The Whippoorwill Trilogy - Sharon Sala Page 0,318

cabin at the other side of the valley, breath caught in the back of her throat. She found herself looking for Eulis, half-expecting him to step out of the entrance to the mine and wave her on, just as he’d done so many times before.

Robert Lee heard the change in her breathing and got a glimpse of tears in her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” he said softly.

Letty sighed.

“Oh, Robert Lee… so am I. So am I.”

When they reached the cabin, he helped her down from the wagon.

“I think I’ll just take a quick look inside,” she said, and hurried forward before he could follow.

Robert Lee knew she was saying goodbye to more than the mine, and wisely kept his distance.

It was dark inside, and Letty left the door standing open as she entered. It wasn’t the same as when she and Eulis had lived there, and soon realized that Robert Lee had put his own stamp on the place. In a way, it made leaving it easier.

She glanced back out the door, making sure they were still alone, then moved to the far wall of the cabin where she’d first found the old entrance to the mine. Only when she tried, the door that had been hidden in the wall was no longer there. She didn’t know that, at Eulis’ orders, Robert Lee had rebuilt it. Now, the only entrance into the mine was the newer one that had been dug outside the cabin to connect with the old shaft, which lay about a hundred yards away from the south wall.

She stood inside the darkened room, eyeing the bed where Eulis had nearly died from the smallpox that had swept through Denver City on their first winter, remembering the injured wolf she’d fought and killed outside their door. They’d had nothing to eat but deer and elk meat all winter. She still disliked the taste.

Wind whistled through the open door, and for a moment, she imagined she heard a soft, keening sigh, but when she turned, all she saw was Robert Lee unloading the dynamite from the wagon. Lifting her chin, she walked out of the cabin, closing the door behind her without looking back.

Within the hour, Robert Lee had the dynamite in place. He’d tied up the mules several hundred yards from the blast sight and left Letty with them.

He didn’t know if what she was doing was the right thing to do, but he didn’t question her right to do it. She’d found the damned mine. It had made her rich, and in turn, the wealth she’d garnered from it had widowed her. He didn’t blame her for wanting to put an end to what must seem like a vicious cycle.

He glanced back at her once.

She waved an okay.

He turned around, took a deep breath, lit the long fuses, and ran like hell.

The first blast rocked the ground beneath their feet.

The second one caused the outer layer of the mountain above the mine entrance to crumble.

When the third one went off, the entrance was already gone. By the time the earth and rocks had stopped falling, tons of debris had settled between them and the gold.

Letty stared at the dust cloud and the rocks. The blast had laid waste to a large portion of the front of the mountain, leaving bare a wound where grass and trees had once been. In time, the grass would grow back, and unless someone knew what had been there before, it would be next to impossible to imagine the riches hidden deep within.

Robert Lee brushed at the dust on his clothes as he walked back to the wagon.

Letty was standing beside the seat, her eyes bright with unshed tears.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

She looked at him briefly and then shook her head.

The expression on her face broke his heart.

“I’m sorry it came to this,” he said gently.

Before he knew what was happening, she lowered her head against his chest. A moment of shock swept through him, and then he wrapped his arms around her and held her while she wept.

Rock A Bye Baby

Shock reverberated throughout Denver City as news spread of the explosion at the Potter mine.

Letty promptly sent a telegram to Major Carson Mylam of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Explosion destroys Potter Mine. Stop. Leticia Murphy Potter.

Carson received it during a meeting with his commanding officer, General Titus Morris. He turned pale, handed the telegram to Morris, and then looked out the window toward the soldiers marching on the parade ground. The telegram was nothing