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Grimm read, “Soon, you will find the tracks in the dust, leading to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.”
Dezi pointed at the loose dust accumulated on the floor and the footprints leading toward a wall of solid stone. “Did someone find my uncle’s treasure before us?”
Grimm walked up to the wall, avoiding stepping on the tracks in the sand. The footprints stopped eighteen inches short of the wall. He reached out and brushed his fingers across the smooth sand without the footprints. He encountered sharp corners a couple inches beneath the sand. Using his hands, he scooped sand away from a metal box much like the one her uncle had left in Eugene’s care. It had a lock just like the other.
Grimm shook the box. Nothing rattled in it like the first one. He laid it on the ground at Dezi’s feet. “Do you want to do the honors?”
She dropped to her knees and rolled the numbers on the lock to match those on her grandfather’s left arm. The lock disengaged.
Dezi looked across to Grimm. “No matter what’s in this box, I wish I could thank my uncle for sending me on this adventure. It’s given me a greater appreciation for who he was, what motivated him and how much he must have loved me to gift me with this challenge.”
She reached for Grimm’s hand. “Mostly, I’d thank him for initiating this hunt that brought you into my life. No matter what happens from this day forward, I will have amazing memories of our time together and cherish them always.”
Grimm squeezed her hand gently. “The treasure for me has been you. I will never regret going on this mad quest for treasure with you. You’ve shown me how to be brave in the face of your deepest fears and how to let myself be happy with someone. Even if that box is filled with gold, it's our time together that’s worth the most to me.”
Tears filled Dezi’s eyes.
“Open the box.” Grimm glanced down at his watch. “We’re closing in on our thirty minutes. If we don’t get back soon, Chad and Hank will have my team, the Brotherhood Protectors and the National Guard out here to rescue us from a fate worse than death.”
Dezi laughed and opened the box. A single envelope rested at the bottom of the box. The name on the front readDezi Thomas.
Dezi opened the envelope and pulled out a sheet of paper much like the one the original letter had been written on. Her uncle’s bold handwriting was scrawled across the page.
Her eyes filled with tears as she read what he’d written. For Grimm, she read it aloud.
Dear Dezi,
You always have been and always will be my favorite niece. Just because you’re my only niece doesn’t make my favoritism any less valued. You always treated me with respect and love when other family members chose to criticize and condemn me for following my dreams.
We all march to the beat of different drums. I never marched in step with the rest of my family. I loved them anyway. And I loved you.
I hope you arrived at this letter, having gained an understanding of me, but more importantly, an understanding of yourself.
My best advice to you would be to love yourself before you love another. But don’t stop there. Find someone to love for life so that you don’t spend it alone. The greatest treasure of all is love. Don’t squander it on someone who does not love you in return. Find it in friendships, in family and in beloved pets. Just find it.
No, this wasn’t a pot of gold, but then, not all riches come in the form of gold.
I hope that you will remember me with love as I will always hold you in my heart even beyond this mortal life we live.
Love, your uncle
Leon Thomas
Tears trickleddown Dezi’s cheeks as she folded the letter, tucked it into the envelope and slipped it into her jacket pocket. “Best gift ever.” She pushed to her feet and brushed the moisture from her face.
“Come on,” Grimm slipped his arm around her. “Let’s get out of here.”
They retraced their steps, careful where they knew to be careful in the mine’s tunnel.
When they reached the door leading into the bottom of the boarding house, Grimm paused with his hand on the doorknob. “Now that you’ve found your uncle’s treasure, and whoever was looking for it, too, learns that it has been found, you won’t need full-time protection anymore.”
She hooked her hand through the crook of his elbow and leaned into his arm. “I don’t want this to be the end of our story. We get along so well and rarely disagree. And I could cook anything you like because the best way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Please tell me you still want to see me.”
Grimm chuckled. “Woman I was going to ask you on a date.”
She looked up at him, her eyes wide. “Really?”
“Yes. Just let me get a word in edgewise.” He shook his head. “Dezi Thomas, will you go on a date with me?”
