Page 28 of The Promise
Corabeth was dead.
8
"Okay, I'm confused." Cara blew out a breath. "How can your father be the owner of an old mine in the middle of a national forest?"
Michael leaned forward, his eyes narrowed in concentration. Cara had the distinct feeling that whatever he was going to say next, she didn't want to hear. "When did you paintThe Promise, Cara?"
"A year ago or so." She tried to figure out what exactly this had to do with his father owning the mine.
"I meant what was the date?"
"I'm not sure of the day."
"The year, Cara?" His intensity was beginning to make her nervous.
"1998 or '99, I guess."
He released a deep breath, almost a sigh. "And when did you paintLovers' Reunion?"
This was getting surreal. "I told you."
"The year." He reached for her hand.
"1993. The year after you disappeared." She tried, but couldn't keep the bitterness out of her voice.
He stroked her hand lightly with his thumb. "When were you born, Cara?"
"1976, but I don't see what any of this has to do with —"
"I was born in 1860."
"Excuse me?" She tried to think, to make his words make sense. Surely, she'd misunderstood.
"My father discovered the Promise in 1880, the year after I found you in the snow."
"That's impossible." She stared at him, letting the significance of his words wash over her, thinking that any minute he'd suddenly laugh and say it a was all a joke. But he didn't. His face was deadly serious, and the look in his eyes told her that he was as overwhelmed as she.
"Two days ago I would have agreed with you, but now…" He let go of her hand, leaning back in the chair, a parade of emotions chasing across his face. "Hell, I don't know."
"But you're saying..." She broke off, unable to continue the thought. Somehow they'd gone from a miraculous reunion to an episode of the twilight zone.
"Cara, listen to me." He reached for her hand again, his eyes intense. "The truth is here somewhere. We just have to find it. Tell me what you remember about the morning after your accident."
She nodded, her trust instinctive. "I woke up in the tunnel and you were gone. I figured you'd left to find help."
"I was getting water."
She let her mind slip back to that morning in the cave. "It was cold, and my head hurt, the world was still all wobbly. But I wanted to get up. To…to find out what happened."
"Your parents."
She nodded. "They were dead. My grandfather identified the bodies, but they couldn't find me."
"The explosion killed them?"
"That—or the car wreck."
"Train car?"
