Freedom's Treasure (21 page)

“Anna,” Hunter reached out for her arm, “wait.” He took a deep breath. “I really am sorry. It was inappropriate and I’ll never do it again. I have history-“

“I honestly don’t care, Hunter,” she interrupted him. “I did, a few moments ago. Now I don’t. Let go of my arm.”

Hunter dropped her arm as though it were on fire. This conversation was going in a direction he hadn’t foreseen and his stomach felt like it had been dropped from a cliff. “Anna, come with me. I’ll explain everything. I acted like an ass back there, I’m sorry. Dock brings that out in me. At least let me give you a ride back to the house. We can talk there when we’ve both calmed down.”

Anna checked her gut. She was calm, overly so. It was time to step away from Hunter and think about things. There was a question she wanted answered first. “What did you mean when you said he had a nice scope? Had being the operative word, I believe.”

Hunter checked to make sure Dock remained in the diner. He was pushing his luck if he wanted to avoid further physical conflict and he knew it. This was important to Anna, he had to forget his own feelings and concentrate on hers. He couldn’t believe he’d let himself lose sight of that fact. Now he worried it was too late.

“I went by his place before I came to pick you up. After doing some, we’ll call it research, I discovered it was Dock who had broken into the cabin. I saw enough evidence to convince me though I doubt it would stand up in court.”

Anna reeled back a step. “That was the other errand you had to run? You broke into your arch enemy’s house and decided he had destroyed my cabin?”

“It was his shed but, yes, I did,” Hunter admitted.

“And out of some petty need for revenge you broke a scope? What is a scope? Never mind. That doesn’t matter.” Anna hung her head for a moment and tried to slow her brain. This was not information she had been expecting. “Errands generally mean grocery shopping, not breaking and entering with emphasis on the breaking.”

“I’m aware of that,” Hunter couldn’t get a reading on her mood. She seemed calmer now but, as he had learned, Anna was full of surprises.

She shook her head. “I need time to think about all of this. My God, do you think things through?”

That stopped Hunter in his tracks. “Excuse me?”

“There are bound to be repercussions from your actions today. Have you ever watched a movie? This would be the part where Dock starts planning an elaborate death for you, assuming he hasn’t already. You end up bloodied and bruised somewhere and I have to swoop in at the last minute to save your ass.”

Her mind astonished him. “This isn’t a movie, Anna.”

“You’re damn straight it’s not!”

“Yoohoo! What are you two doing out here on the sidewalk?” Elisa stopped her car next to the two.

“We’re talking, Mom,” Hunter replied.

“No, we’re fighting,” Anna snarled. “Elisa, would you please be so kind as to take me to Hunter’s to retrieve my truck?”

“Of course, honey. Hunter, where are you off to?” Elisa knew they’d been fighting. The town knew. Word traveled fast. She had hurried over as soon as Becca called about the punches thrown in the diner.

“I was heading home,” he began to answer.

“But now he’s going to find something to do for the next half hour, then he can go home,” Anna finished for him. She quickly slung her purse and laptop into the backseat of Elisa’s car and eased into the front seat before Hunter could help or hinder her progress. 

He winced at what she said, gave an apologetic look to his mother and nodded his head. Now was not the time to continue this “conversation” and he had a feeling he wasn’t going to win anyway. Time to abandon the field and come back from another angle after everyone had calmed down. He couldn’t help but notice Dock smirking from the diner and felt his anger flare once more.

His heart cracked as Elisa drove Anna away from him.

Anna stared out the window and saw nothing of the passing scenery. Her thoughts were racing. She’d seen violence before, that wasn’t what
had shocked her. Perhaps it had been the casual ease Hunter had used to knock his opponent to the floor. One quick punch, turn, let’s get out of here. It didn’t feel right, it didn’t feel complete. And he was a fool if he thought she hadn’t seen him flip Dock off while they’d been arguing on the sidewalk. She added childish to his list of transgressions and recently discovered character flaws.

She heard a sound next to her and recognized Elisa clearing her throat for attention. “I’m sorry, Elisa. I didn’t mean to drag you into this.”

“Think nothing of it. It seemed like a good idea to get you two apart for a little while.” Elisa watched Anna from the corner of her eye as she took a turn. They were going the long way to Hunter’s house, she decided.

Anna blew her bangs from her eyes with a quick breath. “You could say that again.” She stopped herself before she completely unloaded on the man’s mother.

