Lady of Heaven (43 page)

“Anything I can
help you with, Henredon?” she asked.

He wriggled his
eyebrows and looked away as if thinking about her question. “It’s possible,” he
said. “I’ll let you know tonight when we go to bed what, exactly, you can help
me with.”

She laughed,
cozying up to him and shoving her hands into the pockets of his jeans
seductively.  One hand was in his front pocket, one in his back. The hand in
his back pocket squeezed a butt cheek and he growled.

“Don’t you dare
tease me, you wicked woman,” he rumbled.  “You know what happens when you do
that.”

She looked up at
him playfully. “Yes, I do,” she said. “You and I will have to find a bathroom
somewhere.”

He snorted,
trying not to let the sensation of her hand in intimate places make him crazy. 
He saw the fruit stand across the street, the same one they had patronized a
few days before, and it diverted his attention.

“Do you want to
get some fruit before we move on?” he asked.

She laughed at
his obvious attempt to change the subject but dutifully looked to the shop
across the street. “I ate all of my oranges and grapes,” she said. “But what I
could really use is a diet cola.”

He nodded his
head in the direction of the gas station with a little mini-mart inside. “You
get the soda and I’ll get the fruit.”

She grinned and
skipped off in the direction of the mini-mart, passing Allahaba as she went. 
He was on his cellular phone, smiling and waving at her as she went by. 
Allahaba’s gaze followed her as she disappeared into the store, his smile
fading as he turned to search for Fox.  He caught sight of the big man crossing
the street toward the fruit stand. Saying a few words into the cell phone and
hanging up, he made haste in Fox’s direction.

He caught up to
Fox just as the man was putting a few oranges in a plastic bag. Fox glanced at
him.

“Want some
oranges?” he asked.

Allahaba shook
his head. “No, thank you,” he lowered his voice. “Fox, I must speak with you.”

Fox looked at
him, tying up the bag and heading for the cashier. “What about?”

Allahaba waited
until Fox paid for the oranges and they were heading out of the stall. He
paused before they could cross the street, causing Fox to pause beside him.
Allahaba’s expression was serious.

“I just spoke
with Ziva,” he said quietly. “I wanted to let her know that we were coming home
tomorrow.  But my wife was hysterical, Fox; there is no easy way to tell you
this so I will simply come out with it. Fanny passed away in her sleep last
night.”

Fox just stared
at him for a long, painful moment; then, it was as if an unseen fist hit him in
the gut. He exhaled sharply and pulled off his glasses, looking at Allahaba
with shock and grief.

“Oh, no,” he
murmured. “God… are you serious?”

“Of course.”

He looked shaken
for a moment as the full force of the information settled. “Bloody hell,” he
breathed. “I… I don’t even know what to say.”

Allahaba put his
hand on the man’s arm. “Ziva said she was very peaceful,” he said softly. “It
was simply her time, Fox; she went to sleep and did not wake up. But the bad
part is that my elder daughters went to prepare Fanny for breakfast this
morning and found her stiff and cold.  Now my girls are distraught and Ziva
doesn’t know what to do.  I must go home tonight.”

Fox exhaled
again, looking to see his wife coming out of the shop across the street. He ran
his fingers through his dark hair and put his glasses back on, reconciling
himself to the news. He hurt deeply on behalf of his wife but as he thought on
her impending grief, he also thought of Allahaba. He put a big hand on the
man’s shoulder.

“Of course,” he
said. “And I’m very sorry to you and your family. You took care of Fanny for
many years and I know you were fond of her. On behalf of my wife and her
family, thank you for being so gracious and generous to an old British woman
who broke up your grandfather’s marriage. You could have thrown her out in the
street but you didn’t. That says volumes of what kind of a man you really are.
Not many people would be as generous as you.”

Allahaba smiled
weakly. “She was family. There was never any question.”

“I know.”  

Allahaba’s gaze
trailed across the street, watching Morgan’s blond head as she climbed into the
Land Rover.

