Heart Of Gold (44 page)

After the
fury of passion she'd unleashed was spent, he sagged against the shower's wall,
feeling like he'd been wrung out. Sometime later, he heard the water being
turned off, and forced his eyes to open.

Carter
had an extremely satisfied expression on her face.

“Hi,”
she said.

“G'd
mging,” was all he could manage.

Her smile
got even brighter. Moving with enviable ease, she popped out of the shower,
grabbed two towels and passed one to him. He took it but couldn't seem to lift the
damn thing. It just hung down from his hand, the ends getting wet.

“Let
me help you with that,” she offered happily. She tossed the one he'd let
get damp aside and coaxed him out of the shower. He stood still while she dried
him off, tied the towel around his waist, and pushed him toward the bedroom
door.

“Can
you make it to your room?”

Nick
nodded and began to walk away, backward. He couldn't take his eyes off her.

He
murmured, “I don't think I'm ever going to look at a bar of soap in the
same way again.”

“There's
more where that came from,” Carter said. Her husky voice traveled through
his ears to his very core.

As he
stepped out into the hallway, Nick's body was already stirring again.

Looking
down at himself, he said wryly, “Haven't you had enough?”

* * *

When
Carter appeared downstairs, she was wearing a fresh pair of jeans and a crisp
white polo shirt, and she felt like a new woman. She didn't bother to hide her
glow of happiness.

Ellie
rushed around the table and into her arms while Buddy leaned back in his chair
and gave her a knowing grin. “You're looking awfully...”

She shot
him a warning look over the top of his daughter's head.

“Clean,”
he quipped with a wink.

From
across the table, Cort was smiling at her and she said to him, “You're
looking better.”

“So
are you.”

Gertie
bustled over and put a plate of fruit and a cup of coffee on the table.

“Eat,”
the woman said, pointing to an empty chair.

Carter
sat down, did as she was told, and was about to ask for a refill of both when
Nick ambled into the room. His eyes sought her out and he looked at her with
such tenderness and love, she felt her heartbeat quicken.

Cort
frowned at his uncle.

“What?”
Nick asked him.

“You
look funny.”

Nick's
eyebrows arched as he sat next to Carter. He smiled a thanks at Gertie as
breakfast was pushed in front of him.

“How
do I look funny?” he prompted the kid.

“I
dunno. You look kinda ... loopy.”

Laughter
broke out in the room and Ivan wanted in on the joke as he came inside.

“What's
the laughing for?” he asked.

“Uncle
Nick,” Cort explained. “He looks different, don't you think?”

Ivan
glanced at the man. “ 'Course he's changed. He's in love.”

Everyone
in the room froze.

Except
for Nick. He reached over, took Carter's hand and brought it to his lips.
“That's right.”

“You
know,” Cort said, tilting his head to one side. “You keep smiling so
much, you're going to have to get your driver's license picture updated. No
one'll recognize you.”

When Nick
rolled his eyes, the kid laughed with delight.

While he
ate, Nick was strategizing about the proposal again. If he could get Carter out
on the boat, he thought, that would be perfect. The lake, the sun, a gentle
breeze.

The ring.

When he
jerked like someone had kicked his chair, Carter glanced over at him. “You
okay?”

He nodded
with distraction. He didn't have a ring. He was supposed to have a ring. She
deserved a ring.

Carter
gave him an odd look but then pushed her plate away and stared at Buddy
purposefully.

“Where's
the box?” She wadded up her napkin. “You brought it down, didn't
you?”

The man
nodded and disappeared into the mud-room. When he returned, he was carrying the
tin construction in his arms, his shoulders hunched from its weight.

“I
photographed everything before I removed it from the cave,” he noted as he
put the box on the table in front of her. The kids squirmed in their seats,
eager for it to finally be opened.

Carter
stood up and fingered the edge of the top. “The metal's fused into a tight
seal. There's also a lock. We're going to have to cut this thing open.”

“I
got the right tool for it,” Ivan said. He returned with a small,
battery-powered sawsall.

