The Lockwood Legacy - Books 1-6: Plus Bonus Short Stories

by Juliette Harper

Jake looked at Kate. “What do you think?” he asked.

  Kate scanned the proposed budget Riley had given them each. “Suits me,” she said, “but you do not come cheap, Mr. Riley.”

  “Please, call me Miles,” he said. “And, no, we are not inexpensive, but I assure you, we are quite good at what we do.”

  “And if there’s trouble?” she asked.

  “Dr. Martin told me about your injury,” Riley said. “As I’ve already said, I do realize that this is your land, but I don’t want anyone else going through what happened to you. Just say the word and one of my men will be prepared to escort you and any member of your family anywhere you like at any hour of the day. We work for you.”

  “That’s not what I asked you,” Kate said.

  Miles didn’t flinch. “Would you prefer we shoot to wound or to kill?”

  Kate nodded, “That’s more like it,” she said. “I’m satisfied.” She looked at Jake. “How about you?”

  “You’re hired,” Jake said. “When can you have your people here?”

  “Is 6 o’clock this evening soon enough?” the man asked.

  Jake laughed, “You can’t make it by five?”

  “Absolutely,” Miles said, tapping out a rapid-fire text. “I’m engaging my team now.”

  Jake looked thunderstruck. “I was joking,” he said.

  “Oh,” Miles said. “Sorry. I’ve been told I don’t have much of a sense of humor at times.”

  Kate looked away to keep from laughing, and Jake said weakly, “Duly noted.”

  Promptly at 5 p.m. two sleek, silver trailers, and four black SUVs identical to the one Miles drove, arrived on the ranch. An hour later, they had established their working site in a grove of trees just inside the pasture gate.

  Although Miles would have preferred to immediately deploy his men to the dry creek bed and the canyon, he reluctantly agreed to wait until morning. He did, however, order his men to get their drones airborne.

  “How are they going to see anything up there in the dark?” Kate asked.

  “Night vision cameras, ma’am,” one of the men answered, his eyes on the drone’s navigation screen. “High definition,” he added as an afterthought.

  “Don’t you know anything?” Jake teased under his breath.

  “That’ll be enough out of you, Professor,” she grumbled. “I feel like we just got dropped in the middle of a spy novel.”

  “I think we have,” Jake said.

  Miles explained to them that his men would use sound dampened ATVs to get around on the ranch, but would hike in and out of the canyon to ensure “maximum maneuverability.”

  By 7:30 the next morning everything was in place and a new routine established itself on the Rocking L. Everyone on the ranch immediately learned they could set their watches by the comings and goings of the security details.

  True to Miles Riley’s assurances, the men did not interrupt any of the regular ranch business, possessing the strange ability to be present, but completely in the background of daily life.

  At the Institute, Jake, Amy, and Chris worked around the clock assembling the necessary equipment to launch a full-scale excavation of the cave. By the end of two weeks, they were making daily trips to the draw, turning Langston Lockwood’s secret room into their remote laboratory.

  Josh was in heaven, buying new lens, tripods, and lighting equipment, and staying up late into the night reading about the photographic documentation of archaeological sites. Jenny pronounced him nothing but “a kid in an expensive toy store,” which won her a goofy grin and a shrugged “now, sugar” in response.

  On most mornings, Jake joined Kate and Jenny for a cup of coffee before his first trip up to the cave. He generally came armed with his iPad and shared photos and video of the progress they were making in the draw.

  The room Langston Lockwood had built 50 years before was now rigged for electric light powered by a generator on the floor of the canyon. Power cables snaking down through the trapdoor and into the rooms of the cavern below the floor where Chris spent his days taking measurements and assessing the stability of the rock formations.

  So far he had discovered, diagrammed, and lighted 3 rooms of varying sizes, each filled with chests and wooden boxes like the one Jake had already opened in what they referred to as the “ladder room.” At 48 chests and counting, Jake was starting to believe they could be looking at most, if not all, of Montezuma’s treasure.

