off to attend the service, but no time to socialize afterward. The work on the barn couldn’t wait any longer. By now, the rubble had been cleared off the foundation, and, with the help of Sky’s construction crew, the walls were being framed. So far, the cold, dry weather had held. But nobody had forgotten the norther that had frozen the pastures and paralyzed the ranch for days. Another storm could blow in at any time.
Will had driven his pickup to the funeral, with Jasper riding shotgun and Sky, Lauren, and Erin crowded into the backseat. Now, as they turned off the main road and onto the gravel drive that led up to the house, Will remembered Lauren’s invitation. Last night she’d announced that she had a surprise to show him, something that had to be seen by daylight—something that couldn’t wait.
There’d been no need to explain. Today was Monday. With the trial on Wednesday, and so many things left undone, Will’s time was running out.
Pressed by the need to get the barn up, Will had tried to put her off. But Lauren had been insistent. Sky, newly home from the hospital, had backed her. So had Jasper, who seemed to know more than he was telling. “It’s a damned conspiracy,” Will groused. But he couldn’t help being intrigued. Something was up—and there was only one way to find out what it was.
Half an hour later, they’d changed out of their funeral clothes and met again on the porch, wearing warm coats, gloves, and hats. Jasper was tired after the funeral, and Sky was under doctor’s orders to rest, so the two of them wouldn’t be going along. But Beau had gotten wind of the adventure and declared himself in. He’d even offered to drive the secondhand Kawasaki four-seater UTV that Will had bought at auction last year, when the ranch was flush. The big, rugged four-wheeler had already been put up for sale. All the more reason to use it while they still could.
Will waited on the porch with his daughter and Lauren while Beau found the open-topped vehicle in the shed, started it up, and brought it around to the front of the house. Minutes later, they’d left the heart of the ranch and were rolling across the scrub-dotted flat toward the foothills that rimmed the escarpment.
Seated next to Beau on the front passenger seat, Will found himself savoring the sunlight on his face, the cold wind biting his skin, the smells of sage and earth, and the faint, distant ring of hammers. The ice storm had blasted the landscape, leaving behind a frost-bleached wilderness. But even here there was life. Clumps of sage and cedar, impervious to the cold, still held their muted autumn colors. Jackrabbits bounded ahead of the massive tires, zigzagging off into the brush when they wearied of the game. A ground squirrel, less bold, flashed across the trail and darted into its hole.
The late-day sun blazed above the caprock. A golden eagle flapped off its kill to circle upward on wings as broad as a tall man’s reach. Will’s senses embraced all these things, holding them in memory, to keep for when he needed a place for his mind to go.
The vehicle’s engine drowned out any attempt at conversation. Only when Beau turned onto a familiar trail did Will realize where they were headed. This was the way to the petroglyph canyon, with its bitterly disputed side-branch and rumored Spanish gold.
His pulse quickened as Beau parked at the mouth of the canyon, where the trail ended. From here the only way to go was on foot. It had occurred to him that Lauren might be planning to deed her land back to the Rimrock. But she could’ve done that at the ranch. Why drag him clear out here on a frigid and busy day?
They climbed out of the vehicle and trudged single file up the narrow, rocky path. Erin was walking just ahead of him. Will touched her shoulder. “What’s this all about?” he asked her. “Did you and Lauren find the Spanish gold?”
“Not really. You’ll see.” With a toss of her ponytail, she strode ahead, following Beau and Lauren.
In the sheltered petroglyph canyon, the sound of trickling water echoed off the high walls. A covey of quail, drinking at the spring, whirred away at their approach.
Silent now, they turned aside and followed the water’s path upward to the level of the smaller canyon. There they stopped. “This is what I wanted to