uniform.” He stared at it as if he was seeing the ghost of a precious loved one.
Charlotte looked at the faded gray and blue material. At Staten’s birthday party, Mr. Kirkland had told them that the Civil War had affected James Randall Kirkland’s life until he found his wife, Millie. He’d buried the past here. Buried his uniform and his soldier’s lifestyle in this cave to be lost to time.
She saw Wade clutch the uniform and wondered if he wished he could do the same. If he could bury his past like the Double K’s founder. She wondered if it was the memory of his ex-fiancée’s betrayal that caused the pain in his eyes. Or was he haunted by the numerous soldiers he’d tried and failed to help?
Charlotte brushed her hand over his leg next to hers, unsure of how to comfort him. “What else is in there?” she asked after a moment. “What else did Millie bury?”
Clearing his throat, he refolded the uniform and sat down to place it back in the chest. Then he pulled out what looked like a worn blanket. Almost every inch of it was frayed, and it was so thin Charlotte doubted it would have kept anyone warm. The red, orange, and black designs stitched into the material were interrupted by various holes of different sizes.
“I don’t blame Millie for wanting to let this go and never remember it again,” Wade said. “I can’t imagine what she went through as a Native captive.”
She stared at the contents of the chest, seeing the story of the first Kirklands like never before. “They both seemed to have suffered. And I’d bet they were both afraid of going back to those dark memories. Why else bury these things? But why not just burn them or throw them away?”
Wade returned the tattered blanket back to the chest.
“Fear isn’t always a bad thing. It protects us. Helps keep us alive.” He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her next to his hip. “But sometimes, too much fear can also keep us from living. I think they buried these things because they were ready to let the past go and start their future together.”
“I feel like I’m always afraid,” Charlotte said. “Afraid of getting hurt. Of messing something up. Of being wrong.”
She stared up at him as the dam broke and tears streamed down her cheeks. “I’m afraid of being alone. I stayed at A&M because it was my safe place. I followed the same routine, spoke to the same people, even taught the same courses. I knew what to expect there. It took me half my life to realize I wasn’t really living.”
His thumb trailed across her jaw, catching the tears before they dropped. “Then why don’t we bury our own pasts? Just like James and Millie Kirkland. We both have things we need to let go of to move on. Let’s drop it all here. Everything we’re afraid of. Everything we want to forget. And when we leave this cave, we’ll step into a new kind of future.”
Charlotte stared at him as what felt like love filled her whole body. “Okay.” She may not know what the future held, but she was willing to face it with him.
Keeping hold of her hand, Wade pulled out his wallet and opened it, grabbing something silver from the part that usually held money. His military dog tags dangled from his fingers before dropping on top of James Randall Kirkland’s old uniform.
Charlotte’s eyes widened.
“I’m letting go of my survivor’s guilt. I saved everyone I could and served my country the best I knew how. And the service brothers I lost. I would stand with them if I could. They’d want me to move on.” He squeezed her hand. “To find someone special.”
He looked at her expectantly. “What are you going to let go of, Charlotte? What’s going to help you start living?”
She thought about all of the things she’d let hold her back. All of the things she’d run away from and all of the things she wanted now.
As she dug inside of herself, she finally found the answer. She lifted her hands to her ears, running her fingers over the small pink stones she wore every day. The earrings had been a gift from her father when she was six. The last thing he’d ever given her. Thinking back now, she didn’t know why she’d kept them, but she knew she didn’t need them anymore.
As she pulled them from her ears, she felt peace settle over her.
She threw the earrings into the chest and gripped Wade’s hand tighter. “I’m finally ready to forgive my father and every bad relationship along the way. I know now that not every man is the same. And some things are worth taking a chance for.”
A warmth settled over her, and Charlotte almost expected to look into a corner of the cave and see Millie Kirkland nodding in approval. Today was a new day. And as soon as Charlotte got out of this place, she planned to live her life to the fullest.
Wade set the lid on the chest and carried it to the little alcove at the back of the cave. They reburied James and Millie’s box and placed the stones back where they’d found them, letting the past stay buried. Never to haunt them again.
Afterward, they settled on the floor in the main room of the cave and lay back together as they had last night. They looked through the hole that had led them down here and stared up at the clouds floating overhead. They might not have been rescued yet, but she felt that in some way they had rescued each other from all that had held them back in the past.
Charlotte turned to Wade and wrapped herself around him. So close their legs tangled together.
“I knew you’d warm up to me.” Wade breathed into her hair.
“I’m still hoping we get out of this hole,” she said. “But there’s one thing I’ve got to do before we’re saved.”
She lifted her face to his, her heart fluttering. And she kissed him. Pressing her lips to his softly. Then Wade took over, crushing her to his chest and kissing her full out. Hot and hard. His hands ran over her body, settling in her hair to angle her head so he could deepen the kiss.
Charlotte didn’t know how long they sat pouring their feelings into each other, but after minutes or hours, he pulled away suddenly, as if he had regained his sanity. Panting, he placed his forehead on hers, waiting for them both to catch their breath.
“You’re an incredible woman, Charlotte Lane.” Wade’s finger stroked her bottom lip. “Does that kiss need to stay buried here too?”
“Not if I have anything to say about it.”
She ran her lips over his again. This kiss was slow and sweet. Two new lovers getting to know each other.
A cough sounded from above.
Jake Longbow stared into the hole. “You two lovebirds want to stay in there? We can come back another time if you’re busy.”
Staten Kirkland laughed from behind. “I sure am glad we found you two and that you’re in such . . . good condition.”
Wade shouted up at them. “All right, enough with the wisecracks. Get us out of here. Charlotte’s hurt.”
It took three men to get Wade out of the hole. Charlotte had been pulled out pretty quickly, but Wade was solid and heavy. Then they followed the cowboys to a pair of horses and a side-by-side. Wade carried most of her weight as they slowly hiked back down to the dried creek bed that had led them here.
Patches of dried sunflowers dotted the land as far as the eye could see.
“Why do you think Millie planted sunflowers out here?” she asked to no one in particular.
“The sunflower is a symbol of marriage to some Native cultures,” Staten said.
She looked at him, a clear question in her eyes.
The young cowboy laughed. “I read about it when I was doing research for one of the papers I wrote for you last semester. Maybe she planted so many sunflowers to show James Randall Kirkland her love.”
Pride washed over Charlotte. Staten would turn out all right. She just knew it.
She and Wade settled into the vehicle with a lanky ranch hand named Duke. As they drove towards headquarters, the frigid air pierced the blanket Staten had given her. She shivered, and Wade pulled her in closer. She laid her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes.
“You folks find anything in that cave?” Duke yelled over the wind.
She peeked up at Wade and caught his smile.
“Nope,” he said. “And we won’t be looking for it anymore either. We’ve decided to let it go.”
Charlotte laughed under her breath. They were burying the past, and from now on, they would focus on the future together.