  Jake had only opened the one chest long enough to verify that it did contain priceless artifacts before closing it again. None of the contents had been disturbed, but preparations were under way to remove and catalog those items first. That’s when Josh’s real work would begin. In the meantime, he was occupied with testing his lighting and equipment, and helping Chris by taking reference shots throughout the cavern.

  Jessica Northrup’s impending visit presented something of a conundrum. There would be no hiding the presence of the security team or the daily stream of traffic back and forth to Baxter’s Draw.

  Kate would have liked for Mandy to rescind her invitation to their northern cousin, but with uncharacteristic defiance, Mandy refused. “You’re just being silly,” she said. “Honestly, Katie. It’s not like people don’t already know what we found up there in Baxer’s Draw last year. Jessica is family. We’ll just tell her the truth.”

  Hot words rose to Kate’s lips, but she could not bring herself to snap at her little sister. She got hold of her temper, drew in a long breath, and said, “Alright. I don’t like this, Mandy, but the Rocking L is as much yours as it is mine. I’m just asking you not to give Jessica a lot of details. If she starts asking questions about the Draw or if she wants to go up there, please send her to me. Will you do that?”

  “Yes,” Mandy said, “but you have to promise me in return that you’ll be nice to her. And I don’t mean all cool and distant nice like you get when you don’t like someone and you’re trying not to be rude. I mean nice for real.”

  Kate shook her head at the slightly garbled, but totally accurate description of her likely behavior. “Okay,” she said. “I’ll do my best. I promise.”

  With so much going on, no one, not even Joe Mason himself, took notice of Mandy’s increasingly agitated behavior the longer they were back from their honeymoon.

  On the morning that she was headed into town for lunch with Jolene, a little more than a month after returning from Hawaii, Joe did ask, “Honey, is something the matter?” when Mandy dropped not one, but two glasses in the kitchen and burned half a loaf of bread trying to make his morning toast.

  “No, I’m just having one of those days,” she said, not looking up from where she was kneeling on the floor cleaning up broken glass with a whisk broom and pan. “You know? When you drop everything you touch?”

  “Okay,” Joe said, gathering up his briefcase for a day’s work as the town’s mayor. “Just don’t touch anything we can’t afford to have broken.”

  “I won’t, Joe,” she said, looking up from her sweeping long enough to kiss him goodbye. “Have a good day at the office.”

  Mandy waited until his car drove past the main ranch house to dress hurriedly and stuff a small brown paper bag in her purse on the way out the door. She bought the pregnancy test in Kerrville the week before and had kept it well hidden, counting the days until she found out for sure what she already knew in her heart.

  There were no volunteers in the library that day, so no one but Jolene heard Mandy’s squeal when she looked at the test strip and saw the telltale plus sign.

  “I guess that means you’ve decided to be happy about this,” Jolene said, giving Mandy a big hug. “Congratulations, Mama!”

  Mandy hugged her back so hard Jolene said, “Hey! If I’m going to be this child’s godmother, I have to be able to breathe!”

  “Sorry,” Mandy said, loosening her grip but not turning loose of her friend. “Oh my God. We’re going to have a baby!”

  “You are going to have the baby,” Jolene co
rrected her. “I am going to spoil the baby. There will be payback for introducing my children to make-up and acrylic nails before the age of eight, Aunt Mandy. I’m just warning you.”

  “I never actually let them have fake nails!” Mandy protested. “I just let them watch so they’ll know what to expect.”

  “You mean so they’ll hound their mother until the cows come home,” Jolene said. “I’m gonna turn this kid of yours into a total tomboy.”

  Mandy’s eyes went wide. “Do you think I’ll have a girl?” she asked. “Oh! Can you just imagine? The shopping! I’ll get to do prom all over again!”

  “Now calm down,” Jolene said. “The first thing we have to do when I get back from this vacation is find you some cute maternity clothes.”

  Mandy’s smile faltered. “I’m going to get fat, aren’t I?”

  “Well, yes,” Jolene said, “but then you deliver the fat in the form of a child who will never really mind you, and then you spend the rest of your life trying to get your waist back.”

  Mandy rolled her eyes. “Wow. Thanks Jolene,” she said. “That makes me feel so much better.”

