Words of Love

chapter TWENTY-FIVE



Jesse was surprised to find Brett still sleeping when she awoke. She was snuggled into the crook of his arm but, as she looked up at him, she realized he wasn’t asleep.

“Good morning,” he said, smiling.

“Good morning,” she said, as he moved a few strands of hair from her face.

Had he been waiting for her to wake up?

“What time is it?” she asked

“I don’t know,” he said, glancing at the cave entrance. “It’s probably morning.”

They must have slept–or at least she must have slept–for over twelve hours. Suddenly, she remembered the Red King and Frederico and–she got up on her elbow.

“What are we going to do?” she asked.

His smile slowly faded and he looked into her eyes.

“We,” he said. “I like the sound of that.” Then he ran a hand through his hair and looked at the ceiling of the tent. “I’m going to leave the university.”

“No, Brett,” she started.

“Hold on a second,” he said, looking at her. “Let me finish.”

She bit her lower lip and waited.

“They might even want to keep me but it doesn’t matter,” he said, making it sound casual. “Once the Red King is public, we’ll be able to pick our school, or maybe a museum.” She stared at him. She liked the sound of we too. “First, though, I need to contact the federal police about what happened to Frederico and his accomplice.” He paused. “That might get a little complicated.” She thought of the dead accomplice and closed her eyes to the thought of what had happened to Frederico. “I know,” he said quietly and she felt his hand stroke her arm. She opened her eyes. “But, the federales will also be able to guard the site. I’ll recruit some local help, people I’ve worked with before, and then we can break the big news.” A smile began to grow on his face. “But first, we’re getting you back to the big city to see about those antimalarial drugs. The rest of it can wait.”

She raised her eyebrows.

“Wait?” she said. “We’re just going to leave the most important archaeological find of the millennia here, unguarded?”

“Frederico wouldn’t have allowed any competition here,” he said, serious again. “It’ll be safe.”

“But how can you just leave without at least investigating it?”

Now he sat up and she did as well.

“Because it’s not me, it’s us. When you’re well, we can catalogue, photograph, excavate and translate everything.” He was starting to get excited and his eyes had their familiar glitter. “There’ll be hundreds of people to help and experts from all over the world.” He gazed into her eyes. “We’ll even have more than beans and rice.”

She had to smile at that but she still couldn’t help but be nervous about just leaving everything here.

“Are you sure? The most amazing treasure ever and there’s not so much as a lock on the door?”

“Well, there you’re wrong,” he said, as he put his arms around her. “The only real treasure, I’m taking with me.”

As he leaned in to kiss her, a single glyph slowly floated into view. The beautiful symbol glowed like a rainbow and she recognized it immediately– the word for beloved. Though she’d meant to say it, Brett’s lips gently enveloped hers. As she closed her eyes and kissed him back, she decided she could tell him about it later.