He looked at her hand for a second, then jumped off the bench and took it. “Don’t tell my dad about what we talked about. Okay?”
“My lips are sealed.” Paige said, smiling at him.
They got back to Cooper’s house late that night after a dinner with Marissa and Scott that they just couldn’t refuse. Brandon went to bed with no argument, so tired he didn’t even ask Cooper to read him a book. When he came out of Brandon’s bedroom, he found Paige in the kitchen cleaning up the dishes from their picnic that day.
“He’s out like a light.” Cooper said, coming into the kitchen through the dining room.
“That was a big day, after another big day. He’s a good kid, I had fun with him today. You should give him a job as a tour guide when you open up the town. He did a good job.” She said, smiling at the memory.
“I noticed you two deep in conversation in front of the store.” He said, coming to lean against the counter by the sink where she was washing dishes.
“Yeah, we had a nice talk.” She said, evasively.
“That’s nice, what did you talk about?” He asked.
“Oh you know stuff.” She said, then noticed the scowl on his face. “I know you want me to tell you what we talked about but I promised him I wouldn’t tell you.”
“Don’t you think you should, he’s my son?” He asked, annoyed.
Paige took a second to form a reply, “I know he’s your son, and my guess is he’ll be talking to you about it tomorrow, but I promised him and I don’t break my promises.” She gave that a second to sink in, then looked him in the eye. “Trust is one of the most important parts of a relationship.”
“Okay, okay. I get it you made a promise.” He said, pulling her into his arms. “But I’ve never known Brandon to confide in anyone but me.”
“I promise you that if it was anything that might harm him in any way I would tell you, but I think he’s just trying to work through some new feelings.” She said, laying her head on his chest.
“Did he talk about his mother?” Cooper couldn’t help but ask.
She looked up at him, “You don’t give up. Do you?”
He just shrugged his shoulders and said, “I think it’s time we talked about Amy.”
“Only if you want to. I used to think it was important, but I don’t really care all that much anymore.” She said, meaning every word of what she’d just said.
“I feel the same way, but let’s get it out in the open for Brandon’s sake if nothing else.” He said, pulling her out the front door to the bench tucked into the corner. It was dark there and if they kept their voices low, there was plenty of privacy.
She settled in his arms and waited for him to speak, “I guess it’s an old story, a woman marries a man for money then leaves, destroying what seemed to be the perfect life.”
“Amy married you for your money?” Paige said, to get him to open up a little more.
“We met in college and I was sure she was the one. She seemed so perfect, but after we were married she changed, I excused it as a normal reaction to suddenly getting everything she’d ever wanted. While she came from a wealthy family, she’d never experienced the kind of money I have.” He said, pausing to collect his thoughts.
Paige hated to interrupt, but she needed some clarification, “What kind of money do you have, I didn’t know there were different kinds?”
“Well, you know.” He said, frustrated that she didn’t seem to understand.
“No, I don’t think I do.” She said, equally frustrated.
“I’m worth billions of dollars and Amy set out to spend as much of that as she could on making herself over into what she thought was the perfect woman.” Cooper finally explained.
“Billions? You’re worth billions of dollars?” She stammered. “I knew you had money, but not that kind of money.”
Cooper looked at her shocked, not only did she not care about his money, she didn’t even know about it. “I thought you knew.” He said, a silly grin on his face.
“How would I have known? That’s not exactly my social circle.” She said, shaking her head, not sure if that was good or bad news. “That’s a lot of money for one person.”
Cooper couldn’t resist pulling her onto his lap and kissing her. “You never cease to amaze me Paige.” He said, when he’d kissed her breathless.
“What?” She asked, wondering what had brought on the sudden burst of affection.
“You don’t care. Do you?” He asked.
“Well, I guess it’s nice that you’re rich, but I really don’t care. Although it has been nice to have a big budget on this dig.” She said, shrugging her shoulders.
“Woman, I think I’m falling in love with you.” He said, giving her a smacking kiss on the lips.
Paige sucked in a breath, then said, “That’s good because I think I’m falling in love with you too.” Then gave him a smacking kiss just like the one he’d just given her.
She rested her head on his chest, listening to his heart beat, content to sit silently letting his words replay over and over in her mind. But then it occurred to her that he’d never finished his story, “Cooper, what happened to Amy?”
“She took a big payoff to give me full custody of Brandon and disappeared into Europe. I have to be honest with you, she’ll probably be back someday. Once she’s blown through the money I gave her, she’ll be back. It’s expensive to maintain the lifestyle she’s chosen.” He said, keeping it as simple as he could.
“Will you give her the money?” She asked, curious.
“Probably, it doesn’t mean that much to me and it will keep her out of my hair. At some point when Brandon’s older I might change my mind, but I’d rather keep the peace right now.” He said, hoping she’d understand.
“That makes sense to me, if you have it then give it to her and keep her happy. That’s a lot easier for Brandon right now, but someday he’ll have to know the truth about her and don’t wait too long.” She said, trying to counsel him without revealing her earlier conversation with the boy.