“You must tell
her,” he said softly.

Fox was watching
Morgan, too. “I will,” he replied quietly. “She’s going to want to go home with
you. She won’t wait, either, especially if you’re burying Fanny soon.”

Allahaba nodded
and began heading back towards the car. “I would not expect her to wait,” he
said. “We must call the airport and see about a flight back to Cairo tonight.”

Fox followed the
man across the street, his eyes never leaving Morgan. “Call the airport right
now while I tell Morgan,” he said softly. “Give us a few minutes, okay?”

Allahaba nodded,
moving off to conduct his business as Fox approached the car.  He handed the
bag to his wife but remained outside of the car.

“Hey,” he said
softly. “Come with me, would you? I need to talk to you.”

Morgan pulled an
orange out of the bag and climbed out of the car.  She wasn’t on her guard in
the least, peeling the orange as she followed Fox to a spot several feet away
from the car.  They were standing alone near the corner of the gas station as cars
whizzed by. Morgan tossed the orange peel to the ground and began pulling the
orange apart.

“What’s up?” she
asked.

He watched her pop
a ripe piece of orange in her mouth. “Love, let me ask you something,” he said
gently. “Do you feel as if you’ve written the end to Fanny’s story?”

Morgan cocked
her head with thought, swallowing the orange in her mouth. “Almost,” she said.
“We followed the clues and found what she attempted to find ninety years ago. I
feel like we’ve completed her quest for the most part.”

“For the most
part?” he repeated. “What more is there?”

She shrugged as
she pulled out another piece of orange. “I want to tell her about what we
found. I want to describe it well enough so she can see visualize it in her
mind. After that, I think the quest is over. I did what I set out to do. Why do
you ask?”

He reached out,
stroking her arms with his big hands.  His manner was tender, gentle. “I think
Fanny had other ideas,” he said softly. “She went to sleep last night and when
she woke up, she was young and beautiful again, and Kadin was by her side. Her
journey, on earth, has ended and eternity, for her, has begun.”

She stared at
him, orange piece half-way to her mouth.  He watched the emotions roll across
her face as she lowered the orange segment; curiosity, confusion, and finally
realization. She dropped the orange and wiped her hand on her jeans, her brown
eyes wide with shock as she looked up at him.

“Fox,” she
grabbed him with her sticky hand. “What are you telling me? Is she… did she…?”

He nodded.
“Fanny passed away peacefully in her sleep last night.”

Morgan stared at
him, digesting the information for a moment. As he watched, her features
crumpled and she fell against him, her face in his chest as soft sobs filled
the air.  He held her tightly, rocking her gently as her grief bubbled over.
She sounded so pathetic that it brought tears to his eyes.

“You were so
lucky, love,” he murmured into the top of her head. “You got to meet a
remarkable woman you never believed you would ever know. You got a second
chance with her that very few people ever have the opportunity for. Fanny was
so thrilled to meet you, to know you, so when I told you earlier than you had
already finished her story, I meant it. You brought her life full circle. You
need to remember that.”

Morgan was
sobbing pitifully. “It... it’s not that,” she wept.  “You… you said she passed
away last night?”

“That’s what
Ziva told Allahaba.”

Morgan burst out
in fresh tears. “She waited,” she sobbed. “She waited until we found the tomb.
We found it last night and she passed away last night. It’s like… like she
waited until we found what she had dreamed about all of her life and once we
found it, she must have sensed it and knew it was time to let go.”

He rocked her
gently. “She knew you had written the end of her story,” he murmured.  “There
was no longer any reason to hang on.”

“I really wanted
to tell her what we found.”

“Love, if you
believe what I believe about heaven, then she already knows.”

