by Regina Scott
“Frisco and Sutter are strong and smart,” Levi murmured. “They might even be able to escape their kidnappers. Mica depends on you.”
“All right,” Callie said, voice laced with reluctance. “I’ll stay. But I’m going to look through Adam’s things again, just in case there’s something about a new claim.”
Levi nodded. “I’ll ask Beth to stay with you.”
Callie raised her chin. “Good. Between the two of us, no one will touch Mica.”
So brave, so determined. How could he not love this woman? Levi bent, pressed a kiss against her forehead. He wanted to gather her close again, keep her safe. But Frisco and Sutter needed him more. He grabbed his coat and gloves, opened the door and dashed out into the cold.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Callie wanted to run to the window, press her nose against the glass, watch Levi until she couldn’t see him anymore. But the snow was too high. For the first time, she felt trapped.
She made herself turn and smile at Mica, who babbled her delight at the attention.
“Let’s see what your pa left you,” Callie said, heading for the bedroom.
She had Adam’s meager possessions spread out on the table when Beth arrived. Hanging her coat on the hook by the door, Levi’s sister propped a rifle beside the table next to where Callie had set hers, in easy reach.
“I am so sorry,” she told Callie, midnight blue eyes troubled. “But Levi and the others will find Frisco and Sutter. We don’t let anyone hurt family.”
Family. Callie felt the same way about the Wallins. Funny how that had changed over Christmas.
“Thank you,” she told Beth. “Will you help me with Adam’s things? The kidnappers seem to think he found gold. I doubt it, but if he did there might be a sign of it in his belongings.”
Beth set to work with a will. They went through every pocket, opened every flask and canister. Callie felt along seams for secret compartments.
“A nickel and a button,” Beth said with a shake of her head, eying their plunder. “It doesn’t look as if your brother was ready to come back wealthy.”
Callie sighed. “I could have told the kidnappers that. When Adam had money, he found a way to send it home.” She picked up the note Frisco had read to her, smoothed out the wrinkles her little brother’s hand had made. “He might even have written to tell us. There’s nothing about it on this note, and these were his last words.”
Beth came around the table and laid a hand on Callie’s shoulder as if in support.
Callie blinked, reading the words herself for the first time.
I think I’m done for.
Don’t worry. I asked Levi Wallin to take care of you.
Levi had fulfilled Adam’s request and more. He’d given her a home, made her part of his family, reawakened her faith. Adam might not have realized it, but he’d made his siblings and daughter rich indeed.
She smoothed the paper further. She’d keep this for Mica to read when she was old enough. She could imagine the girl sounding out the words, realizing how much her father had loved her.
Why wouldn’t those wrinkles even out?
With a frown, she lay down the letter, pressed it flat to the table, peered closer.
“What is it, Callie?” Beth asked, bending to look as well.
Callie focused past the letters, noticing lines, curves, the mark of an X scratched into the paper. She glanced up at Beth.
“It’s a map. Maybe Adam found something after all.”
* * *
Levi paused in the snowy wood, wiping a hand across his forehead. Harry came up beside him to do the same.
“We’ll find them,” the big logger assured him. “There’s only so many places they could be in this cold.”
Levi nodded, afraid to speak his thoughts aloud. Drew and Simon had gone north, James and John west. Dickie and Tom were searching along the lake. Levi and Harry had headed south, but so far the only trail he’d seen had been the one he and Harry were making.
The morning’s respite of sun had given way to dark clouds and a chill wind that froze the top of the snow, making their steps crunch. No animal moved among the trees. In such harsh conditions, it would be hard for two grown men to keep themselves alive and fed. Would Zachariah and Willard find it too difficult to take care of Frisco and Sutter? Would they leave the boys in the snow?
Levi shivered, and it had nothing to do with the chill.
Harry drew a flask from inside his heavy coat. “Hot cider,” he said, handing it to Levi. “Leastwise, it was hot when Miss Beth poured it in.”
It was tepid now, despite its position near Harry’s chest, but Levi took a swig before handing it back to the logger.
Harry wiped off the neck, then took a drink himself. Pocketing the flask again, he glanced around. “What do you think? Should we try Paul’s? His barn is big enough to hide a regiment.”
Their neighbor Mr. Paul kept a herd of dairy cattle. At least the beasts’ body heat would help warm the barn.
“Let’s go.” Levi pushed off.
He and Harry slogged through the snow for hours, until he could hardly lift his feet and his toes were numb. The Paul outbuildings proved empty of human habitation, as did the sheds of the homestead beyond that. The only tracks in the woods were from animals, and they were few and far between, as if even the denizens of the forest were wise enough to stay in their homes.
Harry fell silent as they trudged back to Wallin Landing in the gathering gloom. Drew, Simon, James, John, Tom and Dickie were nearly as glum as they reported no sightings.
“It makes no sense,” John, their best tracker, insisted. “They didn’t fly away from the parsonage. They must have left some mark.”
“It’s too dark now,” Drew said. “We’ll try again in the morning.” He lay a hand on Levi’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. Tell Callie we won’t give up.”
