Page 43 of Under an Oklahoma Sky

She ran to him and threw her arms around his neck when he bent down to pick her up.

“Are you okay? Nothing hurts?”

“Uh-huh.”

He set her on her feet and ran his hands over her arms and legs, checking for any obvious injuries. Other than some dirt and mud on her clothes and a few minor scrapes, she appeared to be fine.

Taking the flashlight from her, he swept the beam around the cave. It was much bigger than he’d expected and extended far back into the hill above the pond. As the light moved across the bedrock on the other side of a large pool of water, something that appeared hand-crafted caught his eye. He couldn’t tell what it was since the wall curved around into what looked like a small alcove.

With the cable now slack, he disconnected it from the rope around his chest, leaving the makeshift harness in place for the trip back up. “Stay here a second, sweetheart. I’ll be right back.”

From above, Sage asked, “What is it, Adam?”

“I don’t know. There’s something down here. Hang on.”

He walked along the soft, muddy bank, staying close to the wall so he didn’t step into the water. He couldn’t tell how deep it was and didn’t want to find out the hard way. Every scuff of his boots echoed through the cave.

When he reached the alcove, he aimed the flashlight inside. “What the…?”

Five boxes—three wooden and two steel—filled much of the roughly five-by-five-foot space. From the amount of dirt and mold covering them, they’d been there for a very long time. The wood had rotted, and when he tugged on one lid, part of it crumbled beneath his fingers.

The flashlight beam glinted off the contents.

He stared, then blinked several times, unable to believe his own eyes.

It was mind-boggling.

Jenna repeated her mother’s earlier question. “What is it, Adam?”

A grin spread across his face as he glanced over his shoulder at her. “I think you found buried treasure.”

Chapter Sixteen

Sage was still in shock as she stared at the pile of silver bullion and the two steel boxes filled with Civil War-era gold coins in the bank’s large vault. After getting Jenna and Adam out of the cave yesterday, she thought he was crazy when he told her and Evan what was down there. But then he’d pulled a large silver bar from the back waistband of his jeans, and she’d been at a loss for words.

Using downed tree limbs and some small bushes, they’d covered the opening until they could make a few phone calls. When they reached the house, Adam insisted she call her lawyer first. Robert Taft had been the Hammond family attorney since Mark was a little boy, and she trusted him implicitly. He’d rushed over and, after letting out a long whistle at their incredible discovery, had gotten busy researching Oklahoma law regarding treasure found on private property.

According to what he’d learned, as long as there was no evidence the treasure belonged to the government, a bank or business, or an identifiable person or their heirs, it belonged to the Hammonds. The only party guaranteed to come knocking on her door was the IRS, which would take a substantial share.

Of course they would.

This morning, she, Adam, and Evan had returned to the cave with Ashley and Chris to retrieve the rest of the treasure. It took over two hours to bring everything to the surface and load it onto two flat trailers attached to the ATVs. Once they returned it to the house, they broke open the steel boxes and discovered both were filled with gold coins.

At Sage’s insistence, her lawyer joined them at the ranch again while they went through everything. None of the boxes or their contents indicated where the treasure came from or who had hidden it in the cave.

Which meant it belonged to her and her children.

Even now, the thought made her head spin.

Based on the information Adam and Chris found online, she was now a millionaire. A multi-millionaire. The preliminary estimate was somewhere around ten million dollars, give or take a million, based on the number of silver bars and gold coins they’d painstakingly counted.

Ten million dollars.

A week ago, she’d been worried about making her mortgage payments and replacing her totaled truck. Now, she stood in a bank vault, staring at enough money to secure her children’s futures and ensure Heaven’s Pastures remained in the Hammond family for generations.

How could a person’s life change so completely in such a short time?

Mr. Taft had contacted Lyle Dillinger and arranged for him to secure the treasure in the bank’s main vault until they could properly evaluate everything and complete the necessary paperwork. He’d explained that the silver could be sold through a dealer specializing in precious-metal bullion, while experts should evaluate the gold coins before offering them through a reputable auction house. He would start making calls in the morning and arrange for the appraisers to examine everything.