Chapter 11
The early November morning of their gold-hunting trip dawned cloudy and cool. Haylee gripped the picnic basket in one fist as she jogged down the front steps of her home, her backpack bouncing against her the entire way. She was glad she had packed extra clothes to layer with for the Huachuca Mountains—it was sure to be much chillier up there.
Tyson met her halfway, a seductive grin curving his lips. “Ready for adventure?”
“Absolutely.” She tipped her face up when she reached him, and her long braid crept over her shoulder to cascade down her back.
He lowered his head, and his lips met hers in a long, lingering kiss. Warmth filled her, spreading throughout her body, to her fingers and toes. When he drew away, she sighed and met his gaze. For a long moment, they looked into each other’s eyes, and he smiled.
“I’ve been looking forward to this getaway with you, hon.” Tyson’s fingers brushed her shoulders and arm as he stripped her of her backpack and the picnic basket.
“I’m excited about our trip.” She still felt breathless from his kiss. “I’ve been looking forward to it.”
He stowed both on the back seat of his king cab, next to his gear, before turning back to her. “It’ll be great to get away with you.”
“Yes.” She nodded. “Roughing it would have been fun, too.” She waited for him to open the passenger side door. “But the B B will at least have a hot shower.”
“At least.” He shut her door when she had settled in, rounded the truck, and got in on his side. He started the vehicle and pulled away from the curb.
Haylee’s stomach flipped as he drove down the street, and they headed out of town.
She cleared her throat. “I’ve been thinking.”
He glanced away from the road and raised an eyebrow. “Should I be worried?”
She couldn’t help but laugh, although it caused her belly to somersault again. “Is it too late to cancel one of the rooms at the B B?”
He turned his head again and his eyes met hers. “Nope.” He smiled and shifted his gaze back to the road. “Are you sure?”
She nodded even though he was focused on driving and not looking at her. “I’m positive.”
They’d dated for a month now, and she’d never felt more confident that this was what she wanted. She’d wanted and needed him since the beginning, and she was sure he felt the same way.
It was quiet between them for a few moments, slightly awkward. She was sure he’d be able to hear the nervousness in her voice when she jumped into restarting their conversation.
“How cool do you think it will be in the mountains?” She wondered if she sounded lame, asking about the weather.
“Sierra Vista is in the low seventies this time of year.” He guided the truck onto the I-10 freeway. “I’d wager it’ll be in the fifties up in the mountains.”
“I’m glad I brought a sweater to wear under my jacket.” She looked out the window at the desert scenery as they left King Creek behind, and the freeway cut through the barren portion of the reservation. “I’ve lived in Arizona my entire life, but I’ve never been anywhere in Cochise County.”
“It’s a nice area.” Tyson set the speed at eighty. The limit was seventy-five on I-10, but most traffic sped well over that. “I’ve been a few times. Tombstone and Bisbee are great places to visit, and I’ve hiked most of the mountains in the county.”
“I’ve wanted to visit both towns.” She looked at him. “Think we’ll have enough time to go to Tombstone this trip?”
He glanced at her and smiled. “We’ll make time.”
“Awesome.” She looked out at the gray skies. “I wonder if we’ll get some early November rain there.”
“We just might.” He peered out the window. “When it’s cool here, it’s even more so in that county.”
“Let’s say we find gold in the mountains, and it’s a lot.” She settled back in her seat. “What would you do with ten million?”
He was quiet for a moment. “I’d start a rescue ranch and take in horses that are no longer wanted, abandoned, abused, or those the owner could no longer care for.”
She raised her brows in surprise. “That’s wonderful. It’s not something most cowboys would think of.”
Tyson shrugged. “Starting the nonprofit was my mom’s dream, but she passed away from cancer before she could do it. I want to make her wishes a reality to honor her.” He looked thoughtful. “Even without the ten million, I intend to make it happen.”
“I minored in nonprofits at the university and work with them in my event planning business.” Haylee shifted in her seat. “I’d be happy to help you get it started.”
He cut his gaze from the road. “I’ll take you up on that.”
Warmth filled her insides at the thought of the two of them remaining together. Time would tell, but right now, things were looking good.
“Your turn.” He dragged her away from her thoughts. “What would you do with ten million?”
“I’d sell my event planning business and paint full-time.” She smiled. “A very happy thought.”
