Chapter 26
Hand-in-hand with Eric, Charlotte charged onward through the trees, not caring that mud weighed down her shoes. It was like the good old days when as kids they’d wandered all over the property, building forts, looking for wildlife, and avoiding summer chores.
Eric stopped under the canopy of a large tree. “Wait. This is our property.”
She halted alongside him. “Yours?”
He pointed to a line of trees with her hand still in his. Gray mist hung over the green fields behind them, obscuring the mountains and forest beyond. “This is our property line right here. In order to continue, we’ll have to cross it.”
She squinted to see a wooden plank fence in the distance. “Your fence is inside the property line?”
He squeezed her hand to signal to keep going. “We leave a few extra feet outside so we can mend fences without trespassing.”
“We have to climb the fence to keep going?” The comfort of working together to solve the mystery heightened her senses. Wet rotting leaves smelled fresh in the rain. The rough warmth of his hand enveloping hers calmed her. The cool chill blowing through the rain slicker made her feel alive.
He shot her a grin. “Just like we did when we were younger.”
At the fence, he let go of her hand. Dropping the shovels on the other side, Charlotte hooked her toe into the lower horizontal split-wood fence rail, just like she did when she was less than four feet tall. Only this time, Eric helped her up, holding her around her waist while she kicked out her leg over the top rail. Comfort warmed her at his touch. She appreciated his strong presence.
She crossed over and jumped down into the soft dirt—at least she hoped it was dirt. Several large cow paddies dotted the green grass, stretching out for what seemed like miles. Retrieving the shovels, she tucked them under her arm again.
Eric quickly hopped the fence and consulted the book. “Okay, just a few more steps.”
“Here. In the middle of the field?” She spread her arms wide a shovel in each hand. What an odd place to bury something. “Don’t people usually use a marker of some sort? A tree? Or something?”
“If he buried it under a live oak, he would’ve just engraved ‘under the live oak in the back pasture’ instead of the coordinates on the ring.” He stopped. “Here.”
“But it seems risky to bury it out here without any kind of landmark or anything.”
He shrugged. “He wasn’t a pirate or anything. Shovel.” He opened his palm to her.
She handed him the shovel. “Pirate?”
Eric turned the first shovelful of dirt. “If we don’t find anything, it’s okay.”
Charlotte dug next, digging in with her might, turning a shovelful of soft dirt. “We’ll find it. If it’s here.” The top layer was wet, but the deeper they dug, the drier the ground.
She shivered from either excitement or from the cold. She couldn’t feel her fingers. Eric dropped his shovel and held his phone light for her to be able to see better in the hole. How far down would this be? Would it be here at all?
Thump.
Her shovel hit something hard, vibrating clear to her shoulders. She looked up at Eric with a huge grin.
A zing of excitement went through her. She went faster, digging up more compact dirt around whatever made the thumping sound, then she dropped the shovel and landed on her knees, water soaking through to her skin. She didn’t care.
With numb fingers, she scraped off the top of the metal box, corroded with rust.
Her fingers ached, digging the edges around it.
She jumped up, shaking mud from her fingers. “We found it.”
Giddy, Eric knelt with her, digging with his hands around the painted metal box. Working together, they both pried up the box, and with great effort heaved it over the lip of the hole and set it on the ground. The weight of it strained Charlotte’s back.
With his pocketknife, Eric popped a small lock.
Charlotte shook as she opened the box, holding her breath. She creaked open the lid, glued shut with corrosion and age.
Inside, gold bullion bars shone as if they had been placed there yesterday. The rusting metal box contrasted with the gold. “We found it!” she breathed, rubbing her eyes.
Eric hugged her over the box, squeezing her tight. “We’re saved. You’re our hero!”
Charlotte released her embrace, holding onto his arms. “Call your mom. Tell her to send away the vultures.”
He glanced down into the box, picking up one of the bars. “How can you be sure it’s enough?”
She rubbed her hands together to keep them warm. “Oh, it’s at least fifty thousand dollars. This is several pounds. I don’t know what the market rate on bullion is, but yes, this will be more than enough. We did it.” She jumped up, both relief and exhilaration flying through her. “We saved the Sweet Milk Dairy.”
Hugging her across her shoulders, he placed a kiss on her cheek. “I’m so glad I’m a sentimental fool.”
“And I’m glad I gave the ring to you. You are indeed worthy of every bit of this money.”
After sending the halt order text, his shoulders sagged. “But it’s your gold. Your great-great-grandfather buried it here. This fortune belongs to your family.”
