Charlie.
How could something as simple as a touch make me feel like a different person? Maybe not different, but whole. Real and fearless. What was this feeling? And how could I keep it forever?
“Get. It. Away. From.Me!” Liza shrieked, and Charlie pulled back, straightening. “Rosalind!”
I jumped to my feet, my chin still tingling from Charlie’s touch.
Ben chased Liza with something in his hands, while she ran toward us with her skirts hiked up in a run. He stopped short, bent over laughing, while Liza sprinted around me and behind her cousin. “Ihatesnakes!”
“Ben. Leave her be,” I called, though my lips quirked.
He set the thing down close to the pond and rubbed his hands on his breeches. “Have you finished that blasted hole yet, Winston?”
Charlie cleared his throat and tugged on his glove. “Only just.”
“Ladies, if you have no further need of us,” Ben said with a dismissive bow.
I held up a hand. “Wait a moment. Are you not going to bury my treasure with me? Ben, you used to love this.”
“Surely you can cover the box yourself, Ros. Take off your gloves and use the spade to transfer the dirt. It is exactly like gardening.” Ben threw an annoyed glance to Charlie, who laughed. It seemed the two men had decided to forget all about defending both my honor and my feelings.
Charlie turned to me. “I want to see your treasure.”
I knelt again with Liza at my side and pulled out the box. I held it close and opened the lid toward me, so only I could see inside. “I collected five treasures,” I said, glancing up at my three friends.
Ben looked mildly interested, just enough not to argue; Liza, more supportive than interested; and Charlie, truly curious.
“The first is an old paintbrush that Grandmama gave to me when I was a little girl. It was the first one I used when I realized how much I loved to watercolor.”
The brown wooden handle was worn and chipped, and almost all the pig’s hairs had fallen out of the head. Still, I laid it softly on the grass for display. “Second, a pair of lace gloves I wore to Aunt Alice’s wedding.”
Liza gushed over them. “Look how pretty! The lace!”
“Third,” I continued, “a family portrait I drew. Fourth, a journal entry I wrote detailing the last few weeks that shall stay private until this treasure is unearthed one day in the very distant future.” I raised a brow until they all nodded their heads in agreement. “And fifth, a handful of halfpennies, which used to be enough wealth to tempt my ornery little brothers to undertake their own search for treasure.”
Everyone murmured their approval, and I felt Charlie’s eyes on me as I tucked each piece back into the box.
“Liza?” I prompted her. Her mission before we walked to the grove together was to find and bring a treasure of her own.
“Oh!” she startled, reaching behind her head and unclasping the chain around her neck. From the chain, she pulled off a little ivory heart. “Father brought this charm back from India. I’m adding it because I treasure all the places I’ve been and all the people I’ve met along the way.”
I squeezed her arm. “That is a treasure indeed.” I placed the little, smooth heart on top of my family portrait.
Ben straightened, puffing out his chest. “I have something, too.”
“No,” Liza shook her head. “No snake’s skin. No bugs.”
But Ben reached inside his coat and pulled out a pretty purple flower. “I treasure the outdoors. And all our adventures, Ros.”
“Oh, Ben!” I stood and wrapped my arms around his neck. “You do love me.”
“Enough, enough.” He laughed and pushed me off. “Just add the thing before I take it back.”
Laughing, I knelt and pressed the flower inside the journal entry I’d written.
“Charlie?” Liza asked. “Do you have something to add? Something for Ros to remember you by in ten or so years when her children dig up her treasure.”
Charlie stared at my little box. Something had changed in his countenance. Frustration? Anger?