Elisa considered her words carefully before she spoke. “Dock and Hunt were best friends in childhood.”

“So I’ve been told,” Anna conceded.

“And often when a man has a friend, or enemy, from childhood being around that person tends to make them act as though they are a child again. Have you ever seen frat brothers get together at a 10 or 20 year reunion? It’s humiliating all around, if you ask me. Some women are just as bad.”

“It’s the squealers that always got on my nerves,” Anna smiled sadly. “A fist fight in the middle of a diner is a little much, don’t you think?”

Elisa tilted her head and took a quick look directly at Anna. “That may depend on the basis of said fight.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s not my place to tell you their history. Either Hunter or Dock will have to do it.”

“You’re less than helpful, Elisa,” Anna chided.

“I’m that boy’s mother. I’m not supposed to give away the family secrets until it’s too late for you to run away. Apparently that’s what you’re doing right now.”

“Excuse me?”

Elisa pulled into the long driveway and slid to a stop. “You’re running away from a fight. I thought more of you than that.”

Anna shook her head in astonishment. “I thought as a woman you’d understand.”

“I understand just fine, dear. It’s getting hard and you don’t want to deal with it. Suck it up. That’s life. Now, I hope to see you at the picnic tomorrow. I always have my blanket set up under the giant willow tree near the gazebo. You’re welcome to join me. I’ll make enough chicken and potato salad to feed an army.” Anna started to shake her head and Elisa went on before Anna could decline. “Hunter will be busy helping with the fireworks. You won’t see him until after the finale. Just think about it.”

With a slow nod and a lingering look Elisa pulled out of the drive leaving Anna to stare after her, bewildered. With a shrug she let herself into Hunter’s kitchen. Everything was as they’d left it that morning including two cereal bowls sitting cozily next to two coffee cups.

That’s what life is supposed to be like, isn’t it? Two bowls, two cups, two people?
Two people who share sections of the newspaper and can laugh together first thing in the morning?
Anna angrily wiped tears from her eyes. No one had declared the relationship over and she would fight for it.
Just not today,
she bemoaned,
it’s all been too much. The cabin, my clothes, Hunter…

Anna quickly packed the few things she’d need to stay away for two days. It turned out to be the majority of what she now owned so with a forced attitude of nonchalance she packed up the rest. She’d leave a note to let him know she still thought about him and that they’d talk soon.

She reached into her laptop case for a notebook and her hand brushed against Samuel’s journal. She pulled the tome out and trailed her fingers over the cover. She flipped several pages and thought she felt a lump near the back. She fanned the pages once more and a folded piece of paper fell out. Anna quickly unfolded the paper and began reading.

My Dearest Mary Ellen,

I hope that when this letter reaches you, it finds that you are well and in good health. I miss you every day and cannot wait until I can see your face outside of my lonesome dreams.

I have completed the cabin though not to the specifications I mentioned in my last letter. I hope that it reached you as mail service does not regularly run from this far north. It is small but the size of our love shall make it perfect. Unfortunately, the cost of goods is dear in this territory. I must save our money for your journey to the North as I am afraid you will not have the funds left after the dastardly deeds of your late husband.

It is nearing the long months of winter and I will set forth to collect you in the spring. I hope to reach you before another half year has passed. Wait for me, my love, for I shall see you soon.

If something should happen to me during my journey there are things I must tell you so that you can continue with our plans. Hide this secret away, my heart, and hold it close to warm you during these cold months when I cannot be with you. 

I have built no match to your father’s smokehouse and, instead, have selected granite the size of the smokehouse to use as our starting point.

The map you shall find with my journal, locked and hidden in the safest place that I know with but one of the many coins you sent with me. The rest are buried. Find the granite, my heart, if something happens to me, and follow your father’s lead but backwards. 

Yours for eternity,

Your servant,

Samuel

Anna’s eyes welled with tears once more as she processed the implications of the letter she now held in her hands, a letter that bore no postage.

Dock strode into the kitchen, slamming the door to ensure it latched, and quickly went to his kitchen table. He took the map he’d removed from Anna’s laptop case and laid it out across the scratched pine.

He compared the handwriting on the page to the photocopy of Samuel’s journal. It matched so that was a step in the right direction. Dock looked for any specific landmarks or markings that would at least tell him which vicinity to start looking.

