Chapter 25

It was late enough that by the time I arrived home, the chores were done and the working women had been taken home. I parked the truck in the big garage, or rather, machine shed, and thought about checking the treasure in the smoke house, but just left it alone. The more I messed with it, the more attention I would draw to it.

I was warmly greeted by the ladies in the house. Millie gave me a sweet kiss and hug, Marita gave me a hug, and Mom kissed me on the cheek. I played coochie-coo with John for a couple of minutes before Mom handed me a beer and said, "Come into the office for a minute. I need to show you something and ask you a couple of questions."

I took a swig of beer and sat in the big desk chair as Mom sat in the nice upholstered chair by the side of the desk. She looked at me funny, and then dug into her jeans pocket. She tossed a couple of things onto the middle of the desk in front of me and asked, "What in the world is this?"

Oops.

"Ah, I didn't want you to see that stuff yet. I figured that if I could get it to a safe place first, that would lessen the chance for problems. I went to Lexington today to find out what some of it was worth and to find out whether or not it was mine to keep. On the way home, I stopped by Benson's to have him start a trust so I can get it into a bank. I think that I'll meet an armored car somewhere and transfer all of it to that truck and let them take it to a bank where Benson will put it all into safety deposit boxes."

Mom was still looking at me sideways, and asked, "What's all that stuff worth? Do you know?"

"The bars are all worth around a hundred forty thousand each. I'm not sure what the stones and old jewelry is worth, but it is desired by a jeweler who can market all of it. The coins are all of different values, but they are worth a lot. Mom, how did you get into that room? I took the key from the ring after I found out which one opened the door. What did you want to go in there for?"

"I was checking the rooms because the butcher says he's got enough pork coming to fill up all of our rooms. He also is bringing a state food inspector by to see the smoke house and certify it so the butcher can retail the hams, bacon, and sausage from his shop legally. That won't happen until next week, but I wanted to see if the unused rooms were clean and what needed to be done. Did you notice how many keys are on that ring? I think every door has three or four keys. I just went through the keys until I found one that would open the door. I thought it was funny that one door was locked. Even the rooms that have meat smoking aren't locked. Anyway, Michael, I have all of the keys for that door in my pocket except for the one you have. Why didn't you tell me about that stuff? I could have paid more attention and watched it."

"That's the problem with stuff like that, Mom, it causes too much trouble. Do you remember me telling you about all of that money that I had to watch? It makes people crazy, and I don't want our home turned into a zoo."

Mom sighed, "I understand, Michael, but you still should have taken me into your confidence. Where did it come from?"

After almost finishing the beer, I motioned toward the top of the mountain and said, "There are some caves high up on the mountain that I think were used by the Civil War military. In one of the caves was a row of chests that had all of that stuff in it. I emptied the chests but let them remain in the caves so historians could see what I found the way I found it. Around the other side is a cave with cannon balls and barrels of what is probably black powder. It is above where the guys and I found the two cannons we talked about. I knew about where we were, so I didn't take them up to the caves that day."

"What are you going to do with all of that money? Don't tell me, I already know. You're going to keep right on living right here the way you are now and do things for people as you find ways to do it. I'm right, aren't I?"

I had to grin at Mom, as she knew me so well. "I'd like to do it that way, but I don't know whether the rest of the world will let me. I left some of the coins, stones, and a couple of the bars up there in the chests, but if I let people see that stuff, they will know I probably kept other stuff. Now I think I should go get the chests and sell them as antiques. I can erase that anything was ever sitting there so that no one will know. The reason I would do that is that if people heard there had been treasure up there, our property will be overrun by people who will do just about anything to get at it."

"You need to do that, Michael, move that stuff before someone else discovers those caves and those chests. Do that as soon as possible, and get rid of that stuff in the smoke house."

"I will, Mom; I'll get that stuff out of here."

Mom shifted around and said, "You know, if you wanted, you could help your sister and brother a little. They are doing okay, but I know both of those families are struggling a lot lately. Both of the women have lost their jobs during this economy downturn, and I know they are scrimping. You could help them out a little."

I smiled, "I'll do that, Mom. You'll have to be the one to give it to them, as I'm not going to do it. They will think that you don't need the money now that you're staying up here with me."

Mom laughed, "That'll work, Mike. You do have a devious mind."

"Where's Ezra? Does he have a date with another woman for supper?"

"No, Mike, I sent him home with a ready made supper. I told him I needed to talk to you in private for a while. He understood and left early. Come on, let's eat, I'm hungry."