Levi thanked them all, then left to climb the hill. Each step felt heavy, and not just because he was cold and tired.
He’d have to tell Callie he’d failed.
Callie and Beth looked up as he opened the door. They were seated on chairs, Mica playing on the rug at their feet. She gurgled a welcome and scrunched up her nose at him.
Callie came straight to his side. “What happened? Did you find anything?”
Even as she spoke, she was helping him off with his stiff coat. Beth hurried to the stove to put water on to boil.
“Nothing,” he said, sinking onto the bench by the table. He bent and fumbled with his boot laces, but they were crusted with snow, and his fingers were stiffer than his coat.
Callie crouched beside him, skirts pooling on the floor. “You’re nearly frozen clean through. Let me help.”
He didn’t have the strength to protest. She worked at the laces, then pulled off his boots. When she started on the socks, Levi put out a hand.
“I can do this,” he murmured.
She glanced up at him. “So can I, but very well.” She rose. “It’s all right, Levi. You might not have found the twins yet, but Beth and I discovered something.”
“A treasure map,” Beth agreed.
Levi paused in the act of rolling the sodden wool off his feet. “A treasure map?”
Callie nodded. “Adam left it. He scratched a map on the letter he sent home. That’s what Zachariah and Willard must have been looking for. That’s what we can trade for Frisco and Sutter.”
Callie brought him the letter, angling it to the lamp. The lines fell in sharp relief. Levi leaned closer, pulse quickening. “He had to have found gold, perhaps a sizeable strike.” His gaze roamed the paper, trying to align the markings to any place he had traveled. What he and Scout would have given for such an opportunity. Small wonder the kidnappers had been ready to take Frisco and Sutter. The first
strike in a new area could be the making of any man smart enough to take advantage of it.
He glanced up to find Callie watching him. She must have seen something in his eyes, for she shook her head.
Levi reached out and took her hand. “Don’t worry, Callie. I’m in no danger of succumbing to gold fever again.”
She cocked her head. “You sure?”
“Positive,” Levi said, without so much as a twinge of regret. He reached out his other hand and caressed her cheek. “You are more precious to me than gold. I’m not going anywhere.”
Her face cleared, her lower lip trembled, and he leaned in to kiss her. He barely noticed Mica crowing in delight or Beth tiptoeing past to see to her.
In the end, it was a sound of the door opening that made him raise his head. Callie’s cheeks were rosy, her eyes shining and he was fairly sure he was smiling in just such a daze.
Almost as dazed as Beth as Frisco and Sutter ran into the room.
Callie pulled out of Levi’s embrace to meet them halfway, hugging them close. “Are you all right? Where have you been?”
Levi snatched up the rifle and strode to the door, but a glance out into the night showed nothing but the moon glinting on the snow. Turning, he found the twins wiggling in Callie’s arms, while Beth clapped and Mica squealed.
“We’re fine,” Sutter said, breaking free.
“We escaped,” Frisco bragged, right behind him.
Levi shut the door before they could dash out, feeling as if the room was starting to spin. “What happened? Did Zachariah and Willard actually kidnap you, or was this all a game?”
Frisco and Sutter shook their heads, turning solemn.
“We found them in the house when we came back from church,” Frisco explained.
“Looking under and inside everything,” Sutter added.
Frisco rubbed his hand along his pants. “They said they needed to find something. And they said you were a bad man, Uncle Levi, trying to take what was theirs.”
Sutter hung his head. “We were still kind of mad at you, on account of what you done to poor old Scout. So we said we’d keep their secret.”
Beth perked up. “Scout?”
He would have to share the whole story with his sister. “Go on,” he told the boys.
“They said if we came with them, they’d take us panning,” Frisco obliged. “They said Adam found gold, lots of it. His pockets were full of nuggets.”
Callie met Levi’s gaze. It seemed she and Beth had been right about the treasure map.
“We said we’d go,” Frisco continued. “Only they didn’t go anywhere. They stuck us in that little room at the back of the hall, said we had to wait until you told them where to go.”
“So, when they got sleepy, we left,” Sutter said.
“The hall.” Levi met Callie’s gaze.
“Of course!” she said. “There’d have been enough warmth from the dance, not to mention the food left over.”
“They’ve been under our noses this whole time!” Beth cried.
“They were taking some chance,” Callie said with a shake of her head. “What if we’d come in to clean?”
Beth’s face darkened. “Oh, wait until I get my hands on them!”
Levi set the rifle down long enough to pull on and lace his boots. “We’ll take care of this.”
Callie touched his hand and nodded. “Yes, we will.”
Levi returned her nod. They were partners, more so now than ever. “Stay here with Mica and the boys, Beth,” he ordered. “Callie and I are going to find the kidnappers.”
No one argued with him as he and Callie headed out.
The light from the open door spilled across the snow, setting it to sparkling. The path was wide enough that Callie could walk at his side. She didn’t speak, and neither did he. Instead they moved as one to the door of the hall.
