Their Greek Island Reunion
Their Greek Island Reunion
Carol Grace
Olivia and Jack were the perfect couple–it was clear from the start they were meant for each other…Now, five years on, their fairy-tale wedding is a distant memory and their marriage seems to be almost over. But Jack's never stopped loving Olivia, and has planned for them to spend the summer on the beautiful Greek island where they first met.It's the perfect place to fall in love…the pretty villages, the gently lapping waves on miles of endless golden sand. But is it enough to help Jack and Olivia overcome their past and reunite…forever?
Their Greek Island Reunion
Carol Grace
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
For Aunt Alyce,
who’s the inspiration for Olivia’s aunt, and for the
other Kimpton sisters—Aunt Mary and Aunt Jane.
CONTENTS
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
EPILOGUE
PROLOGUE
OLIVIA and Jack were the perfect couple. Same profession, same goals, same love of ancient ruins. Sure, there were a few tiny differences. He was a night owl, she was always up early. But nothing major. It was clear from the start they were meant for each other. Anyone in the same room with them could feel the electricity in the air.
They met in June and had the perfect wedding in September. Although the bouquets of lilies didn’t arrive at the church until after the ceremony, the photographer, Enzo, didn’t speak English, the groom’s brother overslept and the whole party got lost on the walk through the village from the church to the reception, Olivia remembered it as the happiest day of her life.
She forgot the little glitches, but she remembered how ruggedly handsome Jack had looked in his tux, the white shirt contrasting with his sun-bronzed skin. She forgot about the ring bearer tripping over his feet, but she’d never forget floating down the aisle in her grandmother’s white silk dress to the music from the string quartet.
When Jack put the ring on her finger that was inscribed with the date and their initials, he whispered, “Forever.”
Then the priest said, “You may kiss the bride,” in Italian and Jack kissed her so passionately there was a collective “Ahhh” in the church. Olivia’s eyes overflowed with happy tears when they left the church under a shower of rose petals.
They finally arrived at the reception on the beach at Positano, just steps from the water. No overdone rococo decor at the hotel, it was all Italian minimalism. By then the hem of Olivia’s silk crepe gown was dusty, and tendrils had escaped from her chignon.
“You’re beautiful, Mrs. Oakley,” Jack said when they sat down at the table, and the waiters started pouring champagne for everyone. He tucked a curl behind her ear. “I can’t believe today you’re mine, all mine.”
“Believe it, Mr. Oakley,” she said, smiling and bubbling over with happiness. “Not just today, but yours until we’re old and gray.”
“Until we’re too old to dig anymore.”
“Until our grandchildren have to take over and write our memoirs for us,” she said.
“About how you uncovered the House of the Vestals in Pompeii,” he said proudly.
“And you discovered the Royal Burials at Nimrud,” she said.
“Speaking of grandchildren,” he said, “how many kids should we have?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Enough to help carry our trowels and picks and shovels at least.”
“Enough to take notes for us and dig, dig, dig,” he added.
“What if they hate old stuff?” she said, suddenly worried. “What if they refuse to travel with us? They only want to stay home and play video games with their friends?”
He shook his head. “Not possible. They’ll be just like you. Adventurous, gorgeous, smart and tough. What are we waiting for? I could use some help. Let’s get started making some of these little wonders.”
“Now?” She looked around the room filled with friends and relatives who’d flown in from around the world to share this day with them.
“Tonight in our room up there above the town, with the lemon trees outside the window and the sound of the sea below.” He brushed her lips with his. “Is it a date?”
She nodded. If he’d said “now,” she would have gone with him. Anywhere. Anytime. She wanted what he wanted. Love, marriage, kids, a career, success, recognition. But most of all she wanted him. It didn’t matter that they had no time for a honeymoon now. They had a whole lifetime together. Tomorrow they had to fly straight home to start teaching classes for the fall semester.
She was almost thirty. Jack a few years older. Why postpone having children? They wouldn’t let kids interfere with their careers. Kids who looked like Jack, who had his good nature, his patience, his tenacity and sense of humor would only add to their happiness and enrich their lives. Jack would make a great dad.
But life is what happens when you’re making other plans, and Olivia didn’t get pregnant. They tried but it just didn’t happen. She even quit teaching one semester. Not only did she not get pregnant, she got depressed. She felt like a failure. Jack didn’t blame her; she blamed herself. He did everything he could to help her cope. Took part of her course load, ordered takeout so she didn’t have to cook and hired a cleaning service. But there was only so much he could do.
She took the same path he did. Work, work, work. It hurt him to watch her try and fail to conceive. After all, the doctors said there was nothing wrong with her, nothing wrong with him. He couldn’t help her. So he turned to the only part of his life he could control—his classes and his research at the university. He finally shut himself off from her and her pain. After a while they both carefully avoided mentioning the kids they wanted so badly.
It was a relief for Olivia to be back at work. To face the challenges of teaching new courses and writing papers. She was tired of “taking it easy.” She was tired of trying to get pregnant. She was even more tired of failing. She was used to success. She worked harder than ever. She worked late and long. She got promoted to full professor at the university. Totally consumed with her career, she kept Jack at arm’s length. Seeing him reminded her of what she couldn’t do. He might act as if he didn’t care about having a baby, but she knew he did.
Jack was proud of Olivia’s accomplishments, but he thought she was driving herself too far and too fast. He thought she should take a break.
A break? That’s what she didn’t dare do. Now she was in charge of her own digs, which didn’t coincide with Jack’s. Some summers they didn’t see much of each other. Even when they were both at home their paths didn’t cross very often. It was easier that way.
When Jack got an offer from California University to head the Archaeology Department there, she didn’t go with him. The reason she gave anyone who asked was that the job they offered her wasn’t as good as the one she had. The truth was he never really asked her to go. She thought he didn’t care if she went or not. They’d been separated emotionally for a long time. What did it matter if the separation became geographical as well?
He thought she cared more about her career than him. He thought she’d given up trying to have a baby. He was right about that. He thought she didn’t love him anymore. He was wrong about that.
CHAPTER ONE
Two Years Later
OLIVIA was seasick. The small ferry from Piraeus rolled and pitched in the Aegean Sea. No stabilizers on this old tub. Not many passengers except for the members of their expedition who’d all gone inside for the two-hour ride. She’d headed straight for the rail, taking large gulps of fresh air, trying to keep down the small breakfast she’d eaten on the dock before the boat left.
Keeping her breakfast down was not the only challenge Olivia faced. Even more difficult would be keeping the memories of her last trip to Hermapolis at bay. It was seven years ago, the summer she’d met Jack. A dream opportunity for a new young professor like herself to dig for a rare, multilayered tomb dating back to Alexander the Great.
She hadn’t found the burial chamber she was looking for, but she’d found Jack Oakley, smart, tough, brave, ambitious, and so gorgeous he had taken her breath away. Sparks flew. Passion erupted like Vesuvius, the volcano that towered over Pompeii. Theirs was an instant attraction. Impossible to deny. Obvious to everyone within a few yards that they’d fallen madly in love. They were married in Italy in the fall.
Now she was back. Older and wiser. Another chance to dig for the tomb, to find some clay pots, jewelry or copper coins and to finally discover who was buried there. While she was there, she’d have a chance to face the site where she’d met Jack and make sure she was over him for good. She’d better be since she’d filed for divorce in the spring. It was just a formality, because their marriage existed only on paper.
She’d given the marriage her all; they both had. She hadn’t heard from Jack since she’d filed, but he must know as well as she did there was nothing left of their union. It was time to make it official.
In her field, when she’d done her best and worked hard, she’d gotten praised and promoted for her efforts. No wonder she went back to work. On this dig she could add to her list of accomplishments. She’d take advantage of the last chance to uncover this site before the owners closed it. She propped her elbows on the railing and kept her eyes on the horizon.
“Feeling better?”
She whirled around. She must be hallucinating. It couldn’t be Jack. If he was part of the team, she would have known. She would have seen his name on the list and she never would have come, no matter how tempting the chance to find the lost tomb.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded, bracing herself against the railing so she wouldn’t lose her balance and fall on her face.
“Same thing as you are. Heading for Hermapolis to dig for old bones. Chasing Alexander the Great. Trying to find out more about Macedonian culture.” He gave her one of his old smiles that used to melt her bones. No longer. Never again. She was immune. She was a different person. With a stone wall around her heart.
“Oh, you mean now?” he asked. “I’m bringing you some tea and crackers. You always had a weak stomach.”
She straightened and took a deep breath. “I did not. Well, only when the sea is rough.”
“The first time I saw you, you were hanging over the rail. Could have been this rail right here.”
He would have to remind her of that. Then as now he’d gone to get her something to settle her stomach. How could she resist a guy who’d do something like that for a total stranger? She’d immediately felt better. It wasn’t so much the tea, it was having a good-looking man distract her. And Jack was that kind of man, no doubt about that. Dark wind-blown hair, blue knit polo that matched his eyes, khakis and bare feet in Top-Siders. She couldn’t tear her eyes away then and she couldn’t do it now. And she did try.
He handed her the tea and the crackers, then pointed to a bench on the deck. “Sit down,” he said.
She sat and sipped her tea, grateful to have something to do besides stare at her husband. Ex-husband. Separated husband. Estranged husband. Nothing quite fit. They weren’t divorced yet, but they certainly weren’t together. She hoped no one on the dig thought they were.
“You haven’t told me…” she said.
“Yes, I did. I’m here to finish what I started seven years ago.”
Olivia held her breath. What did he mean? Only that he was more determined than ever to get to the bottom of that tomb on the farmer’s field. So close and yet so far. So tantalizing every archaeologist in his right mind would give anything to get access to it. Just as she was. Nothing personal. Definitely not. He didn’t mean her. He was talking about their work.
“In other words, we’re all in this together. Excavating Hermapolis,” he said. “Should be fun.”
Fun? To work with your ex at the same place where you met? That was not her idea of fun. That was her idea of torture. “Why didn’t you tell me you were on the team?” she demanded.
“Thought you might not come.”
He knew perfectly well she wouldn’t have come. Not after what he’d said before he left her. Not after what she’d done. Now was not the time to admit it. Now was the time to play it cool. “Of course I would. This could be the most monumental tomb of its kind ever found in Greece, as you well know. Your being part of the team is completely irrelevant to me,” she said, proud of herself for sounding so detached. “Why would I give up a chance to look for the missing clay pots or the small idols?” Liar. She’d even given up trying to tear open the packet of crackers because her hands were shaking so badly. How she wished he was irrelevant. Maybe someday. But not today, that was clear.