Millie and Marita didn't know anything about the treasure and were the loving ladies that they were. It was surprising how easily the little Mayan had become a part of our household and had picked up on our customs and speech patterns. It was as if she had been raised by and with us. It was at the end of the first week that she spent at the house that we found out she was the same age as Millie. We had all thought she was young like Summer and were surprised. Millie even whispered in my ear, "See, she is old enough to give you another son. Think about that." That warranted a smack on Millie's now rounded bottom. I enjoyed seeing her filled out and about the same size as Mom. Not fat at all, but not skinny any longer. The lady was still firm and solid, but she now was more rounded and smooth without showing bones all over.

That night, after putting another log on the fire in the big room, I came to bed to find two smiling faces peeking out over the blanket. Millie said, "Marita has been cold in her room and wanted to sleep in here with us like Summer did. She thinks it will be a lot warmer."

I sat on the side of the bed as I began unbuttoning my fatigue shirt. "Just to be clear, this is for both of you. Millie is my wife and my lover. The only fooling around in this bed is done by only Millie and me. We don't need help, and I don't want another wife. Marita, it may be acceptable where you came from, but it isn't here, at least with me. You may enjoy snuggling with us, but there will be no fooling around, do you both understand?"

Millie and Marita looked at each other. They hugged and kissed each other on the cheeks before separating and patting the open space between them. I didn't need a shower, so I finished undressing and slid into bed between the ladies. They both kissed my cheek, and then Millie kissed me on the lips. As I lay back, they both snuggled to my sides with one of their legs over mine. Millie told me "I love you, Mike. Thank you for not being mad at me about Marita. I just wanted her to be as happy as me."

I pulled her to me tighter and kissed her forehead.

Marita also spoke softly, "I am not a virgin. Many soldiers took turns with me on two different occasions. That I am alive only means that they thought they might come back to use me again. I know what sex is, and Millie has made me want to try it the way she enjoys it with you. I understand, Mike, and will honor what you ask, but I would enjoy you making love to me. That would be good."

I thought to myself, no; that would not be good, that would be bad. The temptation was there, but I really didn't want anyone but Millie. She had become my special lady, my mate.

As I drifted off to sleep, I thought of Eliza and Ben, and couldn't help but imagine the two of them roaming the mountain with their spouses. They made me think of the soldiers who had died up in the caves. Of course, there was the family that died in a fire, along with the boy and then the girl who had been murdered, and Bernard also. It was as if all of them were talking to me and I couldn't understand any of them. I did dream of Ben walking his mule with a woman riding it. When Ben saw me he smiled and nodded to me. It had been a strange dream.

We were just finishing breakfast when my cell phone rang. It was Benson. "I have an armored car company from Lexington that will be down here around ten. Where do you want to meet?"

"Hang on a second and let me make a call."

I used the new telephone on the desk and dialed Gene, the cable engineer. "Hey, Gene, where are you working today?"

"Nowhere, I'm in Lexington to do reports for a couple of days. Do you need me?"

"I was just going to go over where the guys were on the work we're doing."

"No need, Mike. The company knows everything is going to be in slow motion because of the weather."

"Okay, Gene, I'll talk to you when you get back."

On my cell phone I asked Benson, "Do you know where the cable company distribution building is at the edge of town? It's sort of back off the highway in the woods."

"Yeah, I know where it's at. Do you want to meet there?"

"Correct, I'll be there from ten until you get there."

Benson sighed, "You know, this is more excitement than I've had in this town since my last kid was born. See you around ten."

I asked Mom, "Can you keep the girls in here this morning? I'm going to take that stuff and get rid of it this morning. When I get back, we'll take the ATV up the mountain to get those chests. You'll get a surprise out of what I found."

Millie and Marita were busy doing kitchen stuff and didn't pay any attention to us. I went out and pulled the truck up to the back of the smoke house. It didn't take long to load the buckets into the truck. I threw a tarp over them and put the truck where I could see it from the house. After having coffee and watching the women making buttermilk and washing eggs, I got my kisses and hugs and took off, but I put my Beretta in my belt just for fun.

I had only been at the distribution building for a few minutes when Benson arrived in his car with the armored car following him. Five minutes later, Benson led the armored car away and I followed them, just to make myself feel better about the whole thing.