  “I am nothing if not a supportive friend,” Jolene deadpanned.

  “When do you all leave on your trip?” Mandy asked.

  “This coming Friday,” Jolene said. “I’m trying to get everyone packed and ready to go so we can actually get on the road at a decent time of day.”

  “Do you have to work Friday?”

  “No, I am out of here Thursday afternoon,” Jolene said, “and the volunteers can start destroying my library.”

  Mandy laughed. “They’re not going to destroy your library. And if they do, I’ll help you put everything back. And when you’re home, maybe we can finally find out something about Phillip Baxter. I’m disappointed that Ancestry has been a dead end.”

  Jolene smiled. “I have a feeling that when I get back, that dead end will take a productive right turn.”

  “How do you figure that?” Mandy asked curiously.

  “Oh, just call it a researcher’s intuition,” she said. “Now get yourself home and tell Joe Bob he’s going to be a daddy.”

  Mandy’s eyes filled with happy tears. “He’s going to be over-the-moon,” she said. “Now, if I don’t see you before you leave, you all have a wonderful time. And don’t you throw the girls into the Rio Grande if you lose your patience. Promise?”

  “I promise,” Jolene said. “But I reserve the right to dunk’em a little bit if they need cooling off. Now give me another hug. I am so happy for you, honey.”

  “Thank you so much, Jolene,” Mandy said, “for everything. I love you.”

  “I love you, too,” Jolene said. “Text me and tell me about how Joe takes the news. Now go on. Scoot. I’ll see you soon.”

  79

  When Mandy left the library and headed for the ranch, she had every intention of giving Joe the happy news about the baby before she told anyone else. When she pulled into the front gate of the Rocking L, that resolve evaporated. Kate and Jenny were sitting on the covered patio outside Jenny’s studio, and they waved for her to join them.

  Even though Mandy knew she would never be able to keep the news from her sisters, she parked the Land Rover by the barn and all but skipped down the path to the studio.

  “You look happy today,” Kate said as Mandy came into earshot. “Driving the Lemon-Mobile agrees with you.”

  “Just tease me all you want to, Katie Lockwood,” Mandy said, plopping down in one of the empty chairs. “I am having a wonderful day, so anything you say is just gonna roll off me like water on a duck’s back. Can I have some of that lemonade?”

  “Sure,” Jenny said, “let me just get another glass.” When she returned, she poured Mandy her drink and asked curiously, “Any particular reason this day is so wonderful? Jolene have some hot gossip to share or something?”

  Mandy started to speak, clamped her mouth shut, grinned, and just in general looked like she was about to explode from the effort of keeping a secret.

  “Oh Lord,” Jenny said, looking over at Kate, “are you seeing what I’m seeing?”

  “I am,” Kate said. “This is why our baby sister can’t play poker. That face says she knows something she’s not supposed to tell us and she’s busting to get it out.”

  “I am not,” Mandy said stoutly, shaking her head. “Nothing can get me to talk. You all will just have to wait.”

  “I’ve heard that line before,” Jenny said. “You have never in your whole life been able to keep one thing from me and Katie. Not since the day you learned to talk, so you might as well just spill it. Kate, give her the look.”

  Kate turned toward Mandy and regarded her silently without blinking. After a few seconds Mandy started to wriggle in her chair. Then she started to giggle. Finally she exclaimed, all in a rush, “Stop looking at me, Katie! Joe has to be the first one to hear.”

  Kate frowned. “Joe has to be the first to hear . . ..” She stopped and looked more closely at Mandy, narrowing her eyes. “Are you?” she asked.

  Mandy blushed and looked down at her lap.

  “Is she what?” Jenny said.

  “Think about it,” Kate said, grinning.

  Jenny’s brow furrowed and then her jaw dropped. “On your honeymoon?” she exclaimed. “You managed to go and get pregnant on your honeymoon?”

  A happy laugh bubbled up out of Mandy. She nodded and then said seriously, “But remember, I didn’t tell you. You guessed. That means Joe is still going to be the first one to officially hear it straight from me.”