He took the crackers out of her hand and ripped the package open. He noticed she had a problem. He never missed anything, damn him.
“So I still mean nothing to you,” he said. “The only thing you care about is your research.” There was a hint of bitterness in his voice, completely unjustified. What was he bitter about? Maybe it was the divorce. But who’d walked out? Not her. He sounded so casual, so all-knowing, she wanted to smack him on the face.
“That’s why you wouldn’t come with me to California,” he said.
“You know why I didn’t go with you,” she said, glaring at him. “First you didn’t ask me to come. Second I had nothing to do there of any significance and third…”
“I didn’t ask you to come,” he said, “because even I had to make an appointment with your secretary to see you. You were that busy. You were always working.”
“Oh, and you were so available? You signed up for every committee. You even went in on weekends.”
“I had nothing better to do. You weren’t around. I know, you loved your job. It was important to you, and you were good at it. I got that. What I didn’t get was your indifference. You couldn’t care less that I got that offer.”
“That’s not true. I was proud of you. It was a plum job.”
“Oh, right. You were so proud you didn’t even come to my farewell dinner the department threw for me.”
“I told you…”
“You told me you were busy. You were always busy. You couldn’t have spared a few hours?”
“Why? You didn’t need me there to tell you what a fantastic job you’d done for the university and how much they were going to miss you. I’m sure you heard it over and over from everyone else. Your ego just couldn’t get enough.”
His eyes narrowed. “Maybe so, but it would have been nice to hear it from you. It would have been nice to hear something from you. Instead I got a card from you saying ‘Good Luck.’ You weren’t sorry to see me go, you were relieved.”
“Don’t tell me what I was. You have no idea what I felt.” He couldn’t know how it hurt to see him packing up and driving away. She wasn’t made of stone. Not then, anyway. They were getting into dangerous territory by rehashing old problems now. She wasn’t proud of how she’d acted the day he left or what she’d done to close the chapter on their life together.
“Look, Jack, now’s really not the time to get into what happened then. It’s history,” she said. “All I ask is next time you join a dig I’m on just let me know.”
“Why, so you can back out again?”
That was exactly what she’d do. What she should have done this time. But it was too late now, so she’d better make the best of it. “Why would I do that?” she asked casually. “The past is in the past. We had some good times, we worked well together. There’s no reason why we can’t do it again.” Don’t mention the bad times. Don’t even go there.
Olivia was proud of herself. She sounded so rational, so over Jack. If she thought she was, it took ten minutes to tell her she wasn’t. It was all this pent-up emotion, all the bottled-up anger. And maybe some unfinished business. If only she could stop trembling on the inside. Stop the memories from crowding in on her.
“That’s good to know,” he said calmly. “It will make the summer easier for both of us. All it takes is an ability to separate the brain from the emotions.”
How many times had she heard him say that? She used to say it wasn’t possible, while he insisted it was. Why argue? Arguing with Jack was pointless and painful. No one won. Everyone lost. “Nothing to it,” she agreed.
“Now that we’ve settled that.” He sat next to her and stretched his legs out in front of him as if they were casual acquaintances instead of a married couple who’d been at each other’s throats a few minutes ago with recriminations and accusations.
How could he be so nonchalant? Because he didn’t care. He’d moved on. Really moved on. She had to show him she’d done the same. She felt his eyes on her. He was scrutinizing her as if he were trying to classify her. Late Roman or Hellenistic. “You look better,” he said.
“Thanks,” she muttered. But she wondered, did he mean better than a few minutes ago or better than two years ago? She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of asking. What did it matter what he thought? Their marriage was over. “It’s good we’re working together again,” he said. “One more time.”
One more time? And then what? Would he sign those papers? Was he even going to acknowledge getting them? As of now he was treating her as if she was just another team member he had to work with. A difficult team member who had to be humored. Not someone who’d meant everything to him. Or so he’d said. Now she was someone who had to be treated carefully or she’d fly off the handle. It shouldn’t bother her. But it did. She couldn’t go on being tied to him legally but living apart.
She wanted to shake him. She wanted to scream, We met on this island. Doesn’t it mean anything to you? We’re married. But in name only. You have to admit it’s over. We can’t go on like this. Sign the papers. Let’s stop pretending. Of course she didn’t. “I read your article in Archaeology Digest,” she said, desperately looking to change the subject. “Interesting conclusion.” She didn’t say wrong conclusion, but that’s what she meant and he knew it.
His eyes glittered like the blue Aegean. Jack loved a challenge. That much hadn’t changed. “That means you don’t agree with me, doesn’t it?” he asked.
“That the Age of the Pharaohs was brought about by climate change? That’s ridiculous. You have no proof.”
“Nobody has proof of anything. I thought I made a good case for it.”
She shook her head. “In your dreams.”
“Then what’s your theory? Or haven’t you got one?”
“Does it matter?” she asked.
“Of course it does. We always had some good discussions. No reason to quit now. I value your opinion, you know that.” He put his arm on the back of the bench where it brushed against her shoulders. A small gesture, so familiar that it caused an ache that spread all the way to her heart. If he valued her opinions so much, why hadn’t he asked for them in the two years he’d been gone? She’d barely heard a word from him.
He’d reminded her of the heated discussions they’d had about work, yes. Those were stimulating. But about their personal problems? No one mentioned those. That subject was off-limits. They’d both said things they shouldn’t have. Things that left wounds too deep to forget. At least for her.
Suddenly the summer stretched ahead of her like a long road full of potholes. Dangerous, deep holes a person could fall into and never get out of. She’d have to try to ignore Jack as much as possible. She could talk to him if it was about work. She’d be walking a tightrope for more than two months. But she could do it. She had to.
If she could walk the tightrope and not fall off, she could get a lot out of this dig. There was the chance of finding an important tomb on this island, buried under thousands of years of civilization. She would get an article out of it, maybe a book. She would get along with Jack. She would forget the past. But right now he was so close she could smell the same citrus aftershave he always wore. He was too close for comfort.
She shifted away from him. She had to treat Jack like a colleague and nothing more. Just the way she treated everyone else on this dig, including Marilyn Osborne, a middle-aged archaeologist from the University of Pittsburgh who was ambling toward them across the deck.
“How are you feeling?” she asked Olivia.
“Fine, thank you,” she said stiffly. She did not want anyone to think she had any health problems.
“As Homer said, ‘Beware the stormy seas of May.’ Have you been to the island before?” Marilyn asked.
Olivia exchanged a brief glance with Jack. What was she supposed to say? What had he already said?
“Well, yes, a few years ago,” she said. “Very intriguing site. I’m looking forward to getting back.”
Jack stood. “I’m going to the snack bar. Can I bring you something, Marilyn?”
Marilyn shook her head.
He turned to Olivia. “More tea, sweetheart?”
She bit her lip. How dare he call her sweetheart. If she could have kicked him in the shin without Marilyn noticing, she would have.
“No, thank you,” she said. How like him to skip out when the conversation got dicey. How like him to act as if everything was just dandy between them. How like him to pretend he’d never gotten those divorce papers.
Marilyn took Jack’s place on the bench. As soon as Jack had disappeared down the steps to the lower deck, she spoke. “So I heard that you two are married, right? Did you have any idea that he would be coming along?”
“Technically yes, but we’re actually separated. In the process of getting divorced. We…Jack’s at California U and I’m at Santa Clarita.”
“I had no idea. I hope it won’t be awkward.”
“No, of course not. We’ve worked together before. We get along just fine.” Olivia gave Marilyn what she hoped was a reassuring smile.
“That’s very professional of you,” Marilyn said. “I could never do it. Married seventeen years. Roger is a stay-at-home dad. Fortunately for me because two of our boys are teenagers now. You know how that is.”
“Not really,” Olivia said. She felt the nausea returning. Was it the thought of teenage children that she didn’t have and never would have? The idea of being a stay-at-home parent which she wasn’t and never would be? Or was it simply the boat rocking a little more than usual?
“No children?”
Olivia stood up and raced for the side of the ship. No one had asked her that question for years. If she hadn’t run smack-dab into Jack on his way back she would have made it. Instead she threw up all over his shoes.
“Oh God, I’m sorry,” she said, a hot flush covering her cheeks.
He put his hands on her shoulders. “What happened? I thought you were okay.”
Somebody mentioned children.
“I don’t know. Maybe you’re right. I do have a weak stomach. How much longer before we dock?”
Jack glanced toward the horizon, thinking he might catch a glimpse of the craggy outline of Hermapolis.
“That’s strange,” he muttered as he walked over to the railing.
Olivia followed him. “What is?”
Thank God she was feeling better. He couldn’t stand to see her suffer. It reminded him of the last year they’d been together. She’d tried to bottle up her feelings. But he knew what she was going through. The wall she’d put up between them didn’t make it any easier to help her get through it. She always masked her pain so no one would feel sorry for her. Especially him.
He’d tried to help her. But she had turned her back on him. Finally he gave up and took the job at Cal. He still wondered if he’d done the right thing. If he maybe should have tried harder to make their marriage work. He was determined he was going to give it his best shot this summer. If it didn’t work for them here on this beautiful island, there was no hope.
He cast a curious look at the horizon. “We’re completely out of sight of any land at all. That doesn’t happen very often in the Aegean. No other boats around, either. I need to see a map.”
Suddenly from somewhere below decks there was a severe, loud thump followed by a nasty vibration that threw Olivia headlong into his arms. He only had a moment to reflect how natural and how right it felt to hold her. After all this time, yet it seemed like yesterday. The memories came rushing back. How soft she was. How sweet she smelled.
“What was that?” she asked, jerking out of his arms so fast he wondered if she’d really been there at all, or was it a dream? How many times he’d dreamed she’d come back to him only to wake up and find she was still six hundred miles away. It might have been six thousand. Which was why he’d arranged this dig. To give them one more chance before he gave up and gave her what she wanted.
“Feels like something in the engine room just broke,” he said, grasping the railing with one hand and running the other hand through his hair. “I hope they haven’t thrown a connecting rod. That would be…bad.” But even as he spoke, the ungainly boat was quickly losing its headway, and within a minute it was dead in the water. Not good. Not good at all.
