She fought the flood of disappointment that flowed through her. “Don’t be silly. Get yourself to bed. Can I make some tea for you?”
“No, no, thanks. I’m sure it’s nothing serious, but you don’t need to be catching it.”
She gave a wan smile. “I’ll check on you tomorrow, then. Take care of yourself and get plenty of rest.”
Mara nodded and shut the door, and Emily and Adam returned to the horse. Adam whined about not getting to stay until Emily felt impatient with him. What was she going to do? She needed only one more day to unearth the gold, and it would be over. And the timing couldn’t be better. Tonight her husband was going to tell her he loved her, she was sure of it. How wonderful it would be to have this mess cleared up beforehand. And there was Nana too. She didn’t want her staying in that asylum one day more than she had to. She had to unearth that chest today.
She helped Adam mount the horse, then mounted behind him. Was there anyone else who could watch Adam today? Her mind sifted through the town residents, and she tried to imagine herself asking each of them for the favor. Slowly she eliminated everyone she knew. What reason could she possibly give?
Perhaps. . .
No, you promised you wouldn’t.
Still the thought formed fully in her mind. Maybe she could take Adam just this once. After all, the chest was buried only feet from the cave entrance. He could play outside, by the mouth of the cave where she could hear him. Why, he wouldn’t even have to set foot inside.
She nudged the horse, a tentative smile forming on her face. “Adam, how would you like to go on an adventure today?”
Sixteen
Emily scooped another shovelful of dirt and tossed it in the growing pile. Even in the shade of the cave, her skin dripped with sweat. She stopped, letting herself rest against the shovel’s handle, and caught her breath. Excitement raced through her veins until she trembled with it. She could see the chest now and had dug until the rounded top was exposed.
The trunk appeared to be wooden and about three feet long, smaller than she had imagined. The color was a rich brown, though since it was dirt-stained, there was no telling its original color.
She picked up the shovel and began digging again. Outside, she could hear Adam talking to himself as he played in the grass under a tall tree with his soldiers. She couldn’t believe how perfectly everything was working out. Even with Mara sick, with the digging site so close to the cave entrance, it was easy enough to listen for him.
She dug deeply on the side of the chest and saw the dark metal loops attached to the side. Her heart thumped heavily in her chest, both from exertion and anticipation.
“Whatcha doing?” Adam’s voice came from inside the doorway of the cave.
“Adam, you’re not to be in here.”
“Why does that tree have arms?”
“What? What are you talking about?”
He pointed out toward the spot he’d been playing in. “It goes like this.” He forked his hands showing her how the tree was one trunk that split into two.
She had to get him out of here. “It’s called a schoolmarm tree, Honey. It just grows that way. Now, you need to go back outside.”
“Did you find treasure?” he asked.
For a moment a dash of anxiety prickled her skin, then she remembered all the times she’d buried his marbles and knew the child couldn’t know the truth.
She stepped around the hole, not wanting him to see there really was something under the dirt. Something very big and valuable. She mustn’t let him see it or he would say something to his pa for sure. She wondered idly how she would get the chest out of the cave and to her uncle.
“Let’s go back outside,” she said, ushering the boy through the little opening. “I shouldn’t be much longer, then we’ll go home and have supper.”
“Can we have corn cake?”
“We’ll see.” Emily slipped through the doorway and resumed her digging. She would have to leave the chest here and come back for it when Adam wasn’t with her. And how would she get it to her uncle? How did one go about shipping a chest full of stolen gold coins? Perhaps she should wire her uncle and have him come get it. Yes, that would be the safe thing to do. But first, she would insist he take Nana out of the asylum. He could bring her with him when he came for the gold. She wouldn’t give him his precious loot until he brought Nana safe and sound.
She moved to the front of the chest and began digging. Her mind wandered back to this morning when Cade had embraced her. Shivers ran up her arms even as heat curled in her belly. What had he been about to say when Adam had come downstairs? It was torture having to wait an entire day to hear his words, but the promise in his eyes left little doubt that he’d fallen in love with her.
Her heart skittered faster, and a smile tilted her lips. Would tonight be their first night together as man and wife? She could hardly believe it was happening, and yet she’d seen the love shining in Cade’s eyes. Why, she might yet get to experience the feeling of a child growing within her. Cade’s child.
Her stomach clenched at the thought. A baby brother or sister for Adam would be just the thing.
“I’m bored.” Adam’s whine from the cave’s entrance scared her.
“Adam. You’re supposed to be playing outside.”
“I wanna come in here with you.”
When he approached, she stepped in front of the hole. She had to keep him occupied safely, outside the cavern, if she ever wanted to get this gold dug up. “Would you like me to bury some marbles for you?”
“In here?” He dug the marbles from his pocket.
“No, Adam, your pa said—”
Adam threw down his marbles and stomped a dirty boot. “I wanna stay in here with you, Ma.” His tears welled up; she could see them even in the dim light of the cave. “Please. . .”
Emily sighed and looked over her shoulder at the chest, still half covered with dirt. Well, she knew there were no wild animals in the cave, and that had been Cade’s biggest concern. Besides, it wouldn’t take long at all to finish.