He put on the blinker to get in the left lane to pass a car. “You have the talent to make it a full-time career as it is.”
“Thank you.” She leaned her head back against the headrest. “I’d explore other avenues of art as well. I love all forms.”
He drove past the car then put on his right blinker to get back into the other lane. “Like what?”
“I enjoy playing with multi-media on canvas and clay sculptures.” She tilted her head to the side as she imagined being able to do more of the things she enjoyed. “Even though I wouldn’t have my event planning business, I’d like to create ice sculptures for big events, just for fun.”
“Have you ever done one?” Tyson asked.
“Not yet.” Haylee shook her head. “But one day, I’ll learn how. It wouldn’t be something I’d want to do full-time, not like painting. That’s my first and main love.” She smiled. “I make tiny paintings that I sell on Etsy, mostly for fun, but it’s a nice little supplement to my income.”
He passed a semi, then a truck with a wide load. “How did you get started in event planning?”
“In 4-H, I made centerpieces and provided them for family events.” She tucked an errant strand from her braid behind her ear. “I became known for them, then an event planner hired me to make centerpieces, and she let me have free rein. I had a lot of fun doing it. When I graduated from college, and she retired, I took over her business, built it up, and started going valley-wide. I marketed myself and made presentations to companies. That’s how I met Henry Goldman.”
“What about employees?” he asked. “I saw how much work you do.”
“I used to have a couple, but both graduated from college and moved on in their careers.” She shrugged. “I dialed things back and just accepted events I can handle myself. I hire 4-H kids to help with any jobs that tax my limits.” She sighed. “Financially, I’m getting closer to my dream of painting full-time, but my soul needs to be able to take up my paintbrush more often. I can’t if I’m too busy to get in any time for my art.”
He gave a nod. “Makes sense.”
The time passed quickly and comfortably as Tyson and Haylee drove the rest of the way to their destination. They went through Sierra Vista, the biggest town in the county, and headed south to the Huachucas. From the foot of the mountains, they could see Mexico.
Tyson drove up the canyon, the truck jostling along the rough road. The land gave way from low desert to high, and soon they entered forest lands of pine and oak peppered with creosote bushes.
Haylee’s throwing him a curve—that she wanted to share his room—had his mind on things other than gold hunting.
He glanced at her as he drove up the road. She looked so damn cute with her long braid that fell down her back and the sparkle of excitement in her gorgeous brown eyes.
She flashed a grin at him. “Wouldn’t it be crazy if we found gold?”
“You never know.” He smiled back at her. “We’re here.”
Tyson pulled off the road into a parking area amid tall pines and oaks, threw the truck into the park, and killed the engine. After he helped Haylee out of the truck, he hauled the picnic basket out from the backseat, along with an old quilt he’d brought along for the occasion.
“It’s so pretty here.” Her gaze drifted across the scenery as they walked along a narrow path that led deeper into the forest.
The sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting a golden glow on everything around them. The air was filled with the sweet scent of pine and birds chirping around them.
But Haylee was the most beautiful thing in the whole damn forest.
They located a great spot for their picnic, and Tyson spread out the quilt and set the basket on it. Haylee knelt next to it and started unloading the contents. She rested on her haunches and took in the beauty of their surroundings.
The sun filtered through the canopy above, casting dappled shadows on the forest floor. The breeze ruffled leaves and pine branches. She always thought that wind through pine trees sounded like a river might be nearby, but where they were, the river was a good five to ten miles away.
She tipped her head back and breathed deeply. “There’s nothing like the smell of a forest.”
“There’s nothing like you,” he said, and she smiled at him.
He pulled a couple of beer bottles from the basket and grabbed the church key he’d seen at the bottom. He popped the tops, and they clinked their bottles together. He took a long pull from his own, the refreshing liquid quenching his thirst.
She sat cross-legged on the old quilt and bit into her sandwich.
“Great roast beef.” He shifted and dug into a bag of chips and crunched a couple. “You know how to pack a picnic basket.”
“You have my grandma to thank for that.” Haylee bit into a pickle spear. She chewed and swallowed. “She loved to gather all her grandkids together and go on picnics. I think it was her favorite thing to do with us.”
Tyson wiped his mouth with a paper napkin. “My mom and I would go on outings, just the two of us, into the Superstitions.”