“We found it on your property and who cares. It’s the miracle we needed. Let’s not question the legality of it. Let’s go show it to your mom and find out how to sell it ASAP!”
After filling the hole so a wandering cow didn’t step in it and break an ankle, they carried the metal box between them, the handles biting into her hand. But Charlotte didn’t care how heavy it was. Her heart was light.
Giggling, she ran awkwardly with Eric toward the Victorian farmhouse.
He glanced over to her, laughing, showing all his teeth.
Her heart swelled with gratitude, relief, and anticipation. They did it! She’d have to tell Jules.
Laurie had just picked up her pen. Three men and a woman in office attire stood at her kitchen table. They were the brokers representing the bank.
It made her heartsick, losing the farm, the house, and the property that had supported them for generations. A dull ache started at the base of her skull and radiated pain from there.
She flipped through the stack of papers on the table in front of her, covering the quilted placemats.
Through her blurry eyes, she couldn’t see the writing. Oh, she was old enough to need glasses, and they were on her nose. Deteriorating eyesight wasn’t what kept her from seeing. Tears clouded her vision.
She removed her glasses and rubbed the moisture from her eyes. “I just need a moment, that’s all. I’m sorry. This is my entire life.” She imagined Will sitting next to her, putting his hand on her arm to comfort her. Was he disappointed in all her poor decisions? The look Eric gave her when she told him she’d given the money to James still haunted her. She’d make it up to him somewhere, somehow. Now she’d have to be dependent on the kids. She had no way to support herself. Maybe if she found a place to sew and could make quilts. Even with her marketable skills—running a business and managing a dairy—no one would hire a person nearing fifty.
And Lizzie! Where would they live? Housing in Sugar Creek had skyrocketed since all the flatlanders bought second homes here. They’d have to move to New Hampshire. Or worse. Maine. She gulped and picked up the pen, trembling with the fear of her future before her. If only Will was still alive.
She flipped open the stack of papers to the first page. Settling the pen onto the paper, she started to sign.
The front door blew open, startling her. The pen in her hand went sideways across the signature mark.
She looked up.
Eric, with red cheeks, carried something in his hands. “Don’t sign the papers.”
Behind him, the neighbor girl, Charlotte came in, her hair all over the place.
Laurie dropped the pen. “What do you mean?” She looked at her phone where several messaged from Eric were listed on her notifications.
“Don’t you ever read your texts? We have enough to pay the debts.” He hefted a dirty old box onto her table. Mud crumbled off the sides and onto the papers.
Laurie was aghast.
“And then some.” Charlotte crossed her arms over her chest.
She brushed off the mud. “How is that possible? What is this?”
Eric creaked open the box, filling the table with more mud. “Gold.”
Laurie looked inside. Sparkling coins and bullion winked at her from the bottom of the rusty metal box.
One of the suits furrowed his brow. “But the money has to be paid today. It would take days to certify and sell this much gold.”
Eric slapped back the lid. “Can we buy an extension?” He looked toward the bankers.
The men and woman looked at each other. “We can place a hold for twenty-four to forty-eight hours.”
Charlotte closed the lid. “We can find a place here locally or go to Boston to get it appraised.”
The suit consulted his watch. “It’s too late today. It’s nearly four o’clock.”
Eric hugged her across her shoulders. “Then we’ll wait until tomorrow. But consider the farm saved, Mom.”
The man in a suit gathered up the papers, brushing mud from the stack. “Since I have witnessed the gold with my own eyes, I will take this as a sort of good-faith payment.”
“Here take a coin.” Eric placed his hand on the lid.
The suit held out his hand, shaking his head. “It’s not necessary. I see you have the funds. Make sure the cash in form of a check or money order is on my desk by the close of the next business day.”
“Thank you so much.” Tears fell from Laurie’s eyes.
Eric walked the bankers to the door. When he returned, Laurie opened the box again, hand over her mouth in wonder. “Tell me how this happened?”
She sat, mouth agape, while Eric recounted the whole affair. She shook her head and cried into a dishtowel. Relief washed over her. “I’ll call Tara and tell her to bring over her best apple cider. We’re going to celebrate.”
Eric put his arm around Charlotte in a side hug.
While Laurie went off to call Tara, she heard Eric took Charlotte into the front room. “How can I ever repay you?”
“Repay me? I would never ask for such a thing.”
“Then you must allow me to do something for you.”
“How about we go as pirates to the Halloween dance?”
He laughed, but Laurie didn’t hear anything more. He must’ve been kissing her.
Laurie, giddy that at least one of her children might be able to get married and take over the farm, picked up the phone and called her best friend. She had so much to tell Tara.