His chest contracted and he flinched at the ache. That bastard Hunter still had one Hell of a punch even after all these years. Dock had been forced to ignore every instinct that had told him to slam Hunter’s head into the floor until his brains spilled across the tile. The health department might have had something to say about that. Dock would have laughed but he knew his chest would hurt and he didn’t want to be reminded, yet again, that Hunter had gotten the best of him.

Well, he’d show him, wouldn’t he? Dock had the map now, not Hunter. If that little altercation on the street was any indication, Hunter had also lost the girl. Dock figured he could take credit for that and marked it on his imaginary scoreboard. He’d scored two points for Hunter’s one.

Dock stared in frustration at the map. He didn’t have enough information. He rubbed his middle finger up and down between his eyebrows and pressed hard. He was getting so close yet the treasure was still far away. He pushed back from the table and paced while his mind raced.

Colby had spilled the beans about the journal Anna had found in her bathroom floor. Dock now needed to find a way to get it away from her. There had to be answers in that book. It was the only thing that made sense.

Dock considered his options and had a feeling he knew where this was going to end up. He went to his bedroom and pulled a picture away from the wall. He spun the dial on the wall safe and removed the metal case that was the only thing inside. He used a small key from his chain and opened the box. Inside the cut-outs lay the .45 his father had left him in his will, the only thing that man had left him. The only thing Dock had ever wanted from him.

In the shed he found the gun cleaning kit. He brought it in to the kitchen table, laid out a soft towel and went to work.

Hunter cursed as he slammed the last nail home. With luck the gutters would stay on. Receiving a maintenance phone call today had been the last thing he had wanted to deal with but he was thankful for the distraction.

What had Anna been thinking? Or had she? He’d spent a good 20 years analyzing what women wanted, how they thought, and he was as mystified today as he’d been back then. Admittedly the scene with Dock at the diner had not been one of his better moments. “Hindsight and all that,” he muttered as he climbed down the ladder.

At least he knew how to handle himself in a fight. That should count for something, right? He tossed the ladder into the back of his truck with only the barest flinch at the clang. He needed to get himself back under control.

Hunter knocked on the back door and waited for Nancy to open it. Dock’s soon to be ex-wife looked better now than she had three months ago when she’d come to him for a place to stay. She definitely looked better without bruises, Hunter thought.

“Thanks for coming, Hunter. After that last storm I thought one of those was going to come right through the window.” The slim blonde held two glasses of lemonade and she offered one to Hunter. She wore worry in her eyes.

“It’s no problem. How’s everything going for you?”

Nancy led the way into the living room and perched on the edge of a chair angled away from the television. Hunter noted it faced the door and wondered how many nights she sat there waiting for Dock to burst through and finish what he’d started.

“It’s going better. My father’s finally started listening on the extension when I call Mother,” her soft accent was whipped butter across his ears.

Hunter tried to look encouraging. “Everyone makes mistakes,
Nancy. They’ll forgive you eventually. Is everyone in town treating you okay?”

“When they aren’t looking at me with pity, yes. I’ll never understand how I never saw that side of Dock.”

“He’s good at hiding things for a while. The truth usually comes out though.”

Nancy snorted. “Ain’t that the truth? I heard you had some trouble with your lady today. Want to talk about it?”

“Not if this is only lemonade.”

“Poor Hunter. Would you like something stronger?”

“That’s probably a bad idea,” Hunter considered. “But I sure could use something.”

“I’ll be right back.” Nancy disappeared into the kitchen and came back with two short tumblers filled with an amber liquid.

Hunter’s eyes widened at the first draught. He choked back the sputter. “Yeah, that’ll do the trick.”

“So what happened with Anna?”

Hunter slouched into the couch. “What do you think?”

“Dock again?”

“Yeah,” he huffed.

“You know better than to let him get to you. We’ve been down this road before.” Nancy rubbed at her cheek, remembering the heat that had lived under her skin after Dock had slapped her.

Hunter unconsciously rubbed his ribs. They’d been bruised and he could have easily cracked them in that last fight with Dock. “I ended this one quickly,” he told her.

“You shouldn’t be fighting him at all. It’s time to let the past die, Hunter,” Nancy gave him a sharp look.

“You know I can’t do that.”

“Then God help you because I sure as Hell won’t. You can let yourself out.” Nancy strode to the bedroom and shut the door. Hunter sat there for a moment, mystified. How did he manage to anger every woman he was near today?

He left without another word and made a beeline for the nearest liquor store. It was going to be a long night and he wanted company that didn’t talk back. His good friend Johnny Walker might have a few suggestions.