Morgan nodded,
deeply devastated by the news. Fox let her cry for a few minutes before going
in search of a napkin or a Kleenex so she could wipe her nose. Jabeel saw them
coming and, knowing what had happened thanks to Allahaba, ran out to greet them
with an offering of a roll of toilet paper. Fox took it gratefully, pulling off
a length of it to wipe Morgan’s face off. But she was still crying so he loaded
her up into the car and climbed in after her, pulling her close and holding her
tightly as the car sped off towards Luxor.

“Allahaba is
finding out what flight back to Cairo we can take tonight,” he told her, trying
to give her some comfort.  “We’ll be back in Cairo by tonight.”

She sobbed,
wiping at her nose. “Wh… where is she?”

Fox caught
Allahaba’s attention; the man had been listening even though he discreetly
pretended otherwise.

“She is still at
my home, Morgan,” Allahaba said quietly. “If she has not yet already, she will
be washed by Ziva and other relatives and placed in a shroud.”

Morgan looked at
him, her lovely eyes wet and a tissue to her nose. “She’s not at a funeral
home?”

Allahaba shook
his head. “No,” he told her. “She will stay at home, peacefully, and be buried
tomorrow morning where will offer the
Janazah
prayers. They are ritual
prayers for the deceased before burial, much like a Christian funeral mass.
After prayers, she will be placed in the grave next to Kadin, facing Mecca,
where we will offer more prayers for her soul.”

Tears were
spilling out of Morgan’s eyes. “Are you sure she died peacefully?”

Allahaba nodded
gently, watching Fox kiss Morgan’s temple. “Great peace, Morgan. In fact, Ziva
said she died with the journal in her hands. You know that she had not let it
go since you gave it to her. She slept with it. It brought her great comfort.”

Morgan closed
her eyes, tears spilling down her neck as she turned her face into Fox’s chest
again. 

“Can… can we
bury her with it?” she whispered. “I think she would have liked that.”

Allahaba nodded.
“Of course,” he said. “We will lay it on her chest, next her heart.”

“And the papyrus?”
she murmured. “It meant so much to her… I’d like to bury her with a copy of it.
Maybe we can get a color copy made so she can have that, too. The papyrus was
really what started all of this.”

Allahaba nodded,
a smile on his lips. “Fanny and Kadin can chase the clues in the afterlife to
their heart’s content.”

Morgan nodded,
unable to speak further. She held the tissue against her mouth, struggling with
her grief. Her tears faded, mostly because she was too exhausted to cry any
more.  Fox held her closely, feeling her eventually go limp against him. He was
grateful for the fact that the woman could fall asleep anytime, anywhere. This
time, it would give her a reprieve from her grief.

“Al?” he asked
quietly. “Did you find us a flight out of here?”

Allahaba nodded,
glancing at his watch. “There is an AirEgypt flight tonight at eight o’clock,”
he said. “We do not have to go to the airport right away. We will take you back
to the hotel and I will return with Jabeel to off load his car. We must also
pay Jabeel.”

Fox nodded.
“I’ll write him a check before we go,” he said. “Call the Hilton Luxor and see
if they have any rooms available for the afternoon. I want to get Morgan into a
hot tub and give her a chance to rest before we head home.”

As Allahaba got
on the phone again, Beni sat in the back seat, silent as the grave.He had heard
what was going on, the plans that were taking place. He didn’t exactly
understand all of it, but Fox’s wife was greatly distressed over someone’s
death, so much so that she mentioned burying the journal with this person and a
copy of a papyrus.  Beni could only deduce that she meant the papyrus that was
translated in the journal. He and Alia had speculated if Fox had the mysterious
Lady of Heaven papyrus with him; based on the conversation, Beni was fairly
certain they did.  Now, they were all heading back to Cairo, away from the
Manjam Hamsh wilderness and away from the drug lord and his men.

Truth was, Beni
wasn’t feeling warm and fuzzy about confessing everything to Fox.  He had expected
praise and rewards at the very least. What he received was a bottle of water
and a plane ticket back to Cairo. It was frustrating for a man who had tried to
do the right thing, now disenchanted by his noble intentions.