The armored car pulled to the side of the bank, and using hand trucks, carried the treasure into the bank under Benson's watchful eye. I felt better when the armored truck people closed their doors and drove away. My cell phone rang. It was Benson, "If you're close like I think you might be, come to the bank to sign the trustee card for the account. You can help me count the coins and bars. We'll just leave the jewel stuff in a bucket."

"Is that going to cause a stir, Benson? Won't they know that it was me that found the treasure?"

"They don't know what's in the buckets. They all had covers on them when they were brought into the vault. We will have total privacy while we count the stuff."

It took until noon to count everything. There was a lot, even more than I thought. Benson and I then finished up the trustee paperwork with the bank. Benson had two different trusts set up for this. He said that when I wanted to donate money, I would transfer funds to the second account and pay it out of there, since that account wouldn't show a safe deposit box.

We ate lunch at the Kitchen before I left for home. I stopped at the road yard on the way and found the guys working on the equipment, as usual. They had painted the last of the salt trucks and had finished lining the beds to keep the rust down. The fleet looked good, all lined up and ready to go. It was that time of year that it could snow again anytime, but it just as easily might not.

At home, I picked up my Winchester and asked Mom if she might want to use up a doe stamp. She asked if she could use the Winchester, so I took the .308. Mom picked up the Mossberg and a box of shells and told me, "You might as well bring a rabbit or two home while you're at it."

I made her dress extra warmly and we took off around the mountain. As we eased around the corner where the old wagon road intersected my new road, we saw movement off to the side. I shut the ATV off and we watched. There were two deer, both does, rooting in the snow for what they could find.

Mom said, "Let's go see your caves first, then we might think about some game. I thought this would be a good ruse to use for us to get out."

We drove up the logging road until we were in front of the boulders at the front of the caves. I brought my big lights with me and showed Mom where the chests were lined up against the wall. She looked through some and said, "Think about this, Michael, you probably have over half a million up here right now. Let's get this stuff out of here and back home. Let's put the coins, bars, and jewels in your game bag and stack the chests in the back of the ATV."

Mom couldn't get over the skeletons and how they were arranged with the old rifles. We looked all the way to the back of both caves and only found old leather saddle bags, bedrolls, and cooking gear that we left where they were. I followed the cave where the chests had been to the back and found a tall tunnel that turned back and forth until it came out in the cave where the barrels and cannon balls were. I took Mom to the lip of the bluff and had her look over the side to see the two cannons down there.

"This is all so wild, Mike. Walking around up here was spooky for a while, but I feel very comfortable up here now. There are probably those soldiers' ghosts up here and who knows how many others, but I think they like us. Isn't it strange that I should think there are such things as real ghosts?"

I answered by telling her, "I dreamed about that last night, Mom. I dreamt that I saw Eliza and someone who must have been her husband, some soldiers, and a whole family that must have included the girl that was killed up here. There was a guy that looked a lot like Millie, and I saw Ben leading a mule with a woman on it. He smiled at me as he passed. That was a strange dream, Mom."

Mom was smiling, "Sounds like one of your childhood dreams, Mike. Let's get that stuff back to the house. How about seeing if you can sell what you had left up here and we'll go shopping in Lexington. Marita needs clothes, and you could stand another pair of boots and some more fatigues. You also need some more regular civilian clothes."

We didn't look for the deer on the way back, but I stopped at one of the brush piles and used the shotgun to get three rabbits real fast. Mom was shaking her head when I brought the dead bunnies to the ATV. "You don't mess around, do you, Mike? You walked up, kicked that pile of brush and bang, bang, bang, three dead rabbits. You could keep people fed with that skill. Come on, now you have to clean them."

When we got back home, I took the game bag in the house before Mom and I carried the chests in. Millie and Marita couldn't get over how neat the old chests were. Considering their age, they were in remarkable condition. We set them along the wall so we could clean them and maybe sell some at the market.

Mom put the bag of coins, bars, and jewels in the office, and I went out to the cleaning table and dressed the rabbits for supper. I think the attending ladies might have been disappointed I didn't bring enough for them, but I told them I would make an effort to get them some soon.

Mom and I counted the coins so I could call the jeweler. When I made the call, I told him that I had seven of the bars to sell, but one looked like it might be gold and one silver. When he asked about coins I told him I had sixty-seven, but that he didn't have to buy them all at once.

"Tell you what, Mr. Grayson," the jeweler began, "Bring everything with you and I'll make sure I can cover what you have. I have a couple of backers that were very happy with the transaction we made before, so I'll make sure they will back me on what you have. If you have what you say, you know it's going to be almost a million, right?"

