Page 37 of Riches Beyond Measure (Golden State Treasure #3)

Twenty-Eight

“I don’t think you should wear that dagger into the church.

” Annie seriously doubted it was wise for him to do so.

Every Sunday, her brothers left their rifles in the scabbards on their saddles and their six-guns in the saddlebags.

No one would think of stealing something from a horse tied up outside of church.

Then she thought of Hardy dumping them in that underground prison and had to wonder just how low some people might go.

“You’re right,” said Cord. “Besides, it might scratch the piano bench. By the way, I packed sandwiches and a few other things for lunch.”

“I know. I saw you doing it before I could. We should be at the Westbrook Ranch in time to eat the noon meal there.”

“I can’t wait to see the place. I’m surprised your family is all right with us riding off alone.”

“I’m a little surprised myself. But there’s no way Hardy could know we own that ranch house.”

“Did you talk with Grandpa Westbrook about moving in with us?”

“I did. He’s interested, but he said he’d still be spending part of the year in Sacramento since he’s got business interests there that need overseeing.”

“I wish he’d retire so he could be with his family all the time.”

Cord reached across to hold her hand. “I agree, Annie. I’m hoping once he’s moved in, he’ll get settled enough that he won’t want to leave.”

Annie saw Cord adjust his dagger in its sheath.

“That’s such an odd-looking knife.” She rather wanted to carry it herself. Maybe she could tuck it in her reticule. “Can I see it?”

Cord removed the knife from his waist, sheath and all, and handed it over to her.

Annie held the dagger up, admiring it. It was about ten inches long and fit in her reticule with little room to spare—six inches of blade, five inches of handle. “Why is it black?” she asked.

“Silver tarnishes to black,” Cord said. “Remember that one black coin we found? Well, we decided it’s a silver coin.”

“Is this knife silver, then?”

“It’s possible, but silver is a more delicate metal. It wouldn’t be a usual choice for a dagger. We think maybe it’s plated.”

Annie’s brow furrowed. “Plated?”

“Yes,” said Cord. “The bulk of the knife is steel, but then it was covered with a thin coat of silver. We’ll clean it up later and see if the tarnish comes off. Michelle and Tilda have been researching daggers from hundreds of years ago to find out more.”

“And on the handle is that strange X again. The Cross of Burgundy. It’s barely visible.”

Cord nodded. “We saw that same mark on their armor, some of the weapons, the chests, and even in the logbooks. Michelle said it was an important insignia to the sailors at the time.”

As town and the church came into sight, Annie hid the dagger in her reticule and noticed Lock doing the same, tucking his inside his shirt.

“Your first trip to the new ranch house should be just the two of you,” Grandpa told them.

Cord tended to agree with his grandpa. The idea of an afternoon away with Annie sounded wonderful.

And like any overprotective father, he wanted to make sure everything was safe at the house before he took Caroline there.

“I’d enjoy the time with Annie. I’ll ask her if she doesn’t mind leaving Caroline behind for the afternoon. ”

As he watched Annie and Caroline walking toward him, he said to his grandpa, “The two of us will ride down there and look around, and the next trip can be with you and Caroline along.”

Grandpa nodded in agreement at the same time Annie approached with her daughter. “Annie, can Caroline stay with me for the afternoon? That way you and Cord can ride to the new place and enjoy some time alone.”

Annie’s eyes sparkled. She smiled at Cord, then turned to her daughter. “Do you mind going back home with Grandpa, sweetie?”

“No, Ma. I’ll go with Grandpa.” She then skipped over and grabbed hold of Grandpa’s hand.

After Cord and Annie said their goodbyes, they mounted up and rode off to see their new house. The ride took about half an hour.

“This place isn’t far from home at all,” Annie said. “I like the idea of living close to family.” She turned and smiled at him. “But maybe we’ve been living a bit too close. I think our being here will be an improvement.”

As they rounded a bend in the trail, the Westbrook Ranch spread out before them. Cord gasped.

He was determined not to pressure Annie into living here if it reminded her of the evil man responsible for Todd’s death. But it really was a beautiful place.

His grandpa lived in a stately mansion in Sacramento, yet the house here was a Victorian masterpiece: three full stories with a circular tower reaching high above it all.

A porch surrounded the front and side of the house, possibly more if he looked behind it.

There was another porch on the second floor with glass doors into the house, gabled windows on the roof, along with all kinds of asymmetrical details to make every inch of the house fascinating to look at.

There were elaborate wooden flourishes in every peak and around every door and window.

The house was white and looked freshly painted.

Had it stayed so pristine despite sitting empty for a few years, or had it been recently painted?

Cord couldn’t help but wonder what it was going to cost to keep this big fancy mansion in decent shape.

No matter, for the house was a real beauty and worth the expense of upkeep.

He felt as if he could stare at the house for hours, it was that pretty.

Annie said, “Horace Benteen had all the money in the world to spend on this house. He didn’t even live here most of the time. He was in San Francisco, but he liked the idea of being seen as a big rancher, so he poured a lot of cash money into making this ranch a showplace.”

