First Came Baby

by Kris Fletcher

  “What’s with the interest in Cash? Do you have a sudden burning need for some male bonding? Because if so, I’m pretty sure your son needs his diaper changed.”

  “What? Oh, right. Sure.” Boone whisked Jamie off the bed and headed down the hall toward the changing table. With a last lingering look at the bed, Kate pulled on her robe and padded behind. She spared a second to admire the efficiency with which Boone was attacking the job in front of him. Was this really the same man who had been terrified to touch his own son just a few short weeks ago?

  “So what has you so excited?”

  “I found a door.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  KATE STARED AT Boone in disbelief. “You found a what?”

  “Down the steps, Kate. At the end of the tunnel. There’s a bunch of rocks, and I cleared some of them away, and there’s a door back there.”

  “No way.”

  “It’s true.” He paused to flash her a grin over his shoulder. “There’s something down there, Kate. I can feel it.”

  Oh, wow. If it was true...

  But she couldn’t let herself get excited. Not yet. There were too many steps between here and there to let herself start planning ways to tell her mother that all those stories were true, and that oh, by the way, Boone was the one who put it all together.

  Though she did let herself have a couple of seconds to consider the possible reactions.

  “Okay,” she said slowly. “But why do you need Cash?”

  “Some of those rocks are heavy. I’ve cleared away all I can manage on my own. The rest will take muscles, and don’t take this the wrong way, but Cash has the advantage over you.”

  “I’m not getting bent out of shape over facts, Boone. As long as you don’t start comparing me to Cash in other ways, I’m good.”

  “Not to worry there, babe.” His wink had her imagining possibilities that she knew might not be wise but which she couldn’t quite keep at bay.

  “Allie’s an early riser, but this might be much even for her. I don’t want to freak her out. Let me grab a shower and coffee, and by then it’ll probably be safe.”

  “Sounds good.”

  Allie was indeed awake when Kate touched base with her, and yes, she just happened to know that Cash was also awake. It didn’t take long before they were both at the house, listening with wide eyes and open mouths as Kate and Boone filled them in on what they had uncovered.

  “So you want to get the last rocks out of the way and see what’s behind the door,” Cash said.

  “Right.” Kate nodded. “That’s where you come in.”

  “What can I do?” Allie asked. “I admit, I’m no weight lifting champ, but I can carry a tray loaded with dinner for four on one shoulder, and that’s not exactly a feather.” She wrinkled her nose. “Especially when the high school hockey team drops in.”

  “Would you hate me forever if I asked you to stay up here with Jamie while I go down and explore with them?” Kate knew it wasn’t the fairest of questions, but she already had to be sensible about letting Cash be first assistant. And since she was the one who’d had to live with the mess, she felt she deserved something.

  “How about if we trade off, fifteen minutes at a time?”

  “Deal.” Kate looked at Boone. “You heard her. Work fast.”

  Fast turned out to be optimistic. Steady and cautious were more the words of the hour. Much as she wanted to be on hand when the door was cleared, Kate had to admit that the regular breaks were welcome. Three people made for a cramped and claustrophobic tunnel, especially when they were moving rocks out of the way.

  “And you say you do stuff like this all the time in Peru?” Cash asked at one point when they all ventured upstairs for a drink and fresh air.

  Boone shook his head. “Not a lot. Just enough to know that I definitely would never make it as an archaeologist. Or a coal miner, come to think of it.”

  “Yeah, I used to think it would be fun to explore caves.” Allie rolled her eyes. “One misconception, totally cured.”

  The adults laughed, which made Jamie giggle, which started everyone laughing all over again. Everyone was dusty, knuckles were scraped, they were all going to hurt like hell tonight, and yet the moment was so utterly perfect that, again, Kate wished she could stop the clock.

  This. I want this.

  The laughter. The companionship. The understanding. And the way they were all so easy together, the way everything just fit. A month ago, she wouldn’t have believed it possible. But now she and Boone and Allie and Cash were acting like those couples who form lifelong friendships. At any moment, she expected one of the guys to suggest that they barbecue something for dinner.

  It could be like this again. They could make it work. Not all the time, but if she and Boone were to stay together, then they could plan. They could have regular times like this.

  You like things neat and tidy, Kate... You want a perfect family...

  But this longing was more than that. Kate was sure of it. She hadn’t gone searching for this couple-companionship. It had simply happened on its own. No one had engineered it. And that, she decided, was all the proof anyone needed that it was meant to be.

  It took another hour, but at last the door was cleared enough. Kate was on tunnel duty when Boone turned back to her.

  “Ready?”

  The dim light and the lousy conditions couldn’t touch the excitement in his eyes. He reached behind him and squeezed her hand. She squeezed back, then tugged him close and kissed him. Not a quick whisper of lips, either, but a serious kiss that she hoped conveyed all the love and appreciation and joy she was feeling at that moment.

  “For luck?” he asked when she finally released him.

  “I don’t need luck,” she said, low and close, for his ears only. “I’ve got you.”

  It was too dim to read his reaction. His sudden jerk didn’t offer any clues, either.

  But then he clasped her shoulder. “Here’s to Charlie.”

