Alvarado Gold (24 page)

Even though I was tempted to tell them about Gary, I decided against it. “Guess what? Donnie had the tires on Gary’s truck fixed. I guess he’s not as bad as we made him out to be.” I jumped around on one foot to get my tennis shoe untied. “I’m going to be late. I should go.”

“I still think he’s dangerous, Addie. You guys be careful.”

“No, Mel. He’s frantic. I believe he thinks this is his last chance. His last hope. It also may be the final opportunity for us to make it as a family.
All together
.”

“Eric’s missing, Addie.”

“I know. Just look at how much the two of them are alike. They just have different motives for their actions.” I’d thought of Eric several times that weekend. I wished he could have been a part of this but it was his decision not to. He might have been able to reason with Donnie since he was the only one of us who was old enough to remember what went on that summer. We were all just kids who didn’t get the whole picture. I’d barely hung up the phone when it rang. I turned toward the bureau to answer it.

“This is the front desk. I have your brother on the line for you.”

“Eric?”

“Yeah, Addie. I decided to fly down there. Can you pick me up at ten tonight?” Eric spoke with his usually noncommittal voice. He knew I hated it when he left me to figure out what he thought.

“What made you decide to join us now? We’ve planned this all summer and your jumping in at the last minute?”

“Sarah took the girls to the city on a shopping spree for school clothes. I couldn’t think of a better place to be than with my favorite sister.”

“Clay called you, didn’t he?”

“Ah…yeah.”

Figures
. “I don’t need your help if that’s why you’re coming, Eric. If you come down here, you’ll have to be a spectator, understand?”

“Okay. Okay. Can you meet me at ten?”

“I think so. I have something to do tonight but I think we can get into Dallas for your flight.”

“What are you up to?”

“That, dear brother, is none of your business.”

Chapter Thirty-One

I had taken up forty-five minutes of the hour I’d asked Gary to give me. From the pocket of my jeans, I pulled the letter his grandfather had written. The elegant exposition poured out his feelings. Gary’s sentiment had been correct. It did pertain to us.
Would the fates spin us around, too, and set us right again?

Since I needed to change our plans to drive into Dallas, I gratefully welcomed Gary who arrived in his parent’s car and not the old truck. “My brother has decided to join us and will be arriving at the Dallas airport at ten this evening. Because of the trouble with Donnie, Clay called him. No one thinks I can handle things myself. Anyway, would you mind terribly if we change our evening to include picking him up?”

“I don’t mind at all and would like to meet your brother.” His smile reached out to lift my spirits. “I do have to ask though why do they think you can’t handle things? You seem fairly capable to me.”

“With Eric, it’s because I’m his little sister. He’s always been protective and trying to fix things in my life. I don’t know with Clay. Donnie has him and the girls shook up. They think he’s dangerous and I don’t.” I slid across the bench seat and put my head on Gary’s shoulder. “Do you have any perspective on this?”

“He’s unsettled, that’s for sure. But, you could be right. He obviously feels you’re taking something that is solely his. Why does he have that idea?”

“When my uncles looked for the gold, which, by the way, wasn’t the first time the family had tried to find it, it was never located. Uncle Clay needed to go home and Uncle Joseph felt like he relinquished his rights when he left. Joseph had words with my grandfather thinking he didn’t give him all the clues he could have and then went to my mother asking for her to give up her part in it, too. To top it off, Mom wanted Uncle Clay to tell Grandpa that Joseph was an alcoholic and he wouldn’t do it. Everyone just went their separate ways after that summer. After Uncle Joseph and Aunt Carolina died, we lost track of Donnie. He felt no one cared about him and he detests the rest of us.”

We continued to drive along CR 107. The evening’s balmy breeze brought in the sweet smells of freshly cut grass. The old brick homes graced the dark green slopes, each one more elegant than the last. Gary brought me back to the reality of why I was on this venture. “Do you know how much gold there is?”

“In his journal, Uncle Clay mentioned something about ingots and bars. I have the feeling there’s a lot of it. We found letters in my grandpa’s attic that described the cattle drive. They were bringing the gold back from the Seattle. I’m sure it’s worth more, now, since gold prices have changed significantly.”

“No wonder Donnie wants it so badly especially if he’s had nothing all his life. He figures this is his ticket out.”

“Well, we’ll find out tomorrow. Where are you taking me to dinner, anyway?”

“It’s a surprise and because we need to get to the airport, we’re going to have to make this quick. Close your eyes, we’re getting close.”

Gary pulled the car over to the side of the road. Once he shut off the engine, I opened my eyes. The sun had begun to make its slow decent below the horizon, but there would be enough natural light for the next couple of hours. I realized we were near the Barnesville Cemetery. “Why are we out here?”

“You’ll see.” He’d left the car and pulled a blanket and picnic basket from the trunk. “We have just enough time for dinner and then we’ll need to head to Dallas.”

“You think dinner in a cemetery is romantic?” Gee, did I have a thing or two to teach him.

“No, come on.” He held the barbed wire fence down so I could step through. Only small, wispy clouds covered the big Texas sky. The warm evening belied the heat of earlier in the day and held a certain spark I couldn’t quite identify.

I didn’t understand why he wanted to go out there, especially close to dark. There was an excitement in his voice but what an odd place to have a picnic. “Are we going to get shot out here on someone’s property?”

“No. The fence is just to keep out honest people. This is state property. I checked. We really aren’t supposed to be out here but I kind of got permission.”

He always had things worked out. I liked that about him. One quality we equally shared, everything planned, predictable. “You truly amaze me. How did you manage that?”

“You forget who I work for.” He slipped his arm around my waist and we walked through the prairie grasses.

“Let’s take a wide path around that cave opening.”

“Boo.” He whispered into my ear.

