Memories of Gold (6 page)

Then he realized that he had no plan as to how to proceed. The cakes seemed silly now that they were sitting together, but that was the only thing he had planned despite all the time he’d spent thinking about her arrival. As if she read his mind, she turned to him, her expression eager.

“We have the entire day together, do we not?”

When he agreed, she continued, “Then I think we should go visit some of our old haunts. I haven’t seen some of them since you left, and it’s a nice day to walk around a bit, don’t you think?”

The thought of their secret hiding places, the quiet spots they had discovered after hours of searching, made his heart swell. Jimmy slapped his hands on his legs and rose from his seat. “That sounds perfect. Let’s go explore, Lady Maria.”

He held out his hands to her, which she grasped and hoisted herself out of the low chair, her body so close to his when she stood that he considered wrapping his arms around her in another hug. Instead, he turned toward the door, letting one hand fall, but keeping the other entwined with hers.

They stepped out into the bright summer morning and he paused, unsure where to turn. They could walk through the middle of the town and out to the river, or they could cross through side streets and make their way to a peaceful grove of trees. It was important to be seen in town, as the interim bank manager, but would it seem inappropriate to be holding hands with an unmarried woman? The protocol of the situation made him pause. He couldn’t let the discovery of his Maria—no matter how wonderful the discovery was—to jeopardize his advancement with the company, after all.

Maria made the decision for him, turning and walking away from the center of town, pulling him with her. After living here all her life, she would know what was best, so he trusted her choice. It was odd thinking of himself as a stranger, but in many ways he was.

She broke the silence as they threaded around buildings, quickly moving away from the busy areas of Shasta. “I always loved our forest; I hope it hasn’t changed too much.”

Jimmy followed her lead, and together they strolled through small dusty streets and out into the wild grass beyond the town. He could see the mining camp far to his right, butting against the town, but still separate. It looked dirty and hot and gray, and he was grateful he and Mary had managed to escape that place of desperate greed.

Their hideout, a small clump of thin trees Maria had always called “the forest,” stood tall and strong far ahead of them. Soon the tree trunks gained definition and separated, and he could see greater detail of the area, each object tugging at his heartstrings. Here was the tree he had taught her to climb and out of which she had promptly fallen. There was the clearing where they had held meetings of the highest importance and played blind man’s bluff. It was all so familiar.

Maria stopped walking to look at it, and Jimmy paused beside her. When she spoke, her breath was little more than a whisper. “Tell me about the magic.”

Jimmy hadn’t felt this calm and content for a very long time, and his voice deepened as he repeated the words he had said so often. “These trees aren’t just any trees, Maria. They are special. They’re our trees and nobody else’s, and they do hold magic for you and me. When we make wishes here, next to our trees, they hear us and gather up the wishes. Someday, they’ll let all the wishes go and everything we hope for will come true.”

His voice faded as he looked at the area around them. He didn’t know when he’d made up that thing about the wishes, but by the time he was nine, he had perfected the phrasing, and Maria always loved to hear him repeat it. Then she would make a wish to the trees before bounding off on another adventure.

Jimmy turned to her and saw that her eyes were shut tight, her lips pinched together, as if she was thinking with all the force she could muster. He was curious what she was doing, but waited. It seemed like whatever she was doing, it was important.

Although Mary knew the magic of the trees was one of Jimmy’s fantastic inventions, she centered all her thoughts into one wish, one hope, that she would never lose Jimmy again. She pictured telling him about what she did at Daisy’s and prayed he would understand.

She sent her wish into the trees, let out the breath she had been holding and looked up at Jimmy to find him watching her. She considered telling him the truth right at that moment, then dismissed the idea. It was too soon. She wasn’t ready.

She smiled up at him and tilted her head in the direction of the trees. “How ‘bout we keep moving and get out of the sun? Seems silly to stop out here in the blazing sun when the forest is so close.”

He chuckled and shook his head. “You still sound like a miner, did you know that? And it’s not a forest. I’m fairly certain I have told you that at least a hundred times.”

She shrugged and began walking again, glad he hadn’t asked what she had been up to when she was wishing. Getting out of explaining would have been difficult. It was easier to push that topic away for the time being and enjoy the day. The shade of the trees was cool and pleasant, and she leaned against one of her favorites with a sigh.

Jimmy’s voice broke through the quiet. “Is that the one you named Ralph or some such thing?”

Mary laughed, startled by the memory. She had forgotten about having named all the trees. Most of their names switched and morphed depending on the day, but a few had stayed consistent. Like Ralph. “Yessir, it is. How did you remember this tree was Ralph?”

Jimmy looked at her as if the answer was obvious. “You always liked leaning up against Ralph, just like that. I thought it was a ridiculous name for a tree, but now I see it. He is definitely a Ralph.”

The hours passed as they explored the area with old memories and new eyes. They laughed and reminisced about their capers and adventures, found old hideouts and replayed different memories. It was early afternoon when Maria turned to him abruptly and said, “Goodness, do you have the time?”

Jimmy looked at his pocket watch, startled by how quickly the hours had flown. “Do you think we have time for one more jaunt before you need to get back to town?”

Maria was hungry—they had completely skipped lunch—and wanted to see Emma before returning to Daisy’s by dusk, but the long summer days gave her plenty of time to do it all. At her nod of agreement, Jimmy began walking out of the grove and even further from town, Maria’s hand still nestled in his.

It only took a few moments for her to realize where they were going, and her heart skipped a beat. It was an important place to their childhood selves, even more important than the forest. They had only gone there a few times after they had discovered it, but each time was very solemn. He was taking her to the Promise Rock.