  “Look, you two.” Cash’s voice boomed in the close quarters. “Either open the door or get a room. I don’t care which.”

  So it was that they all were laughing when Boone put a shoulder to the door and pushed.

  Nothing happened.

  “Is there something behind it?” Kate asked. Cash groaned. Boone laughed.

  “Back up,” he ordered, and this time he pulled instead of pushing.

  “Holy—” he said.

  Kate stood on tiptoe to peek over his shoulder. “More bottles?”

  There was another crawl space–sized opening behind the door. From what Kate could see, it seemed to be filled with row after row of bottles similar to what they had found beneath the porch.

  “Hang on,” she said. “We’re under the porch here, right?”

  Boone nodded and tapped the closest container. “I have a feeling those other ones we found might have been more than just the leftovers from someone’s party.”

  “You think they were a marker.” The quietness of Cash’s words couldn’t hide his amazement.

  “Who thinks there’s something behind those bottles?” Kate asked. Their grunts sounded affirmative.

  “Ninety-nine bottles of hooch on the wall, ninety-nine bottles of hooch,” Boone sang out. “Take one down, pass it around...”

  And so he did, handing it back to Kate, who held it for a moment, one finger tracing the edges of the cool glass.

  I’m sorry, Charlie. I should have believed.

  Then she passed it back to Cash and took the next one from Boone.

  The fifteen-minute switch-off timer had just beeped when Boone shouted that he’d found something.

  “What?” Cash asked, but Kate shook her head.

  “Can you lift it? Can we take it upstairs?”

  A few more grunts, then—

&nb
sp; “Got it.” Boone backed out of the hole cradling some kind of rectangular container. Very carefully, he tipped it sideways, allowing him to turn and face the exit.

  “Come on,” Kate said. “We need to show this to Allie.”

  Once upstairs, there followed a few minutes of logistics and one long silence when Cash asked if they should wait and open the—whatever—with Maggie in attendance. Kate and Allie shared a look.

  “We probably should,” Allie said, but Kate shook her head.

  “I have her only grandchild. She won’t kill me. I say let’s open it now.”

  Jamie was secure in his playpen on the other side of the plastic sheeting. Boone ran upstairs for his toolbox. Kate felt like a fool but made everyone tie rags over their mouths before they opened it, just in case.

  “I can still see your eyes rolling above the rag,” she said to Boone.

  “I bet it doesn’t do anything to muffle sound, either,” he said before breaking into long, loud guffaws.

  “Can we please open this?” Allie begged. “I’m already an hour late. I called in Nadine to cover for me but she has to leave soon, and I’m dying to know what’s in there.”

  Boone took one of the extra rags Kate had fetched and used it to wipe dirt from the container.

  “Is it wood?” Kate asked. Boone shook his head.

  “It’s some kind of metal,” he said, reaching for the latex gloves Kate had unearthed from the first aid kit.

  She expected him to pull them on. Instead, he handed them to her.

  “Wait. No.” She pushed them back to him. “You’re the one who should do this, Boone. You put the pieces together and did the work. This is yours.”

  “It’s your family history. You and Allie should open it.”

  But you’re my family.

  The sense of rightness that swept through her at the thought told her it was the truth. Boone was her family. Boone and Jamie and her, the three of them, their own little part of the world that filled her heart. How had she ever thought that anything else could ever be better than what she had found with this man?

  So they wouldn’t have a conventional family. They would deal. She could deal. For in that moment, she knew that she would rather have part-time with Boone than full-time with anybody else. This was the family she wanted. This was the love she wanted. Boone might not think he could do this, but he hadn’t known how to be a father, either. She could teach him.

  Especially if they had a lifetime to figure it out.

  “You guys.” Allie’s impatience pulled Kate back to the moment. “The clock is ticking.”

  Kate made a fast decision. “Cash, would you do the honors?”

  “Me? But I’m not a Hebert.”

  “No, you’re not.” Kate met Boone’s gaze. “But you’re part of the family. And all the parts should have a role in this.”

  “Whatever.” Cash shook his head, but he adjusted his rag mask, snapped on the gloves and ran his finger along the edge of the container. As he did, more of the greenish growth came loose.

  “Is it silver?” Allie knelt down to look. “Whoa. Yeah. Definitely silver.”

  “Look.” Boone pointed to a spot in the middle of one of the long sides. “That looks like it’s inset. Maybe a latch?”

  Cash slid his fingers over the spot Boone indicated. He pressed. The container opened ever so slightly.

  Kate reached for Boone’s hand. Or was it the other way around?

  It didn’t matter. They were together. This was happening.

  * * *

  BOONE WASN’T SURE he was breathing anymore. Not because of the silly rag tied round his face, not even because of Kate’s hand in his, wonderful though that was, but because this was it. This was the key to giving her and Jamie the house, the security, the life he longed to provide for them. It had to be. He couldn’t have been led to this for any other reason.

  Cash eased the top of the container open. Inside were several bundles wrapped in some disintegrating fabric. Boone caught a glimpse of silver. His heart thudded.

  Allie made a squeaking noise. Kate squeezed his hand so hard he thought she might break something.