“Do
you want to do the honors?” Carter asked Nick.

He shook
his head. “I wouldn't want an archaeologist doing my taxes. I don't think
you want a finance guy playing around with that thing.”

Cocking a
smile at him, Carter fired up the tool and cut a line around the edge of the lid.
When she was finished, she wrapped her hands in two cloth napkins and got a
grip on the sides.

Lifting
slowly, she said, “Now, let's not get too excited. This could just be more
auto parts.”

But then,
the unmistakable glow of gold was revealed.

“Good
Lord,” she exhaled as a swell of surprise and delight filled the room.
“Someone get a camera.”

Nick was
stunned. Never in his life had he thought that the fortune would be found. For
all his years, he had refused to believe it was still on his land.

He looked
at Carter and was thrilled that she had discovered it. She was wearing an
expression of rapt excitement as she cautiously put her hand into the magical
jumble and lifted up handfuls of the precious metal. There were coins, pieces
of weighty necklaces, earrings with the stones removed, heavy signet rings.

He
couldn't have asked for a better outcome, he thought.

“Wait
a minute,” she murmured. "There's something else in here.”

She
burrowed into the box and slowly pulled out a small book. Leather-bound by
hand, it was about five inches square, a dull brown in the midst of the
radiance. There was a cross drawn on the front.

Delicately,
she slipped her forefinger under the front cover and lifted.

“J.
Winship. Year of Our Lord, 1775,” Carter read. “It's Winship's
missing journal.”

As
everyone cheered, the exuberant sound reverberated throughout the house.

* * *

By early
afternoon, Carter had finished reading the entire journal. Nick had given her
free run of his study, and she'd spent hours curled up in the chair behind his
desk, reading as the sun streamed in through the open windows.

It was
the perfect way to decompress from her harrowing experience. Losing herself in
the reverend's words helped her to feel safer and more grounded. She knew it
would take time before she fully recovered from the abduction, but being with
Nick and her friends would undoubtedly help. She'd also spoken with her father,
who'd been overjoyed at hearing her voice, and that, too, made her feel more
steady.

When she
came to the end of the journal, she closed the cover and placed it on the desk.
Twirling the chair around, she stared out a window, watching butterflies flirt
among the wild-flowers in the meadow behind the mansion.

The
artifact was priceless, she thought, one of the most significant finds from the
colonial period in the last decade. It told more of Winship's reluctant but
patriotic involvement in the Revolution and everything about the fateful trip
into the Adirondacks that had cost him his life.

It also
solved the mystery of who had killed the men.

Carter
got out of the chair, left the journal on the desk and went in search of the
others. She found them down by the lake. Ellie was sunbathing while Cort was
snorkeling at the shore. Nick and Buddy were cleaning the sailboat's decks.

“What's
the verdict?” Buddy asked as he caught sight of her.

Nick
looked up, a slow, sensual smile coming over his face as their eyes met. He was
wearing only swimming trunks, the same black ones he'd worn before, and his
body glistened with sweat from his labors in the sun.

She felt
herself warm up considerably.

“It's
a remarkable story,” she said as Nick came up to her. In front of
everyone, he bent down and kissed her on the lips.

“Tell
us everything.” His voice was low and inviting and she could feel the
blood surge to her face as she blushed. She couldn't help but remember the
things he'd whispered to her while they'd been making love.

She
cleared her throat and told them what she'd learned.

“Jonathan
Winship was an amazing man. Reflective, serious, and indignant over the British
government's remote control of the colonies. He was an unlikely war hero, a
student of the Bible, not a fighter. Still, he had a strength of purpose that
was indomitable.” She looked out across the lake. "According to
Winship, General Farnsworth was pure evil. He tells everything about how the
man was arrested in New York for raping and beating that woman.

"After
the exchange for Nathaniel Walker was worked out, the Winship party headed into
the Adirondacks with Red Hawk in the lead and the general in shackles. They
were carrying the gold for the troop supplies with them. When they got to the
base of Lake Sagamore, they were supposed to hand the strongbox over to other
revolutionaries. Their compatriots never showed, however, and they were forced
to take the fortune with them.

