Halls', exhausted by a good day's work, the thought reverberated through her mind so loudly it was almost audible.
Mr. Allessandro had promised her land, a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres near a town called Harrison. He owned it outright, so he had boasted to Papa. Was it hers now? Was her marriage legal enough for her to claim it? Could she sell it, live on it, farm it? Who would know?
She had to find out, but first she had to see Tonio, ached to see Tonio. Word had gotten round to Al that Tonio was back and holed up at the Hole, working sunup to sundown. What did it mean that he hadn't come to see her? She wondered if he knew that Mr. Allessandro was dead. Probably not. How would he? She would see him. She would tell him and hope for the best.
The next morning, Angelina convinced Al to let her ride with him in the engine of his train to Burke. He dropped her off in the one-road town where his friend and partner, Gus Preston, took her to the mine. The sun baked the hills made for an unusually warm spring day.
When they got to the mine, Gus handed Angelina a floppy felt hat. "You'll need to wear this. It'll keep your head dry. It's wet underground."
Gus surveyed her as she pulled the hat on. He seemed uneasy about a woman going down into the mine. May was a partner but she kept books, Al had told her. She didn't go traipsing down the hole.
"It's dirty and wet down there," Gus said. "People who aren't used to it feel claustrophobic at first."
"Claustrophobic?" There were still many words she didn't know.
"Fearful of small spaces."
She nodded.
He continued. "It's cool in the shafts near the surface, but it gets increasingly warmer the deeper you go. For your safety we won't go down far. I've sent Lou ahead to send Tonio up. Are you ready?"
The mineshaft was exactly as Gus described it. Water dripped off the gray rock walls and echoed down the shafts, bland and unexciting. Nothing spoke of rich deposits of sparkling silver.
The tunnel was tall enough for her to walk upright through, but smaller tunnels shot off in various directions. Underground, she lost her bearings and was thankful for Gus's guidance. The tunnel floor was uneven and potholed and littered with shafts of rock.
"Core samples," Gus said. "We drill into the mine wall and pull out rock samples to send to the assayer. He tells us what we've got and if it's worth drilling farther in that direction."
He stooped and picked one up to show her. "See this one? It's all light-colored stone. You could see better in the daylight." He held it closer to the lamp he held. "Nothing in this sample but layers of stone, no galena. You can see the striation, layers of different kinds of rock and clay. A geologist could tell you exactly how the land was formed from a sample like this."
He continued walking, leaving Angelina vaguely depressed. Where was the galena Tonio sought?
"Will you strike it rich, Gus? Will you find your mother lode?"
He didn't pause for a second. "Absolutely."
"You sound confident."
"If I wasn't I wouldn't be in this venture. We'll find it. It's only a matter of time."
They turned a small bend and descended farther. Angelina spotted Tonio just before Gus pointed. "There he is. Tonio! You have a visitor."
Her breath caught in her throat. Would he be happy to see her?
"Angelina," Tonio said.
She couldn't read his tone. "Tonio."
"I'll leave you two. I've got business up above. Give the lady a good tour, Tonio. Mrs. Allessandro, it was a pleasure." Gus tipped his hat and disappeared up the tunnel.
Tonio wiped the sweat from his brow with the tail of his shirt. Another man would have been embarrassed by being caught half-naked and sweating. Not Tonio. "Angelina? What in…what brings you here? I hadn't expected to—"
"See me again?" She stepped closer to him.
Even in the dim light of the mineshaft, Angelina could discern the dark, piercing appraisal of his gaze. His shirt hung open, exposing a hard chest. Sweat glistened between the well-defined muscles of his chest and slid off his hard belly, creating a perfect curl of hair at his belly button. As always, she trembled slightly, felt the potent magnetic pull he had on her. Pleasure at the sight of him hummed through her. She could not help liking the disquieting effect he had on her.
"I