Home to Walnut Ridge (11 page)

“
I was studying the pieces
when Noah stopped by last night, and he suggested we do a Google
Image search. Then he‍—‍”

“
Wait, Noah came by?” Alex
asked, with raised brows. Like her father, she turned to look at
Tracey through her half-glasses.

“
He came over after you
guys went to bed. I was out on the back porch, and he said he saw
the light on. Apparently he was curious about the pieces too,
but‌—‌OH! I completely forgot! Tracey jumped up and stuck her hand
into the pocket of her robe. She carefully removed the Ziploc
containing the note they’d found. “You will not
believe
this!”

They leaned closer. “What is
it?”

“
It’s a note! Last night
as I was unwrapping the cloth from the saucer, it fell out. I guess
when we unwrapped it before, it must have stuck to the cloth. Or
maybe we never completely unrolled the rest of it. Doesn’t matter.
Look at this.”

“
What’s it say?” Buddy
asked.

“
It says, ‘For
safe-keeping until the war is over.’ Then it’s signed with the
initials CJC. But look at the date‌—‌1863!”

Alex leaned closer, her hand over the
faded letters and numbers. “Are you sure? It’s so faded, how can
you be sure?”

Tracey stepped over to the kitchen
drawer and pulled out the magnifying glass. “Here.”

Alex and Buddy crowded over the small
piece of parchment, both looking through the magnified glass. “Oh.
My. GOSH!” Alex gasped for the second time. “Dad! Look! She’s
right. It says 1863 just as clear as day!”

He leaned back and pushed the readers
up on his head. “This is unbelievable, Tracey Jo! But who’s CJC?
Obviously a Collins, but‍—‍”

“
I don’t know and that’s
exactly why I’m climbing up in the attic as soon as I finish
breakfast. Are all those old trunks and boxes still up
there?”

“
A few, but we donated
most of the documents and letters to the library,” Alex said, still
bent over studying the note.

“
What about the old family
Bible? Is it still up there?”

“
Yes, but I know it
doesn’t go back to the mid-1800s. Check with Sadie over at the
library. She probably has it all documented and categorized. This
kind of thing is right up her alley.”

Alex finally leaned back. “Oh, she’ll
have a ball with this. Why don’t we take this and the pieces over
to her as soon as we get dressed? The library doesn’t open until
nine, but she’s always over there by seven.”

“
Perfect! But don’t you
need to work at the smokehouse with the guys today,
Alex?”

“
No,” their father
answered instead. “It’s mostly just grunt work at this stage, so
the Elders can handle it. In fact, a few more of the guys are
coming out today. Besides, I’ve got to go to City Hall and file all
the permits and have a nice little chat with my favorite demon‌—‌I
mean,
deacon
.” He
rolled his eyes and downed the last of his coffee.

“
You need back up? Alex
and I can go with you. Better yet, take the Elders. They scared him
off yesterday, maybe they’ll have the same effect
today.”

“
No, this is between
Deacon and me. And the lovely Miss Faye. Don’t you girls worry
about it. All that to say, the guys can handle the work today.
Alex, I’ll let you know if we need you. Y’all go on and see what
you can find out from Sadie over at the library.”

Alex stood up, gathering their dishes.
“Will do, Dad.”

“
And whatever you do,
don’t drop the cup and saucer! Those must be worth a
fortune!”

“
He’s right, Trace. We
should probably find something more secure to put them in. Heavens,
if I’d known these were Lincoln’s, I’d never have let Noah carry
them in my backpack. I’ll see what I can find. I’ll clean up, so
you go on and get dressed.”

Dad took the dishes from
her. “No,
I’ll
clean up so you two can get ready. Go on, scoot.”

Alex kissed his bearded cheek. “You’re
the best. Thanks, Dad.”

Tracey pecked his other cheek then
headed for the stairs. “Love you, Dad.”

After she showered and dried her hair,
Tracey dashed on a little make-up. As she waved the wand of mascara
over her lashes, she saw the face of her cell phone light up. She’d
kept the tone on silent, so she’d missed all of Morgan’s calls over
the past couple of days. But this time it was Amanda’s number that
flashed. She reached for her cell, then stopped herself, slowly
pulling her hand back.

“
Amanda, I know we need to
talk but not now,” she said aloud. Returning to her make-up, she
felt the familiar uneasiness. Just because she’d left Washington
and thrown herself into her home and family life didn’t mean she’d
forgotten all she’d left behind. She couldn’t imagine how Morgan
must be handling it. And truth be told, she didn’t really want to
know.

But Amanda was a different story. She
promised herself she’d either email her or call her soon. Just not
yet.

As Tracey and Alex made the short walk
from Walnut Ridge to the library, Noah slowed his Harley to a stop
after spotting them on Main Street. He told them he was headed up
to Nashville to order supplies for the renovation.

“
I’ll be anxious to hear
what you find out. I’ll stop by later today to hear what you
learned.”

“
Come for dinner,” Alex
said. “I put a roast in the crockpot earlier.”

“
Sounds good. But only if
you let me bring dessert.”

Alex shielded her eyes from the
morning sun. “You baking or buying?”

“
Very funny. No time
today, so I’ll pick up something in town.”

“
Drive safe,” Tracey said
as he put his helmet back on.

“
I always do. Later,
ladies.”

As he took off, Tracey
watched over her shoulder until he drove out of sight. He looked
completely different in his black leather jacket with that big
black helmet on his head.
Different in a
good way
, she thought.
I wouldn’t mind taking a ride in that seat behind
him . . .
When she turned
back around, her sister was staring at her.