  It was really happening.

  Cash pushed aside some of the fabric and pulled out something that flashed gold and red, something Boone couldn’t comprehend until Kate said, “Dear God, those can’t be real rubies.”

  Rubies.

  Boone’s head started to spin.

  “It’s a necklace.” Cash held it out for them to view. Boone knew as much about women’s jewelry as he did about brain surgery, but he was pretty sure he was looking at something that could pay for three whole aisles down at Village Hardware.

  “I think there are earrings that match.” Cash pushed aside fabric scraps. “Yep. Someone had good taste.”

  “Do you think... Daisy’s family had money.” Kate spoke softly, almost reverently, as she touched the necklace with one finger. “Do you think this might have been hers?”

  “That doesn’t seem likely,” Boone said. “She was a single mother who supported herself by, what, making quilts and doing seamstress work? If that was hers, wouldn’t she have sold it to provide for her son?”

  “Good point.” Cash unrolled another bundle and let out a low whistle. “Anybody into emeralds?”

  Kate gasped. Allie squeaked again. For himself, Boone had lost the ability to vocalize.

  But he could still see. And astonishing as the necklaces might be, to him they didn’t hold a candle to the awe in Kate’s eyes as she watched Cash’s every move.

  “This one feels heavier.” Cash said as he lifted the next packet. “More solid, too. Almost like—”

  Whatever he was going to say was lost in the rip of aging cloth and the tumble of a pile of spoons to the tabletop.

  “Spoons?” If Kate was disappointed, it didn’t show. “Are the others knives and forks?”

  Cash checked. “Yeah, I’d say you have a complete dinner service here, kids. Anyone want to have a party?”

  “Let me see one.” Allie took one of the spoons and peered at it. “I think they’re real silver, all right. Look at all that tarnish.” She rubbed at it with the hem of her shirt. “There’s some design on the handle. Kate, do you have any—”

  “If you’re going to ask for silver polish, stop and think about who you’re talking to,” Kate said drily.

  “Actually, I was going to say toothpaste. I remember reading once that you can use it as an emergency replacement for polish.”

  “The things you learn,” Boone muttered. He reached for one of the knives. Allie was right. There was a design etched into each of the handles.

  “This one isn’t as tarnished.” Kate reached past him and lifted a fork. “Look, you can sort of see it. It looks like...a bird?

  “I think it’s just the head.” Kate squinted. “It looks like an eagle.”

  Charlie had made a deal with the American authorities...

  “Let me see something.” He squeezed between the sisters to take in the array spread on the table. He counted the silverware, then counted again to be certain.

  Twenty forks. Twenty spoons. Ten serving pieces. Nineteen knives.

  He gave a piece of it to the Americans...

  “Is silverware even worth anything?” Cash’s voice seemed to come from a distance, muffled by Jamie’s squeals and the pounding in Boone’s ears.

  All he told Daisy was that it would be immensely valuable to the right people...

  “Hang on, Jamie. Mommy just needs a minute on eBay to get an idea of—”

  Boone traced the insignia on the handle of one of the serving spoons. He flipped it over and inspected the back. The year 1776 was engraved on either side of the handle.

  First the British sat down and ate the meal that was already set out on the tables. Then they torc
hed the place...

  “Look up the going rate for silver,” Allie said. “Even if it just gets melted down—”

  “No one’s melting this down.” Boone’s words cut through the air of merriment in the room. He turned around slowly, forcing himself to make a mental list of the mess he’d created. The gaping hole in the wall. The rocks piled everywhere. The dust that coated the furniture. The yawning tunnel that would have to be dealt with.

  The joy in Kate’s face, slowly fading as she read his expression.

  “Boone? What’s wrong?”

  His mother’s voice slipped back into his head. You never could do anything right.

  “We can’t keep it.”

  Allie laughed, short and high. “Well, no one’s planning to keep it. I mean, wasn’t the plan to sell it to fix up the house?”

  The house that Kate loved. The story and history. The endless possibilities she was kind of embarrassed to imagine.

  All gone now. All because of him.

  “Look on the back of the handle,” he said, tossing his piece to the table. “We have to call—I don’t know. Someone in Ottawa.”

  “Oh, my God.” Kate breathed the words out, lifting her gaze from the fork, to Allie, then to Boone. “Oh, my God. Charlie’s treasure was stolen from the White House?”

  Boone nodded. “We can’t keep it,” he said again, looking at the wall, the mess, the whole goddamned house. “We can’t sell it. We have to hand it over.” He stared at the floor. “It’s over.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  KATE WENT THROUGH the rest of the day in a daze as the implications of their discovery sank in, one bit at a time. Maggie was called to come see the treasure. Kate tracked down an old boyfriend who worked at the Museum of History, who put her in touch with someone from the National Archives, who must have had a Mountie escort to get to Comeback Cove as fast as she did. Forget that it was a Saturday in May, soon the house was hopping like River Road at the height of tourist season.

  And through it all, Boone stayed in the background. Silent. Flinching whenever anyone congratulated him.

  Kate ached for him. He had pinned so much on this quest. Sometimes she had thought he was almost obsessed with the need to let her stay in the house.