But she did. That had been her first real exposure to the brothers. To Jericho.
If Jude hadn't called for help, Jericho would have likely sent her and Naomi away at the creek, and they'd never have come to know this family. This remarkable ranch tucked on the side of the mountain.
She would never have fallen for the man she'd once thought would be her sister's husband. God had other plans though.
Right, Lord? Are these feelings from You?She hadn't been able to determine that yet. She only knew they'd swelled to a point that she could no longer pretend they were nothing.
As she stepped into the clearing, her gaze landed on the place where the wagon had sat. The ground where Jonah's body had lain.
She walked toward it, reliving the scene in her mind. She'd been so worried about Naomi, but the Lord had given her sister a place to rest. Now she seemed to be thriving, and the babe within her too.
Dinah’s gaze caught on the shed down the hill at the edge of the clearing. It was mostly tucked into the woods, as though its builder was trying to hide it.
Was that what Jude and Jonah had been doing that day? Storing things in that structure?
Perhaps she should leave it alone, yet curiosity tugged her feet downhill, toward the leaning door.
The weathered wood of the building was marred with cracks and knotholes, though someone had taken the time to fill each with chinking. They wanted this shed to keep out rain and snow, which meant whatever they stored in here needed to stay dry.
A root cellar perhaps? Or a corncrib? Maybe where they kept their supply of meat? But Jericho had said he stored it in a cool corner of the barn.
A wooden latch held the door shut, but it moved aside easily when she lifted it.
Her pulse pounded as she pulled the door open. She should mind her own business. Just because she felt like a significant part of the daily running of this home and ranch didn't mean she could wander anywhere she pleased and poke through hidden buildings.
As she pulled the door open, the sunlight lit the front section, illuminating rows and rows of crates stacked nearly to the top of the small building. Were these supplies? Maybe extra they stored away for the winter?
She stepped in and moved to the nearest box. The lid wasn’t nailed shut, so she could easily lift it and see what they were storing. Hopefully dry foodstuffs like flour and cornmeal. That would make sense with the efforts made to keep the inside of this shed dry.
But neither flour nor cornmeal stared up at her.
Small colored stones. Many of them rounded like they'd come from the creek. And so many colors. Pink and blue and green and yellow…they twinkled in the sunlight.
She reached in to touch them. Had the brothers found them in the creek? They must be special stones to be saved in a crate out here.
She lifted her focus to the other boxes. Did they hold colored stones too? Surely not. There couldn't be so many as to fill all of these.
After carefully lowering the lid back on the first crate, she moved to the end of a row to check another. She had to lift on her tiptoes to see the top of this one, since it was the fourth on a stack. The lid was nailed securely in place.
She moved down the line, checking each cover for looseness. Only one other crate hadn't been secured shut. This one also sat on the ground, as though the brothers weren't finished filling it.
Inside this crate, too, were dozens of colored stones. Most seemed to be blue, though not all. The dim light in the shed made them look a deep midnight color, but when she lifted a few into the rays of sunlight, the richness of their coloring seemed to vary.
What were these?
A movement outside the doorway caught her gaze, and she spun to see.
Jude stepped into the opening, a rifle in his hand, aimed directly at her.
Her heart stopped, and a squeal slipped out before she could stop it.
His eyes flared with surprise. "Dinah. What are you doing in there?" He seemed as shocked to see her as she was to have a gun pointed her direction.
He didn't lower the barrel though.
She swallowed, trying to quell the nerves swirling in her middle. "I…was just…"…combing through your private collections. She scrambled for something better to say. "I mean. I needed to walk, and I saw this shed. I just…"
He stepped back but didn’t drop the muzzle. "Why don't you come out of there?"