"Whew, I didn't think about that. Okay, I suppose I better warn the accountant to make sure I'm clean with the feds for the taxes."

"Do that, Mr. Grayson, but I can also give you some of the payment in cash if you want. How about if I give you a hundred thousand in cash, and a check for the rest? You can bet that I'll be straight with you since I know you have more. You're going to make me a lot of money passing that metal, coins, and the jewels through here. You know, you might save some of those coins and take them into Cincinnati to see if a collector up there might give you more. I'd do that if I was you."

"Good idea. I need to go up that way soon anyway. Is tomorrow good to come up to Lexington?"

"Come ahead, like I said, I'll get my backers to fill up the bank account for me. If you have a bank account to transfer funds, we can do that instead of using a check."

"Another good idea, we'll do that. That's a hell of lot more secure too. I'll see you tomorrow."

I told Mom about the coins, and she thought I should sell half and keep half to take to Cincinnati. She asked me when we were going up there.

"This weekend, Mom, you said the folks up there were struggling, so we're going to take some cash up there. How much were you thinking and I'll tell you what I can do right away."

Mom thought for a second, "I was thinking that an extra twenty-five thousand each would get them caught up. Hopefully, the girls will be able to get jobs soon."

"You know, Mom, I was thinking about twice that. How about we give them each around fifty so they won't worry for a while?"

"No, Mike, that's too much. Twenty-five is perfect. Put the other in my account and I'll give them more if they need it later. They need to be just like you. You're able to live cheap, even though you don't have to. I know they both have kids, but I've been regular about helping them all along. They need to be thrifty and make do where they can. They'll call me if they get into money trouble."

Whew, I was glad that stuff was off the mountain and the smoke house was empty. If we could get the rest of this stuff up to Lexington the next day, and take some coins to Cincinnati this weekend, we'll have taken all the risky stuff away from the house.

I told Millie, "Mom and I are going into Lexington in the morning. If you want to go with us that would be nice. We can try to do some shopping for some clothes while we're there."

The two women were excited about going and made plans as to what the other ladies could do. Millie called their place and talked to Carmen. The plan was for only Carmen and Rosita to come up to do chores, clean eggs, and make butter.

Mom called the Kitchen to see if they wanted any of the milk, butter, and eggs we had. They wanted everything we had, along with three sides of bacon if I had them ready. The ladies could make more butter from tonight's and tomorrow's milk, and we could take more to the market tomorrow before going to Cincinnati if we felt the need to sell more.

After chores the next morning, I showered and put khakis and a sweater on, but it was too cold to not use my heavy coat. Mom asked me, "Are you really my son, Mike? I have hardly seen you dressed in civilian clothes since I've been here. You look good, Mike."

The trip to Lexington was fun. Millie, pushing John in a stroller, and Marita looked at everything the jeweler had, while Mom and I worked with the dealer evaluating the coins.

The jeweler separated seven of the coins that were different from the others before putting the rest in stacks of ten. The man tested each of the bars and told me one of the bars was indeed silver and one was gold. I was a little nervous as I mentally calculated what he had said everything was worth.

The stones and pieces of jewelry took him a little longer to appraise, as he had to inspect each piece with his little eyepiece that Mom called a jeweler's loupe. When he was done with everything, he looked up and smiled. First, he pointed to the seven coins he had separated. "If these were in perfect mint condition, they would probably be worth around thirty-five thousand each. As they are, I can probably get somewhere around twenty-two to twenty-eight. I'm going to figure them at twenty-six thousand, four hundred. The others are all in the nine to ten thousand range, so I'll give you ninety-five hundred for each of those.

"Platinum is a little over fourteen hundred a ounce, and gold is about fifteen-fifty right now. The silver is only worth about twenty-seven an ounce. I still want fifteen percent for the coins, jewelry, and stones, but only ten percent for the bars. You can see the number I have on the jewelry and stones, so how do you want the money?"

I didn't need to think about this as I had already made up my mind. "The hundred thousand in cash you suggested yesterday will be fine. We'll do the rest as we discussed and do a direct deposit, if that's good for you?"

While the man made out the form for the direct deposit and used his computer to make the transaction, he told me, "I want to thank you, Mr. Grayson. Your business is very profitable to me, as you can imagine. The coins will make me money, but I'll sell a lot of other coins while people are drooling over these. I sure hope you have more as some of these are very valuable."