Freedom's Treasure (15 page)

Hunter shot a look at his renter but agreed. If he had his way he already knew she wouldn’t be living here permanently. He had a special place in his own home picked out for her. He figured it would just be a matter of time and consideration and, well, hard work.

After swearing Colby to a vow of secrecy - Hunter knew he’d break it within 5 minutes, if he hadn’t already - Colby headed out the door while mumbling measurements. The discovery of the floor safe was going to be huge news in a town desperately in need of some.

Hunter turned back to Anna. “What do you need from upstairs?”

Anna sighed but accepted her fate. It wasn’t like she could hobble out into nature’s restroom. “If you’d be so kind as to grab a few pairs of shorts and a couple of tops, I’d appreciate it. It doesn’t matter which ones, I bought everything to be mix and match.”

“You’ve got to love a woman who keeps things simple,” Hunter went up the stairs with a grace Anna could only dream of having at the moment. The boot on her foot was thankfully temporary and the sprain wouldn’t take long to heal but it was darned inconvenient.

“It’s too bad there wasn’t anything but dust left in the safe,” she called out. She could hear drawers being opened and closed upstairs and realized Hunter was going through her things. She kept her underwear in some of those drawers. She blushed and was glad he wasn’t there to see it. Then again, it’s not like he hadn’t seen, and removed, some of that underwear already. Forced intimacy, she reflected, is yet another thing to blame on her injured ankle.

“It’s still some pretty old dust,” Hunter answered. He had used the smaller suitcase, Anna saw, the one perfect for a short stay in the summer.

“Very true,” Anna acknowledged. “No one pays for dust, though.”

“Is that your concern, Anna? To sell what you find of the treasure?” He helped her from her chair and guided her to the truck.

“I have no interest in profiting except from writing a story about it. It’s just that dust and dirt really don’t have much historical significance,” she added.

Hunter drove through town, waving at pedestrians and fellow drivers. “Maybe that just depends on the dirt,” he commented. He turned onto his road, another narrow gravel drive with excessive bumps, and was glad they’d stopped to pick up Anna’s pain medicine. The jostling in his truck kept causing her to grimace.

“I haven’t seen your house yet. I’m curious to see where you live,” Anna watched the scenery as they slowly went down the road. He was being careful because of her ankle or because of the paint job on his new truck, she wasn’t sure which, but she was grateful. “I still don’t know how you talked me into staying at your place instead of a hotel.”

“It’s my easy charm and wit,” he told her with a wink. “Besides, Elisa would have my head if I let you stay at a hotel. She believes in having friends and family around when you’re recuperating and I’m definitely a friend.” He exaggeratedly leered at her and Anna laughed.

“You have a point.”

Hunter turned down a long driveway. After going through several curves Hunter’s house came into view.

“You live in a fairy tale cottage!” she squealed.

“A fairy tale cottage,” Hunter repeated neutrally.

His home
sat on a small rise and the deeply green lawn sloped to meet a grove of trees. There were colorful flowers she couldn’t name planted around the door and an arbor with climbing ivy over a dirt walk. A wooden bridge leading to a path that cut through the woods had been built over the small stream burbling next to a garden filled with more flowers and vegetables. A swing just meant for watching the sunset sat on a deck and, if Anna wasn’t mistaken, he had a hot tub around the corner. Anna expected a modern day Snow White to come out the door singing any minute.

“When do the dwarves get home from work?” she couldn’t help herself, it was a joke destined to be made.

“Ha ha. Like I haven’t heard that one before,” Hunter felt the flush start at his neckline. “Look over by the shed.”

“Oh my!” Anna’s laughter pealed. Hunter had placed wood carvings of the Seven Dwarves in a line near the door of the shed, pointing toward the cottage. They appeared to be whistling.

“When the wind blows just right, yes, they do actually whistle.”

“Oh, Hunter, you’re a romantic! It’s a good thing I didn’t see this place before my A-frame, I would have tried to buy it out from under you,” Anna twisted in her seat. “Does Bambi come to drink out of the stream?”

“No, but I think I’ve seen his dad a few times. There’s a 12 point buck in these woods somewhere. Lots of legends surrounding that old man let me tell you,” Hunter grabbed Anna’s suitcase and laptop and waited patiently for her to exit the truck. “When you’re up to it I’ll take you for a walk to my favorite places.”

Anna sighed. “It’s beautiful. Thank you for sharing it with me.”

The décor inside was much closer to what Anna had been expecting. The walls were done in neutral tones with random splashes of color coming from framed pictures of family and what appeared to be local artwork. The furniture was huge, overstuffed, and Anna knew she could sink into that easy chair in the living room and read for hours.