“All right. But just this once.”
Adam clapped his hands and bounced on his feet.
“But you have to stay over there near the entrance.” She wanted to add that he couldn’t tell his pa but couldn’t bring herself to do it. Lying herself was bad enough; she wouldn’t teach Adam to do it too.
She walked over with her shovel and began digging. “Turn around, so you can’t peek.”
When he did as she said, she continued digging until she had each marble hidden, then she covered the spot with the fresh dirt. “There you go. Stay over here, understand?”
“Yes Ma’am!” Adam was already on his hands and knees pawing through the dirt.
She walked back to her hole, keeping the lantern closer to Adam so he couldn’t see the chest. She worked hard, removing the packed earth from around the wooden exterior. Every few minutes, Adam would let out a squeal when he found another marble.
Soon, she had all but one corner of the chest unearthed. There seemed to be a rock or something equally hard against this side of the chest, for she made very slow progress. Finally, she began stabbing harder and harder at the dirt with her shovel blade. Sweat beaded on her forehead, and her back strained with every downward slice. She grunted under the effort, her arms aching.
Then she heard something. Something that started quietly, like the rumble of a stampede off in the distance. But it grew louder. She stopped and listened, holding her shovel still.
Gravel slid down the wall beside her as the rumble grew louder, and all of a sudden it dawned on her. The cave was going to collapse.
She threw down her shovel just as larger rocks began to fall around them. The rumble was so loud she had to shout as she ran toward Adam. “Get out!”
Adam stood, his eyes wide with fright, and his feet rooted t
o the ground. As if in slow motion, she saw a rock break loose from the wall above him.
“Moooove!” She reached out and shoved him out of the way, toward the entrance. Her feet found the hole he was digging, and she stumbled, falling just feet from the cave’s entry.
“Ma!”
Her head smacked the hard floor of the cave, and the rock that had fallen hit her calf with the force of a cannonball. She cried out, barely recognizing her own voice. The rock’s rough edges tore into her skin, the weight of it crushed her bones.
Seventeen
“Ma!” Adam knelt beside her.
“Get out,” she rasped. “Hurry!” The rumble had turned to a loud roar.
“You’re hurt!”
He tried to tug on the rock, but she knew it was too heavy for him. “Get out, Adam!” What if a rock fell on him too? She couldn’t bear the thought of her boy being hurt or worse. It was only then she realized the roaring she heard was in her head, and that the rumbling had stopped. No more rocks fell, only bits of gravel. Fear still rattled between her ears and pumped through her veins.
She wet her lips, her cheek smashed into the dirt. “Adam, listen to me.”
The boy kept trying to dislodge the rock, and each time it moved a tiny fraction, she moaned in agony. “Adam, stop!” He sat back on his haunches, then crawled up where he could see her face.
“It’s stuck, I can’t move it.” Tears streaked through the dirt on his face, and his little lips quivered.
She reached out and took his hand. The pain got the best of her, and her teeth began chattering. It was taking all her effort not to cry out. “Listen, Adam. I need your help. You have to go home. Get your pa and show him where I am, can you do that?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know how.”
“I’ll tell you how,” she said, stopping for some quick breaths. “But you must listen carefully.”
❧
Cade sat on the front porch chair, his elbows propped on his knees. Where were they? He’d been home for a long time, and the sun was finding its home on the horizon already.
He told himself she’d lost track of time. He told himself she was only running late. But a thought kept snagging him like a burr on fleece. A thought he tried to avoid until now. He recalled the words he’d spoken to Emily this morning. He’d made it clear he had something to say to her tonight. Something important.
He was going to tell her he loved her. That he wanted them to be a real family; that he wanted her to be his real wife. All day long he’d thought of little else. But the thought that had lingered in the back of his mind since he’d come home to an empty house, the thought that he’d shoved away each time, surfaced with the stubbornness of a mule.
Maybe Emily didn’t want to hear what he had to say. Maybe he’d scared her off with his promise of something important to say.
No, he wouldn’t think it, wouldn’t let the words form in his mind. Not yet. The sun still had a sliver poking up over the land. It wasn’t dark yet. There were a dozen reasons she might be late.
Cade watched the sun melt silently into the prairie grass. He watched the darkness fall over the ground like a smothering shroud; heard the crickets and cicadas start their oscillating songs.
Maybe she really didn’t have feelings for. . .
She probably went over to the Stedmans’ again today and—
Mara. If Emily weren’t over there, her friend might know where she was.
He ran to the barn and saddled up Sutter, noticing for the first time that Bitsy wasn’t in her stall. Now, worry clawed at his insides. This was just like last time when she’d taken Adam to a cave and gotten lost. At least he could scratch that worry from his list. She wouldn’t go against his decision to keep Adam away from the caves.
He swung himself up on Sutter and took off across the field toward the Stedmans’. His heart threatened to burst from his chest as he rode. He was starting to think either she or Adam had hurt themselves. She knew better than to be riding at night.
When he arrived at the Stedmans’, they were just finishing supper.
“Cade, what brings you out tonight?” Clay asked.