The deck was immediately full of passengers who came running out from inside the cabin. The members of their group clustered around him, everyone talking at once.
“Jack, what happened?”
“What should we do?”
“Why have we stopped?”
“Calm down, everyone,” he said. “I’m going in to speak to the captain. In the meantime, just in case, let’s put on our life jackets.” He wasn’t the head of this expedition, the esteemed scholar Dr. Thaddeus Robbins was, but right now Robbins was standing on the deck, scratching his head and looking worried.
When there was a vacuum, Jack wasn’t averse to stepping in. It was always good form to sound calm and unruffled, but truthfully, he knew it was always best to be prepared.
He threw back the cover of the bench they’d been sitting on, exposing a pile of orange life vests.
“Everyone take one,” he ordered, pulling them out and throwing one to each person in the group. Olivia got hers fastened first and was helping the others.
“Oh my God,” one of the younger female grad students said, “we are going down, aren’t we?”
“Not yet,” Jack said calmly. “But whatever’s happening, my guess is we’re going to be here for a while. That jolt didn’t feel like something you could fix with a screwdriver.” Make light of it. Keep everyone from panicking. That was rule number one.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a Greek passenger try to make a call on her cell phone and apparently give up. Not a good sign if they needed to call for help.
“Worst-case scenario,” he told the group. “They’ll call for a tug and tow us to the island. We might miss dinner tonight, but Greeks eat late. Chances are we’ll make it in time.”
“Then why the life jackets?” Marilyn asked, fumbling with the straps when Olivia reached out and snapped them in place for her. A few minutes ago Olivia had been pale and shaken, but you’d never know it now. She was a rock in a storm. Always able to rise to any occasion, except when their marriage was at stake. That was another matter. She’d never tried to talk him out of leaving.
“Just better to be prepared,” he said. Though nothing had prepared him for their marriage to fail. He thought love was enough. How wrong he was.
The steady rumble of the ferry’s engine that had lulled Jack into a false sense of well-being and security had now disappeared. It was an eerie and unsettling quiet that he hoped the others hadn’t noticed. Except for Olivia. He’d never been able to put anything over on her. Just a glance told him she understood just how serious the situation was.
He looked around. Where’s the crew? he wondered. Gone below maybe. Soon there’d be an announcement telling them what was going on. It would be in Greek, but someone would translate, maybe Olivia. She was amazing with languages. She was amazing at many things. That was another reason he was glad she was along. Fortunately he had no trouble separating his personal and professional life.
No problem for him to draw a line between his emotions and his intellect. Until his marriage failed. He’d never failed at anything before. Until he failed at the most important thing in his life. This was his last chance to salvage it, to make it right. To heal the rift between them. To put his life back together again. To get her to reconsider.
He looked around. There she was, helping Dr. Robbins and then other passengers with their life jackets. Most were total strangers. She seemed to be completely over her seasickness. Or she was putting up a good front. She was good at that. She could be hurting inside and still function normally. But he knew. He always knew.
Minutes passed. No announcement came and no crewmen appeared. Instead an ugly black cloud of oily smoke erupted from a vent. He herded the group to the other side of the boat.
Olivia appeared at his side. “What does that mean?” she asked with a worried glance at the billowing smoke.
“Nothing good,” he said with a frown. “A blown engine. A fire in the engine room maybe.”
“Fire?” Her eyes widened. “That means lifeboats.”
He nodded. He knew she’d stay calm no matter what. Other women might have fallen apart, but not Olivia. That was one reason why there’d never been any other woman for him. No one compared to Olivia.
“What about those inflatable rafts?” Olivia asked, pointing to some white capsules. “Aren’t they supposed to automatically inflate when they hit the water?”
“Supposed to, yes. But will they? I hope so.” He spoke quietly. He didn’t want anyone else to hear him expressing his doubts. She was the only one he’d trust not to panic.
“I’ve read stories about ferries capsizing,” she said.
He nodded grimly. He’d read the same stories. The crew gets scared and jumps overboard. Passengers are left on their own.
“Don’t worry,” he said, putting his hand on her shoulder, “I’ll take care of it.”
She nodded. She’d been steady during the cave-in on Thira. She’d even bailed the group out when the site was flooded on Rhodes. Then there were the wild tigers in Ache Province. Whatever happened, he could count on her. While others worried about carbon dating and finding cracked vases, it was the Oakleys who’d handle any emergencies that came up. And they always came up at least once during a dig.
“You can’t take care of this by yourself,” Olivia said. “Where’s the crew?”
“I don’t know. Maybe overcome by smoke. Stay with me.”
Then he waved to the group. “Everybody give me a hand,” he shouted. “We’re lowering the boats.” He ran to the starboard side of the boat and knocked the blocks loose that held a small lifeboat in place. With the help of the eight other men he loosened the other blocks and pushed the first boat out over the side. The ferry was starting to list.
“Get in,” he yelled at the members of the group. “I’ll lower the boat after it’s loaded.”
He helped Marilyn in first then a small Greek woman, then Robbins, followed by his students and the others. He motioned for Olivia to get in.
“I’m waiting for you.”
“No, you’re not,” he told her. “Get in.”
She opened her mouth to protest, but he pushed her into the boat. She clamped her mouth shut and glared at him. He knew that look. She was mad as hell at him. When the boat was full, he pulled the release lever and the boat moved slowly down toward the water.
“What about you, Jack?” one of the students yelled.
“I’ll get off. Just don’t rock the boat. When you hit the water, unhook the winch cables, front and back. Do you understand?”
The guy yelled something that sounded affirmative. Jack caught Olivia’s eye and she definitely didn’t look happy.
“If you don’t do it, the boat will be pulled down with the ferry,” he shouted at her. “This is important. Got it?”
He pointed to the cables. Olivia, looking pale and determined, nodded. Sure, she was mad at him, but she’d do what she had to do. “Good girl,” he muttered under his breath.
The lifeboat hit the water. Olivia was bounced off her seat and came down again with a thud. Damn Jack for playing the hero. He should be in this boat with them. They needed him. As usual, he took charge, did whatever he damn well pleased, thinking he knew what was best for everyone. She followed his directions, struggling with the cable hook until it came free.
She looked up at him. He gave her a thumbs-up and she heaved a sigh of relief. He’d figure out a way to join them. The hook banged against the side of the ferry. She glanced at the college kid to make sure he’d released the cable at the other end. He had.
She looked up again. Now where was he? The deck was engulfed in smoke and flames. Two men had found the oars in the lifeboat and were paddling like mad, putting space between the lifeboat and the ferry.
“Wait,” she cried. Her throat was raw. Her voice shook. “Stop. We can’t leave without Jack.”
“We have to get away before the ship capsizes,” someone next to her said. “If he’s still up there, he’ll jump.”
The lifeboat drifted away from the stricken ferry as a black column of smoke rose into the sky. A second lifeboat appeared from around the ship’s stern. Frantic, Olivia scanned the passengers, but Jack wasn’t among them. Nearly hysterical, she looked up at the ship, which was listing at a terrifying angle. There he was, still on board, helping a straggler with his life vest.
“Jack, jump!” she shouted. “It’s going down. Get off!” She watched as Jack helped the old man crawl over the railing and drop into the water, all in slow motion. Then almost methodically, Jack checked the straps on his own life vest. Her heart in her throat, she watched while he climbed onto the railing and jumped into the water. The deck disappeared in smoke. Furious with him, she felt helpless tears run down her face. He was gone.
CHAPTER TWO
THE HOTEL Argos was doing its best to cope with the arrival of the survivors of the ferry accident, the archaeology team and their usual clientele of summer tourists. Clearly the little hotel high on the hill overlooking the harbor was stretched almost beyond its capability. Though harried, Helen Marinokou, the longtime owner, made everyone feel welcome, and from the kitchen came the comforting smells of roasting meats and oven-baked pastas.
The charm of the wood-paneled dining room and the mouthwatering platters of food were lost on Olivia. She sat at a long table in the corner, surrounded by the members of the group, her eyes glued to the door, her stomach in knots, unable to eat even a bite of the traditional mezedes like green peppers and octopus salad the waitress set in the middle of the table. Yes, they were all there, picked up by a passing fishing boat and taken to the island. All but Jack.
Fred Staples, one of the young grad students from Jack’s university, poured glasses of retsina, the pineresin-flavored wine, for everyone at the table. When Olivia didn’t lift her glass for the toast, he gave her a puzzled look.
“You’re not worried about Dr. Oakley, are you?” he asked. “He’ll be along on the next rescue boat. Or he’ll swim to shore. I’ve been on digs with him before. Never missed a day of work. Blistering heat or hail storm. He’s amazing.”
Olivia managed a weak smile. Amazing, he was. At least to his students. They worshipped him. But he wasn’t indestructible. No one was. Not even Jack. He often said he had nine lives, but by now he must have used them up. This wasn’t the first time he’d risked his life during one of their adventures. But it was the last as far as she was concerned. The last one she’d be party to. She’d had it with Jack and his heroics.
“I’m sure he will,” she said. But she wasn’t sure at all. No one had seen him jump into the smoke and flames the way she had. No one had seen him since. No one but she knew exactly what Jack was capable of or would admit that even he was vulnerable. He was human, after all.
She’d pleaded with the captain of the fishing boat that picked them up to go back to the sinking ferry to look for him. But he refused, saying they were full but other boats were still out there looking for survivors. And not to worry about her husband. Easy for him to say.
She was sick of worrying about Jack, sick of watching him risk his life. If they weren’t married, she’d finally be able to break this bond between them and stop worrying, stop thinking about him and stop wondering what he was doing or if he was alive.
She couldn’t sit there another minute while she pictured Jack at the bottom of the sea or fighting off sharks. Was it her imagination or were the others looking at her, thinking she should be out searching for him, or at least down at the dock watching for the next boat?
Too nervous to stay there while everyone talked and laughed and ate and drank as if it was a normal dinner, she jumped up from the table and edged her way across the noisy, crowded dining room. She’d almost reached the door when Jack walked in. His face was caked with grime, he was wearing somebody else’s white T-shirt and dirty overalls, as well as his usual cocky grin. She gasped and grabbed a fistful of his grimy shirt.
“Where have you been?” she demanded.
“Oh, just out for a swim. Miss me?” he asked.
“No.” She dropped her hands. “Yes.”
“Sorry I’m late.” He acted as if he’d just arrived at a faculty cocktail party. “Save dinner for me?”
