Canyon of the Sphinx (32 page)

Bill delivered her to the nice
three-bedroom ranch house that she and Marcus had built his parents a few years
ago. There were several people in the house after Al Burton’s funeral, milling
about, eating and talking.

When Kathlyn walked into the
house with the children and her brother, they all greeted her amiably and
congratulated her on her day in court. She thanked them as pleasantly as she
could, but her eyes searched for her husband. She found Lynn and Juliana,
sitting in the kitchen with Louise. They jumped up to hug her, both at once.
Juliana was so choked up that she couldn’t speak. It was Marcus’ mother who
finally told her where he was.

Leaving the babies with Lynn and
Juliana, she took Al’s old truck over the cemetery. It wasn’t a very large
park, located in an older section of the city. She found Marcus still seated at
his father’s graveside, the coffin having long since been lowered into the
ground. The backhoe was waiting off to the side, ready to put the dirt in over
it. The air smelled like exhaust from the running engine. But Marcus just sat
there, staring at the hole as if oblivious to all else.

Kathlyn stood there and watched
him for a few moments. Tears stung her eyes but she fought them. She knew
Marcus needed her strength, not her tears. Softly, she walked up beside him and
knelt by his chair.

“Hello, my love,” she said
quietly, sweetly.

He gazed down at his wife, the
cobalt blue eyes not registering her for a moment. Then, he reached down and
scooped her up, holding her against him as if he was trying to crush her.
Kathlyn could hardly breathe, but she let him squeeze. The sobs started to come
and she sat him down, sitting upon his lap and holding his head against her
chest.

 “It’s all right, honey,” she
murmured into his forehead. “Let it out. I’m here now.”

He sobbed like a child. “This has
been one of the best and worst days of my life,” he wept. “I thought I was
doing so well. I feel like an idiot.”

She squeezed him tighter. “You’re
not an idiot. You’ve had a lot go on today.”

He pressed his face into her
neck. She could feel his tears against her.

“That’s an understatement.” He
suddenly sat up, wiping his cheeks as if afraid someone would see him. “But
burying my dad… even though Mom’s alive, I feel like an orphan. It’s really
weird.”

Kathlyn knew well what he was
feeling. “I felt the same way when my dad died,” she said softly. “Even though
my mom is still around, my dad and I were always close. He understood me. When
I go home even now, I feel like there’s something missing. We’re not a complete
family anymore because Daddy is gone.”

He gazed up at her, inhaling
slowly. He was calming himself and she gave him the strength to do that. His
eyes drifted over her face, inspecting her, studying the lovely lines and
angles.

“So how are you doing?” he asked.

She smiled. “I’m better than I
was when I woke up this morning.”

“I’ve missed you so much.”

“I’ve missed you, too.”

“God bless Robert. He really did
his job.”

“I told him I’d name my next born
after him.”

He touched her belly, not a hint
of roundness in it. She was still extremely thin, for Kathlyn. “How are you
feeling?” he asked.

“Not too bad. Just really, really
tired.”

“I’ll bet. But now that this
whole circus is done with, we can get some rest.”

She shook her head. “No, we
can’t.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re going back to
Egypt and I’m going to the Yucatan.”

He didn’t react as he normally
would have, which would have been to go toe-to-toe to her, or in some other
way, to contest her statement. He just sat there, gazing at her. Finally, he
snorted.

“What’s so funny?”

“I don’t know,” he looked back at
the hole where his father lay. “I just remembered something my dad said to me,
about you.”

“What did he say?”

“The night of the first day of
the trial. Remember that we had dinner with my folks?”

“Of course.”

“You were with my mom in the
kitchen of the apartment, doing dishes. My dad was watching you from his chair.
We were having this conversation about stuff I don’t even remember, but I
looked at him and caught him watching you.”

“And?”

“And, he said that I was a lucky
man. I told him luck had nothing to do with it; it was all about out-smarting
you to stay one step ahead. So he told me that I should just let you do
whatever it is you do because you do it oh-so beautifully.”

Kathlyn laughed. He laughed
again. She was sitting with her arms around his neck and he stood up, holding
her as a knight in shining armor would hold his lady fair.

“Is that why you gave in so
easily about me going to Christopher’s dig?” she asked.

“Partly.” He gazed down at her,
cradled in his arms. “It was the last bit of advice from my father and I’m
going to listen to him.”

He set her down on her feet and
together they gazed into the hole that held the big metal casket. Kathlyn took
his hand, rubbing it as he took his last look at his father.

“Good-bye, Dad,” he whispered.
“I’ll be seeing you.”

***

Kathlyn and Marcus stayed in
Modesto that night at Marcus’ parents’ house, commandeering one bedroom while
the babies had the other. Lynn and Juliana were at a motel in town, not wanting
to be a bother but wanting to stay close. Now that things were settling down,
there was an unsteady peace as they all tried to grow accustomed to the roller
coaster ride that had just ended.

Jobe called at mid-morning the
next day to let Marcus know he’d had a long talk with the SCA and that the
organization was more than willing to let Marcus back on the site. They were
even willing to waive all of the government red tape that always accompanied
such a move. According to Jobe, the site had been taken over by SCA
archaeologists who had split for the summer almost as soon as they arrived
on-site. The dig was now empty but for security guards and tourists.

Marcus was so anxious to get back
that he gave himself a headache stressing out over it. Even though it was the
off-season and excavations wouldn’t start again until October, there was tons
of unfinished business and he was eager to resume where they had left off. It
was at that moment that Kathlyn honestly saw first-hand just how much he had
missed it.