He leaned back against a tree trunk, one leg out, and his arm settled on his opposite bent knee. He took another swig of his beer and gestured with the bottle toward the trail. “What do you say to heading down that trail to go gold hunting after we pack up and put everything into the truck? I’ll grab the metal detector.”
Haylee took a sip from her bottle and nodded. “The trail looks promising.” A shaft of light made her hair look like spun gold.
She set her empty bottle into the picnic basket. “Since I was young, I’ve always loved treasure hunting.” An amused quirk of her lips turned into a grin. “When I was a little girl, Bear and Brady would hide my toy horses around the ranch. They told me I had to search for treasure. Those times, I wasn’t too keen on hunting.”
Tyson chuckled, started packing up what was left of their picnic, and deposited it into the basket with her bottle. She got to her feet as he did, and he folded the quilt.
He carried the basket and quilt as they returned to the truck. He set the things on the back seat before retrieving the gold detector he’d rented for the weekend and a camping shovel. After he locked the truck up again, they started back down the trail on their gold hunt.
Leaves crunched beneath Haylee’s and Tyson’s shoes as they headed down the path through the forest. He wore a small forest green backpack with a camping shovel and a few odds and ends.
“How long do you think this path has been here?” She spoke out loud, not expecting Tyson to know the answer. “How many people have walked this trail?”
He shrugged his broad shoulders. “Could be centuries. Could be hundreds of people from Native Americans to Mexicans to Spaniards to prospectors.”
A sense of what it might have been like long ago washed over her. How different had the bushes beside the trail been? What kinds of birds had lived in the trees?
She looked up at the towering trees, shafts of sunlight blinking through the branches. The dense foliage caught at her shirt, and she pushed it away. Her soul felt lighter than it had been in ages.
Her pulse rate picked up at the thought of what might lay at the end of their rainbow. Would they truly find gold? More than anything that was wishful thinking, but the time she spent with Tyson was wonderful.
They chatted about what he’d planned for the day and any number of other things. During the occasional pauses, the only sounds were birds or small animals skittering in the brush and the leaves rustling as they pushed aside low-hanging branches.
Yeah, they probably wouldn’t find anything, but she enjoyed just being with him on their little adventure.
After a good thirty minutes, Tyson inclined his head to a gap in the trees. “Let’s go this way.” Through the arch of bowed branches, a lesser-traveled track was visible.
She followed him, the detector giving no indication that anything was on their route.
She pushed branches from a creosote bush out of her face. “Do you think we’ll find anything?”
He shrugged as he swept the detector from side to side but cast her a quick grin over his shoulder. “Who knows? But we’re having fun trying.”
The gold detector beeped, and he came to an immediate stop. He turned his attention back to the device, which had stopped beeping. He backed up, and it beeped again. He moved away from the path a couple of feet until the detector beeped with excitement as he held it poised over a patch of moss at the base of a large rock.
Her heart skipped a beat. The gold detector was beeping like crazy, so there had to be gold, right? They were closer to their goal—well, close to something.
Tyson bent down, set the detector aside, and slung his backpack onto the ground. Haylee knelt nearby and braced her palms on the leaves and pine needles as sat on her haunches to watch.
He pulled the small camping shovel out of his backpack and used it to pry aside the moss, which clung to a smaller rock at the foot of the larger one. He moved it aside, then started digging.
He dug about a foot down when his shovel thumped and clanged on something hard. He placed the shovel beside him and knelt next to the hole. He brushed aside the dark earth with his palms.
Haylee watched as he uncovered a small, rusted metal box covered in rich soil. As Tyson revealed it more, she saw it had dark leather straps and rusted buckles. He raised it from the ground and set it beside him.
“The buckles are too corroded to release the leather if I try to unbuckle them.” Tyson dug a pocketknife out of his jeans and carefully cut the straps.
Haylee picked up a leather tie that had fallen to the ground. It felt rough and worn across her palm.
“Now to get this lid open.” He took his time and pried until it popped up. Outside, the box had suffered from the years buried in the moist earth, but the inside was dry.
Tyson raised the lid higher and revealed a stack of tintype photographs and a deteriorating folded piece of paper and scraps.
He handed the tintypes to Haylee. “Those aren’t the only treasure.”
She leaned closer and saw a dark brown leather pouch secured with a drawstring. “Do you think the gold is in there?”
“It’s light.” He hefted the bag in his palm. “No pieces of eight in this pirate chest.”
