Page 12 of Riches Beyond Measure (Golden State Treasure #3)

Eight

“You can really see an old riverbed here?” Cord had to admit, using every speck of his imagination, he just couldn’t quite make a river take shape, particularly one that’d dried up three hundred years ago.

Then he had a thought. “That letter from your grandpa, didn’t he use the words ‘ a donde la río está muerto ’? ”

“Sure, but Grandpa didn’t speak Spanish, so he must’ve copied those words from something else.” Lock looked half asleep in his saddle. Maybe Annie wasn’t the only one who’d had a rough night.

Cord thought of his waking Annie from a bad dream last night, then seeing her look at him like she didn’t want him touching her. He’d rather not remember that moment.

“We did a poor job of translation and came up with ‘river of death,’ which sounds like a terrible danger. But Michelle said it means ‘to where the river is dead.’”

“But what if,” Cord said, “it’s talking about the bed of a dead river, like the one we’re supposedly riding along right now.”

Lock perked up.

“Better than river of death .” Thayne shuddered.

Josh twisted in the saddle, looking interested.

Which was a nice change from him glaring at Cord since they woke up this morning.

“We’re worried about whether we can find what we’re looking for using only latitude and longitude on the eighty acres of Graham MacKenzie’s claim.

Eighty acres is a large parcel of land, and Graham’s claim isn’t a typical mining claim.

It’s more the size of a homestead claim, though he secured it before the Homestead Act.

But following this riverbed could help us pinpoint the right spot, if we’re right about a boat coming inland and possibly running aground in a storm.

The folks on board might have explored the area by way of what used to be a river—maybe because they were curious, or maybe because they couldn’t get back to the ocean.

If that’s the case, it stands to reason we’d find their boat on the land that was once a riverbed. ”

“We studied earthquakes a bit in school.” Annie’s eyes sparked with interest. “An earthquake can change the course of a river or even make it run underground. What if those sailors followed the river inland, but then an earthquake struck? The river could have vanished, and there they were, stranded in the wilderness with nobody knowing where they’d gone to, likely believing they’d all perished, whether in a storm or in the quake. ”

“Reckon that could be the truth of what happened back then,” Josh said.

“Hard to believe this was ever a river, what with these trees growing here for hundreds of years now. There’s no sign that water once ran through this area.

At this point, it’s more about the lay of the land with this spot being the lowest point.

Keeping that in mind, I’m pretty sure it was indeed a river at one time long ago. I say we keep following its path.”

“I agree with Josh,” said Cord, and the others nodded. “We should keep searching along this old riverbed, and hopefully that’ll lead us to the MacKenzie claim.”

The day had grown long, the way forward slowgoing. Annie was scratched up by pine branches, itchy from brambles, hungry and tired and bored. And she missed her little girl.

Treasure hunting had lost its shine.

They weren’t following a trail anymore. Instead, they were picking their way through unsettled land, following the dried-up riverbed. Or rather, they were attempting to follow it.

Annie couldn’t see much of anything. She didn’t think Josh could either. He just knew where Graham MacKenzie’s claim was and kept riding toward it. The old river was mostly something he was imagining.

Josh was in the lead still, and as usual they were riding single file: Lock, Thayne, Annie, with Cord at the back of the group.

Annie had grown up with Zane, Josh, and Ellie among the hills and forests surrounding the Two Harts Ranch.

She’d learned to track wild animals. She was a good shot and knew how to bring in supper with a rifle.

In short, she was annoyed that she wasn’t bringing up the rear.

She deserved acknowledgment at least that she was the better hand at watching their back, at keeping an eye out for potential threats.

The riverbed ahead widened just a bit, and Thayne trotted up to Lock, who remained just behind Josh at the front. At the same time, Cord caught up to her on the right. They were back far enough they could talk. When he smiled at her, she quickly forgot her annoyance and smiled back at him.

With their horses walking along side by side, Cord reached across and ran his finger down her scratched-up cheek, then pulled it away with it tipped in blood.

She flinched, then said, “You have to look worse for wear than I do.”

He lifted his hat, a fine new Stetson, and swiped his shirtsleeve across his forehead. “I take that as a compliment, Annie, because you look beautiful today. I can look a lot worse than you and still be a fine figure of a man.”

Annie chuckled. She glanced ahead and noticed Josh looking over his shoulder at them, his eyes narrowed.

“You can’t blame the man,” Cord said. “You mean so much to him. He told me about your husband dying in your arms, and you getting shot as well. He doesn’t want you to ever grieve like that again or be hurt by some lummox cowpoke.

And based on the way you looked at me last night, I’d say you agree with Josh. ”

“I don’t think there’s a thing wrong with you, Cord. But I’m afraid. I barely survived losing Todd. I fear my heart has hardened a bit. When I look at you and ... feel something, it’s a pain I can’t bear. Please don’t let that hurt you. It’s my own broken heart that won’t let anyone else in.”

He nodded. “Your life hasn’t been easy. I see that, Annie. Yet your devotion to Caroline and to your family is admirable. And you’ve done so much to help the students with their learning. Now you’re talking of quitting teaching. I’m not sure I understand.”

“We’re asking too much of Gretel. She’s become a good and loyal friend, and she needs for me to take the load off her shoulders or at least share a greater part of it.”

Cord eyed her intently as she spoke, and it made her think of the times Michelle had brought her microscope to the classroom. How you could see tiny new details of something you thought you knew everything about. What was Cord looking for in her? What details could he see?

“Annie, w-would you consider spending time with me, just the two of us? I’d like to get to know you better.

As you’ve probably guessed, I have feelings for you.

And I believe ... I mean, I hope you have feelings for me.

But it’s not easy to explore those feelings when we’re never alone together.

