Page 91 of The Hermit on the Hill

Sam looked entirely overwhelmed. "Jared's going to vaccinate Catrick against rabies so I won't have to worry so much about him hanging around here, when…" He shook his head. "I'll make the call. You start digging."

He pointed toward the orchard, the trees heavy with apples, the ground littered with them, some whole, some rotting, bees buzzing around them all, and I realized for the first time that there were posts with signs attached to them stuck in the ground in a semicircle in the center of the orchard.

"Start with number one," Sam said. "I'll come over as soon as I can."

"What is going on?" I asked, thoroughly confused.

"Just dig. I'll be quick."

"Come on." May linked her arm through mine, grabbed the shovels from Sam, and led me to the first hole.

I dragged my feet getting there. This wasn't the treasure hunt he'd promised. Sam was up to something, and May was helping him, no matter what she said about being on my side.

I stuck my shovel into the disturbed dirt below the signpost, which held a poster board with the number one and the words 'start here' written in black marker. I glanced across the orchard and, yep, Catrick was watching us, his yellow eyes unwavering in their intensity.

"Do you have any idea what's going on here?"

May shrugged. "I'm thinking this is grand gesture territory, but I've been wrong before."

I stopped mid-dig and straightened to look my sister in the eye. "Grand gesture territory? What does that mean?"

"It means he wants to win you back. He realized he screwed up, and he wants to make it up to you."

"Win me back? May, he straight out told me he doesn't love me, has never loved me. He just got caught up in the idea of being a family and he let himself believe he cared for me."

His words hadn't rung true when he'd said them and I doubted them even more now, but I couldn't allow myself even a hint of hope.

May chewed on her lower lip and glanced toward the part of the woods Sam had walked into for his phone call. He was out of sight, but his deep voice drifted over to us.

May turned back to the hole and pushed her shovel into the dirt. "No way to know until we find out what's buried in this hole."

I stood frozen, watching her dig. What the hell had I gotten myself into?

A soft metal clang rang out and May dropped to her knees. "Found it."

She pulled out an old metal tackle box and my mouth went dry. I twisted my hands together, dying to know what was in that box, but afraid of what would be there.

"Want me to open it?" She asked gently.

I nodded.

She flipped the latch, opened the box, and pulled out a very familiar journal.

"Mrs. Oakley's journal." I squatted next to May.

"She would have wanted you to have it." Sam's deep voice rumbled. "She'd want our son to know her through its pages."

I couldn't look at him, so I stared at the journal as tears filled my eyes. "You could show it to him yourself. Tell him about his great grandmother."

"You're better suited for the job. I grew up with Nana, but you love her magic and her charms and her old-world beliefs in a way I can never do justice. I'll tell him about the mother and grandmother she was to me. You'll read him the journal and tell him about the magic."

I let out a breath. So he wasn't cutting himself entirely out of our son's life. Holding the journal, I got to my feet and faced Sam. "Thank you, but I don't understand. I thought we were going to dig up your grandmother's treasure."

His smile was sad. "We'll get to that, but I have a couple more treasures for you I buried myself."

"That's, um… Why? You could just give them to me."

Sam shook his head. "I thought you'd like it better this way, and I wasn't sure you'd take them otherwise." He took the journal and gave me the shovel. "Time for number 2."

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