The B Girls (31 page)

"So?" Jane said. "Did you get it?
Did Leonard give you the jar?"

Lucy held up the jar. "Unopened. Ready to go
upstairs to Belle's room to see what we have?"

"The ranger just handed it over?" Jane
was beyond shocked. She would have sworn he'd make them hire lawyers and jump
through hundreds of hoops to get the documents.

"He doesn't know," Lucy said. "I
found it in Dawson's SUV before the cavalry arrived. But I doubt Ranger Leonard
will have the nerve to give us any trouble."

"After Dawson admitted what he'd done,"
Mae said.

"Let's get upstairs before we get into
details," Lucy said. "Belle's waiting on us."

"Is she okay?" Jane asked.

Lucy nodded. "Dehydrated and tired. They're
keeping her overnight but she should be fine."

###

Belle smiled when they walked into the room.
"Did you bring it?"

"Yep." Lucy put the jar on the bed at
Belle's feet. "Should we open it here?"

"Hell yes," Belle said. "We should
get the first peek."

Lucy dug through the one pack they still had with
them for a pocket knife. The jar was sealed with wax and she had to dig it out
to get the lid free.

"I'm going to be so pissed if we find hundred
year old preserved peaches in there," Jane said.

"Don't even think it," Lucy said as the
lid popped free.

They all held their breath as Lucy took the first
look. "Old paper."

"Hallelujah," Mae said.

"Well?" Jane said. "Get it out. Let's
see what we've got."

"I'm not sure I should," Lucy said.
"What if I damage something?"

"Someone has to get them out," Belle
said. "It might as well be us."

Lucy wheeled the bed-table over so they could lay the
documents flat. She carefully eased the papers out of the jar and unrolled
them. They were still folded in half and she very gently slid her finger in the
middle and opened them.

The one on top was printed rather than handwritten.

"In Congress, July 4
th
 
1776," Lucy read. "A
Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America."

"This has to be a Dunlap Broadside," Mae
said.

"Holy Independence!" Jane said. "We
really found it."

"But what's the rest?" Mae said.

Lucy carefully moved the Broadside revealing the
next page.

The same words appeared at the top of the page,
handwritten.

"Oh my God," Lucy said. "It's true.
This is the final draft of the Declaration of Independence."

There were three pages. The last one held the
signatures of John Hancock and Charles Thomson.

"I can't believe it," Mae said. "I
don't think I ever really believed it was possible."

"I never doubted it," Belle said.
"I'm just sorry I missed the finale in the cave."

Jane screwed her face up into a wry smile. "Oh
yeah, you missed a real good time."

"Had to have been better than where I
was."

"What the hell was Dawson up to?" Jane
asked. "Did he talk to the cops?"

"He was babbling all the way to the hospital.
Apparently he panicked when his wife's medical bills started piling up. He made
a shady deal with some guys who make their living tracking down antiquities and
selling them on the black market. They advanced him some money against his
promise to deliver the Declaration," Lucy said.

"When Perry and I didn't work as fast as he
wanted, he decided to put some pressure on me," Belle said. "Of
course I didn't know what he was up to when he called and asked if I'd come to
his house on Cooper Lake. He said he was worried about Perry and wanted to talk
to me about what progress we were making in finding the Declaration."

"What'd he do? Knock you out?" Mae said.

"No. I think he put some kind of date rape
drug in the tea he offered me. I remember not feeling well and then nothing
until I woke up in the dark. He'd locked me in that damn closet."

"Well, he'll be spending a lot more time
locked up," Lucy said. "I just feel sorry for his wife. Apparently
she's in the final stages of ovarian cancer."

"Poor woman. I guess she didn't know what he
was up to," Mae said.

"No. And she's pretty devastated that he threw
his life away trying to save her when the doctors told them months ago there
was nothing more they could do," Lucy said.

"I guess he really loves her," Mae said.

"Yes. I plan to talk to the authorities and
ask them to go easy on him. I'm sure the stress of her illness and the fear of
losing her made him a little crazy," Belle said.

"Sucks we can't just hate him," Jane
said.

"I don't know," Lucy said. "It kind
of restores my faith in men. His methods sucked but his motives were good. I mean,
come on wouldn't you like to have a man care that much about you?"

"I'm just glad it's over and we're all more or
less in one piece," Mae said.

"But we're not done yet," Jane said.

"Of course we're done," Lucy said. "We
found the Declaration and rescued Belle. What else do you think we need to
do?"

"Make good on our pact," Jane said.
"About the future."

"Well, I don't think I'll have any trouble
finding the courage to negotiate a few changes in my marriage," Mae said. "As
for what else, I haven't decided yet. I know I said I was thinking of going
back to work but I don't really want to leave my house and my kids for a
job--at least not yet."

"What about you" Lucy asked Jane.

"I think I'll try my hand at art. Maybe open a
little gallery for my stuff and a few other local artists I've had my eye on
for a while. And you?"

