“Told you,” Sorrow exclaimed, but Billy saw the humor in her eyes. It’d been just what she needed.
Billy lowered the tree limb down the hole—the thing must’ve been a good twenty feet long, and it scraped along the ceiling of the mine as he shoved it down. Dust and bits of rope showered onto Sorrow, and she looked away, shutting her eyes tight. Debris pelted his neck and back, but he didn’t budge—he refused to take his eyes from her.
He worried the branch might snap, but it was dead not rotted, and thankfully still had enough resilience to bend. Unfortunately, that also meant it’d be too spindly at the top to support Sorrow’s weight. But, leaned against one side of the ladder, it offered enough traction for her to shimmy up. He didn’t need her to go far, just high enough for him to grab hold. She scrambled, and he held his breath. Finally she was within reach.
“Grab my hand, Sorrow. I got you. ”
“Reach, girl,” her dad echoed. “You’re there. ”
She hooked the elbow of her broken arm around the remains of one of the rungs, wincing with the effort. She strained her good hand up until her fingers brushed his arm. Billy grasped her forearm and scooted backward, hauling her up and over.
Still lying on the ground, he swept her into an embrace, careful of her broken wrist. He gazed at her, drinking in the sight of her, safe in his arms. Her face was filthy, there were cobwebs in her hair, and there was a goose egg on her head the size of a baseball. But Billy didn’t see any of that—all he knew was that he was looking at his future bride. “You’re one helluva woman, you know that, Sorrow Bailey?”
“I know it,” she said, smiling broadly. “Oh, and Sheriff? I love you, too. ”
Bear turned to give them privacy. “If you kids are done, let’s get the hell out of here. I’ve got a neck to wring. I plan on killing Damien Simmons with my bare hands. ”
“It wasn’t Damien’s fault,” she said as Billy helped her stand. She swayed as she got her legs under her, and he held her close.
“Like hell it wasn’t Damien,” Bear snarled. “He brought you here, didn’t he?”
“No, Dad. My falling was an accident. ” Sorrow clung to Billy for balance as they made their way from the mine, and he thought he might never let her go again. “I think he ate something that made him sick. ”
“Something from his parents, I’ll bet. ”
“Wait”—she stopped—“What? Dabney and Phoebe sent us cookies. How’d you know?”
Billy pressed on, walking as he talked. “All the problems at the lodge, Laura’s hit-and-run…it was Damien’s dad. He’s been sabotaging you all along. ” He felt her stagger, and hoisted her higher, taking more of her weight. “We need to get you to the hospital. ”
“You need to tell me what happened,” she insisted. She was striding along the path, looking nothing like a woman who’d spent the afternoon trapped in a mineshaft.
He shook his head—there was no stopping her. “Dabney wanted your land. At first he wanted the timber. But then he found out about the gold. ”
“But that mine isn’t on our land,” Bear said.
Sorrow added, “And Damien told me it was a failure anyway. ”
“It’s true,” Billy said. “The lode was played out, and that mine was a failure. Thing is, that wasn’t the mother lode. The mother lode is on Bailey acreage. ”
“Holy cow,” Sorrow exclaimed. “Are you saying there’s gold on our land?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying. ”
“How do you know?”
“Once I learned that Dabney knew about the mine, from there, it was a no-brainer. There aren’t many surveyors around. It took me fifteen minutes to track down the one he worked with, out of Sacramento. Modern technology makes things like prospecting a whole other ball game. They found gold—a high-grade vein. ”
“I still don’t get how Dabney could’ve done all this,” Sorrow said. “He was with us in the kitchen when the oven exploded. It was his car that got hit when Helen spun out on the black ice. ”
“Dabney didn’t do it alone. He had help from his family gardener. The man has a record as long as your arm. ”
“Crazy,” Sorrow exclaimed. “But you know what’s crazier…we’re rich. ”
“Easy,” Bear said. “That ain’t how it works. My granddad was panning for gold before Dabney Simmons was a light in his mama’s eye. We’re all sitting on gold out here. It’s the mining of it that’s hard. Dabney’s too much the fool to know that. ” He turned to Billy, getting back on point. “So if it’s my land, why pick on my daughter?”
Billy took a moment to help both of them navigate down the ravine. “It makes sense. Despite my doubts, it seems our Damien is a decent guy. ” He put his arm around Sorrow’s waist, adjusting her arm to take most of her weight. “Every one of those accidents at the lodge drove the two of you closer. When you had trouble, Damien came to your rescue. The more accidents you had, the closer you got. If you’d eventually married the guy, the mine would’ve become just another part of the Simmons empire. Or at least your share of it would have. ”
“Well then why try to run me over? I can’t marry Damien if I’m dead. ”