"As
they made their way toward the fort, Red Hawk took good care of his charges,
leading them through the mountains by the most direct route possible. When he
got them to the place designated for the trade, the guide disappeared into the woods,
having discharged his duty. Soon thereafter, the party was ambushed. The two
minute-men and Reverend Winship were no match for the well-trained redcoats who
attacked them. The American soldiers were killed, and Winship was stabbed in
the belly by the general, a mortal wound as things would turn out.

“Farnsworth
was about to finish the job on Winship, had a bayonet poised over the
reverend's head, when Red Hawk came back. Materializing, as if from the ether,
as Winship put it, the Indian fell upon Farnsworth, injuring him badly. Five
British soldiers set upon the Algonquin, but with what Winship termed a
terrible grace and power, the Indian killed two outright and the other three
scattered through the woods.”

“Holy
sh—,” Cort stumbled. “I mean, cool.”

“While
Farnsworth lay bloodied on the ground, Red Hawk came to Winship's side. The
reverend asked to be helped up and went around to the fallen men, including the
general, and performed last rites. He knew time was of the essence. The three
Brits would return with reinforcements, and he had to hide if he had a chance
at surviving. Red Hawk helped him through the wilderness to the cave and then
went back for the gold. After the Indian returned with the strongbox, he asked
if the reverend, who was clearly dying, had any last requests. Winship asked
that the bodies of the dead men be buried and a cross placed at the head of
each grave. Red Hawk left and Winship never saw him again.”

There was
a long silence and then Carter finished the tale. “The reverend knew he
wouldn't survive and his last entry in the journal was barely legible.”

“What
was it?” Ellie asked softly.

The words
had been burned into Carter's memory because she'd read them over and over
again. They left her lips as if she'd known them all her life. “ 'A
stronger nation shall be lifted high on the backs of men united by honor and
the grace of God. For all who know love for their fellow man shall be as one
under the heavens. Brothers are found not of the same womb but of similar
hearts. Thank you, Red Brother.'”

“So
Red Hawk was a hero,” Cort whispered in awe.

Carter
nodded.

“What
happened to him?” Ellie asked. “He must have been
killed.”

“No,
he wasn't.”

Curious
eyes looked Carter's way.

“The
reverend's final entry wasn't the last one. Red Hawk's was. It was hard for me
to decipher the language but I believe the saying can be translated as, 'So the
Hawk flies from the earth, to the Great Spirit and beyond, as does the man. Be
at peace, pale Father.”

“That's
incredible,” Buddy said solemnly. “The find of a lifetime.”

“I
have a feeling,” Carter said, “that Red Hawk came back, buried
Reverend Winship in the cave, and etched that cross in the stone wall over his
grave.”

“So
we should go excavate,” Buddy prompted.

“No.
I think we should just leave him be,” Carter said slowly, shaking her
head. “He should be left in peace. We have the diary. That's enough of
him.”

Nick
nodded, “I agree.”

Carter
stood up from her perch. “And now I need to go to the university. I want
to get my colleagues started on conserving the journal. I don't want any more
deterioration to occur and it needs to be copied as soon as possible.” She
turned to Nick. “And we should probably lock up the gold somehow. It needs
to be studied too, but I'm not sure where I can put it at the university,
though.”

“You
can use my safe until you get that figured out.”

“Thanks,”
she said and gave him a look from under her lashes. “Would you have any
interest in a drive across state lines?”

“You
better believe it, woman.”

As they
went up the lawn, their hands caught and held. She couldn't keep the smile off
of her face.

When they
got to his study, Nick went down on his haunches and opened the safe.

“I
don't have room for the box itself,” he said with his head wedged into the
wall of books. Inside, he was shuffling the contents around, making space. He
took out the cross and handed it to Carter.

She
unwrapped the felt and stared at the old wood. “What an amazing
story.”