heads we get married...

Here is a short story my husband wrote last year.
Diana Linville for W. Todd Linville

“Heads, we get married; tails, we break up,” Bill laughed holding one of the old double eagle coins.

              “What do you mean break up?” Sarah replied thrusting out her lower lip. “I thought we were going to get married no matter what happened with the treasure hunt.”

              “I’m just kidding Sarah. Just look at all of these double eagles.” He shouted, stirring both hands through the large box of coins.

              “How many do you think there are?

              “I don’t know, we’ll have to count them, but not here,” he said looking around the musty cellar. “Let’s just take this box and get out of here,” he said as he jerks the handles of the old wooden box, but the leather handles break off and he falls backwards slamming hard on the cobblestone cellar floor still holding both handles.

              “That was funny!” Sarah laughed. “You look like you’re in a Laurel and Hardy movie.”

              “I feel like we’re in the Count of Monte Cristo. How are we going to get this box out of here? It must weigh a ton”, he said standing up and dusting off the backside of his jeans.

              “It’s been here forever and no one has found it, let’s put the stones back over the box until we can figure out how to get it out”

              “Ok but I am going to fill my pockets and you fill your backpack,” Bill tells Sarah.        

              “I’m not going to take that many, let’s take ten.  I wonder how much are ten worth?”

              “I don’t know, maybe a few thousand dollars.”

              “It should be enough for a wedding”, she grins counting out ten and putting them into her backpack.

              “Ok, ten for now. Maybe I should take an extra five just in case”, he said putting five in his right pocket and slipping three more in his left.

              “That’s fine, what should we do with the map?” She says looking at the folded paper in her hand.  “Let’s put it in the box, we won’t forget how to get here, at least I won’t.”

              “I won’t either” He said taking the map from her hand and putting it on top of the coins.

Bill grabbed the heavy oak lid and carefully closed it so the old leather hinges stayed intact.  They replaced the heavy stones over the box just the way they found them.

              “Did you really think we would find this old civil war treasure?” Bill asked putting down the last rock on the box.

              “No, you hear stories and see movies about civil war treasure, but I never believed they were true.”

              “I know. The search was the exciting part. Looking for something no one else could find then actually finding it.”

              “I like the thrill of the search as well. I love looking for something most people think is impossible to find,” she said walking over to Bill and throwing her arms around his neck. “Like the perfect man,” she whispered looking into his blue eyes.

              “I know what you mean,” he whispered back. “You were the first treasure I found. Rich chocolate eyes and a treasure trove of curves,” he grinned.

              “You’re a goof! Let’s get out of here.”

              “What do you want to do now?” He asked with his arms still around her.

              “I want to get married.”

              “Ok, when?”

              “Today, let’s stop by the church we passed on the way out here. We can get a license tomorrow.”

              “You’re crazy, let’s go back to the motel and figure out how to get those coins out of there. You know we didn’t see how deep that box went.”

              “I know. There are enough coins we could spend the rest of our lives traveling and searching for the next lost treasure.”

              “That sounds good” she smiles.

              “You know you’ll always be my treasure.”

              “Really? She asks pushing against his chest to get free. Then taking one of the double eagles from his left pocket,

              “Heads, we get married; tails we break up.”