Olivia choked back a storm of tears and clenched her jaw to keep from exploding in angry frustration. “Why didn’t you come with us?” she demanded. “What’s wrong with you? Did you have to wait for every last passenger to get off? Don’t you realize that this group depends on you?”
“Me? Come on, Olivia, it’s Dr. Robbins who is the head of this dig.”
Olivia looked over her shoulder at the man he was talking about. Dr. Robbins was enjoying a glass of wine at a table in the corner as if he didn’t have a care in the world. “Dr. Robbins might be renowned in his field, but he’s all but retired,” she muttered. “He’s no help at all in a crisis. This whole expedition would be lost without…” She shook her head. “Never mind.” What good did it do to rant and rave? Jack would do what he had to do. He always did, he always would. She’d run out of steam and words.
“Calm down,” Jack said, taking her hands in his.
“Calm down?” she sputtered. “That’s easy for you to say. You knew where you were. We didn’t. We thought you were at the bottom of the sea. Isn’t it time you thought about someone besides yourself?”
“I was. I was thinking about you nonstop. I was thinking if I didn’t make it, you’d have to uncover that tomb by yourself. You’d get first crack at the coins and the jewelry and take all the credit. Then you’d write all the articles, get your name in National Geographic, give papers at the conferences. You think I’d let that happen?” he asked with a half smile. “Not a chance.
“Nope, I got picked up by a very nice fisherman in a trawler who supplied me with the dry clothes I’m wearing. Before that I thought I might have to swim to shore. Every time I saw a shark or a wave hit me in the face, I thought about you and what you’d do if I didn’t show up. You might say the thought of you finding those artifacts and discovering who was buried there without me motivated me.”
Olivia swallowed hard and pulled her hands away. So he’d thought about her. She’d motivated him to stay alive. Yes, that’s what he always said. But she couldn’t go through this again, watching him risk his life for someone or something else. She hadn’t known if he was alive or dead. She’d feared the worst, but he was making jokes. Good thing he didn’t know how devastated she would have been if he hadn’t made it or how racked with worry she’d been.
“I should have known what kept you going—it was your usual naked ambition, and your supercompetitive nature,” she said. “It’s you against nature or it’s you against the elements, the dust storm, the flood, the rain, whatever. So far you’ve always won. But someday, Jack, someday…” She choked. Someday he wasn’t going to make it and she was not going to be around when it happened. She’d had enough. No more heroics. No more Jack.
“Enough about me, Olivia,” he said. “What happened to you?” A small worry line crossed his forehead. “I thought you’d make it, but…I wasn’t sure.” His gaze held hers for a long moment. Just briefly she thought he might feel the same intense connection she did, that invisible thread that had joined them once. It was so strong they thought it would last forever. Now she knew that nothing lasts forever.
He scanned the room and the thread snapped. “Everyone else got here okay?”
“Yes, yes. Everyone’s fine. It’s just…I…You were the only one missing. People worry. People care about you.” The truth was no one else was as worried as she was. No, because they weren’t his wife.
“That’s good to know. You know me so well. I’m never late for dinner. Unless the boat goes down. Otherwise I wouldn’t miss the souvlaki or moussaka. I’m starving. Where’re you sitting?”
She pointed to the table in the corner just as the word went around that Jack was there. Before he got to the table, everyone got up to hug him, pat him on the back and congratulate him on escaping the burning ferry boat. Not that they’d had any doubts. Jack was a superhero. He was tough and he was charming. It was up to her to resist that charm…all summer long.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw him deep in conversation with Dr. Robbins, who looked vastly relieved to see him. Perhaps he had realized he was getting too old for this kind of adventure.
The rest of the evening progressed as if the boat sinking and their rescue were just the first glitch in the summer program. There would be others, but once you’ve been on a dig, you almost expect them, and you cope. Olivia knew that. She just didn’t know how to cope with Jack at the bottom of the Aegean. Not anymore.
The food kept coming, the bouzouki music began and the dancing started. Olivia managed to relax enough to nibble on a crisp spinach-stuffed spanikopita, and make conversation while Jack made the rounds of the room to speak to everyone in the group as well as some other tourists who’d apparently heard he’d been missing. She was once again struck by his boundless energy, his ease in handling a crowd and his confidence no matter what got in his way. Confidence or not, if he thought he was going to talk her out of a divorce, he was mistaken.
It would be better for her determination to end the marriage, to forget his attributes and focus on his flaws. Like his single-minded pursuit of his career. So single-minded he’d left her behind as soon as he’d gotten the offer from California to be department head. And, of course, there were her flaws, which Jack had enumerated for her in no uncertain terms.
A few of the older group members, like Robbins, were going off to the quiet stone bungalows tucked behind the pines and olive trees. Exhausted and emotionally drained, Olivia sneaked away right after them and checked at the front desk of the hotel to find out where her room was.
“Ah, Mrs. Oakley,” Elena, the young woman at the desk said, “we’ve put you and your husband in room 203 upstairs.”
“What? Oh, no, I really need a separate room.” Certainly Jack did, too. “We…we’re really not together. No, not at all.”
Elena gave her a puzzled look. Olivia didn’t blame her. They had the same name, and legally they were still married. Should Olivia have to explain why she was separated from Jack? Why they’d drifted apart? Surely it happened everywhere, even in Greece. Not everyone lived happily ever after. Not every couple with the same last name wanted to share a room.
“I’m sorry, someone in your group mentioned that you were married and said you wouldn’t mind sharing. I’d like to help you,” Elena said, “but we’re overbooked tonight because of the ferry boat accident. Some people are still missing. Everyone is sharing, making sacrifices. The students have been placed with families in town, but we just don’t have enough rooms for everyone. We’re trying to accommodate you all. I hope you understand,” she added stiffly.
“Of course,” Olivia said, quickly chastened. She felt as if she’d behaved like a pampered American tourist.
“It’s a very nice room. With a large bath. The hot springs on the edge of town have been routed to several hotels including ours. But if you don’t want the room…”
The thought of a large hot bath made Olivia’s skin break out in goose bumps. “No, of course we’ll take it. Thank you. I didn’t mean to sound ungrateful.” For one night she could put up with anything. Anything for a hot bath. Tomorrow she’d find a room for herself if she had to move out of the hotel. She took the room key, and when she turned to go Jack was standing behind her.
He was so close she got a good look at a long scratch on his cheek and a bruise under one eye. She had to clench her hands into fists to keep from reaching up to touch his face. To smooth the skin, to reassure herself he was really all right. The way an ordinary wife might. One who lived under the same roof as her husband, saw him every day, taught at the same university in the same town.
“I…They’ve put us in the same room by mistake, but it’s just for tonight,” she said, wishing her voice was more steady. How many times was he going to surprise her and catch her off guard?
“I heard,” he said. He wasn’t grinning anymore. In fact, he looked beat. He probably didn’t want to room with her, either. Lines of fatigue creased his face, and his eyes were half-closed.
“Jack, you look terrible. Why don’t you…we go upstairs? At least you have to get out of those clothes.”
It occurred to her he didn’t have any other clothes. Neither did she. Neither did anyone who was on the boat. The luggage had all sunk or had burned up. A shared room. No clothes. It sounded like a recipe for a personal disaster. At least a very personal embarrassment. She straightened her shoulders. If Jack could face it, so could she. Thank God they’d shipped all their equipment ahead.
The room was small with hardwood floors, a hand-painted dresser, a closet and the promised large porcelain tub in the adjoining bathroom. And a double bed covered with a hand-sewn quilt. Well, what did she expect? Greeks didn’t know about king-size beds. They didn’t know any married couples who didn’t sleep together, either.
After a quick look around, Olivia opened the doors to the balcony and inhaled the smell of the sea in the distance and the scent of thyme growing wild below them and tried to put the image of the bed out of her mind. She told herself to calm down. Not an easy thing to do with Jack standing next to her. He was too close. Way too close.
“Go ahead, take a bath,” she told Jack. “It’s a beautiful night. I’ll sit out here.” Sit out there and pretend he was in another room, another hotel, even another country. That way he wouldn’t be able to torture her with the memories of happier times. Of bathtubs big enough for two. Of beds so small they slept in each other’s arms, even their breathing in perfect sync.
“We’ll both sit out here,” he said, dragging two deck chairs toward the railing.
“Aren’t you tired?” she asked desperately. Go to bed, please go to bed.
“Are you?”
“Yes.” She was tired of pretending she didn’t care about him. Tired of pretending she wasn’t worried about spending the night in the same room, in the same bed as Jack.
“Enjoy this luxury while you can. We’ll soon be back in our tents at the site.”
“Will we? I thought…”
“Yeah, I know. Staying here at the hotel was Robbins’s plan. He likes to be comfortable and it’s his dig. But I want to be out there in the field like last time. Otherwise we lose too much time going back and forth. You’re with me on this, aren’t you?”
Like last time. The words echoed in her brain. It wasn’t going to be like last time. Last time they’d shared a tent as well as their hopes and dreams. Those times were gone for good.
Did she really have a choice of accommodations? Sure, she could stay at the hotel with the oldsters, taking hot baths every night and letting Jack get first crack at the contents of the tomb, maybe even discovering whose it was.
Or she could even board with a family in town the way the students did. That way there would be a large distance between them. It would definitely be easier on her psyche. But that would be counterproductive. It didn’t make sense. She’d come all this way to take part in a major discovery. She wasn’t going to let her emotions get in her way. Jack didn’t. This was work. It wasn’t supposed to be a vacation.
“Of course I want to be out there. It won’t be just you and me, will it?” She gnawed at a broken fingernail.
“What are you afraid of?”
“I’m not afraid of anything.” Except being alone with Jack out on a grassy field, under a blazing sun by day and a starry sky by night. Afraid wasn’t the word for it. She was terrified. She’d have to pray others would give up their comfortable beds here and choose the field option, too. Of course, this time she’d have her own tent and sleeping bag that had been sent on ahead. How hard could it be to keep her emotions under wraps?
“The only thing I’m afraid of is gossip,” she said. “Already people are talking about our relationship.”
“That doesn’t bother me,” he said. “As long as we’re clear on us.”
“I’m clear. We’re not a couple anymore. We just have to be sure everyone else knows it, too.”
He sent her a sharp look. Obviously, their muddled status didn’t bother Jack. He never had cared much what people thought. And still he didn’t bring up the divorce.