“You’re a smart woman Paige.” He said, standing up with her still in his arms and heading into the house. “Now let’s go to bed, I’m tired.”
Chapter 9
Paige reluctantly snuck out the next morning while both Cooper and Brandon were still asleep. She knew that it would be days, maybe longer before she and Cooper had any time alone again, but she didn’t want Brandon to catch her in Cooper’s bed. He already had ideas in his head that she just wasn’t ready to consider, although she had a feeling that Brandon might be right about Cooper’s feelings for her.
She had no doubt about her feelings for him, she thought as she stirred the fire and got a pot of coffee going. Falling in love had never been part of her plan, like everyone she’d always hoped to find that special someone, but with Justin in her life she knew that it might be a long time before that happened, but suddenly here was Cooper. And she’d fallen head over heels in love with him.
Pouring herself a cup of coffee, she settled down by the fire letting the heat soak into her bones; she was surprisingly sore this morning. Her muscles were protesting every movement she made. Cooper had taken her places she’d never knew existed last night and she was paying the price this morning. But it had been worth every twinge.
Trying to get her mind back on the dig, she got slowly to her feet and dug out her notes. It would only be a few days until she’d be able to get into the cave and she’d been trying to decipher the entry from the journal again, so anxious she felt like she had to do something. But soon the camp began to stir and the day began, and although Cooper was never far from her mind, she was able to make it through the day without being too distracted.
That night she collapsed onto her air mattress not even noticing that it was lumpy and bumpy, she’d pushed them all hard today and it had been worth it. Tomorrow they only had to remove one more tree and she’d be in the cave. She fell asleep thinking of all the wonderful things she might find
tomorrow.
But her expectations were nothing compared to what they found once the debris crew had moved the giant tree. Calvin, who had come down from the upper field for the occasion insisted that he should be the first on inside. Paige had to concede that he was right and reluctantly let him climb the ladder first while she waited anxiously at the bottom.
When he stepped into the cave, Paige heard him let out a startled exclamation, then he poked his head back out of the cave. “Cooper I think you better come up next.” He said, his face red with excitement.
Paige opened her mouth to disagree, but Cooper shot her a look so she shut it. She watched as he climbed the ladder and stepped into the cave so anxious she was hoping from foot to foot. When Cooper poked his head out and motioned for her to come up, she couldn’t quite read the look on his face, but it was clear that they’d found something up there. Heart pounding, she climbed the ladder, frustrated when she got to the top because Cooper was blocking her view.
He held out his hand and helped her off the ladder, then pulled her forward a few steps. She could see some brown shaped back in the darkness of the cave but nothing else, but then Cooper stepped out of the way. Calvin swung his flashlight to the back of the cave illuminating the narrow cave, its walls lined with piles of Indian artifacts. As her eyes adjusted to the dim light she saw baskets, pots, clothes, and even jewelry piled almost to the roof of the cave, only a small walkway between the walls.
With a strangled cry, she sunk to her knees, the tears running down her cheeks. She couldn’t help but let a sob escape her lips. Nothing could have prepared her for the sight that greeted her in the cave. Cooper knelt down on the floor of the cave next to her and wrapped his arms around her and let her cry for a few minutes. When she’d finally gotten herself under control, she looked up at Cooper and then at Calvin and laughed.
“Sorry, but I couldn’t help it… this is just too much.” She said, slowly getting to her feet with Cooper’s help.
Her legs shaky, she stepped up to the first pile of artifacts and reached out her hand, touching the basket with all the reverence it deserved. Cooper stepped up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders and gently asked, “Is this stuff worth a lot of money?”
Paige looked at him as if he’d spoken in a different language, then looked at the contents of the cave. “Probably, Cooper no one has ever found anything like this before. Artifacts of the Western Mono are few and far between, we always just assumed that there wasn’t anything left. It happened a lot with these small tribes, they were either completely wiped out or moved onto reservations and took everything with them.” Her brain was finally starting to function again.
“So then what’s this?” Calvin asked.
“I’m not sure. It could be burial goods or it could be a stash. I’ll have to look at it all.” She said, with a whoosh of breath when she thought about how long it was going to take.”
“But is it valuable?” Calvin echoed Cooper’s question, not sure if they’d gotten an answer.
“Yes, definitely. What you see might be the only cache of Western Mono artifacts ever found, so there are collectors who would pay big bucks for this stuff, including quite a few museums and universities.” She said, rubbing her hands together, the urge to start digging through the piles so great.
Cooper and Calvin exchanged a look over the top of Paige’s head. “Paige.” Cooper said, to get her attention. “We can’t leave this stuff in here. We have to get it to a safe location and the fewer people who know about it the better. Do you understand me?” He said, making sure she was listening.
She thought about what he said, and nodded. “You’re right, but this has to be done right. I can’t just start pulling things out of here. It has to be documented, photographed, and packed up piece by piece. I’ll need help too.” She said, ticking the steps off on her fingers.
“How long is all that going to take?” Cooper asked, already thinking about security until they could get it all moved.