Levi lifted the rifle, then nodded to the door. Callie swung it open so they could peer inside.
Anyone else glancing in would have thought the place empty. Perhaps that was what Zachariah and Willard had been counting on. The fire in the hearth had gone out. Snow had pushed in through one of the windows, leaving a melting puddle on the floor. The Christmas tree was listing in the corner, and it seemed to be missing some of the apples Beth and the logging crew had used as decorations. The tables along the far wall had been emptied of their food and stripped of their cloths, as if the dance had never been. The door to the pantry was closed, but a light glowed under it. He and Callie headed in that direction.
She paused as she reached the door as if afraid of what she might find. Keeping the rifle at the ready, he nodded encouragement. She took the latch and pushed the door open.
The tablecloths were piled up in the middle of the floor with bits of cheese, bread and apples scattered among them. Zachariah and Willard were curled up against the far wall, as if they had tried to escape from the twins. Levi nudged Zachariah with the rifle.
The prospector started, then opened his eyes, eyes that widened as he took in Levi and Callie. He elbowed Willard, who woke with a snort.
Zachariah’s smile was sickly as he sat up. “Guess you found us.”
Willard glanced around them. “Guess we lost the twins. Thank the good Lord.”
Levi kept the rifle trained on them. “I doubt God thought much of your plans for holding them for ransom.”
Zachariah ducked his head. “We didn’t think much of our plans once we had them in the room. It’s not easy taking care of them.” He rubbed his arm. “I’ve got bruises from where they hopped on me.”
“Me, too,” Willard complained. “And the noise! I thought sure they’d give us away.”
“You got what you deserved, as far as I can see,” Callie said, raising her chin. “What were you thinking to kidnap two innocent boys?”
“Innocent!” Willard sputtered. “They’re wilier than snakes!”
“They may be,” Levi put in, “but you’re the ones who committed a crime.”
“What was we to do?” Zachariah pleaded, getting his feet under him. “You wouldn’t tell us where Adam found gold.”
“We asked,” Willard reminded them.
“You danced around the question,” Levi told them, motioning with the rifle for them to stay seated. “We didn’t know about Adam’s strike until you left that note.”
“You were so greedy to be the ones to find gold you couldn’t even ask us the question straight out,” Callie said with another shake of her head.
Zachariah and Willard frowned.
“How was we to know?” Willard demanded. He tipped his chin toward Levi. “He’s a liar and a cheat. We didn’t want to give him ideas if you hadn’t let him in on the secret.”
Once he would have felt guilt at their words. Now he knew that their choices, not his, had caused their predicament. Callie had shown him that.
“I don’t care what you think of me,” he said. “You vandalized the Murphy cabin searching for the map, tore apart the church, nearly damaged my family’s Christmas and threatened to harm Frisco and Sutter.”
“It was all a bluff,” Zachariah insisted. “We wouldn’t have hurt the little fellows.”
“Much,” Willard muttered.
“You can tell that to the sheriff,” Levi said. “I doubt he’ll be as happy to make your acquaintance as the boys were.”
Zachariah struggled to his feet. “Now, see here. No call to bring in the law.”
“We’re prospectors, same as you,” Willard agreed, joining him. “You know how it is. You fell prey to gold fever, too.”
He had, and he’d done as much or more than they had. Yet he’d been truly sorry, had tried to find a way to make up for his mistakes. They didn’t even seem to understand they’d done something wrong.
“Tell you what,” he said with a smile, “you share the location of Adam’s strike, and we’ll take you with us when we head north. What do you say, preacher? You can finally have all the gold you wanted.”
Callie was watching him, and he thought she might be holding her breath.
Levi shook his head. “No deal, gents. I have everything I need right here. And there’s a deputy sheriff who’s been looking for you. I’d hate to disappoint him.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Harry, Tom and Dickie took turns watching the prospectors at the main house through the night. Beth had gone to fetch them and alert the rest of the family that Frisco and Sutter had been found unharmed. Harry was planning to ride for Seattle in the morning to locate Deputy McCormick.
While Callie was glad her brothers had bested the men, she couldn’t like their attitude about the gold. Accordingly, when Beth left, she seated the twins at the table.
“Why do you want to pan?” she demanded. “And don’t look at each other. Look at me.”
Both her brothers squirmed. Levi, who was standing beside her, put his hand on her shoulder in support. She knew she could count on him. That was by far the best thing to come out of the night. Finally, someone who wanted to be with her more than gold.
“Adam said he was the man of the family,” Frisco answered. “With him gone, I’m the man now.”
“So am I,” Sutter protested.
“Only the oldest is the man,” Frisco told him, “and I’m two minutes older than you. Callie said so.”
Sutter pouted.
“Go on,” Callie told Frisco.
“As head of the family,” he said, chin coming up, “it’s my job to take care of the rest of you. I can’t stake a claim to farm until I’m one-and-twenty. Mrs. Wallin said I can’t work for pay until I’m ten. What else can I do but pan?”
Callie sagged. “Oh, Frisco. You don’t have to take care of us. That was my job until Levi came for us.”