“Anyway, tonight the bed’s all yours,” he said, quickly dropping the subject of them.
He was resting his head on the back of the chair and he just looked extremely tired, while she was tied up in knots. For him, he was merely sharing a room with a fellow scientist. It was the way things were. Perfectly normal procedure. Except when the fellow scientist was your wife.
“After what you’ve been through, you deserve the bed,” she said. If she let Jack make all the decisions, even the small ones, she was in for a long summer of frustration. He loved being in charge. She did, too.
“I’m taking the floor,” he said firmly.
It was clear she’d have to pick her battles. This was one that wasn’t worth fighting, and she wasn’t going to win anyway.
“Okay, if you won’t take the bed, out of some misguided sense of chivalry, I will. But don’t complain when your back hurts in the morning when we start digging.”
There was a long silence. The last time he’d thrown his back out was at a small hotel near the pyramids in Egypt after making passionate love, and he’d had to call in a local masseuse so he could even get up on his feet. Olivia wished she hadn’t brought it up. She was beginning to think there were no safe topics. Nothing to say that didn’t bring back painful memories.
“Never mind,” she said, hoping he didn’t remember what had happened that night and what had caused it. “I don’t want to argue with you.”
“Oh, come on, Olivia, you’ve always argued with me. Don’t quit now. First it was the bodies of the Bog People of the late Iron Age. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten you thought that girl had died of natural causes a few thousand years ago.”
“She did.”
“With a rope around her neck? It was clearly a ritual sacrifice.”
“It might have looked that way, but it wasn’t.” Olivia sighed loudly. “Did you read my analysis in Archaeology Today?”
“Did you read my rebuttal in my letter to the editor?”
“No, I must have missed it,” she said blithely. Instead she’d seethed when she’d read it. He knew just how to annoy her. He knew where she was vulnerable. She sometimes ignored little details to make her point. So Jack had poked holes in her thesis. The editor was delighted she’d caused some controversy in the ranks. He didn’t know it was partly personal.
Jack would never let her get away with anything. She would never admit it to him, but she missed that. He’d made her be more careful, he’d made her test her theories before exposing them to view. He’d made her a better scientist than she was. He’d made her a better person, too.
But she was on her own now. She liked being on her own. No more hurt feelings, no more arguments, no more feeling inadequate taking those home pregnancy tests. It wasn’t easy month after month to stifle the tears and hide her disappointment at the results.
“Liar,” he said, turning his head to grin at her. “You never miss anything.”
She refused to let him goad her. He knew how hard she’d worked on that paper. She didn’t appreciate his attacking her in print. It was as if he’d stabbed her in the back. After that she didn’t write any more papers for a while. He called her and left a message apologizing and telling her she was too sensitive. She didn’t call him back.
She hoped they could stop talking about the past. Tomorrow when they were out in the field at least they’d each have their own tent and their own sleeping bag. There’d be other people around. They’d work together as they had in the past, but that was it.
“Are you going to take a bath or not?” she asked, standing with her hands on her hips.
He waved an arm toward the bathroom. “You go ahead.”
Jack sat alone on the deck and stared out into the dark night. Far out to sea were the lights of fishing boats like the ones that had rescued him and Olivia. He wasn’t lying when he’d told her thoughts of her had inspired him to keep going when the waves threatened to overwhelm him and fatigue was beginning to overtake him.
As he struggled in the cold water not really knowing if he’d make it or not, not knowing if he’d ever see her again, he thought about how sweet life had been when they were together. The memories kept him going. The ones he’d been trying to keep at bay, like how beautiful she was when she got mad at him, her cheeks flushed, her eyes bright.
How she’d stand up to his wildest plans, his far-out ideas, cutting through his rambling theories with her bright insight, always spot-on. No one else could do that. No one else was willing to criticize him, not since he’d been named department chairman at his prestigious university.
Before he got rescued tonight, he was terrified he’d never have another chance to joust with her again, never even see her again. Never be able to tell her how much he’d missed her.
Now, of course, he couldn’t tell her that. Not when she felt just the opposite. She hadn’t missed him. She was doing just fine without him. In fact she wanted a divorce. If he couldn’t convince her to change her mind this summer, that was it. It was over.
These days she was publishing regularly, she had a book in the works and she didn’t need him to make her life complete. Or a baby. It was just as well they’d stopped trying. What would they have done with a baby on this dig? What about when the ferry went down? Who takes care of the baby? Not Olivia. She didn’t even want to share this room with him.
Now here they were, under the same roof for the first time in years, almost the same as when they first got married. At that hotel in Italy above the harbor. Tomorrow morning she’d be here, hair tousled, cheeks flushed, nightgown rumpled, just as she once was. When life had seemed so perfect, so full of promise. How could he get those days back? How could he make her see they belonged together? If they belonged together.
He took a deep breath and tried to keep from thinking of the past. When he did it felt like someone had reached inside his chest and squeezed his heart dry. It must be the stress. He wouldn’t admit it to Olivia, but he’d had a few rough hours out there at sea. It was a reminder that though he and Olivia were together in the same hotel room, nothing was the same at all. It never would be. Too much had happened. Too many harsh words, too many hard feelings stood in their way.
There was a soft knock on the door to the room. When Jack opened it Marilyn was standing there with a white cotton nightgown in her hand.
“This is for your wife,” she said. “Helen found several of them downstairs and I’m going around delivering them to the women.”
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Carol Grace
Olivia and Jack were the perfect couple–it was clear from the start they were meant for each other…Now, five years on, their fairy-tale wedding is a distant memory and their marriage seems to be almost over. But Jack's never stopped loving Olivia, and has planned for them to spend the summer on the beautiful Greek island where they first met.It's the perfect place to fall in love…the pretty villages, the gently lapping waves on miles of endless golden sand. But is it enough to help Jack and Olivia overcome their past and reunite…forever?
Their Greek Island Reunion
Carol Grace
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
For Aunt Alyce,
who’s the inspiration for Olivia’s aunt, and for the
other Kimpton sisters—Aunt Mary and Aunt Jane.
CONTENTS
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
EPILOGUE
PROLOGUE
OLIVIA and Jack were the perfect couple. Same profession, same goals, same love of ancient ruins. Sure, there were a few tiny differences. He was a night owl, she was always up early. But nothing major. It was clear from the start they were meant for each other. Anyone in the same room with them could feel the electricity in the air.
They met in June and had the perfect wedding in September. Although the bouquets of lilies didn’t arrive at the church until after the ceremony, the photographer, Enzo, didn’t speak English, the groom’s brother overslept and the whole party got lost on the walk through the village from the church to the reception, Olivia remembered it as the happiest day of her life.
She forgot the little glitches, but she remembered how ruggedly handsome Jack had looked in his tux, the white shirt contrasting with his sun-bronzed skin. She forgot about the ring bearer tripping over his feet, but she’d never forget floating down the aisle in her grandmother’s white silk dress to the music from the string quartet.
When Jack put the ring on her finger that was inscribed with the date and their initials, he whispered, “Forever.”
Then the priest said, “You may kiss the bride,” in Italian and Jack kissed her so passionately there was a collective “Ahhh” in the church. Olivia’s eyes overflowed with happy tears when they left the church under a shower of rose petals.
They finally arrived at the reception on the beach at Positano, just steps from the water. No overdone rococo decor at the hotel, it was all Italian minimalism. By then the hem of Olivia’s silk crepe gown was dusty, and tendrils had escaped from her chignon.
“You’re beautiful, Mrs. Oakley,” Jack said when they sat down at the table, and the waiters started pouring champagne for everyone. He tucked a curl behind her ear. “I can’t believe today you’re mine, all mine.”
“Believe it, Mr. Oakley,” she said, smiling and bubbling over with happiness. “Not just today, but yours until we’re old and gray.”
“Until we’re too old to dig anymore.”
“Until our grandchildren have to take over and write our memoirs for us,” she said.
“About how you uncovered the House of the Vestals in Pompeii,” he said proudly.
“And you discovered the Royal Burials at Nimrud,” she said.
“Speaking of grandchildren,” he said, “how many kids should we have?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Enough to help carry our trowels and picks and shovels at least.”
“Enough to take notes for us and dig, dig, dig,” he added.
“What if they hate old stuff?” she said, suddenly worried. “What if they refuse to travel with us? They only want to stay home and play video games with their friends?”
He shook his head. “Not possible. They’ll be just like you. Adventurous, gorgeous, smart and tough. What are we waiting for? I could use some help. Let’s get started making some of these little wonders.”
“Now?” She looked around the room filled with friends and relatives who’d flown in from around the world to share this day with them.
“Tonight in our room up there above the town, with the lemon trees outside the window and the sound of the sea below.” He brushed her lips with his. “Is it a date?”
She nodded. If he’d said “now,” she would have gone with him. Anywhere. Anytime. She wanted what he wanted. Love, marriage, kids, a career, success, recognition. But most of all she wanted him. It didn’t matter that they had no time for a honeymoon now. They had a whole lifetime together. Tomorrow they had to fly straight home to start teaching classes for the fall semester.
She was almost thirty. Jack a few years older. Why postpone having children? They wouldn’t let kids interfere with their careers. Kids who looked like Jack, who had his good nature, his patience, his tenacity and sense of humor would only add to their happiness and enrich their lives. Jack would make a great dad.
But life is what happens when you’re making other plans, and Olivia didn’t get pregnant. They tried but it just didn’t happen. She even quit teaching one semester. Not only did she not get pregnant, she got depressed. She felt like a failure. Jack didn’t blame her; she blamed herself. He did everything he could to help her cope. Took part of her course load, ordered takeout so she didn’t have to cook and hired a cleaning service. But there was only so much he could do.
She took the same path he did. Work, work, work. It hurt him to watch her try and fail to conceive. After all, the doctors said there was nothing wrong with her, nothing wrong with him. He couldn’t help her. So he turned to the only part of his life he could control—his classes and his research at the university. He finally shut himself off from her and her pain. After a while they both carefully avoided mentioning the kids they wanted so badly.
It was a relief for Olivia to be back at work. To face the challenges of teaching new courses and writing papers. She was tired of “taking it easy.” She was tired of trying to get pregnant. She was even more tired of failing. She was used to success. She worked harder than ever. She worked late and long. She got promoted to full professor at the university. Totally consumed with her career, she kept Jack at arm’s length. Seeing him reminded her of what she couldn’t do. He might act as if he didn’t care about having a baby, but she knew he did.