“At least three days I would guess and that’s working practically around the clock.” She said, mentally beginning to make a list of all the things they would need.
“We’re going to need some help.” Cooper said, pulling out his phone. “Paige, you’re going to have to come up with some kind of story to keep everyone out of this cave. We need to keep this a secret as long as we can.”
Paige nodded her head and stepped to the front of the cave. She looked down to find that most of the inhabitants of the canyon had heard the news and were gathered at the bottom of the hill looking up at her expectantly. With a big smile, she waited until she had their attention.
“I’ve got good news and bad news.” She said, then paused. “The good news is that we’ve found a few artifacts in the cave. The bad news is that the cave isn’t as stable as we’d like so no one but senior staff is going to be allowed inside for now.”
The crowd cheered, then a little disappointed began to return to their duties. Paige breathed a sigh of relief, then motioned for Scott, Marissa and David to come up the ladder. Paige couldn’t help but laugh at each of their reactions as they stepped off the ladder and into the cave. David was the last one up and his reaction wasn’t that much different than Paige’s, minus the tears, but still very emotional.
Once they’d all recovered from the shock, they began to form a plan to keep the artifacts safe until they could be stored securely. Scott went back down the ladder to call Donovan Terrell, his cousin and the CEO of Terrell Industries in Colorado, knowing that he’d be able to provide what they’d need. When he came back up the ladder he looked satisfied.
“Donovan is not only going to send us a security team with experience in the mountains, but he’ll arrange for anything you need to move and store the artifacts. I’m also thinking that we could use one of the outbuildings at Honey Hills for storage. David, maybe you can help me with that? I’m assuming we need some kind of climate control.” Scott reported happily.
“If Paige doesn’t need me then I’m all yours.” David said, looking to Paige for her approval.
“That’s fine. I won’t need you until it’s time to pack this up.” She said, already making a list on her tablet to send to Donovan.
When Scott, Marissa and David disappeared down the ladder, Paige couldn’t help but throw herself into Cooper’s arms, so happy she could barely contain herself. There was no longer any doubt about the fate of her career. Thanks to this find, she would be published as soon as her thesis was done. She wanted to call Professor Morgan right away, but she knew it had to wait until they had some security at the site.
“It’s a good thing you all were here; I don’t know how I would have dealt with all this on my own.” Paige said, looking around the cave again. “But for now, I think we should get out of here. Calvin, maybe you could stay behind for a while, then come down and tell everyone how dangerous the cave is. Make a big deal about it.”
“You think we should just walk off and leave this stuff?” Calvin asked, surprised at her plan.
“Well, if we act like the cave is too dangerous and I downplay what’s up here, they’ll stay out at least until tonight.” She said. “They won’t dare try during daylight. We’ll figure out what to do tonight later. We may have to take turns guarding the cave.”
“Okay, you’re the boss.” He said, getting out his equipment. “I’ll do some scans for real, I wanted to anyway. I’ll see you guys in a couple of hours.”
“We’ll wait for you at the bottom, then we can take the ladder with us. That will help keep them out.” Cooper said, gesturing for Paige to go down the ladder first. She looked once more at the artifacts, then went down the ladder.
Once they were at the bottom, they followed through with the plan and Paige went back to work on the debris from the hill since there was still plenty of sifting to do before the students left the next week. She’d been lucky to get as much accomplished as she had in the short dig season; next year summer there would still be p
lenty to do, but they’d cleared the hill and recovered the bones.
Several hours later Calvin came down the ladder shaking his head, then proceeded to give dire predictions about how long it would be before the cave collapsed. Paige called a halt to the day’s work and cleared the dig, hoping no one would come back for a secret peek before they could secure the site. Once back in camp, everyone seemed happy enough to spend their extra few hours off sleeping or relaxing around camp, everyone a bit disappointed in the cave.
Only a few hours later, Scott came driving up to the camp followed by two SUVs, each holding four men. When they parked and got out of the vehicles, Paige knew immediately that their security team had arrived. Cooper came out of his house and hustled them inside, but not before a few of the students noticed.
Luckily, David came pulling up, gravel flying, and parked in front of the SUVs blocking them from the view of the camp. He made a big deal of getting a case of beer out of the back of his truck and carrying it up to camp. Paige pretended to be upset by the beer, then made a big show of giving in to David’s request for a celebration. When the students were suitably distracted, she breathed a sigh of relief and crossed the road to Cooper’s house, leaving David to deal with the students.
When she walked into the kitchen, the men stopped talking. “Well, that wasn’t very subtle.” She said, hands on her hips.
“Sorry, I didn’t think.” Scott said, then introduced her to the men who’d been hired by Donovan.
He explained that guarding artifacts in just this kind of situation was their specialty. They usually operated in foreign countries, but they’d been in California on a break and agreed to come help. Looking at the eight men standing in the little kitchen, she was sure the artifacts would be completely safe.
“We’ll set up camp at the dig site and stay there until the cave is cleared. I understand that this find hasn’t been made public yet.” The leader said to Paige.
I Love You Page 9