by Sara Orwig
“C’mon, Scotty, we’ll all hug,” she whispered and turned slightly.
Mike looked at his son and picked him up, holding Scotty as he hugged Savannah. “We’ll have a group hug,” Mike said hoarsely. She felt Scotty’s thin arm around her neck and he leaned against her as she held them tightly, wishing she could help erase Mike’s hurt but knowing that couldn’t happen, and having a brief fling with him wouldn’t really help him and could hurt her even more. For the rest of his life there would be times he would hurt over Elise.
“Okay, folks, let’s look at our work,” Mike finally said, and she assumed he had his emotions under control. The hug broke up and she moved away from Mike, looking around at all the birthday decorations.
By the time they finished setting up and putting the boxes away, the sun was out in late afternoon. Scotty asked to go outside in the snow. They bundled up and in the next hour had another snowman and this time a snow dog beside it.
“Let’s walk down to look at Rocky Creek across the front of the ranch. You’ll be surprised how much the creek has gone down,” Mike said.
Scotty ran ahead, jumping and then running in circles. As their steps crunched in the pristine snow, Scotty bent over something ahead. When they caught up with him, Mike stopped beside him and she saw the animal tracks in the snow.
“What are these?” Scotty asked.
Mike looked at paw prints. “Coyotes probably. We have plenty.”
Scotty tried to hop on the prints and fell, laughing and rolling in the snow as Mike and Savannah walked past him.
“It’s hard to dislike this snow and the icy cold when Scotty is having such a wonderful time,” Savannah said.
“He’s having the time of his life, just rolling around in freezing snow. Every day is something exciting for him. Right now, every day is something exciting for me,” Mike added and she turned to look at him.
His brown eyes were warm, filled with desire. “It’s good to have you here,” he said. “I want a date tonight. Hot chocolate, a dance, maybe a kiss.”
“Mike, slow down,” she said, laughing, trying to ignore her racing heartbeat or how badly she wanted to just answer yes and accept his offer. “Maybe you need to roll around in the snow and cool down, too.” Her smile vanished. “Being here has been good for me. I’ll always remember this time,” she said, wondering how badly she would miss him when she left.
“We’ve had a fun time, which has been a huge surprise. I’ll wonder whether you had a boy or girl and whether you stayed in California or went back home to Arkansas. I’d think you’d be happier in Arkansas, but that’s just because I love home and family and wouldn’t want to pack up and leave mine.”
“That’s probably what I’ll do.”
“If you drive back through here, call me,” he said. “We can have lunch or something.”
“Sure,” she said, knowing she wouldn’t. Once she left, she doubted if Mike would really care. As soon as some of the snow melted, Ed could probably get to his station and fix her car. She needed to wait now for Scotty’s birthday party. After that, she would be gone.
How hard was it going to be to tell Mike and Scotty goodbye? If she stayed much longer, could she avoid making love with Mike, who had no place in his life for love and marriage?
Each time she thought how appealing Mike was, worry nagged at her that maybe she was misjudging another man as much as she had Kirk. How could she possibly really know about Mike in such a short time?
Five
“Mike, look at the creek,” she said.
Ahead, a black ribbon of water gushed between snowy banks. The splashing stream looked ominous, even in the bright sunny day.
“Scotty, come here,” Mike instructed and picked up his son to swing him onto his shoulders. “I don’t want you to fall into the creek. That water is icy.”
Scotty plunked Mike’s wide-brimmed hat on his own head and wound his small fingers in Mike’s curly hair. The pom-pom of Scotty’s stocking cap kept Mike’s hat from falling over Scotty’s face, and she had to get a picture of the two of them. Wind caught locks of Mike’s raven hair, blowing curls while Scotty smiled at her.
They slowed as they walked closer to the roaring creek. “Next summer when there is only a trickle of water running through the center of the dry creek bed, it will be difficult to believe that this is what it was like in winter,” Mike said.
When the creek had swept over the bridge, debris had caught in the rails and long yellowed weeds had wrapped around the supports beneath the bridge. The bank was muddy where water had been higher and gone down slightly during late afternoon.
Savannah shivered. “Thank heavens the other bridge held when you drove across. If we would have to go into one of these creeks... I don’t know if I could get out of the car. That looks threatening even now.”
“We would have gotten out of the car and the guys would have fished us out, but I’m glad we didn’t go in.”
She could hear the force in Mike’s voice and wondered if he got his way in most everything in his life. It was obvious from several instances that he was filled with self-confidence and accustomed to getting what he wanted.
Elise’s loss had been the one thing that he hadn’t been able to control. When Scotty started asking him questions about his mother, to have to try to explain to his young son would have been another heartbreak to a man who was filled with confidence, achievement and success. She could imagine Mike would never want to make himself vulnerable to such an emotional upheaval a second time. Pity any woman who ever fell in love with him and hoped to change him.
“I’m having this bridge rebuilt,” Mike said. “I won’t ever run that kind of risk again if I can avoid it. I should have replaced this bridge before now, but it’s easy to get complacent and put off a job when the creek is almost a hundred percent dry some years. Sometimes in July, you can’t fill a teacup out of the water in this creek.”