“If you’d been in there with us, you wouldn’t be so nonchalant.” I elbowed him. “The episode in the cave still unnerves me.”

“Okay. This is what I want you to show you.”

I could barely make out the foundation and steps of an old building. It rose behind the outcropping of rocks just out of view from the cemetery which was the reason we hadn’t seen it yesterday morning. “What was this?”

“This is the foundation of the first church of Barnesville. It was built around 1860. You’re standing on the steps.”

“You’re absolutely ingenious.” I remembered the church-mapping project he was working on for his mother. “I can’t believe you went to all this trouble.” I reached over and took his hand.

“Addie.” Gary brought my hand to his lips and kissed it. “I believe God sent you to me.”

“He’s given both of us many things but you led me back to Him. You’ve shown me so much with your gentle spirit and forgiveness.” I rested my head on his shoulder.
A time to heal.

“Did you talk to God, Addie?”

I looked at him as the sun blinked out somewhere on the distant horizon. The white tipped, green grasses swayed in a gentle breeze. My soul danced with the lightness it felt. “Yes. I did,” I said lowering my head.

He put his finger under my chin and raised my face to greet his. “How do you feel?”

“Incredible. I feel whole again, worthy.” The moon had risen but the shifting light made it difficult to see his face and I wasn’t sure if he understood the meaning of my words.

He opened the picnic basket, which held a feast I was sure his mother had prepared. Sitting on top of a checkered oilcloth was a rectangular box, covered in red silk. Gary reached down and retrieved it from the wicker container and held it in front of me. “Please, wear this.”

I felt a pang of electricity shoot through me. I was certain an engagement ring was nestled inside. Through my own stubbornness, I’d almost lost him. I’d been given a second chance and I wouldn’t let him go again. I didn’t want him to wait any longer for my answer. I pushed back the hinged lid and revealed the most exquisite antique, diamond ring I’d ever seen. White gold filigree held a European cut diamond with a sapphire baguette adorning each the side. He put the ring on my finger and it fit as if it’d been made for me.

“Where did you find this? It’s so elegant.”

“It was my grandmother’s. I asked my mother for it this morning. They knew I planned to ask you.”

The pat on the arm, the “you two be careful,” the knowing winks. They approved.

A flood of emotion filled me and stifled my desire to speak my heart to him. All I could do was nod my head, yes.

“I never thought I’d render you speechless,” he laughed as he gathered me to him and kissed me with the desire he’d kept reserved.

As he held me with my head resting on his broad chest, I dismissed any other thoughts. There were a few hurdles we’d have to cross but we’d manage. Moonlit nights, summer showers, carnations and thoughts of forever being wrapped in his arms swirled in my head. Funny what love made you think about. No maps. No gold.

“Addie?” He touched my shoulder.

“Hm?”

“I don’t want this moment to end.” He stroked my hair. “But we have about an hour before we need to leave to pick up your brother.”

Ah, yes, Eric. There he was again, interfering but I wouldn’t let him ruin this evening. There wasn’t room for Eric on the cloud nine I’d perched on.

Chapter Thirty-Two

After our quick, but romantic, picnic, we drove into Dallas. I had an idyllic sense of completeness. Gary’s pure, simple love answered my prayers. The family had begun to cement together even if I’d have to float out a few rough spots where Donnie and Eric were concerned. The last remnant of the conundrum, the gold, couldn’t yet be dealt with.

After a fifteen-minute search, we finally parked the car, and saw Eric where he waited for us in front of the Delta counter. “I was beginning to think you weren’t coming.”

“We had trouble getting parked and inside. Eric, this is Gary.” They shook hands and eyed each other.

“Isn’t this the guy you left standing on Susan’s front lawn?” Eric always said exactly what was on his mind.

“You know who he is, Eric; don’t act like you don’t.”

“Good thing I came down here, then. Isn’t it?”

“I told you I can take care of myself. If you don’t like it and don’t like the way I’m handling things, turn around and get back on the plane to California. You didn’t have any trouble doing that in June.”

Eric had been able to poke at my psyche since we were little kids. He pawned it off as wanting to help; I felt it as an intrusion.

“Okay. I don’t want to fight with you. I came down to help you out that’s all.”

There, that
help
word again. “Get the rest of your bags. We’ll wait here.” Once Eric moved out of earshot, I mumbled to Gary. “See. I told you we are quite the family.” I wanted this family to be whole again. If that were the case, I needed to find a few redeeming characteristics in my own brother.

****

When we were about five minutes out from the motel in Cleburne, I used my cell phone to call Mel and asked her to gather everyone in the lobby. After we greeted each other, we moved to a quiet corner where we filled Eric in on the predicament with Donnie.

Eric persisted, “Have you seen the other two men with him lately?”

“No. They were here when I first arrived but we haven’t seen them in the last few days. If he hired them, he either couldn’t pay them any longer or they’d found out all they could for him.”

“Do you really think he’s dangerous?” Eric looked concerned.

Mel, Susan and Clay chimed in, “Yes.”

At the same moment, I said, “No.”

“Why not, Addie?” Eric glanced over in my direction.

“Don’t start.”

“I’m not. Let’s lay this out. Give me your reasons.”

I told him my theory of Donnie being desperate and alone. “You and Clay are the only ones old enough to remember him as a kid. What was he like?”

“He was a bully and a discontent, a loner as far as I’m concerned. It was just that one summer; I can’t remember when.”

“The summer of 1984.” The cousins spoke in unison.

“That’s it, the summer all the relatives came.” Eric scratched the back of his head.

“You do remember. I’m surprised.” I never thought he paid attention to anything dealing with family. That revelation caught me off guard. “You were always off with your nose stuck in some book or tearing something apart and rebuilding it. Do you remember anything in particular that summer?”