Cord heard some powerful emotion when she spoke. He couldn’t decide if the sight of the house made Annie anxious, or if she was realizing just now what a beautiful home it was. She said she’d never actually been inside the house.

“Though Benteen owned thousands of acres, he always wanted more. And our ranch bordered his. When we refused to sell him our place, he decided he’d just up and take it.”

Annie had tried to explain to him that what the Harts owned had been built with their own hands from the logs and stone that surrounded them.

Benteen had hired others to do all his building for him, and doubtless he hadn’t lifted a finger to help them, hadn’t sweated even one droplet.

Of course, no less than highly skilled craftsmen could have erected such a spectacular structure as the stately Victorian house standing tall before their eyes.

“Let’s go inside,” Cord said. “We might as well see what we’re up against.”

They rode up to the house, tied their horses to the fanciest hitching post Cord had ever seen, and went up the steps. Annie produced a key.

When she opened the door, Cord suddenly swept her up into his arms and carried her across the threshold. “A husband is supposed to carry his new wife into their first home,” he said.

“I don’t know about the house,” she giggled, “but I do know about making a home, Cord. I believe we can make a home here.”

“I think you’re right about that, Annie.” He lowered her to her feet and sealed the notion with a kiss.

After a moment or two, they turned from each other and started exploring their new house.

“This place looks like it hasn’t been touched in years,” she said. “The furniture, the rugs, the light fixtures—everything’s coated with a thick layer of dust.”

“It’s as if they just walked out the front door one day and never bothered to come back,” Cord said, pointing at a table with a book open, facedown.

Annie nodded. “That’s pretty much what happened.

Benteen and his son were arrested and hauled away, and that was the end of it.

They never returned here after that day.

And after I won the lawsuit against Benteen, Zane sent some cowhands over here to do the chores and care for the livestock.

They stay in the bunkhouse at my old ranch.

But I’d bet no one’s been in here from the moment Benteen and his boy were arrested. ”

“It feels a little ... haunted.” Though Cord didn’t believe in ghosts, he might make an exception this once. “What are we going to do with all this space? Should we close off the top floors, you think?”

Annie eyed the grand staircase in the center of the main room, its wide steps and elegant banister rising in a sweeping curve. The ceiling ran to the second-floor height twenty feet or more over their heads.

“I’m not that interested in using the upper floors. I’m definitely not interested in dusting the whole place.”

“If we make up bedrooms here on the main floor, we can keep all our living down here and leave the top floors be for now. The only way we’d need all that space upstairs is if we had twenty children.”

Annie swatted him lightly in the belly with the back of her hand.

“I was just kidding,” he laughed.

She turned to him, a grin on her face. “The thing is, Cord ... we already have twenty kids.”

His brow furrowed. “The orphans?”

“What if we made this big house the ‘Westbrook School for Orphan Girls’? We can bring the girls here, tailor our classes more specifically to their needs, at the same time giving them some much-needed privacy.”

“We can hire more teachers,” said Cord, “maybe a few of the orphans who have grown up at the Two Harts. Maybe Tilda could come here once a week to teach her history class, and she’s been trying to get Maddie to teach more. She might be interested in moving here to teach full time.”

“All very good ideas,” Annie agreed. “Of course, we’d need to work out all the details, but now I’m excited to have all this space instead of dreading how we’d be rattling around in the house.

To start with, we need to look around upstairs and see how many bedrooms we have and what rooms would make good classrooms.”

“It’s like, without planning to, in his greed and overweening pride, Horace Benteen built a ready-made orphanage in the middle of California’s Central Valley. What he built to display how superior he was will now be used to help those less fortunate.”

They resumed their inspection of the large house.

The dining room included a massive oak table that would seat thirty.

The kitchen was huge, like that of a fancy restaurant in San Francisco.

Upstairs were eight good-sized bedrooms, big enough for the girls to sleep four to a room with no one feeling at all crowded. The house was perfect.

Annie stood gazing out one of the windows of the turret on the second floor.

A girl could dream up here: a fairy-tale princess waiting for her prince to gallop up to the castle to woo her.

As she was looking out the window, she noticed two men come out of the barn and walk to a corral of horses, each with the Two Harts brand.

“I recognize those men, Cord. I’d like to catch them and tell them we might be moving into the house. See what they think of having a herd of young girls underfoot.”

“I’ll run over and have a word with them,” Cord said.

Annie stood in her tower and listened to the thundering footsteps on the stairs, followed by the slamming of the back door, which was connected to the kitchen.

Annie noticed the men turn her way and look up at the house. She stepped out onto a balcony and waved to them.

Cord saw her and hollered, “There’s a new foal in the barn! Come on down and see it.”

She nodded and waved again, then stepped inside and headed for the main staircase.

As she reached the first floor, she heard the unmistakable click of a gun being cocked ... right behind her head. Annie turned slowly around to face Professor Oswald Hardy and Mr. Walter Rombauer.