Page 56 of Inventions of the Heart

Michelle held up a staying hand. “Just give us a few more minutes.” She asked for minutes, but she prayed for seconds at least.

“Why do you—”

Zane caught Josh under the arm and dragged him toward the short stone wall, where Jilly had started building another church after the first one had been burned down. She’d gotten it about three feet high before their mission group abandoned the settlement.

Michelle had all the time she needed. Beth Ellen and Annie sat on boulders while Caroline hunted up rocks to build with. Michelle noticed and wondered if the little girl would like to go to engineering school to develop her construction skills.

“No sign of gold. No more quartz. No soil or rock that looks like it might yield up gold should we go to digging.” Jilly crossed her arms and waited for Michelle to respond to that.

“If we cast stones about here and there, fill in holes, generally cover the digging, I don’t think anyone would come up here and recognize this as a mine.”

Jilly nodded in silence, then turned to study the ground. “It’s so rugged and broken up here, it only looks different because we know what it looked like before. Some of the rock looks freshly axed, but we can hide most of that with dirt. If we have just a bit of time, a month maybe, the grass will cover what we’ve excavated. The edges of the rocks will weather. Should we wait that long before we take the gold to town?”

“The risks of waiting are as big as the risks of acting now, I’d say. One of us will let it slip.” Michelle’s eyes went to where Josh and Zane talked. Well, Josh talked. Zane not so much. “Then the danger will come right to the ranch house.”

With a near violent shake of her head, Jilly said, “There’s never been a good solution to this. No sense driving ourselves batty trying to come up with one. Let’s get that gold out of here.”

Michelle turned to Beth Ellen. “Which bank is that cheating, lying fiancé of yours connected with?”

Beth Ellen’s eyes glinted with temper as she named a large one.

“We’ll pass over that one, then. Let’s use Wells Fargo.”

Jilly looked at the ground again as if she could see the trouble coming. Then she picked up a shovel and began scooping rubble into the hole. She’d been at it about twenty seconds when Zane and Josh came and took over.

With a smirk, Jilly handed Josh the shovel while Zane grabbed a second one.

Michelle knew Jilly enjoyed hard work. But she wasn’t opposed to letting someone else do the heavy lifting if they were available.

She and Michelle concentrated on rubbing dirt by hand over exposed rock that was obviously recently broken off by a pickax.

Annie and Beth Ellen picked up every tool and did their best to cover tracks and any other evidence that they’d spent time up here.

They headed out in the middle of the afternoon and were home in plenty of time to make supper. Michelle even helped a little.

“You know, baking is a bit like chemistry.” Jilly stirred a batter that would be a cake before long.

“It is not.” Michelle was peeling potatoes and felt no scientific wonder at the task.

“Sure it is. Adding carefully measured ingredients, flour to thicken, yeast or eggs or soda for leavening, sugar or other flavorings to turn boring flour and milk into something delicious.”

“Keep talking.” Michelle tried not to sound glum. “I’m sure this will spark my creative energy in a few seconds if you tell me about it just right.”

Jilly chuckled and continued to talk science. Michelle was left remarkably unsparked.

THEY LEFT FOR SAN FRANCISCOthe next morning before first light.

When they reached Lodi, Josh and Zane did a good job of refusing help as they loaded the overweight trunks in a baggage car, tucked well back against the wall with other trunks and crates in front of them all.

As they headed for the closest passenger car, a man shouted, “Beth Ellen!”

The whole group turned to see a man carrying a satchel rush toward them.

Beth Ellen jerked as if she’d been stabbed by a tack.

Michelle watched an incredibly handsome man, dressed in the finest clothing, a dark suit with silk-lined lapels. A vest with a row of brass buttons. A white shirt with a dark bowtie and a top hat. He wore boots that shined until they gleamed. Michelle knew a wealthy, well-dressed man when she saw one.

The man had slightly overlong dark hair and brown eyes. A nose and cheekbones that looked like they’d been carved by an Italian master artist. He swept off his top hat and clutched it to his chest. His expression was one of joy, and yet Michelle didn’t like something in his eyes.

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