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“Christ.” Ethan was glad that they were handling things as gently as he and Shawn had been. Counting up the cash for its value had made them laugh so hard. It was Finny who pointed out that the money might say that it was worth a dollar. It was about a week’s wages for him.
There were other things that the two of them had sent off to be cleaned, like the silverware set that was buried under a tree near the orchard. The box, made of a beautiful mahogany, had been destroyed when the roots of the tree expanded, but it was its contents that they had been most impressed with.
“This has to be worth a fortune.” He’d pulled out the pictures of the things that they’d sent out. “How many place settings is there of this? It looks like six.”
“Twelve, so far. Finny said that there was a lot more of it around. When they’d be able to afford another place setting, they’d wait until they had a set of six before burying it out in the fields. He knows where they are. He had a little book of the places, but since he isn’t able to share that with Shawn, he’ll read a bit of it then come and tell us what he’s found out.” Picking up the cufflink that he’d found a few days ago, he explained that they were looking at. “This isn’t a part of the things that Finny hid but something that we found while out digging. This is from an officer in the American Civil War. Someone must have been very handy with a bone knife to have carved into it.”
A few days ago, they’d picked up a nice metal detector. When not out with Finny, he had to rest a great deal when helping them. They’d scan their yard for treasures, too. The field that was just behind their home had been the most productive for them.
“Was this buried like this?” That had been the most fun, trying to figure out why things that were vases and bowls showing up on the detector. He told Kayce about finding an ugly jug that had been filled to the top with coins and gems. “I’m thinking that I need to do some exploring around my home when it’s finished. Maybe even tonight. What else have you found?”
“Lots of tools. A gold sifter for panning for gold. We’ve found all kinds of things that had been made specifically to dig with. I’ve never enjoyed being out in the weather until we started doing this. And the things that we have that are valuable, we’ve been sending them to auction houses all over the country so that they don’t think that— You have to see this.”
Taking them out to the new barn they’d had put up, he pulled out the boxes that they’d been storing the larger things in. The horse blanket, beautifully made and persevered, was worth more than they could have imagined. Then he pulled out the saddle that they’d found with it.
“This had been in a barrel that was in the very back of the old barn. The part of it that had been the oldest. There were two other barrels there, but so far, we’ve not opened them. It’s like a guessing game for us to try and figure out what’s in the containers before we open them.” They didn’t touch the soft leather until he told them to. “We’re betting that at some point, there was a little girl that wanted to ride horses and the family purchased this for her. The only thing that Shawn can remember about a little girl horseback riding is when she was just a child, and one of the daughters of one of her uncles had died trying to jump the creek. She might well have lived if not for the fact that the water was so deep that she drowned in it.”
“Way to bring the room down, Ethan.” He kissed Shawn on the cheek when she joined them in the storage unit. “Since a lot of people came out here with nothing more than the shirts ontheir backs, we’re finding things that had been left behind when they went to search for gold. Did he show you what else we found?”
He watched his lovely mate as she opened the safe they’d had put in and handed a heavy bag to Denver. He asked if it was what he thought it was. Denver poured the contents out into his palm while waiting for an answer.
“Good Christ.” Kayce asked if they’d had it weighed as yet. “I mean, it looks to be over a couple of pounds there. Hang on while I look up how much gold is bringing in today’s market.”
While he did that, Shawn told them that they’d found it all together in one of the barn’s structural posts. It had looked like they had dug out the hole, put the gold back in it, and then covered it with the broken wood again.
“It was seamless in the way that they did it. We think that whoever put it there forgot about it. We’re not saying that the man died, though I do have some of the ghosts looking for him, but I’m thinking that’s what happened. The other things that we’re finding, once it’s out in the open, their owners come to tell us about what it was there for. The stories alone are amazing.” Denver asked him if he was writing it down. “For the most part, I’m recording their tales by pen and paper. The thing is, we didn’t know if it would record them, so I’ve been taking notes as well. Apparently, you can’t record a ghost telling you anything. But yes, I’m thinking that I need to write a book on this stuff.”