“Let’s see what’s inside.” She dropped beside him, the freshly turned earth soft beneath her knees.
“Hold out your palm.” He tipped the pouch above her outstretched hand.
A small gold nugget and multiple flecks of the same glittering hue tumbled onto her palm, and her pulse quickened. “Is it all real? Real gold?”
He picked up the nugget and raised it to the light, bleeding through the tree canopy above. “I do believe it is.”
“We actually found gold.” She shifted and sat cross-legged beside him. “I just thought it would be fun to look, but I didn’t think we’d find any.”
“You and me both.” He flashed her a smile. “I think we might have an ounce, maybe a little more. That’s at least a couple thousand.”
She grinned. “That’s a very nice night out.”
Tyson looked amused as he dropped the nugget and flakes back into the pouch and set it at the bottom of the box. “That’s a whole week.”
“We’ll find something to do with it.” She patted the ground beside her. “Let’s take a look at our other treasure.”
He settled beside her, both with their backs against the rock close to the hole. It wasn’t the most comfortable, but it didn’t matter right then.
Haylee looked at the top tintype photograph of a young woman that was as clear as if someone had just taken it. “I learned about tintypes in a photography course at ASU. Photographers used thin metal sheets for the images and could produce them fast enough to hand to customers at a carnival or studio.” She looked up. “That’s the quick and easy version of the process.”
She ran a finger along the side of the image. “I wonder if this was the girlfriend or wife of the man who buried this box.” She glanced at Tyson. “Considering men did most of the prospecting back then, I think it’s safe to assume it was a man.”
“It’s amazing how clear tintypes are.” Tyson took the top image from her, revealing a second image with the same woman and a man. The couple sat stiffly together, yet Haylee recognized that these were two people in love.
Three children posed in the image on the third and last tintype. “These must be their kids.” Haylee held the metal photograph in her hands. “I wish I knew more of his story.”
“This looks like a letter—the year at the top is 1899.” Tyson carefully unfolded the century-old paper, but pieces of the edges fell away. “The writing is so faint, but I think it’s addressed to someone named Warren and signed by Sylvia.”
The letter was so challenging to read that they had to fill in assumptions-based gaps.
Warren had come to Bisbee during the copper mining boom, leaving Sylvia and the kids behind in St. Louis. He had intended to make enough money for them to move out West.
From what they gathered, Warren must have found the nugget and flakes of gold while he worked in the copper mine and secreted it away to save for their family. It would have given their family a good start in Arizona.
“There were small amounts of gold in the mines as well as copper.” Tyson looked up from the letter. “This much would have been an absolute fortune in those days.”
“He must have buried it here.” Haylee frowned. “I wonder what happened and why he was this far from Bisbee. And why he never reclaimed it.”
Tyson shrugged one big shoulder. “It’s not likely we’ll ever know.” He folded the letter, tiny pieces drifting down from the edges, and set it on the tintypes in the box. When he closed the lid, more damp earth fell away from the corroded surface.
He peered up at the sky through the trees. “It won’t be long till it’s dark. We’d best be getting to the B B before we go out to dinner.”
Haylee took the box from him and got to her feet while he stood and gathered the shovel and gold detector. The box’s surface felt rough from the corrosion of over one hundred years in the earth.
They chatted about the letter and photos on the way back to the truck, the love story seeming more important than the gold.
Haylee hugged the box to her chest, getting rust and dirt all over her T-shirt. “Maybe Warren had more gold that he took with him to St. Louis to get his family, and he left this box behind to retrieve when they got back to Arizona.”
“He could have forgotten where he buried the box.” Tyson lifted a branch for her to pass through.
“I like to think Warren had enough gold left to start a good life for him and his family somewhere out here. Maybe they were able to acquire a homestead.”
Tyson cast a smile over his shoulder. “That’s a good thought.”
She nodded. “It makes sense that he wouldn’t have taken it all to St. Louis. If he’d been robbed, he would have lost everything.”
They reached the truck and loaded up the gold detector. Tyson gave Haylee a small blanket to wrap the box in, and they tucked it away on the floorboard of the back seat of the king cab.
The sun had sunk lower in the sky, and shadows had grown deep in the forest. He drove the truck down the rutted road, and she shivered in anticipation. They were getting closer to being alone, spending the night together in the B B. Was she as ready as she’d thought she was this morning?