A new voice joined the discussion. "So, you
ladies were artifact hunting in my wilderness area again."

Jane looked up to see Ranger Leonard standing in the
doorway. "Well shit."

Lucy leaned down to Aunt Belle and lowered her
voice. "I'd love to stay and moderate this debate but I have something I
need to do. You can handle them, can't you?"

Belle nodded. "Of course. Just leave them to
me."

"I'm taking your Cherokee but I'll be back to
pick you up in the morning."

"Don't worry about a thing," Belle said.

Lucy straightened. "I expect all of you to
play nice. I have to leave."

"But you didn't answer my question," Jane
said.

"I'm going to deal with my future right
now," Lucy said.

Ranger Leonard frowned. "Where do you think
you're going?"

"It's personal. So, if you're not going to
arrest me now I'll be on my way," Lucy said.

"I know where to find you if I need to."

Lucy left without giving the ranger another thought.
Belle would have him straightened out in no time.

The Cherokee was in the lot where she'd parked
after following the ambulance from Dawson's house.

She made the drive back to Atlanta in good time,
riding a wave of residual adrenalin.

Gary had given her his new address, "In case
of emergency."

Well, this qualified.

She worked her way through Camden Estates,
marveling at Gary's display of sheer stupidity. Most men planned for divorce by
hiding assets (or so she'd heard) but Gary seemed to be intent on flaunting
his. Lucy was guessing his lawyer wasn't a happy camper.

Gary's brand new McMansion overlooked the ninth
hole of the Camden Estates "award winning" golf course.

He was welcome to it.

She rang the front doorbell, not surprised to hear
some pretentious deep toned chimes echo inside.

Gary's eyes widened when he saw Lucy standing on
his doorstep. "Jesus Christ, you look like some homeless person. Are you
armed? Should I call the cops?"

"No and no. I've had a hard day," Lucy
said.

"Why are you here?"

"I want you to call your lawyer first thing in
the morning and tell him I'll sign whatever settlement agreement you've worked
out. I don't want to have an ugly fight. I just want it over with."

Gary frowned. "What's the catch? Why are you
being so cooperative?"

"No catch. I was angry when you left."

"You shot up the study!"

Lucy shrugged. "I was entitled to a temper
tantrum. But that's not the point. I was angry and I was hurt and worst of all
I was afraid. I haven't had to give serious thought to my future for a long
time. I was afraid I wouldn't know what to do on my own without you or Ryan. I
felt incompetent."

She took a deep breath. "The last few days I
found out I'm very competent and courageous and tough and smart and I have some
really wonderful people in my life. I'm ready to move on into the future and I
don't want to drag out the past."

Gary didn't look like he understood a word of what
she was trying to say. But it didn't matter because he had a gleam in his eye
that indicated he thought he was about to put one over on her.

She could care less as long as the divorce was
finalized as soon as legally possible.

"I'll call George first thing in the
morning."

"Good, have him call me on my cell and we'll
work out a time."

She turned and started down the steps but Gary's
voice stopped her. "Lucy? You're different and I don't just mean the
clothes and the fact that you look like you had a fight with a bear. You remind
me of the woman I married. I'm starting to think maybe I was a little hasty
with this divorce."

Lucy looked him over trying to decide if some of
what she said had sunk in, or if he was hoping for a farewell fuck.

Damn! Maybe some of her words
had
penetrated that thick skull of his. "No Gar, you aren't
being hasty. I told you, I'm ready to put this behind me. I have a whole new,
unknown, future in front of me and I can't wait."

One year later on July 4
th
, Lucy, Jane, Mae, and Belle stood at the entrance
to a newly remodeled display room at the National Archives listening to various
bureaucrats and politicians sing the praises of their generosity in returning
the final draft of the Declaration to the people of the United States instead
of putting it up for auction.

Finally, Lucy got the signal to step forward with
the ceremonial gold scissors and cut the ceremonial red, white and blue ribbon
to officially open the Belle Morris Room housing the display of the final draft
of the Declaration of Independence.

Belle beamed as the ribbon fell and the first
visitors stepped into the room. She'd made her initiation into the B Girls
official by visiting Spike's Tattoos two days after leaving the hospital.

Lucy scanned the crowd, eyes zeroing in on Ryan.

He winked and smiled at her and she knew all was
finally right in her world.

The past year had been hard, but after facing down
her worst fears in Lover's Cavern, facing down Gary in court had been a piece
of cake. The big jackass found out about the money she'd be coming into and
tried to change the settlement before the divorce was final.

Gary's attempt to take a portion of the money the B
Girls realized from the sale of the Dunlap Broadside had been harder on Ryan
than Lucy. Ryan had been especially upset when his father refused to back down
on his demands even after Ryan made his feelings known.

Gary lost his bid for the money and his son's
respect.

Lucy kept both as well as the knowledge that her
future was a wonderful adventure just waiting for her.

She could hardly wait to see what was going to
happen next.

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© 2013 Cari Cole

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