by Clay, Verna
Sunny laughed and motioned her friend inside. "Angelica, I'm so happy you're here. I was going to stop by the motel today." She glanced outside. "How did you get here? I don't see a car."
"My granddaughter dropped me off."
"Well, come to the kitchen so I can pour us coffee to go with those pastries."
Angelica smiled and followed Sunny inside, saying, "You're positively glowing. What's up?"
Sunny reached for mugs on her cup tree and started updating Angelica on the latest happening. Ten minutes later they were ensconced in lounge chairs on the deck and enjoying a beautiful summer day. A gentle breeze swayed the tops of tall ponderosas while birds sang a cacophony of tunes. Several hummingbirds flitted around the many feeders dangling from patio beams, and a squirrel darted along the railing.
While munching on an apple fritter, Sunny excitedly related her discovery of treasure only the day before. As she talked, Angelica's eyes widened.
Sunny said, "After we got the box back to Jason's house we carefully removed each item and laid them out on his countertop." Tears pricked her eyes when she said, "There were twelve precious stones, eighteen semiprecious ones, fifteen leather pouches filled with gold dust, and various bills and coins."
Angelica moved her hand to squeeze Sunny's and Sunny lifted tear-drenched eyes to meet her friend's. There was such compassion in Angelica's gaze that she wanted to bawl like a baby. Instead, she choked back tears. "I want to show you the treasures."
Angelica's own eyes glistened when she replied, "I'd love to see them."
Sunny excused herself and went to her bedroom to retrieve the metal box. Returning to the deck, she set the treasure on the table in front of their chairs. Goose bumps covered her arms as she lifted the lid, and her heart expanded knowing that these objects had once belonged to her family.
Angelica said in a reverent tone, "It's wonderful that these precious possessions are back in the family."
Sunny met her gaze and again felt the sting of tears when she saw the tenderness in the elderly woman's eyes. One-by-one, she lifted the precious objects from the box and handed them to Angelica, who marveled over each one. The last item was the gold nugget. Sunny held it a moment before handing it over. When she did, she saw tears shining in Angelica's eyes.
Angelica held the nugget in her palm and whispered, "So much history in this stone."
Sunny replied, "I know. I feel it too."
After the women dried their eyes and the treasures were returned to the safety of their tin box, Sunny and Angelica warmed their coffees and continued visiting on the patio.
Angelica asked, "So, what's next on your agenda?"
"I'm not sure. My manager wants me to write another song, but I'm not inspired to do so. He's not pushing, but I feel guilty for not spending more time on my music. For years it was the only life I knew and I'm reconciled to the fact that it was a factor in the breakup of my marriage, so now…" she shrugged and her voice trailed.
Softly Angelica laughed. "So now you want to relax and do nothing."
"Exactly."
Angelica's eyes twinkled.
"What are you thinking?" asked Sunny.
Angelica reached and clasped Sunny's hands. "Since you found these heirlooms, why not look for something else?"
That got Sunny's attention. "Like what?"
Angelica raised her eyebrows and waited.
Sunny said, "It's that obvious, huh?" She bit her thumbnail while her mind raced, but she couldn't think of anything.
Angelica smiled and gave a hint. "From what you've shared with me, it's mentioned often in the journals."
Sunny puffed a breath and wracked her brain. Then it hit her. She practically jumped from her chair. "Yes! The Spirit Tree!"
Angelica nodded and laughed. "It probably isn't far from the cabin."
Sunny questioned, "Why didn't I think about that before?"
"Eventually you would have. I just gave you a little prompt. So, do you think you can persuade Jason to join in the search?"
"Maybe. He was really excited about this find. If he doesn't want to join up, I'll just have to get his permission to traipse across his land."
"Are you still trying to force him out?"
Sunny cast her gaze downward. "No. But I've decided to buy as much land next to my family's homestead as I can. I want to preserve the area from development."
"Does he know that?"