“The price of gold today, it fluctuates sometimes, but today its worth over twenty-five hundred dollars an ounce. If you have two pounds there—” Shawn told his brother how much they had. “Okay, three pounds of gold, you’re holding onto about a hundred-twenty thousand dollars in that small little bag. Good Christ, guys, no wonder people came out here to look for their fortune. Even with the price only being about nineteen dollars per pound, it was a great deal of money. That would have beenabout a thousand bucks. That would have been enough to not just buy a home but to furnish it nicely as well.”
He’d forgotten what a history buff his little brother had been. And he didn’t doubt that Kayce was correct on the prices either. Some woman was either going to find him extremely brilliant or dull as toast when she came along. He couldn’t wait to meet her.
They were still talking about the things that they’d found when deciding to go to dinner as a family. He could tell that Shawn was upset about something, but she told him not now. She didn’t want to talk about it until later. He wanted to look but didn’t. She’d tell him. And he would help her slay the dragon if she needed him.
Georgie was on the phone when she got out of the car, and she told them that her uncle was coming to town in a month. He had a feeling that she didn’t care if he came at all but for him to meet the kids. Georgie got over herself being upset before Shawn did so she helped her along with her mood. That’s what he loved about this family, the way that they had each other’s backs all the time.
As for Phillip had better be on his best behavior, or he’d be regretting his move to come out here. He was thinking that he might well anyway before he left. But Ethan knew that he’d not be able to get to the man first. There were a lot of people ahead of him on this front. But he did have first dibs on Shamus if he got out of line.
“They’ve released him.”He didn’t have to ask his brother, Colby, who he meant. He knew that it was Shamus.“The last they heard was that he was looking for his mother. I want you to know that he’ll not get by any of us if he tries anything.”
“Damn straight, he won’t. I’ll see him in hell if he tries to hurt her again.”Ethan’s phone rang just after they finished dinner. It was the first time in a week that he’d been called into the hospital. After meeting and falling in love with Shawn, he’dasked to be taken off the on-call roster so that he could get some things done around the house.
“I have to go in.” Shawn told him that she’d be just fine, that she’d walk home. “Please have one of my brothers take you home. All right? I’d feel better if you were safe.”
“You know that he’s out.” He nodded even though it wasn’t a question. “All right. I’ll have one of them take me home. And once I have the kids settled up, then I’ll wait up for you. All right?”
“Yes.” Kissing her on the mouth, he asked her to kiss the kids for him too. They’d only been at the house for a couple of days, and it felt like they’d been there forever. He especially loved having Samuel around. He was a great kid and made sure that his sisters were behaving as well.
Ethan only hoped that they’d get to keep the kids after finding out they had relatives out there. One of them had come to visit them as a ghost and had told them that they’d be better off with their momma than to stay with the aunts and uncles that were left. They apparently were only coming to take the kids for the money that the state would provide for them if they were to keep them. That alone made him wish that he’d never inquired about other family members before.
Chapter 6
Jack couldn’t have been more proud of a place than he was ofJacks Place. In trying to come up with a memorable name, it was Ethan who had told him to just make it simple. Something too complicated would keep people away because they’d think that they served food that wasn’t fit to eat. So it was now calledJacks Place,and he loved it.
“Well, what do you think of the place? Is it all you dreamed of?” He didn’t know if Bailee was kidding or not, so he didn’t answer her right away. “Come on. You have to admit that it’s far exceeded your wildest dreams in a place of your own.”
“That’s very true. However, what I’ve been trying to avoid is what I’m going to have to pay back to have the place of my dreams.” Bailee punched him in the shoulder and laughed. “I kid you not. I’m terrified to look to see what this place has cost. I mean, I know that I was able to get a lot of this stuff secondhand, but even that is a good deal more than I thought it would cost me.”
“You were able to save a lot of money by going to the restaurant auctions that got you great deals. All the plates that are here were less than fifty dollars. And that includes the price for the platters and such that you bought. Jack, you got over five hundred plates for a mere twenty-four dollars, and the trays and platters didn’t cost you even that much.” He’d even managed to get all the tables that would fit in the place, only twenty of them for less than five bucks each. They matched and had been redone not to be so lumpy too. “Have you decided about the artwork in here?”
