Copyright 2012 by Parris Afton, Inc. All Rights Reserved Cover artwork by DigitalDonna.com Kindle Edition, License Notes This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away. For Rita Clay Estrada. Like gold, which is always in the purest state, a friendship’s luster never dims. You are that noble metal. With special thanks to David Berry of Homestead Mining Company, Silver City, New Mexico, and Dave McCracken of The New 49er’s Happy Camp, California Chapter 1 Rita-lou was back in town, and Silver City, New Mexico, hadn’t had so much to talk about since Geronimo’s warriors raided the settlement a hundred years before. Livingston, the old-timer who owned the grocery store, peered at her over his dust-spotted, wire-rimmed bifocals, then glanced down at her Texas driver’s license. Livingston had been old as long as she could remember. Old when she’d worn pigtails and gone shoeless. Old when she’d run away from Silver City twenty years ago.