“
What?”

“
Did I say
anything?”

“
No.”

“
Well, there you go,” Alex
answered. “Oh look, there’s Sadie’s car in the parking
lot.”

Sadie Woolsey smiled as she unlocked
the door to let them in. “How lovely to see you girls this morning.
Come in, come in!”

Tracey had always loved
the little log cabin that housed the town’s library. The large
paper maché tree towering over the children’s section had always
reminded her of
The Giving Tree,
one of her childhood favorites. On the other side
of the room, a large fireplace warmed the cozy atmosphere and
invited readers to have a seat in one of the rocking chairs before
the hearth. And all around them, rows of shelves stood filled with
books. She’d spent many a happy afternoon here when she was young.
Good memories.

“
Tracey Jo, I heard you
were back for a visit. How are you?”

She placed her laptop bag carefully on
the table then gave the elderly woman a hug. “I’m fine, Miss
Woolsey. It’s good to see you.”

“
How’s our fine senator?
We’re all so proud of you up there in Washington. People say you’re
his right-hand man‌—‌I mean, right-hand
girl
, of course. Must be quite an
honor to work with Senator Thompson.”

Tracey forced a tight smile. “I
suppose you’re right, but let me tell you why we’re here.” Then,
while explaining yesterday’s find in the smokehouse wall, she and
Alex carefully opened the bag where, instead of a laptop, the cup
and saucer were each secured in bubble-wrap. They unwound the wrap,
revealing the two pieces.

“
My goodness, what have we
here?” Sadie asked, picking up the teacup.

Tracey filled her in on
last night’s research. Holding the cup, she turned it so the
presidential seal faced the librarian. “And that’s when we put two
and two together and realized‌—‌these were from
Abraham Lincoln’s
White House china
service.”

“
What?!” she gasped,
dropping into the chair behind her. “You can’t be
serious!”

Tracey found the
eighty-year-old’s expression utterly priceless‌—‌her eyes wide
open, her hand to her chest, the other on her rouge-dusted cheek.
Alex had once commented how much Sadie Woolsey resembled the
old-lady version of Kate in the movie,
Titanic.
At the time, Sadie had far
fewer wrinkles than the actress. Now, her pale, paper-thin skin
seemed crinkled enough they could be twins.

“
It’s true,” Alex said,
digging the Ziploc out of the bag’s inside pocket. “But that’s just
the beginning.” She placed the clear bag on the table in front of
Sadie. “The real mystery is who put it there and why.”

“
Which is why we need your
help,” Tracey added.

With the help of the magnifying glass
they’d brought along, they discussed the note, its date and
initials.

“
Oh my goodness, it’s
almost too much to comprehend,” she said, leaning back in her
chair, her hands clasped like those of a child in prayer. “It’s as
if the Holy Grail is right here in our grasp.”

“
Miss Sadie, are you
okay?” Tracey asked. “Can I bring you some water?”

“
Oh dear, no, I’m fine.
Just a little shocked. To think that our dear President
Abraham Lincoln
could
have sipped tea from this very cup . . .” She shook
her head in disbelief.

Alex and Tracey laughed. “We’ve had
that same thought. It’s pretty surreal, isn’t it?”

Sadie sat up straight. “Girls, you
must secure these,” she said in a hushed voice. “If anyone knew you
had something so valuable, you could be robbed!”

“
Oh, I doubt anything like
that‍—‍”

“
No, it’s true! I read
emails from my friends all the time about how easily thieves can
get into your home using nothing more than a credit card. And
another one told how they case your house, so you should always put
your lights on timers and leave the TV on so they think someone’s
home.” She punctuated the information with a knowing
nod.

Tracey and Alex shared a smile. “We’ll
look into that, Miss Sadie. But what about these initials‌—‌CJC?”
Alex asked, pointing back at the note. “We assume it’s someone in
our family, one of our ancestors. But Dad said you have most of the
Collins family documents in your archives here.”

“
Oh, yes. I’ve got
them . . .” She fell silent, staring at the
note.

“
What is it?” Alex
asked.

Sadie looked up, still dazed. A moment
passed then two. “I know who put these in the
wall . . .” Suddenly she blinked, looking back and
forth between them. “And I think I know how he came to have
them!”

Chapter 9

It was well after one in the afternoon
before Tracey and Alex climbed into their father’s pickup truck and
drove to the estate sale west of town. They chatted like magpies,
discussing everything Sadie had shared with them, much of it
conjecture on their part. Finally, Alex had enough.

“
Okay, I think we should
table any further discussion until we can talk to Dad and Noah
tonight at dinner.”

“
I’m sorry we’re late
getting to the sale. We should have left Sadie to search through
all those papers.”

“
Are you kidding? She was
so excited, I thought we were going to have to put the dear soul on
oxygen. If we’d left and she passed out, we’d never forgive
ourselves.”

“
I know, but didn’t you
tell me you like to get to these sales early so you can have first
pick?” The old Chevy pickup hit a bump in the road and sent them
bouncing. “Good grief! When was the last time you had the shocks on
this thing checked?”

“
I think Lincoln was still
in the White House,” Alex quipped. “No, Sis, it’s okay. We would’ve
been completely distracted if we’d come here before going to the
library. And the way I see it, no matter when I get there, if one
or two sweethearts are meant to be mine, they’ll still be there
waiting for me. You’ll see.”