"No. He thinks I'm a spoiled rich girl who buys her way into anything she wants."
Angelica laughed. "I hardly think he believes that. In fact, the last time I was with both of you, I got the distinct impression you were breaking down the barriers around his heart."
Sunny's eyes widened and she waved a dismissive hand. "Angelica, you're a romantic." She hastened to add, "But I don't fault you for that. I wish I could crumble his defenses, but circumstances have made me just as cynical as he."
Angelica said as she stood. "Perhaps you're not as cynical as you think. Perhaps your heart has other ideas. Perhaps your future is brighter than you think. Perhaps…" Her voice trailed.
Sunny grinned at her optimistic friend. "What?"
With a grin, her friend replied, "Perhaps we should continue this discussion another day. Can you drive me back to the motel? My granddaughter has her hands full today."
"I'd love to." Sunny stood and hugged Angelica. "I'm so happy we met."
Angelica hugged her back. "I wouldn't have had it any other way. I believe it was destiny, my child."
After Sunny returned from the motel she went to her office and, with notebook in hand, began rereading the journals. By evening she had jotted down every clue she could find indicating the location of the Spirit Tree.
17: Another Hunt
Nervously, Sunny lifted her hand to knock on Jason's door. She had already knocked several times. Did he suspect it was her? Was he purposefully not opening it? She heard a noise and turned around. Jason had just emerged from a stand of maple trees. He waved and called, "Hello Sunny!" He didn't appear to be irritated that she was there.
She walked across the yard to meet him. With an encompassing motion she said, "You've been busy. I like the addition to your porch. You've also been scraping the old paint off the house. What color are you going to paint it?"
"I've decided on an earth tone with white trim." They walked toward the house and he asked, "So, what brings you my way? Another offer to buy me out?"
His question hurt her feelings and she glanced sharply at him, only to see that he was smiling and joking with her. She laughed nervously because the moment had come to make her request known. "Ah, well, the reason I'm here is to ask you to go on another treasure hunt."
He stopped walking. "Did you find something else in the journals?"
"Kind of."
He chuckled, "Hmm. A 'kind-of' treasure; never searched for one of them before. Actually, I'd never searched for any treasure until you wrangled me into the last one."
Sunny grinned sheepishly. "Okay, it's not really a treasure in the strictest sense of the word. It's the Spirit Tree. Remember I told you it's where Tana made her healing elixirs."
Jason started walking again. "And you think you know where it is?"
"Not exactly. But I have an idea. It's near the creek in a place that's often awash with overflows that have exposed the roots of the tree. If you'll give me permission to follow the creek on your land, I'm sure I can locate it."
"Land markings can change drastically after more than a hundred years."
"Yes, I know. But I'd love to try and locate the tree."
Jason paused at the top of his porch steps and looked down at her. "Okay, you can search, but with one stipulation."
"What's that?"
"I come with you."
Thirty minutes later they were following the creek while Sunny related clues she'd read in the journals. "It seems that Tana would fill jars with water from a natural spring and place stones in the water. After that, she would bury the j
ars in the roots of the Spirit Tree overnight."
Jason asked, "And what was the reason for that?"
Sunny didn't immediately answer and glanced up to see him waiting for an explanation. Finally, she replied, "You're going to laugh and say it's crazy, but I'm only relating what I read."
A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, which started Sunny's heart racing. She had come to adore Jason's smiles. "Okay. This is the gist of it. According to Tana the water was special because it had to pass through many layers of rock to reach the surface, and she believed healing power passed from the rocks into the water. After the jars were filled she carried them to the Spirit Tree and dropped her own gems and stones into them. Each one had specific healing properties. For example, rose quartz was good for a broken heart and turquoise was good for not only strengthening the body, but inducing spiritual visions."
Jason arched an eyebrow but remained silent.
Sunny continued. "And it was the Spirit Tree that finished the process because…"
"Because?" he prompted.
