Alvarado Gold by Victoria Pitts-Caine Read Free Book Online Page B

California.
    It felt to me as if the four of us were being scattered by the wind, blown like so much dust. Even though I knew we’d all be brought together at least once more at the end of the summer in Barnesville, I wanted to hold on to what we’d found in each other. I needed to believe the fragility of my newly acquired family would become strong and the wounds would heal. What our parent’s had failed to hold together, possibly the four of us could. To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven.

Chapter Seven
    Susan shook me awake. A nonsensical dream crept through the shadowy corners of my brain. Donnie chased me through a graveyard as I aimlessly ran and stumbled across the Texas prairie, the tortoiseshell box clamped in my arms. I shook off sleep, glad to be free of the irritating nightmare and what it either meant or foretold.
    “We’re landing; buckle up.”
    “Are we in Sacramento already?” I yawned. “I’m glad you woke me. I had a crazy dream about Donnie.”
    “Are you worried about him, Addie?”
    “Not really. I just can’t piece everything together. Maybe when I look through some of the paperwork and old letters I sent home this will all make more sense.” Maybe I can figure out what Gary Wright’s part is.
    The overhead speaker crackled and the flight attendant repeated his canned speech, “Welcome to Sacramento, California, temperature 85 degrees. For those passengers flying on to San Jose, the flight resumes in twenty-five minutes.”
    “This is it, Susan. I guess I’ll see you in September.” I smiled up at her as she took a box from the overhead compartment. “One day you need to tell me why you were so infatuated with the dress.”
    “Brad and I have a wedding anniversary soon. I thought I’d wear it then.” Susan smiled shyly. “We’re renewing our vows.”
    “No kidding. I’d better be invited. Also, I want to hear all about it. I’ll call you next week.”
    She turned and waved. As she reached the doors, her eyes shone.
    After the short hop to San Jose, I felt the wheels skid on the tarmac. The pilot taxied to a stop. As I daydreamed, lost, deep in thought, I knew Brad would meet Susan at the airport and, three thousand miles away, Richard retrieved Mel. I felt a pang of envy. There wouldn’t be anyone who waited for me, not even a best friend. I’d pick up Mollie on my way home at the kennel I’d sentenced her to in my absence. As close to me as I’d let anyone or anything be, I missed the shaggy mutt.
    The old gray Ford, covered with two weeks of dust, looked really good when I spotted it in the south parking lot, number K-14. Not that I’d thought anyone would steal a twelve-year-old car, but it comforted me to see it stayed where I’d left it.
    I drove the six blocks to the kennel with the window down but with no radio blaring, which was my usual style. I needed to think. I didn’t need any distraction and the breeze would clear my head. I had a lot to mull over about the trip back to Texas. And for some gnawing reason in the back of my brain, I knew I’d find something else in one of those boxes of papers I’d sent home. I always had a sixth sense about things, bells going off, little “ah oh” voices and second hunches.
    Jack, my ex-boss, felt my hunches kept me adept at restoration. I always knew what kind of chemicals to use on what papers and how to preserve things just exactly right. I’d let my intuition carry me more than once through a sticky situation. I was going to have to use that gut feeling to get me through the rest of the summer, too.
    When she saw me, Mollie nearly knocked me over while she delivered slobbery, dog breath kisses. She is a short, stocky dog the vet termed “German Shepherd and who knows what else.” Except for the pointed nose, she didn’t look much like a German Shepherd. Her tail curled, longish fur split down the middle of her back and her legs were short and squatty. The fact she was built