She took a picture of the creek and then walked along the bank to see if she could get another picture of the bridge. In the sunlight something glittered in the mud along the bank and she ran her toe across it. Something shiny and gold was half-buried in the mud where the creek had been higher and now had receded. Curious, she picked up a stick and scraped mud away.
“What did you find?” Mike asked, walking toward her, holding Scotty’s ankles lightly while the boy rode on his shoulders.
“I found a ring.”
Mike knelt to pick up some small rocks, then held out his hand for Scotty. “Here, you can throw these into the creek, but make sure they go into the creek. Do not hit me or Miss Savannah with a rock.”
“Thank you,” Scotty said politely and took a rock to toss it into the creek.
While Scotty tossed rocks, she knelt, holding the ring in the rushing, muddy water to wash the mud away. “Look, Mike,” she said, standing. “What a pretty ring.”
Mike moved closer to look at the gold ring sparkling in the sunlight in the palm of her hand. The gold was inlaid with chips of turquoise.
“That doesn’t look like brass. I think you found a gold ring.”
She turned it over in her palm. The largest bit of turquoise was heart shaped.
“Someone lost this pretty ring.”
“I’ll be damned,” he said. “Someone did lose it, but according to one of those old legends that has been passed from generation to generation, there’s a story about a golden ring tossed into the creek.” He turned the ring in her palm. It left a smudge of mud, but the gold shone brightly.
“I’m amazed,” Mike said, turning it again in her palm. “Except this was probably lost pretty recently.”
“Are you going to tell me the legend or not?” she asked, laughing at him.
“There’s an old Texas myth about a Kiowa maiden whose true love made a ring for her. Wh
en the warrior was killed in battle, she didn’t want to live. According to the myth, she tossed the ring into the creek, saying the finder would also find true love.”
“It sounds like a myth, but that makes the ring fun to find,” Savannah said.
“According to the legend, after tossing away her beloved ring, she was supposed to have walked off a cliff to her death.”
“That’s a sad ending,” Savannah said, turning the ring in her hand again, watching it catch the sunlight that highlighted the gold.
“Well, it’s a myth, I’m sure. There are no cliffs anywhere around here. Of course, that’s never mattered in the legend surviving generation after generation.”
“I want to think of the story of the ring as a legend come true. If it’s true love for me, he has to be a nice family guy.”
“Just ask up front. No one would hide their feelings on that subject,” Mike said, and she laughed. “I figured the ring was as imaginary as the legend,” he continued. “But this ring is very real.” He smiled. “It has to be an interesting coincidence.”
“Maybe,” she said, “but I hope someday I’ll find true love and I hope you do again, Mike.” She looked into his eyes and momentarily was caught and held in a look she couldn’t fathom as he gazed back at her.
“I hope we both do, too,” he said in a husky voice. He ran his finger along her cheek. “You deserve better than you’ve gotten.”
“Thanks. You and Scotty definitely do. You have each other and I’ll have my baby. Those are the biggest blessings, Mike. Scotty, look what I found in the muddy creek bank.” She held up the ring to show to Scotty.
He took it from her hand to slip it onto his small finger.
“Careful, Scotty,” Mike said. “Afraid that’s way too big for you, kiddo.” Mike held out his hand and Scotty let it slide off his finger into it.
Mike reached for Savannah’s right hand and slipped the ring on a finger.
“Perfect fit,” he said, smiling at her as she laughed and wriggled her fingers.
“Actually, when it’s washed, I think it will be very pretty.”
“You found it so now it’s yours. No telling how long it’s been buried in the mud.”
“This should be yours—it’s on your ranch.”
He shook his head. “You found it, so you keep it. And I hope you do find true love,” he said, his voice changing to a deeper tone. As she looked up at him, she felt a squeeze to her heart. Mike leaned forward to kiss her briefly. When he stepped away, she smiled at him, glancing at Scotty to see him smiling.
“I’ll have to tell my family,” Mike said. “We’ve had a couple of other legends proven to be true, so maybe this will join those. Those were a little more possible than this one and based on family history, but this ring reminds me of the other legends of hidden treasures, a deed and a letter.”
“Well, I expect my true love to appear soon,” she said, laughing and wriggling her fingers as she looked at the ring. “There’s nothing in that legend about being able to know it really is your true love, is there?” she asked, thinking it might be more important to be a better judge of character and no ring from a creek or an old legend would give her that.
“Savannah, with your looks, I would bet on you finding true love,” Mike said as Scotty lobbed another small rock into the creek. “And everybody makes mistakes. It doesn’t mean you’ll keep making them.”
“Thank you,” she said, suddenly glad for the snowstorm that left her stranded to have a wonderful time with Mike and Scotty.
“Well, if this sun stays out and it doesn’t start snowing again, the bridges will be passable. When we get back, I’ll text Ed and see if he will open the gas station tomorrow. My guess is that he will.”
Dread nipped at her, making her want to see time stop for just a short while. She loved being with Mike and Scotty, and it was going to be lonely without them and much harder to leave than it had been to tell Kirk goodbye after the hateful things he had said.