Jack was proud of Olivia’s accomplishments, but he thought she was driving herself too far and too fast. He thought she should take a break.
A break? That’s what she didn’t dare do. Now she was in charge of her own digs, which didn’t coincide with Jack’s. Some summers they didn’t see much of each other. Even when they were both at home their paths didn’t cross very often. It was easier that way.
When Jack got an offer from California University to head the Archaeology Department there, she didn’t go with him. The reason she gave anyone who asked was that the job they offered her wasn’t as good as the one she had. The truth was he never really asked her to go. She thought he didn’t care if she went or not. They’d been separated emotionally for a long time. What did it matter if the separation became geographical as well?
He thought she cared more about her career than him. He thought she’d given up trying to have a baby. He was right about that. He thought she didn’t love him anymore. He was wrong about that.
CHAPTER ONE
Two Years Later
OLIVIA was seasick. The small ferry from Piraeus rolled and pitched in the Aegean Sea. No stabilizers on this old tub. Not many passengers except for the members of their expedition who’d all gone inside for the two-hour ride. She’d headed straight for the rail, taking large gulps of fresh air, trying to keep down the small breakfast she’d eaten on the dock before the boat left.
Keeping her breakfast down was not the only challenge Olivia faced. Even more difficult would be keeping the memories of her last trip to Hermapolis at bay. It was seven years ago, the summer she’d met Jack. A dream opportunity for a new young professor like herself to dig for a rare, multilayered tomb dating back to Alexander the Great.
She hadn’t found the burial chamber she was looking for, but she’d found Jack Oakley, smart, tough, brave, ambitious, and so gorgeous he had taken her breath away. Sparks flew. Passion erupted like Vesuvius, the volcano that towered over Pompeii. Theirs was an instant attraction. Impossible to deny. Obvious to everyone within a few yards that they’d fallen madly in love. They were married in Italy in the fall.
Now she was back. Older and wiser. Another chance to dig for the tomb, to find some clay pots, jewelry or copper coins and to finally discover who was buried there. While she was there, she’d have a chance to face the site where she’d met Jack and make sure she was over him for good. She’d better be since she’d filed for divorce in the spring. It was just a formality, because their marriage existed only on paper.
She’d given the marriage her all; they both had. She hadn’t heard from Jack since she’d filed, but he must know as well as she did there was nothing left of their union. It was time to make it official.
In her field, when she’d done her best and worked hard, she’d gotten praised and promoted for her efforts. No wonder she went back to work. On this dig she could add to her list of accomplishments. She’d take advantage of the last chance to uncover this site before the owners closed it. She propped her elbows on the railing and kept her eyes on the horizon.
“Feeling better?”
She whirled around. She must be hallucinating. It couldn’t be Jack. If he was part of the team, she would have known. She would have seen his name on the list and she never would have come, no matter how tempting the chance to find the lost tomb.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded, bracing herself against the railing so she wouldn’t lose her balance and fall on her face.
“Same thing as you are. Heading for Hermapolis to dig for old bones. Chasing Alexander the Great. Trying to find out more about Macedonian culture.” He gave her one of his old smiles that used to melt her bones. No longer. Never again. She was immune. She was a different person. With a stone wall around her heart.
“Oh, you mean now?” he asked. “I’m bringing you some tea and crackers. You always had a weak stomach.”
She straightened and took a deep breath. “I did not. Well, only when the sea is rough.”
“The first time I saw you, you were hanging over the rail. Could have been this rail right here.”
He would have to remind her of that. Then as now he’d gone to get her something to settle her stomach. How could she resist a guy who’d do something like that for a total stranger? She’d immediately felt better. It wasn’t so much the tea, it was having a good-looking man distract her. And Jack was that kind of man, no doubt about that. Dark wind-blown hair, blue knit polo that matched his eyes, khakis and bare feet in Top-Siders. She couldn’t tear her eyes away then and she couldn’t do it now. And she did try.
He handed her the tea and the crackers, then pointed to a bench on the deck. “Sit down,” he said.
She sat and sipped her tea, grateful to have something to do besides stare at her husband. Ex-husband. Separated husband. Estranged husband. Nothing quite fit. They weren’t divorced yet, but they certainly weren’t together. She hoped no one on the dig thought they were.
“You haven’t told me…” she said.
“Yes, I did. I’m here to finish what I started seven years ago.”
Olivia held her breath. What did he mean? Only that he was more determined than ever to get to the bottom of that tomb on the farmer’s field. So close and yet so far. So tantalizing every archaeologist in his right mind would give anything to get access to it. Just as she was. Nothing personal. Definitely not. He didn’t mean her. He was talking about their work.
“In other words, we’re all in this together. Excavating Hermapolis,” he said. “Should be fun.”
Fun? To work with your ex at the same place where you met? That was not her idea of fun. That was her idea of torture. “Why didn’t you tell me you were on the team?” she demanded.
“Thought you might not come.”
He knew perfectly well she wouldn’t have come. Not after what he’d said before he left her. Not after what she’d done. Now was not the time to admit it. Now was the time to play it cool. “Of course I would. This could be the most monumental tomb of its kind ever found in Greece, as you well know. Your being part of the team is completely irrelevant to me,” she said, proud of herself for sounding so detached. “Why would I give up a chance to look for the missing clay pots or the small idols?” Liar. She’d even given up trying to tear open the packet of crackers because her hands were shaking so badly. How she wished he was irrelevant. Maybe someday. But not today, that was clear.
He took the crackers out of her hand and ripped the package open. He noticed she had a problem. He never missed anything, damn him.
“So I still mean nothing to you,” he said. “The only thing you care about is your research.” There was a hint of bitterness in his voice, completely unjustified. What was he bitter about? Maybe it was the divorce. But who’d walked out? Not her. He sounded so casual, so all-knowing, she wanted to smack him on the face.
“That’s why you wouldn’t come with me to California,” he said.
“You know why I didn’t go with you,” she said, glaring at him. “First you didn’t ask me to come. Second I had nothing to do there of any significance and third…”
“I didn’t ask you to come,” he said, “because even I had to make an appointment with your secretary to see you. You were that busy. You were always working.”
“Oh, and you were so available? You signed up for every committee. You even went in on weekends.”
“I had nothing better to do. You weren’t around. I know, you loved your job. It was important to you, and you were good at it. I got that. What I didn’t get was your indifference. You couldn’t care less that I got that offer.”
“That’s not true. I was proud of you. It was a plum job.”
“Oh, right. You were so proud you didn’t even come to my farewell dinner the department threw for me.”
“I told you…”
“You told me you were busy. You were always busy. You couldn’t have spared a few hours?”
“Why? You didn’t need me there to tell you what a fantastic job you’d done for the university and how much they were going to miss you. I’m sure you heard it over and over from everyone else. Your ego just couldn’t get enough.”
His eyes narrowed. “Maybe so, but it would have been nice to hear it from you. It would have been nice to hear something from you. Instead I got a card from you saying ‘Good Luck.’ You weren’t sorry to see me go, you were relieved.”
“Don’t tell me what I was. You have no idea what I felt.” He couldn’t know how it hurt to see him packing up and driving away. She wasn’t made of stone. Not then, anyway. They were getting into dangerous territory by rehashing old problems now. She wasn’t proud of how she’d acted the day he left or what she’d done to close the chapter on their life together.
“Look, Jack, now’s really not the time to get into what happened then. It’s history,” she said. “All I ask is next time you join a dig I’m on just let me know.”
“Why, so you can back out again?”
That was exactly what she’d do. What she should have done this time. But it was too late now, so she’d better make the best of it. “Why would I do that?” she asked casually. “The past is in the past. We had some good times, we worked well together. There’s no reason why we can’t do it again.” Don’t mention the bad times. Don’t even go there.
Olivia was proud of herself. She sounded so rational, so over Jack. If she thought she was, it took ten minutes to tell her she wasn’t. It was all this pent-up emotion, all the bottled-up anger. And maybe some unfinished business. If only she could stop trembling on the inside. Stop the memories from crowding in on her.
“That’s good to know,” he said calmly. “It will make the summer easier for both of us. All it takes is an ability to separate the brain from the emotions.”
How many times had she heard him say that? She used to say it wasn’t possible, while he insisted it was. Why argue? Arguing with Jack was pointless and painful. No one won. Everyone lost. “Nothing to it,” she agreed.
“Now that we’ve settled that.” He sat next to her and stretched his legs out in front of him as if they were casual acquaintances instead of a married couple who’d been at each other’s throats a few minutes ago with recriminations and accusations.
How could he be so nonchalant? Because he didn’t care. He’d moved on. Really moved on. She had to show him she’d done the same. She felt his eyes on her. He was scrutinizing her as if he were trying to classify her. Late Roman or Hellenistic. “You look better,” he said.
“Thanks,” she muttered. But she wondered, did he mean better than a few minutes ago or better than two years ago? She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of asking. What did it matter what he thought? Their marriage was over. “It’s good we’re working together again,” he said. “One more time.”
One more time? And then what? Would he sign those papers? Was he even going to acknowledge getting them? As of now he was treating her as if she was just another team member he had to work with. A difficult team member who had to be humored. Not someone who’d meant everything to him. Or so he’d said. Now she was someone who had to be treated carefully or she’d fly off the handle. It shouldn’t bother her. But it did. She couldn’t go on being tied to him legally but living apart.
She wanted to shake him. She wanted to scream, We met on this island. Doesn’t it mean anything to you? We’re married. But in name only. You have to admit it’s over. We can’t go on like this. Sign the papers. Let’s stop pretending. Of course she didn’t. “I read your article in Archaeology Digest,” she said, desperately looking to change the subject. “Interesting conclusion.” She didn’t say wrong conclusion, but that’s what she meant and he knew it.
His eyes glittered like the blue Aegean. Jack loved a challenge. That much hadn’t changed. “That means you don’t agree with me, doesn’t it?” he asked.
“That the Age of the Pharaohs was brought about by climate change? That’s ridiculous. You have no proof.”
“Nobody has proof of anything. I thought I made a good case for it.”
She shook her head. “In your dreams.”
“Then what’s your theory? Or haven’t you got one?”
“Does it matter?” she asked.