"Because the wise old tree would add wisdom to the water."
Although Jason didn't laugh, she again saw his skepticism. She said, "Remember, you didn't think we'd find treasure at the cabin."
He grinned widely. "Guilty as charged." They had stopped beside the creek and he reached to remove a twig that had fallen into her hair. "I have to confess I think I know where the spring is and the Spirit Tree."
Sunny gasped and waited for him to explain.
He said, "I've hiked every inch of this property many times. Also, I did a lot of exploration as a child while visiting my aunt who lived nearby, until she sold her home. I remember a spring that flowed pretty well. Now…" he shrugged, "there's only a trickle; probably because of all the development over the past twenty years. As for the tree…" he gently clasped her elbow and turned her in a half circle. "That may be it." He pointed.
Sunny gasped and placed a hand over her heart. It looked exactly like the descriptions she'd read in the journals. She exclaimed, "That's it! That's it! I just know it!" and started running toward the tree.
Surrounded by a wide swath of sand, it was easy to see how overflows of the creek had eroded the ground and exposed dozens of roots. Sunny stopped within touching distance of the ancient oak and swallowed against the gigantic lump in her throat. She was staring at the Spirit Tree, the tree that had meant so much to her deceased family. After long moments, she reached out and gently laid her palms, and then her cheek, against the trunk. Jason stepped beside her and she lifted her gaze to his. There was no need for explanation or justification of her reaction. The expression in his eyes said he understood. Slowly, he reached out and caressed her hair. "If I'd known how important this was to you, I would have brought you here sooner."
She tilted her head against his palm and whispered, "Thank you." Taking a step back, she returned her attention to the tree and studied it from top to bottom. On a whim, she sat on one of the exposed roots and closed her eyes, imagining Tana and her family stowing jars deep in the roots. She opened her eyes when she heard Jason crouch beside her. Moving her gaze to the tangle of vines, roots, debris, and dirt below her feet, she had a sudden crazy notion. She glanced back at Jason.
"Sunny, what are you thinking?" he teased.
She blurted, "What if a jar was somehow left behind?"
"It's not likely…" his voice trailed when Sunny arched her eyebrows and he finished with, "but let's find out." She laughed and began examining the exposed roots. Jason reached for a nearby stick, handed it to her, and then grabbed another for himself. Gently pushing their sticks into the dirt beneath the roots, they again found themselves searching for treasure. Prodding and finding nothing, Sunny sat back down and said with disappointment, "At least we gave it a try."
"Yeah." Jason gave a half-hearted jab with his stick and then frowned. He said, "It's probably a rock." Going down on his knees he used his hands to dig away debris, then he reached deep into the moist earth.
Sunny went down beside him, her heart pounding wildly. "Do you need my help?"
"I don't think so," he said with a look of concentration. "I wish I had a trowel."
"Do you want me to run back to the house and get one?"
With his hands hidden beneath a root, he grunted as he began pulling something free. "It's trapped in there pretty tight, but…" he grunted again, "…I got it." Slowly he brought the object into the light of day.
Sunny gasped and placed her dirty hands against her cheeks. "Is it a jar?" she whispered excitedly.
Jason began wiping mud from his find. A large chunk fell away and Sunny's exclamation was no longer a whisper. She shouted, "It is! It's a jar!"
Jumping to his feet, Jason rushed to the creek and gently lowered his find into the water to rinse it off. Sunny was right behind him. In only a matter of seconds the glass was free of decades of dirt and the contents visible—crystal clear water and two stones, turquoise and rose quartz—the very stones Sunny had just described.
Reverently, Jason handed the jar to Sunny. "I can't believe it."
18: Restoration
A week after finding the jar Sunny stood before the dilapidated cabin and said to Jason, "Are you sure you want to do this?"
"Positive."
She sighed and shrugged. "Well, I'm glad you're in charge because I wouldn't know where to begin." She glanced sideways to see him grinning at her.