“Let’s head home, Scotty,” Mike said. As soon as they were a short distance from the creek, Mike swung Scotty to stand him on his own feet. Scotty ran ahead.
“I’m ready for a warm house and a hot dinner by a blazing fireplace,” Mike said, draping his arm across her shoulders.
“Mike, I hope you marry again someday and have more children. You’re a wonderful dad.”
“Wow. Is this a proposal?” he asked, grinning. “Just kidding. Thank you,” he said, before she could answer and tightened his arm across her shoulders to give her a slight squeeze.
“If I propose, you’ll know it,” she teased.
“Aw, shucks, lady. I thought we’d found a way to entertain ourselves tonight after Scotty goes to bed.”
“Maybe you should run some more with Scotty and work off that energy you have.”
“Later, I’ll show you a much better way to get rid of some of this energy.”
“Forget that one,” she said, laughing at him, having fun flirting with him and thinking every hour spent with Mike and Scotty bound her heart to them a little more. “Mike, you two are fun. I’ll just never forget these few days and I’m glad to stay for his birthday. I’ll think about what we can do for him that would be fun.”
“Just keep it simple. He’s only turning three. Right now it doesn’t take much to make him happy.”
“I guess not,” she replied, laughing and looking at Scotty kicking snow into the air as he walked along. He fell and jumped up instantly to continue kicking more snow.
“Makes me wonder if my life was ever that simple,” Mike said, watching his son. “I always had siblings complicating my life. Sometimes I’m sorry Scotty doesn’t have a sibling, but he’s happy.”
“You’ll marry again, Mike,” she said. “He’ll have a sibling.”
“You think?” Mike said, focusing on her.
“Of course you will. You’re young, good-looking, likeable, wealthy—”
“Damn, I didn’t know I was such a paragon. I think we’ll get back to this conversation after Scotty is down for the night.”
“I think we won’t. Enough said. You can forget what I said and it’s changing as we speak. Besides, I’ve got lousy judgment in men.”
He turned to her. “Don’t carry that with you, Savannah,” he said, suddenly sounding earnest. “You made a mistake. You probably learned from it and you’ll also probably never make one like it again. You’re an intelligent woman—trust yourself.”
She looked up at him, for a moment feeling a twist to her heart. “It’s not that easy anymore. I’m going to need some time.”
They were silent the rest of the way to his house. After shedding all the outer clothing, Mike went to the kitchen to start dinner while Savannah headed to her suite to wash her hands and wash the ring again.
When she returned to the kitchen, she smiled at Scotty in his high chair and held out the ring for Mike. “Look how beautiful it is, very simple, very pretty. It has a date engraved on it,” she said, handing him the ring.
Mike looked at the date and his head jerked up as he met her gaze. “It’s from 1861—I can’t believe it’s really that old.”
She shrugged. “That’s the date.”
He handed back the ring and she slipped it on. “Enjoy it. After dinner I’ll call Lindsay and tell her about the ring. She’ll be shocked you ever found any such thing.”
“Miss Savannah, will you play with me?” Scotty asked.
“I’d love to, but I’m going to help your daddy fix dinner—”
“Go play,” Mike told Savannah. “I’m just heating up another chicken and noodle casserole.”
Scotty grinned as she scooped him out of his high chair. She set him down and he ran to get a game.
After dinner they played more games with Scotty until Mike told hi
m it was time for bed and they all headed upstairs. Once Scotty was tucked in bed, Savannah sat down to read to Scotty again. After two books, she kissed Scotty and left so that Mike could read one last story before good-night kisses.
When Mike returned they sat on the family room floor near the roaring fire and she listened while he called Lindsay to tell her about the gold ring.
As they talked, he paused and turned to Savannah. “Lindsay wants you to take a picture of it and text it to her.”
“Sure,” Savannah said, grabbing her phone. In minutes Savannah looked up. “Tell Lindsay she should have a picture now.”
She heard Lindsay yell loudly enough to carry clearly over his phone, and Mike laughed. “Hey, my ear. Yes, it’s real and we’re not playing a joke. She found it embedded in the muddy bank of the creek where the water had risen and then receded.”
After a few more minutes he told his sister goodbye. “I’m going to let her tell my brothers or I’ll be on the phone all night, although they won’t have as many questions about it as Lindsay. Since no money was involved, they’ll shrug it off as sheer coincidence and forget it.”
“I have part of a legend now,” she said, looking at the gold. “I fully expect to find my true love someday,” she said and laughed. “Today has been fun.”
“I think so and you’re way too pretty to not find your true love,” he replied.
“Thank you,” she said as they smiled at each other.
Mike glanced around at the room, full of decorations for Scotty’s party. “This room looks great for a birthday party. Thanks for your help. I wouldn’t have done this alone because I wouldn’t have known where to start. Scotty loves it and is excited about his birthday. It’s nice, Savannah.”
“I’m glad. I’ve been looking on my laptop for chocolate-cake recipes.”
“Wait a minute.” Mike left and she heard pots and pans and got up to see what he was doing. She found him in the pantry. He had three cookbooks and what looked like a scrapbook.