“Can I get you some coffee?” Mara asked. Her cheeks were too pink, and her eyes drooped tiredly.
Cade stepped through the door and shook his head no. “Have you seen Emily today, Mara?”
She looked down at the floor before meeting his gaze again. “What’s wrong, Cade?”
“She isn’t home. Wasn’t there when I got home and still isn’t. Adam’s with her. Have you seen her?”
She looked at her husband before answering. “She was by this afternoon. Around three o’clock.”
“Did she say where she was going?” Cade asked.
Her jaw went slack, and Cade thought her face grew even more red. When she wavered on her feet, her husband led her to the sofa. “She’s been sick today,” he explained to Cade. “I told her she shouldn’t be up fixing supper. You all right, Angel?” he asked his wife.
“I’m fine.” Mara settled back against the sofa and closed her eyes, rubbing her face like a tired toddler. Beth must’ve been washing the supper dishes, for he could hear the clanking in the kitchen.
“Sorry to bother you like this, but I’m worried about Emily and Adam.”
“Of course you are. I–I think I might know where they went,” Mara said. “I think they went to a cave out toward the cotton tree grove.”
Cade shook his head. “I told her not to take Adam to the caves; she wouldn’t do that.”
Mara studied her hands as they picked at the ribbon on her dress. There was only one word for the expression on her face. Guilt. Could Emily have gone against his decision? No, she wouldn’t risk Adam’s safety any more than he would.
“I was supposed to watch Adam this afternoon, but with me being sick. . .I think she went ahead anyway.”
Cade’s thoughts seemed to be flowing as slow as molasses. He couldn’t make sense of what Mara was saying. The Emily he knew wouldn’t go against him that way for no good reason.
He shook his head again. “She must’ve gone someplace else. Emily wouldn’t defy me like that.”
“Mara?” her husband asked. His gaze trained on his wife’s face, he seemed to see something Cade was missing. “What’s going on?”
Mara wet her lips, meeting her husband’s gaze, then Cade’s. “I promised I wouldn’t tell.”
At her words, hope stirred in his heart, but at the same time dread twisted his gut. “They might be in danger, Mara. I need you to tell me anything you know.”
Mara bit her lip, then met his gaze. “She’s been looking in the caves for some stolen loot that was buried there years ago by your grandfather and hers. She didn’t want to take Adam—she hasn’t since you told her not to,” she said in defense of her friend.
“Stolen loot?” Cade wondered if Mara’s fever had gone to her head. Even her husband was looking at her funny. But it was getting late, and Emily and Adam might be hurt.
She sighed, clearly reluctant to go any further. “I guess I better start at the beginning.”
Cade cut her off. “I want to hear all about this, but not right now. If you’re right about the cave, there’s no time to lose.”
Clay stood up. “I’ll go with you. You be all right, Mara?”
She nodded.
“Thanks,” Cade said to Mara.
“I’m sure they’re fine,” Mara said.
Emily and Adam would be home if they were fine.
❧
The two men rode their horses out across the Stedman property toward the cotton tree grove. There was a cave on a small cliff over there. He’d never been in it, but he feared it was the one Emily had gotten lost in before. Maybe her lantern had burnt out, and they were just lost, like before.
When they reached the cave, they d
ismounted the horses and untied the lanterns. He couldn’t see or hear anything suggesting Bitsy was tied up nearby, but he had to search the cave anyway.
“We’ll need something to mark our way; this is a deep cave with lots of tunnels,” Cade said.
“I think I have some corn kernels in my pocket,” He checked and nodded. “We can drop them as we go.”
They split up inside the cave, each with a handful of kernels and a lantern. Cade called out for Emily and Adam, but all Cade heard was his own echo and Clay’s calls. He got almost dizzy with all the turns and twists in the tunnel. In places he had to crawl. He could see footprints in the dirt, but he knew they could be weeks old. When he finally worked his way back to the entrance, Clay waited there.
“They can’t be in there,” his friend said.
Cade shook his head, knowing he was right.
“Where else?”
“There are plenty of caves.” He tried to ignore the hopeless tone in his voice. “Hard to tell which one they might have gone to.” It was pitch-black out now, and he realized he’d been gone for a couple hours. “Maybe they’re home now.”
“I can go check if you’ve a mind to keep looking.”
He nodded thoughtfully. “I’ll be at the cave by the fallen oak back by Wallen Creek,” Cade said as he mounted his horse.
“If they’re at your house, I’ll come for you. And if they’re not, I’ll come back and help you look.” Clay took off on his mare, and Cade set off for Wallen Creek.
As he rode, he called out for his wife and son. If anything had happened to them. . .
A long while later, he exited the cave. It had opened only to one small room, and there was no sign Emily had even been in this one. He waited outside the entrance, his back propped up against the rough, moss-covered stone.
God, please help them to be all right. Take care of Emily and my boy, and please help me find them.
It was torture waiting here for Clay’s return. He fought the urge to go and search other caves, but the truth was that, he wasn’t sure of their whereabouts. He’d seen other caves in passing, but this land was not as familiar as his farming acreage. How would he find them in the dark with only a lantern to guide his way? I need Your help, Father.
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