“Of course it does. We always had some good discussions. No reason to quit now. I value your opinion, you know that.” He put his arm on the back of the bench where it brushed against her shoulders. A small gesture, so familiar that it caused an ache that spread all the way to her heart. If he valued her opinions so much, why hadn’t he asked for them in the two years he’d been gone? She’d barely heard a word from him.
He’d reminded her of the heated discussions they’d had about work, yes. Those were stimulating. But about their personal problems? No one mentioned those. That subject was off-limits. They’d both said things they shouldn’t have. Things that left wounds too deep to forget. At least for her.
Suddenly the summer stretched ahead of her like a long road full of potholes. Dangerous, deep holes a person could fall into and never get out of. She’d have to try to ignore Jack as much as possible. She could talk to him if it was about work. She’d be walking a tightrope for more than two months. But she could do it. She had to.
If she could walk the tightrope and not fall off, she could get a lot out of this dig. There was the chance of finding an important tomb on this island, buried under thousands of years of civilization. She would get an article out of it, maybe a book. She would get along with Jack. She would forget the past. But right now he was so close she could smell the same citrus aftershave he always wore. He was too close for comfort.
She shifted away from him. She had to treat Jack like a colleague and nothing more. Just the way she treated everyone else on this dig, including Marilyn Osborne, a middle-aged archaeologist from the University of Pittsburgh who was ambling toward them across the deck.
“How are you feeling?” she asked Olivia.
“Fine, thank you,” she said stiffly. She did not want anyone to think she had any health problems.
“As Homer said, ‘Beware the stormy seas of May.’ Have you been to the island before?” Marilyn asked.
Olivia exchanged a brief glance with Jack. What was she supposed to say? What had he already said?
“Well, yes, a few years ago,” she said. “Very intriguing site. I’m looking forward to getting back.”
Jack stood. “I’m going to the snack bar. Can I bring you something, Marilyn?”
Marilyn shook her head.
He turned to Olivia. “More tea, sweetheart?”
She bit her lip. How dare he call her sweetheart. If she could have kicked him in the shin without Marilyn noticing, she would have.
“No, thank you,” she said. How like him to skip out when the conversation got dicey. How like him to act as if everything was just dandy between them. How like him to pretend he’d never gotten those divorce papers.
Marilyn took Jack’s place on the bench. As soon as Jack had disappeared down the steps to the lower deck, she spoke. “So I heard that you two are married, right? Did you have any idea that he would be coming along?”
“Technically yes, but we’re actually separated. In the process of getting divorced. We…Jack’s at California U and I’m at Santa Clarita.”
“I had no idea. I hope it won’t be awkward.”
“No, of course not. We’ve worked together before. We get along just fine.” Olivia gave Marilyn what she hoped was a reassuring smile.
“That’s very professional of you,” Marilyn said. “I could never do it. Married seventeen years. Roger is a stay-at-home dad. Fortunately for me because two of our boys are teenagers now. You know how that is.”
“Not really,” Olivia said. She felt the nausea returning. Was it the thought of teenage children that she didn’t have and never would have? The idea of being a stay-at-home parent which she wasn’t and never would be? Or was it simply the boat rocking a little more than usual?
“No children?”
Olivia stood up and raced for the side of the ship. No one had asked her that question for years. If she hadn’t run smack-dab into Jack on his way back she would have made it. Instead she threw up all over his shoes.
“Oh God, I’m sorry,” she said, a hot flush covering her cheeks.
He put his hands on her shoulders. “What happened? I thought you were okay.”
Somebody mentioned children.
“I don’t know. Maybe you’re right. I do have a weak stomach. How much longer before we dock?”
Jack glanced toward the horizon, thinking he might catch a glimpse of the craggy outline of Hermapolis.
“That’s strange,” he muttered as he walked over to the railing.
Olivia followed him. “What is?”
Thank God she was feeling better. He couldn’t stand to see her suffer. It reminded him of the last year they’d been together. She’d tried to bottle up her feelings. But he knew what she was going through. The wall she’d put up between them didn’t make it any easier to help her get through it. She always masked her pain so no one would feel sorry for her. Especially him.
He’d tried to help her. But she had turned her back on him. Finally he gave up and took the job at Cal. He still wondered if he’d done the right thing. If he maybe should have tried harder to make their marriage work. He was determined he was going to give it his best shot this summer. If it didn’t work for them here on this beautiful island, there was no hope.
He cast a curious look at the horizon. “We’re completely out of sight of any land at all. That doesn’t happen very often in the Aegean. No other boats around, either. I need to see a map.”
Suddenly from somewhere below decks there was a severe, loud thump followed by a nasty vibration that threw Olivia headlong into his arms. He only had a moment to reflect how natural and how right it felt to hold her. After all this time, yet it seemed like yesterday. The memories came rushing back. How soft she was. How sweet she smelled.
“What was that?” she asked, jerking out of his arms so fast he wondered if she’d really been there at all, or was it a dream? How many times he’d dreamed she’d come back to him only to wake up and find she was still six hundred miles away. It might have been six thousand. Which was why he’d arranged this dig. To give them one more chance before he gave up and gave her what she wanted.
“Feels like something in the engine room just broke,” he said, grasping the railing with one hand and running the other hand through his hair. “I hope they haven’t thrown a connecting rod. That would be…bad.” But even as he spoke, the ungainly boat was quickly losing its headway, and within a minute it was dead in the water. Not good. Not good at all.
The deck was immediately full of passengers who came running out from inside the cabin. The members of their group clustered around him, everyone talking at once.
“Jack, what happened?”
“What should we do?”
“Why have we stopped?”
“Calm down, everyone,” he said. “I’m going in to speak to the captain. In the meantime, just in case, let’s put on our life jackets.” He wasn’t the head of this expedition, the esteemed scholar Dr. Thaddeus Robbins was, but right now Robbins was standing on the deck, scratching his head and looking worried.
When there was a vacuum, Jack wasn’t averse to stepping in. It was always good form to sound calm and unruffled, but truthfully, he knew it was always best to be prepared.
He threw back the cover of the bench they’d been sitting on, exposing a pile of orange life vests.
“Everyone take one,” he ordered, pulling them out and throwing one to each person in the group. Olivia got hers fastened first and was helping the others.
“Oh my God,” one of the younger female grad students said, “we are going down, aren’t we?”
“Not yet,” Jack said calmly. “But whatever’s happening, my guess is we’re going to be here for a while. That jolt didn’t feel like something you could fix with a screwdriver.” Make light of it. Keep everyone from panicking. That was rule number one.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a Greek passenger try to make a call on her cell phone and apparently give up. Not a good sign if they needed to call for help.
“Worst-case scenario,” he told the group. “They’ll call for a tug and tow us to the island. We might miss dinner tonight, but Greeks eat late. Chances are we’ll make it in time.”
“Then why the life jackets?” Marilyn asked, fumbling with the straps when Olivia reached out and snapped them in place for her. A few minutes ago Olivia had been pale and shaken, but you’d never know it now. She was a rock in a storm. Always able to rise to any occasion, except when their marriage was at stake. That was another matter. She’d never tried to talk him out of leaving.
“Just better to be prepared,” he said. Though nothing had prepared him for their marriage to fail. He thought love was enough. How wrong he was.
The steady rumble of the ferry’s engine that had lulled Jack into a false sense of well-being and security had now disappeared. It was an eerie and unsettling quiet that he hoped the others hadn’t noticed. Except for Olivia. He’d never been able to put anything over on her. Just a glance told him she understood just how serious the situation was.
He looked around. Where’s the crew? he wondered. Gone below maybe. Soon there’d be an announcement telling them what was going on. It would be in Greek, but someone would translate, maybe Olivia. She was amazing with languages. She was amazing at many things. That was another reason he was glad she was along. Fortunately he had no trouble separating his personal and professional life.
No problem for him to draw a line between his emotions and his intellect. Until his marriage failed. He’d never failed at anything before. Until he failed at the most important thing in his life. This was his last chance to salvage it, to make it right. To heal the rift between them. To put his life back together again. To get her to reconsider.
He looked around. There she was, helping Dr. Robbins and then other passengers with their life jackets. Most were total strangers. She seemed to be completely over her seasickness. Or she was putting up a good front. She was good at that. She could be hurting inside and still function normally. But he knew. He always knew.
Minutes passed. No announcement came and no crewmen appeared. Instead an ugly black cloud of oily smoke erupted from a vent. He herded the group to the other side of the boat.
Olivia appeared at his side. “What does that mean?” she asked with a worried glance at the billowing smoke.
“Nothing good,” he said with a frown. “A blown engine. A fire in the engine room maybe.”
“Fire?” Her eyes widened. “That means lifeboats.”
He nodded. He knew she’d stay calm no matter what. Other women might have fallen apart, but not Olivia. That was one reason why there’d never been any other woman for him. No one compared to Olivia.
“What about those inflatable rafts?” Olivia asked, pointing to some white capsules. “Aren’t they supposed to automatically inflate when they hit the water?”
“Supposed to, yes. But will they? I hope so.” He spoke quietly. He didn’t want anyone else to hear him expressing his doubts. She was the only one he’d trust not to panic.
“I’ve read stories about ferries capsizing,” she said.
He nodded grimly. He’d read the same stories. The crew gets scared and jumps overboard. Passengers are left on their own.
“Don’t worry,” he said, putting his hand on her shoulder, “I’ll take care of it.”
She nodded. She’d been steady during the cave-in on Thira. She’d even bailed the group out when the site was flooded on Rhodes. Then there were the wild tigers in Ache Province. Whatever happened, he could count on her. While others worried about carbon dating and finding cracked vases, it was the Oakleys who’d handle any emergencies that came up. And they always came up at least once during a dig.
“You can’t take care of this by yourself,” Olivia said. “Where’s the crew?”
“I don’t know. Maybe overcome by smoke. Stay with me.”
Then he waved to the group. “Everybody give me a hand,” he shouted. “We’re lowering the boats.” He ran to the starboard side of the boat and knocked the blocks loose that held a small lifeboat in place. With the help of the eight other men he loosened the other blocks and pushed the first boat out over the side. The ferry was starting to list.
“Get in,” he yelled at the members of the group. “I’ll lower the boat after it’s loaded.”
He helped Marilyn in first then a small Greek woman, then Robbins, followed by his students and the others. He motioned for Olivia to get in.
“I’m waiting for you.”
“No, you’re not,” he told her. “Get in.”
She opened her mouth to protest, but he pushed her into the boat. She clamped her mouth shut and glared at him. He knew that look. She was mad as hell at him. When the boat was full, he pulled the release lever and the boat moved slowly down toward the water.