When they arrived, she felt a little disappointed. The giant and imposing rock that meant so much to her younger self now appeared to be an average-sized boulder, certainly nothing spectacular. But when Jimmy turned to her, his expression serious, she felt the meaning of it in her heart.

He took her free hand in his and stood before her, his head bowed. He looked like a groom solemnizing his vows in front of an altar. She realized with a shocking thrill that, if that were so, she was the bride. She waited to hear what he would say.

He said, “Maria, I promised you a decade ago, in this spot, that I would find you again someday.”

Part of her wanted to laugh at the gravity with which he took a young boy’s promise, but she couldn’t help but get sucked in by his serious demeanor. She waited to hear what he would say next.

After a brief pause, he continued. “I have finally fulfilled that promise, and I’m so thankful I did. You are every bit as wonderful as you were back then and much more.”

He trailed off and she blushed. The moment became awkward and they dropped their hands. He seemed unsure what to say next. He rubbed the back of his neck and resumed a normal tone. “I’m sorry, this is silly—”

“No. I mean, it is, yes, but I like silly. That was an important moment for me, too. I kept looking for you, you know. Waiting for you to turn up. And here you are.”

He coughed and seemed sheepish at her sentiment. Mary didn’t know what to do to break the tension, so she continued in a solemn tone, saying the incantation they had invented so many years before. “You have fulfilled your promise to me, James Parker. May you go in peace.”

He laughed and pulled her into a hug. Mary pressed against him for a second, reveling in his feel and smell, then separated reluctantly. She looked down, not wanting to meet his eyes for fear he would see what was lurking in hers. When she started to turn away from the rock, though, his hand grasped hers again, a feeling that was becoming much too pleasant and familiar. “Hold on,” he said, “We’re not done.”

She turned to look at him, and he pressed his hand to the rock, the proper way to make a true promise. He said, “I promise you, Maria Fisher, that I won’t disappear again. Whatever happens, you won’t ever need to wait for me again.”

His expression was so earnest that it took all her effort not to hug him again. She could only nod, at a loss for words.

The walk back was quiet. Mary felt more content than she had in, well, longer than she would like to think. But there was also the darkness lurking deep inside her, the worry that he would ask about her work, the guilt about keeping the information from him. It was like a ball of ice sitting on her stomach, the one bad feeling in a sea of good.

Jimmy wasn’t sure what had made him do it. A whim had caught him and pulled him to the rock with an almost uncontrollable urge. He didn’t want to disappear from her again, but would he have a choice? His employment at the town bank would likely be finished in a week or two, and then what? He couldn’t simply abandon San Francisco and his ambitions to stay here in Shasta.

When he glanced over at Maria, a small smile dancing along her lips, thoughts of San Francisco and the big dream house seemed far away. Two possible lives were warring inside him, and he couldn’t say which would win.

When they arrived at his boarding house, she promised to meet him the next morning—his last free day before he needed to begin his position in the bank—at an outcropping of caves, another landmark of their childhood, before taking her leave. He wanted to pull her into his arms, but held his distance for fear that he’d never want to let her go.

Mary left as Jimmy disappeared into the house, trudging slowly back to the town, to her life. Every ounce of her wanted to go the other direction, but she was too level-headed to falter. She had gotten through the first few weeks at the saloon, even though the memory of those times still sent a shudder through her, and she could get through this, too.

Before going to the saloon for the evening, she took a short trip over to see Emma. She was somewhat better than she had been the day before, though still reticent and quick to disappear into her own head, and Mary left after only a few minutes.

Then it was back to Daisy’s, no matter how much her insides balked at the idea.

Chapter 4

The next morning, Jimmy bounded out of bed, refreshed and so happy he could hardly think straight. The day before had been so perfect, his time with Maria so wonderful, that he had difficulty believing it was real. And he would get more time with her again today. It was more than he could have hoped for.

Once he was dressed and had eaten and packed a small bag for the day, he left, heading to the caves. She would most likely make the trek hours later, though they had not set a specific time, but he needed time to walk and think, and it was a beautiful warm morning.

He strode with rapid movements out of the town center, happy to get into the fields and grasses that surrounded Shasta. He never felt quite as much like his childhood self as when he walked through open spaces and breathed the fresh clean air, not yet stale from bodies and horses. In San Francisco, he was an adult, and for a very good reason, but there was something refreshing about wandering through the open country.

The caves were only a short distance from his boarding house, so he was still full of energy when he arrived. Setting his bag carefully on the ground, he hiked above the caves and looked out into the distance toward the town. The houses and buildings and other trappings of town life spread out before him, tiny and indefinite.

Then he spotted something that grabbed his attention: a small, dark-haired figure in a yellow dress, walking in his direction. His heart leapt; it had to be Maria, far earlier than he had expected. He began to climb down, eager to see her, and reached the mouth of their cave as she arrived.

“I didn’t expect you to be here quite this early. It seems you managed to change your habit of sleeping through the loveliest part of the day. You must have started going to sleep at a reasonable hour at some point.”

She didn’t answer, but he took no notice. He was already turning to the cave mouth, studying it. “How many times do you think we got lost in there, sure we would never see the light of day?”

“A hundred or more, most likely,” she responded in a strained voice.

He turned and studied her for the first time; there were dark circles under her eyes that had not been there the day before, and she looked fatigued. He led her to a nearby rock under the shade of a giant tree—a chair they had shared many a time as children—and helped her onto it, hoping a rest would restore her spirits. He sat next to her, the rock too small for both of them as adults, so their bodies pressed together. He felt the thrill of their closeness, but forced his attention to stay on his concerns. “Are you well, Maria?”