Hunter detoured to the bedroom to drop off her case and through the doorway Anna saw the largest bed she’d ever seen in her life. Three people could sleep in there and still not touch. Anna eased her way to the chair she’d been eyeing in the living room and plopped down. The crutches made her sweat and it wasn’t a sensation she was enjoying. It wasn’t the sweat of hard work or a hot summer’s day, just a nasty feeling. She craved a shower.

Hunter flipped a switch and cool air began swirling around her. Anna’s mood improved a hundredfold. “We missed lunch, would you like a sandwich? We can figure out dinner later,” Hunter called from the kitchen.

“That sounds good,” Anna answered, distracted. Her eyelids felt heavy and her head was doing that weird swirl thing again. She’d just lay her head back for a few minutes, she thought, and then all would be right with the world again.

She woke to the clank of dishes as Hunter brought a tray in. “Holy cow,” she said, her eyes goggling at the tray.

“Not cow, turkey with some spinach, tomatoes, Swiss cheese and my special sauce on Focaccia bread with a side order of fries and potato salad,” Hunter pointed out each item as he set the tray on a stand conveniently located next to her chair. “I wasn’t sure what you wanted to drink so I went with lemonade.”

“Always a safe bet. Do you have a personal chef in the kitchen I didn’t see?” she caught herself drooling and vowed she would not pig out in front of him.

Hunter laughed. “I bought a panini press a couple of months ago and I’ve been experimenting.”

“If it tastes as good as it looks I’d say you mastered it,” she nibbled on a fry and her stomach gave a tremendous growl. “And your timing couldn’t be better,” she added with no look of apology.

“So I see. I have to step out and go check on the worker bees. Can I get you anything else before I go? Wi-fi password is written down on a sticky note on your laptop and the TV remote is right next to you along with your phone and charger,” Hunter shifted a few things around on the side table to provide easier access.

“What about Samuel’s journal?”

“Ah,” he nodded, “that’s right here, too. The sack is in the kitchen. I’m taking the coin with me to show Elisa. I can bring the bag in if you’d like.” Anna shook her head as her mouth was full of sandwich. “Okay then, I’ll see you when I get back. Feel free to snoop around. I don’t have anything interesting, I’m afraid, but you never know, I guess.”

Anna grinned. “Thank you. This sandwich is great! I’ll have to get the recipe for your secret sauce.”

“Say the word and you can have my sauce anytime you want it,” Hunter gave an exaggeratedly salacious wink.

“That’s just gross, Hunter,” and she laughed. “I still don’t see why I couldn’t have driven myself,” Anna hated the idea of not having her own vehicle handy in case of, well, anything.

“How exactly would you have hit the gas? If I’m not mistaken that’s your right foot in that ugly boot.”

Anna sighed. “My left foot works just fine but I see your point. And my boot’s not ugly!” She barely kept a straight face with the line and, before she knew it, Hunter was out the door and down the driveway.

After eating her fill and perhaps a few bites more, Anna
hopped into the bathroom. She wouldn’t be using those crutches any more than necessary, she decided. She stared at her reflection and winced. Her hair was standing out in every direction and that looked like a long streak of dust across her chin and cheek. She couldn’t believe she’d eaten anything before washing up.

Eyeing Hunter’s shower she decided a bath was her best bet and she quickly filled the giant tub and removed the boot. Sinking in she turned on the jets and let the water ease her troubles away.

After she dried off and dressed in blessedly clean clothes she went to the kitchen and saw the burlap sack sitting on the table. She eased it open and removed the loose papers. The currency she set aside with a mental note to do some online research later.

The coin had felt heavy in her hand when she’d looked it over. A silver half dollar that was as shiny as the day it had been minted. It was a fantastic discovery and she decided she’d be donating the diary and money to the Historical Society. As soon as she was finished with it, she thought.

One of the larger papers caught her eye and she slid it closer. It appeared to have been folded many times over and the paper was brittle. Anna started unfolding it and breathed a sigh of relief when it didn’t tear apart in her slightly shaky hands. The thrill of discovery was getting her adrenaline flowing and she had to remind herself that slow and steady truly did win the race.

She smoothed it out across the table. The edges were ragged and the ink was faded but she could see it was a drawing with some jottings on the sides. She turned on the bright overhead light and examined it closely. The drawing appeared to be of the cabin and she decided it had to be Samuel’s blueprints for the A-frame. It was a simple design that had been drawn with an elegant hand and Anna wished, not for the first time, that she could have met Samuel Belvette.