Before the morning was out, Jobe
had booked a flight for Dennis to Luxor the next day. Gary, having been away
from the theatrics of the trial in the Sinai Peninsula, was already on the road
to Egypt. He had been in his car two minutes after receiving the call from Jobe
and would pick Dennis up at the airport in Luxor. Together, they would be the
advance team for Marcus, who would follow as soon as he got Kathlyn and the
children settled. Lynn wasn’t sure about flying back due to Juliana’s
pregnancy, but they could all tell how badly he wanted to go. Rather than push
it, Kathlyn and Marcus agreed to let the couple make up their own minds.

It was exciting to see Marcus’
team taking form again. They had been apart too long, unfairly separated, and
were eager to resume where they had left off. Kathlyn could feel the palpable
exhilaration build, fighting feelings of guilt that the rift had been because
of her. But everything was definitely coming back together in a hurry.

But the stress and strain would
soon  take their toll. Her pains started right about lunch. Kathlyn heard
Marcus on the phone to Jobe about booking him a flight to Egypt within the next
few days. She had been playing with Ethan on her lap, holding up word cards to him
and telling him what the pictures were. She thought his leg was in a funny
place on her belly but when she went to move him, nothing was there. It was a
sharp pain in her pelvic region, one she associated with the early pregnancy.
She’d been through this before. She fully expected them to go away, but by mid-afternoon,
they had increased.

By supper, she was having
horrendous cramps. There was, strangely, no bleeding. The cramps were so bad
that she felt as if she was in labor, so she finally told Marcus after dinner.

He made he go straight to bed. “I
really think you should let me take you to the emergency room,” he said as she
lay down. “This isn’t normal and you know it.”

“Just let me lay her for a while,”
she grunted. “Go put the kids to bed. They haven’t seen much of you lately.”

“You sure?”

“Yes. I’ll call you if I need
something.”

He kissed her forehead and left
the room. Rolling onto her side, she curled up in a ball. She lay there for a
while but it wasn’t too comfortable so she rolled onto her back. The minute she
did so, it was as if all of her guts suddenly came rushing out through the
birth canal.  One big whoosh and everything in her pelvic region felt wet.

She sat up and turned on the
light. There was a huge stain of blood on the bedspread and on the sweatpants
she was wearing.

 “Oh, God,” she breathed. She
didn’t want to get up and drip it all over the place. She called out softly to
her husband. “Marcus?”

He didn’t hear her until she
called twice more. Then he came into the bedroom, a pacifier in his hand. He
had been putting the boys to bed with his mother. Before he could ask what she
needed, he saw the blood and his features paled.

“Oh, my God…,” he rushed to the
bed, unsure what to do. “I’m calling 911.”

“No, don’t,” she put her hand on
his wrist and made him put the phone down. “Just help me to the bathroom,
okay?”

“Kathlyn, you’re bleeding all
over the goddamn place.”

He was terrified. She could hear
it. But she was firm with him. “Please, Marcus. Just help me to the bathroom
before I get this all over everything.”

“Okay, okay,” he took her arms
gently and pulled her up to stand. “Do you feel okay? Do you feel like you’re
going to pass out?”

She shook her head. “No. I don’t
think I’m hemorrhaging to death. It was like one big rush and now it’s all
over.”

He helped her into the bathroom
and took her clothes from her as she peeled them off so she wouldn’t get blood
on anything. He turned the shower on for her and she got in, rinsing off. He
put the clothes in a trash bag and stood outside the shower door.

“Are you still bleeding?” he
asked.

“No,” she said. “Not from what I
can tell. There’s nothing at all.”

“Are you sure?”

“Pretty sure.”

“Do you feel okay?”

“Yeah, I guess. The cramps have
subsided a lot.”

Now that he knew she wasn’t going
to bleed to death in front of him, his thoughts turned to the baby she had
obviously lost. The stress had taken its toll and her body, so taxed as of
late, responded in kind. Her system was struggling to take care of itself, much
less a new life growing inside her. It just couldn’t handle the strain.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” he said
quietly. “We should probably get you to a doctor at some point soon so that you
can be examined.”

She turned the shower off and
pulled back the curtain, taking the towel from him.

“You know what’s strange?” she
said softly. “I’m sad, but in an odd way, I’m also comforted. I think this may
have happened for a reason. You know why?”

He shook his head. “No. Why?”

She looked at him, her green eyes
luminous. “Maybe this was meant to be like this, your dad being buried today
and this child being lost on the same day. I would like to think that right
about now, your dad is shaking hands with his grandchild that was never born. 
He’s taking the child’s hand and they’re talking about fishing and candy and
other things this baby never got to experience. They’re walking down a country
road in a land that looks like the golden hills of California on a warm summer
day. Neither one of them are alone anymore. Now they have each other.

Marcus had tears in his eyes,
spilling down his cheeks. He kissed her on the forehead, sniffling away the
tears that continued to fall.

“That’s the most beautiful thing
I’ve ever heard,” he said hoarsely. “Thank you for that. I needed it.”

She let her tears fall with his.
“Nobody knows about this, okay? It’s our gift to your father.”

Marcus could only nod. He dried
her off and took her back to bed, holding her until the dawn.

CHAPTER
SIXTEEN

Jensen hadn’t been around when
the verdicts had been read. She had pleaded illness to the IRS lawyers as an
excuse not to be in court. In fact, she knew she was in trouble. Falsifying
documents could bring her jail time, not to mention what Drs. Trent and Burton
would do in retaliation. She had to get out of the States; anywhere but where
she was. The Yucatan was calling.

She had watched the acquittals on
television like everyone else. She had heard Dr. Trent speak to reporters of
her husband’s hopeful return to Egypt and of her own unfinished business near
the Belize border at Dr. Christopher Murphy’s dig. That gave Jensen an idea.
Dr. Murphy’s dig was on the University of Indiana at Rensselaer’s website. It
even had an exact location. That was where she was going. There was still time.