Total pages in book: 42
Estimated words: 39170 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 196(@200wpm)___ 157(@250wpm)___ 131(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 39170 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 196(@200wpm)___ 157(@250wpm)___ 131(@300wpm)
“I am.” Better than. “How about you?” They hadn’t really chatted much since Thanksgiving, both on the go more than usual. “How’s Sora?”
He pursed his lips. “I think it’s time to get started, yeah?” he asked everyone.
Cheers arose, an irresistible call to Jane. Good play, Harden. Good play.
“All right, then.” She reached into the basket with wax candles and lifted a thick pillar high in the air, catching the attention of the group. Conversations lulled. “When gold was first discovered in the nineteenth century, men and women from around the globe flocked to this area of Georgia, bringing their traditions with them. Among them was a group from Finland, so very far away from home, but who asked to light candles to remember those who had passed, connecting the living with those they’d left behind. A small piece of their birthplace here in their new homeland. This very spot is believed to be the place where that tradition began in the Garden.”
A gentle wind whistled through the bare limbs of the trees, as if welcoming the tradition for another year.
She passed the basket around, allowing everyone to select a wax candle of their own. Then she passed the rest of the baskets around, ensuring everyone received one. That done, she lit Conrad’s wax candle to her right, and Beau’s candle to her left. She watched, awed, as fire flickered to life for one person after the next. Soon the entire circle glowed.
“As you leave the reflection area, keep the wax candle with you but place the LEDs anywhere you’d like. Tonight, the grounds are yours to explore. If you feel so inclined, speak a blessing over those who have passed before us as well as their families. This is our Christmas gift to them.”
As they moved forward, Fiona’s lovely soprano filled the night, the moving lyrics to Silent Night adding to the solemnity of the moment. Soon candlelight flickered in every direction, the cemetery coming to life. From the slow chirp of the crickets, to the gentle rustle of the winter grasses and the hoot of resident owls.
“May those you left behind and those who came after you always find and follow the light in the darkness,” she whispered to one and all.
Her ears twitched when Conrad issued a whispered blessing of his own, but she failed to make out any word but “love.”
When the group crested the berm, her breath caught. The sight below stunned her. Hundreds of LED candles glowed. More than light, they represented love and hope. All because of a small circle of people.
Circle.
The circles Benjamin had drawn in his notebook. The anagrams he’d encircled. What was she missing? What, what?
Circle, circle.
Drip, drip.
At 3:16 in the morning, Jane jolted upright with a gasp. Something inside her screamed the treasure could be found inside the circle. But where was the circle?
Excitement hit as she flipped on a light and studied the map with her markings. Hmm. No matter what angle she used, no circle emerged. Disappointment set in. Until she remembered the map from the library. The original map of the grounds. What if it differed from the map she held…which differed slightly from the map in the mausoleum?
She snatched her phone and keyed up the photos she’d taken. During a thorough search of every section, she began to grow disappointed again...until she reached Paradise Ladling. Jane sucked in a breath. There. In the original map, there’d been only one caretaker’s cottage. The home she now lived in had yet to be built. Paradise Ladling had extended into this acreage. And yes, Silas and his family had been buried here. At some point, however, someone had moved the first family closer to the other Ladlings, freeing this space.
With Silas’s original gravesite instead of his current one, the seven names on Benjamin's list formed a full, perfect circle. In the center of it was…drum roll please…the bridge between Autumn Grove and Eden Valley.
Did X mark the spot? Was she soon to discover a cache of gold?
Heart thundering, she scrambled out of bed while Rolex watched. Phone in hand, Jane shoved her feet inside winter boots. She yanked a gorgeous winter hat with faux fur ear muffs onto her head, slung a scarf around her neck, and thrust her arms into a coat. If Conrad wasn’t out and about in the cottage, she wasn’t going to disturb him. Yet. Not until she had—or not—the gold.
She swiped up her flashlight, sporting a delightful red and green handle perfect for Christmas, and exited her room as quietly as possible. Downstairs she went. Through the backdoor and into the cold, breath misting in front of her face. Light on. No sign of Conrad.
Another spark of disappointment, but onward and upward. Knowing these beloved seventy-five acres forward and backward, side to side and upside down, she rushed along short cuts, reaching the mausoleum in record time.