Leaving the large page unfolded she pushed it gently across the table and picked up another sheet of paper that appeared to be folded over several times. Her curiosity was mounting as this piece of paper had the earmarks of being opened and re-folded repeatedly. There were smudges from fingers running up and down the creases and small tears had begun to form.

“Hmm,” her curiosity was nearly overwhelming and Anna opened the page. She shot out of her chair and gave a fast fist pump. Anna hopped as fast as she could to the living room, grabbed her phone and immediately called Hunter. She ended the call before it could connect, however, and chastised herself.

Hunter didn’t need to know every little thing the second it happened, she thought. He has a life outside of her and it would be better to let him take care of whatever it was that needed taking care of beside her. Instead she called Stephan and settled in for a long chat about the goings on in the backwoods.

After looking at the schedule
Hunter drove by the Marsten house and checked in with the boys who were mowing and weeding and planting the flats of flowers the Missus had picked up on her last trek into town. This was the third trip to the greenhouse that he knew of and the woman kept changing her mind about where each precious flower should be planted.

He huddled with the teenage boys and gave them a quick pep talk laced heavily with a morale boost and pleas for patience with the frazzled woman. It couldn’t be easy having three children, all under the age of 5, constantly underfoot, he reminded them. Of course she’d take advantage of able bodied young men with what must seem to be unlimited energy to the ever exhausted woman.

Hunter negotiated a bonus with the young men and feigned reluctance when he agreed to an afternoon of laser tag and barbeque at his house at the end of the week. He didn’t want them to know it but Hunter enjoyed his every other Sunday “play dates” with them. If they knew they’d find some other way to torture him.

He then swung into the hardware store to settle up with Colby and pick out the tile for Anna’s soon to be new bathroom. He chose the beige
without
the little blue flowers, thank you very much, and they set a time to start work the next morning. The decision took far longer than necessary as Hunter tried to judge exactly how many people Colby had already told about the discovery.

He had taken it good naturedly when he’d walked in and overheard Colby whispering excitedly to Beth Snyder. When he’d heard the bell and saw it was Hunter coming in Colby had immediately leaned back to his side of the counter and blushed. Beth tried to probe for more details and Hunter tried to distract her with questions about Evan’s recovery.

“Oh, he’ll be just fine. And let that be a lesson to those boys. They should never have been out there in the first place let alone lied to their mother about it. I told Evan when he’s up and about he’s going to have to do some work for you and Anna after the scare he put into you two,” Beth told him.

“Now, that’s not necessary, Beth. I’m just glad it wasn’t worse,” Hunter attempted to pass off the event but Beth was having no part of it.

“At the least he and Jason both owe ya’ll a letter of gratitude. I’ll just bring those by to your place, shall I?”

And there it was, Hunter saw, the gleam of gossip lit Beth’s face. A lovely woman but with how often she stuck her nose into other people’s business she had better hope it didn’t get cut off. He stifled the sigh and nodded, confirming what she already knew.

“That Anna, she’s a beautiful girl even when she’s scared awake in the dead of night,” Beth eased closer and appeared to be settling in. Hunter had to end this quick.

“She is, indeed. She’s recuperating at my house while we fix up that bathroom. Speaking of which, I have a few things to do yet before-,” she interrupted him, of course.

“I sure would like to take a look at that coin.” Beth didn’t hint around, something Hunter had to admire today of all days. He didn’t want to drag this out any longer than necessary.

“We’ll have to set something up. Now, I really have to get this tile picked out and get on my way. Anna’s waiting for me,” he stepped back and angled his body away. Thankfully Beth took the hint and went on her way.

Colby had been only mildly ashamed and Hunter accepted his apology with good grace. “It happens, man, don’t worry about it,” and enough was said.

Hunter desperately wished his phone would ring. He could feel Elisa staring at him through the wall and he had an itchy feeling crawling up and down his spine. He had to admire her restraint, though. He’d been in the office for 5 minutes and she hadn’t pounced though she must have heard about the excitement at Anna’s cabin by now.

Hunter took another look at the giant clock on the wall. Elisa’s eyesight wasn’t what it used to be and he’d installed the monstrosity last month. Now it seemed to be mocking him with every tick of the second hand.
This your life click going by click second by second click what are you doing click with your life click.
At the 10 minute mark he peered through the mountain of paperwork stacked on his desk. He was sure the papers were breeding at night. There was simply no way he generated this much paperwork by selling houses and mowing lawns.