  Kate snorted at Mandy’s convoluted reasoning. “Dear God, like he’s gonna care about one single detail after you use the word ‘baby?’” she said. “That man will be handing out cigars to everything that moves in six counties he’s gonna be so happy.”

  Then she leaned forward and drew Mandy into the circle of her good arm. “Come here, you,” Kate said.

  Mandy threw her arms around Kate’s neck, squeezed hard, and then turned her loose to pivot and all but tackle Jenny, who caught them both before they went down. “Easy, Little Mama,” Jenny laughed. “Don’t damage Aunt Jenny.”

  “Oh my God!” Mandy squealed. “You are going to be Aunt Jenny and you’re going to be Aunt Katie. My baby is going to have the coolest two aunts in the whole world. And think how much fun she . . . uh he . . . it . . . will have with Uncle Josh and Uncle . . . uh, with Jake.”

  “Actually,” Kate said, her eyes twinkling, “the Uncle Jake part is not completely out of the realm of possibility.”

  “What??!!!” Mandy exclaimed. “This day just gets better and better! Tell me everything!”

  Kate colored and looked at Jenny. “Get me out of this,” she pleaded.

  “You’re the one who started it,” Jenny said. “That’s what happens when you kiss a man.”

  Mandy let out a squeal. “Finally! Did he kiss you? Did you kiss him? What did he say? What kind of kiss was it? Talk!”

  “Uh, we kind of met in the middle?” Kate said. “There was mutual participation and since I’d just told him he was being an idiot and to knock it off he said, ‘yes ma’am.’”

  “And?” Mandy prodded.

  “And what?” Kate asked.

  “What happened next?” Mandy said.

  “We rode back down out of Baxter’s Draw and started working on the puzzle to open the trapdoor,” Kate said.

  Mandy’s eyes widened. “And you haven’t kissed him again since then? Oh my God. Katie. Really? What are we going to do with you?”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Kate grumbled. “Besides, with everything happening up at the cave and getting the stock sold off this place, and now all these security people underfoot, we’ve all been too busy for that kind of folderol.”

  Jenny raised her eyebrows. “Did you just say folderol?”

  “It’s a perfectly good word,” Kate said.

  “For a woman in the 19th century who spends too much time in her attic, wears
those little gloves without fingers, and has an unnatural obsession with Dickens,” Jenny countered.

  Kate fixed Jenny with the “look” only to be rewarded with a finger wagged in her face. “Oh, no, you don’t,” Jenny said. “That doesn’t work on me. It never did. I don’t care how busy you’ve been. The two of you have to eat. Either cook for the man or get him to purchase food for you in a public place. That is something called a ‘date.’ Dickens would have referred to it as a ‘social engagement’ in case you’re confused.”

  “Very funny,” Kate groused. “I think I’m perfectly capable of handling a man on my own.”

  “You’re perfectly capable of handling a horse on your own,” Jenny said. “You don’t have the faintest idea what to do with a man.”

  “This conversation is about our sister having a baby,” Kate pointed out, “not about me and Jake. Let’s get back on topic here.”

  “Oh,” Mandy said earnestly, “I’m very good at multi-tasking.”

  At that, both Kate and Jenny burst out laughing. “What?” Mandy asked. “Did I say something funny?”

  “No, honey,” Kate said, wiping her eyes. “Not at all. When is this baby due, anyway?”

  “Around the first of June,” Mandy said, with shining eyes. “I have so much to do between now and then. The nursery just has to be perfect, and I get to buy all those cute little baby clothes. This is going to be so much fun!”

  “June is good timing,” Kate said. “You’ll get it delivered before the worst of the summer heat.”

  Jenny rolled her eyes. “God, you think like a rancher, Kate Lockwood.”

  “I am a rancher,” Kate said. “One who is quietly going out of the business, but a rancher all the same. Which reminds me, I need to get out to the stockyards and pick up a check from Willard Morris for those goats we sold last week. You all need anything from town?”

  “No,” Mandy said. “I got all the stuff to make a nice dinner for Joe. I’m going to go home and get everything ready while I wait for him to get in from work. I even got a bottle of champagne. That won’t hurt anything, will it?” she added anxiously.