He lifted a large scroll of paper. "All we have to do is follow the blueprint."
"Blueprint?"
"Uh-huh. I snapped pictures of the cabin and outbuildings and took measurements last week to get a feel for the original layout. Then I created a blueprint." He stepped toward the porch. "I'll show you." Sunny held one edge of the scroll while he unrolled it and started pointing to different locations. "Here's the entrance to the property. And, as you can see, there's the cabin, barn, root cellar, outhouse, and another cabin. It doesn't appear there was any fencing around the property."
As he began rerolling the blueprint, Sunny said, "I didn't know there was another cabin."
"It's smaller than the first one, but I think it was built at a later date."
"That's interesting. It must have been built after 1886 because that's when the last journal was written and nothing was mentioned about it." Sunny changed the subject, "Thank you for doing this. I really want to pay you."
Holding up one hand, Jason replied, "I don't want payment. After all, any improvements to this land benefits the owner." He smiled and winked.
When he winked, Sunny was relieved to know he was only joking with her. She rubbed her hands together and said, "Okay, where do we begin?"
Jason asked seriously, "Are you sure you want to do manual labor? There will be a lot of grunt work."
She gave him an emphatic nod. "Are you kidding? This is a dream come true for me."
With a chuckle, he said, "First, we need to grab some work gloves. I have several pair in the back of the ATV."
While they donned leather gloves, he explained, "Right now, our main priority is to inventory what's left of the original materials to determine what can be salvaged. And that means searching through weeds and debris to see what we have. We're looking for logs, boards, and what-have-you. We'll tag them with orange flags and leave them in place until we know which part of the building they came from. The ones that can't be reused, we'll move to a discard pile, but we may need them later to take measurements or to understand the original structure." He paused and asked, "Any questions?"
"No sir, boss man. Just point me in the right direction."
He reached into the back of his ATV and grabbed a bucket of flags. "You can follow me and stick flags in the ground where I indicate."
Sunny made a saluting motion. "Aye, aye, Captain Jason."
Jason smiled sweetly and started to say something else, but stopped and suddenly glanced away. When he looked back, he said, "Follow me, Private Sunny."
Sunny's he
art warmed at the playfulness and she couldn't think of anywhere she'd rather be.
For over two weeks Sunny started each day by driving to Jason's house with pastries. He would already have the coffee brewing and sometimes she would cook a southern style breakfast. While they ate and enjoyed the morning, she would listen enraptured to his objectives for that day. Slowly, the cabin began to transform into its original structure. Daily, Sunny was amazed by Jason's expertise. When she asked him how he knew so much about restoration, he jokingly said, "The internet," but she knew he was only being modest.
Surprisingly, many of the logs had not decayed to the point of uselessness and it thrilled her to know the cabin could be rebuilt to such authenticity. To replace what couldn't be reused, Jason located the closest log home manufacturer and ordered logs cut to his specifications.
When the partially remaining kitchen wall was restored, Sunny felt the prick of tears. Beside her, Jason placed his arm around her shoulders, met her gaze, and nodded his understanding. Without considering what she was doing, she turned into his chest and laid her forehead against it. Whispering into his shirt, she said, "Thank you, so much."
He encircled her with his arms and placed his chin atop her head. For a long time they remained like that, staring at the one finished wall.
19: Attic Find
Sunny drove into the parking lot of Bell Rock Motel and went in search of Angelica. She found her dusting furniture in the office. Her friend greeted her with a warm smile and remarked, "You're looking mighty cheerful. I take it the restoration is going well."
"It is and that's why I stopped by. I want to show you something. Can you steal away for an hour or so?"
Angelica clapped her hands with delight. "I'd love to see whatever it is. Let me tell my daughter and granddaughter where I'm going." She rushed outside the office. Sunny had previously met Angelica's daughter and hoped to one day meet her granddaughter. Angelica returned and said, "I'm all yours. Let's go."