Let me take you out for dinner? Give us a chance to find out if what we feel is enough for you to take a risk. ”

Annie hadn’t courted a man since Todd, and she’d barely done so with him before they decided to marry.

He was running his ranch with his father.

She and Todd had been childhood friends who’d just always known they were meant for each other.

They’d gone for a walk around the Two Harts when his parents came to share Sunday dinner.

His family would visit her ranch most Sundays.

They’d all worship together, then share a meal and spend the afternoon enjoying each other’s company.

She and Todd were seventeen when he proposed.

She’d said yes without a moment’s hesitation.

He kissed her then for the very first time, and then they ran into the house to tell their families the happy news.

Caroline was born less than a year later.

And Annie was all set for a bigger family and a life of love when Todd had been shot and killed, their ranch destroyed.

With their home in ruins, her life was forever altered as she moved back to the Two Harts.

Zane now kept a bunkhouse full of men at Lane Valley, her former ranch.

Since losing Todd, Annie had never gone back there.

So Zane took over the management of Lane Valley.

He paid the cowhands and covered all expenses out of the earnings made from raising high-quality livestock.

Then her ranch expanded when Zane had demanded through the courts a disbursement of money from the man who’d arranged for Todd to be killed.

After the dust settled, Annie became probably one of the richest women in California.

And she’d barely spent a penny of it.

She really ought to make the trip to go see her ranch again. Having her house reduced to ashes had made it easy to stay away. She weighed whether it was maybe time for her to move back home. Yet deep in her heart, she knew she probably never would.

All of this ran through her mind in the seconds since Cord had suggested he take her out for dinner.

She was tempted by his offer. She turned her head and looked at him, wondering, afraid, but interested.

“I’m not so sure about courting a man again .

.. but yes, Cord, I’ll go to dinner with you.

Or how about a noon meal in Dorada Rio? That way we won’t be riding home in the dark. ”

Cord nodded as if afraid to make any suggestions for fear she’d change her mind. “We’ll do it the first Saturday after we get back.”

“That sounds nice, although I still feel uncertain about seeing another man. I’ll need time to get used to the idea.

” She thought saying yes to their sharing a meal together might be all she was capable of, but then that was all he’d asked for.

She decided then she’d take all this one step at a time.

“This might be it!” Josh hollered back. “I think we’re on the right land. And would you look at that—your grandpa built himself a cabin.”

The building was derelict after thirty years of sitting empty, trees having grown up around it on all sides, but sure enough, there was a small house there. Not a one-room shack, but a bona fide house.

“Do you think he built the house near where the treasure’s hidden?” Lock asked. He was already pulling out his map, no doubt looking for landmarks and other clues. “I think this little triangle here marks the cabin’s location.”

“Let’s get the horses staked out to graze and then start looking around.” Josh always took care of his horse first.

Annie was exhausted from a long day in the saddle, and she needed to tend to the scrapes and scratches she’d collected along the way. She suspected everyone else was just as tired as she was. But as she swung down from her horse, suddenly she got a burst of energy just thinking about the treasure.

They all got out their maps. They’d had all winter to make up copies.

“How far from that cabin is the X, do you think?” Annie studied the odd little drawings, which to her looked to be made mysterious on purpose.

They figured Grandpa didn’t want the map to make sense easily if it fell into the wrong hands. In fact, he’d been so cryptic about it that his son, Frasier—Brody, Thayne, and Lock’s father—had ruined his life chasing after the treasure the map supposedly pointed to.

“The X is off to the west.” Josh turned to face the land beyond the cabin. “It feels as if we’re still on the dry riverbed. I’d say your grandpa built the cabin where he did because the land is more level here. He probably didn’t even know this area was once a riverbed.”

The cabin had no windows or doors, just gaping open spaces.

The roof seemed to be mostly intact, which was surprising.

Annie went and glanced inside. Years and years of debris had blown inside the cabin.

Leaves, broken branches, evidence of animals burrowing in the dirt floor.

Inside, it was clear that one of the main walls had been badly damaged, caused by a fallen tree.

Hearing rustling behind her, Annie turned to see Cord poking his head into the cabin. “We found where Graham died. Now we see where he lived. There are extra rooms, which means he built this place with his family in mind. Seems Graham MacKenzie did everything with his family in mind.”

Annie smiled at him. “Let’s go treasure hunting.”

Cord rested a hand on her back and nodded.

Josh, Thayne, and Lock had already gone in search of the treasure. Looking around a derelict house didn’t interest them one bit. Well, it didn’t interest Annie for long either.

She and Cord rounded the cabin to see Josh walking slowly down a path he must believe was that “river of death” written about in the journal. But Grandpa Graham had been here before them. Even thirty years later, there was no mistaking the spot.

“He hung a shield from a tree.” Josh pointed to a rusted piece of steel about fifty feet west of the cabin. “Just like he did where we found the armor.”

They all walked through the underbrush, weaving around trees to where the rusted-out shield hung.

“I thought you said this shield was hung by the conquistadors,” Thayne said as he made his way across the rugged terrain.

“We thought that at first, but the archeologists who studied the armor said it couldn’t have been hanging there for that long a time.”

“I wonder what in the world brought Grandpa this far into the wilderness,” Thayne said. “And I wonder what he saw that stopped him here in this spot. He wrote that the mountains around here called to him like the Scottish Highlands, but I wish he’d’ve written his reasons down.”

Annie glanced to the west and said, “The sun’s getting low in the sky. We don’t have much daylight left for hunting treasure, and we’ve had nothing to eat all day but beef jerky and bread. I think it’s about time we set up camp. We all could use some sleep.”

The men turned toward her, by turns looking horrified, dismayed, and annoyed, all such expressions directed right at her.

She fought down a smile, then walked over to the hanging shield. “For now, though, let’s search for treasure while we have the light.”