“What about you, Jack?” one of the students yelled.
“I’ll get off. Just don’t rock the boat. When you hit the water, unhook the winch cables, front and back. Do you understand?”
The guy yelled something that sounded affirmative. Jack caught Olivia’s eye and she definitely didn’t look happy.
“If you don’t do it, the boat will be pulled down with the ferry,” he shouted at her. “This is important. Got it?”
He pointed to the cables. Olivia, looking pale and determined, nodded. Sure, she was mad at him, but she’d do what she had to do. “Good girl,” he muttered under his breath.
The lifeboat hit the water. Olivia was bounced off her seat and came down again with a thud. Damn Jack for playing the hero. He should be in this boat with them. They needed him. As usual, he took charge, did whatever he damn well pleased, thinking he knew what was best for everyone. She followed his directions, struggling with the cable hook until it came free.
She looked up at him. He gave her a thumbs-up and she heaved a sigh of relief. He’d figure out a way to join them. The hook banged against the side of the ferry. She glanced at the college kid to make sure he’d released the cable at the other end. He had.
She looked up again. Now where was he? The deck was engulfed in smoke and flames. Two men had found the oars in the lifeboat and were paddling like mad, putting space between the lifeboat and the ferry.
“Wait,” she cried. Her throat was raw. Her voice shook. “Stop. We can’t leave without Jack.”
“We have to get away before the ship capsizes,” someone next to her said. “If he’s still up there, he’ll jump.”
The lifeboat drifted away from the stricken ferry as a black column of smoke rose into the sky. A second lifeboat appeared from around the ship’s stern. Frantic, Olivia scanned the passengers, but Jack wasn’t among them. Nearly hysterical, she looked up at the ship, which was listing at a terrifying angle. There he was, still on board, helping a straggler with his life vest.
“Jack, jump!” she shouted. “It’s going down. Get off!” She watched as Jack helped the old man crawl over the railing and drop into the water, all in slow motion. Then almost methodically, Jack checked the straps on his own life vest. Her heart in her throat, she watched while he climbed onto the railing and jumped into the water. The deck disappeared in smoke. Furious with him, she felt helpless tears run down her face. He was gone.
CHAPTER TWO
THE HOTEL Argos was doing its best to cope with the arrival of the survivors of the ferry accident, the archaeology team and their usual clientele of summer tourists. Clearly the little hotel high on the hill overlooking the harbor was stretched almost beyond its capability. Though harried, Helen Marinokou, the longtime owner, made everyone feel welcome, and from the kitchen came the comforting smells of roasting meats and oven-baked pastas.
The charm of the wood-paneled dining room and the mouthwatering platters of food were lost on Olivia. She sat at a long table in the corner, surrounded by the members of the group, her eyes glued to the door, her stomach in knots, unable to eat even a bite of the traditional mezedes like green peppers and octopus salad the waitress set in the middle of the table. Yes, they were all there, picked up by a passing fishing boat and taken to the island. All but Jack.
Fred Staples, one of the young grad students from Jack’s university, poured glasses of retsina, the pineresin-flavored wine, for everyone at the table. When Olivia didn’t lift her glass for the toast, he gave her a puzzled look.
“You’re not worried about Dr. Oakley, are you?” he asked. “He’ll be along on the next rescue boat. Or he’ll swim to shore. I’ve been on digs with him before. Never missed a day of work. Blistering heat or hail storm. He’s amazing.”
Olivia managed a weak smile. Amazing, he was. At least to his students. They worshipped him. But he wasn’t indestructible. No one was. Not even Jack. He often said he had nine lives, but by now he must have used them up. This wasn’t the first time he’d risked his life during one of their adventures. But it was the last as far as she was concerned. The last one she’d be party to. She’d had it with Jack and his heroics.
“I’m sure he will,” she said. But she wasn’t sure at all. No one had seen him jump into the smoke and flames the way she had. No one had seen him since. No one but she knew exactly what Jack was capable of or would admit that even he was vulnerable. He was human, after all.
She’d pleaded with the captain of the fishing boat that picked them up to go back to the sinking ferry to look for him. But he refused, saying they were full but other boats were still out there looking for survivors. And not to worry about her husband. Easy for him to say.
She was sick of worrying about Jack, sick of watching him risk his life. If they weren’t married, she’d finally be able to break this bond between them and stop worrying, stop thinking about him and stop wondering what he was doing or if he was alive.
She couldn’t sit there another minute while she pictured Jack at the bottom of the sea or fighting off sharks. Was it her imagination or were the others looking at her, thinking she should be out searching for him, or at least down at the dock watching for the next boat?
Too nervous to stay there while everyone talked and laughed and ate and drank as if it was a normal dinner, she jumped up from the table and edged her way across the noisy, crowded dining room. She’d almost reached the door when Jack walked in. His face was caked with grime, he was wearing somebody else’s white T-shirt and dirty overalls, as well as his usual cocky grin. She gasped and grabbed a fistful of his grimy shirt.
“Where have you been?” she demanded.
“Oh, just out for a swim. Miss me?” he asked.
“No.” She dropped her hands. “Yes.”
“Sorry I’m late.” He acted as if he’d just arrived at a faculty cocktail party. “Save dinner for me?”
Olivia choked back a storm of tears and clenched her jaw to keep from exploding in angry frustration. “Why didn’t you come with us?” she demanded. “What’s wrong with you? Did you have to wait for every last passenger to get off? Don’t you realize that this group depends on you?”
“Me? Come on, Olivia, it’s Dr. Robbins who is the head of this dig.”
Olivia looked over her shoulder at the man he was talking about. Dr. Robbins was enjoying a glass of wine at a table in the corner as if he didn’t have a care in the world. “Dr. Robbins might be renowned in his field, but he’s all but retired,” she muttered. “He’s no help at all in a crisis. This whole expedition would be lost without…” She shook her head. “Never mind.” What good did it do to rant and rave? Jack would do what he had to do. He always did, he always would. She’d run out of steam and words.
“Calm down,” Jack said, taking her hands in his.
“Calm down?” she sputtered. “That’s easy for you to say. You knew where you were. We didn’t. We thought you were at the bottom of the sea. Isn’t it time you thought about someone besides yourself?”
“I was. I was thinking about you nonstop. I was thinking if I didn’t make it, you’d have to uncover that tomb by yourself. You’d get first crack at the coins and the jewelry and take all the credit. Then you’d write all the articles, get your name in National Geographic, give papers at the conferences. You think I’d let that happen?” he asked with a half smile. “Not a chance.
“Nope, I got picked up by a very nice fisherman in a trawler who supplied me with the dry clothes I’m wearing. Before that I thought I might have to swim to shore. Every time I saw a shark or a wave hit me in the face, I thought about you and what you’d do if I didn’t show up. You might say the thought of you finding those artifacts and discovering who was buried there without me motivated me.”
Olivia swallowed hard and pulled her hands away. So he’d thought about her. She’d motivated him to stay alive. Yes, that’s what he always said. But she couldn’t go through this again, watching him risk his life for someone or something else. She hadn’t known if he was alive or dead. She’d feared the worst, but he was making jokes. Good thing he didn’t know how devastated she would have been if he hadn’t made it or how racked with worry she’d been.
“I should have known what kept you going—it was your usual naked ambition, and your supercompetitive nature,” she said. “It’s you against nature or it’s you against the elements, the dust storm, the flood, the rain, whatever. So far you’ve always won. But someday, Jack, someday…” She choked. Someday he wasn’t going to make it and she was not going to be around when it happened. She’d had enough. No more heroics. No more Jack.
“Enough about me, Olivia,” he said. “What happened to you?” A small worry line crossed his forehead. “I thought you’d make it, but…I wasn’t sure.” His gaze held hers for a long moment. Just briefly she thought he might feel the same intense connection she did, that invisible thread that had joined them once. It was so strong they thought it would last forever. Now she knew that nothing lasts forever.
He scanned the room and the thread snapped. “Everyone else got here okay?”
“Yes, yes. Everyone’s fine. It’s just…I…You were the only one missing. People worry. People care about you.” The truth was no one else was as worried as she was. No, because they weren’t his wife.
“That’s good to know. You know me so well. I’m never late for dinner. Unless the boat goes down. Otherwise I wouldn’t miss the souvlaki or moussaka. I’m starving. Where’re you sitting?”
She pointed to the table in the corner just as the word went around that Jack was there. Before he got to the table, everyone got up to hug him, pat him on the back and congratulate him on escaping the burning ferry boat. Not that they’d had any doubts. Jack was a superhero. He was tough and he was charming. It was up to her to resist that charm…all summer long.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw him deep in conversation with Dr. Robbins, who looked vastly relieved to see him. Perhaps he had realized he was getting too old for this kind of adventure.
The rest of the evening progressed as if the boat sinking and their rescue were just the first glitch in the summer program. There would be others, but once you’ve been on a dig, you almost expect them, and you cope. Olivia knew that. She just didn’t know how to cope with Jack at the bottom of the Aegean. Not anymore.
The food kept coming, the bouzouki music began and the dancing started. Olivia managed to relax enough to nibble on a crisp spinach-stuffed spanikopita, and make conversation while Jack made the rounds of the room to speak to everyone in the group as well as some other tourists who’d apparently heard he’d been missing. She was once again struck by his boundless energy, his ease in handling a crowd and his confidence no matter what got in his way. Confidence or not, if he thought he was going to talk her out of a divorce, he was mistaken.
It would be better for her determination to end the marriage, to forget his attributes and focus on his flaws. Like his single-minded pursuit of his career. So single-minded he’d left her behind as soon as he’d gotten the offer from California to be department head. And, of course, there were her flaws, which Jack had enumerated for her in no uncertain terms.
A few of the older group members, like Robbins, were going off to the quiet stone bungalows tucked behind the pines and olive trees. Exhausted and emotionally drained, Olivia sneaked away right after them and checked at the front desk of the hotel to find out where her room was.
“Ah, Mrs. Oakley,” Elena, the young woman at the desk said, “we’ve put you and your husband in room 203 upstairs.”
“What? Oh, no, I really need a separate room.” Certainly Jack did, too. “We…we’re really not together. No, not at all.”
Elena gave her a puzzled look. Olivia didn’t blame her. They had the same name, and legally they were still married. Should Olivia have to explain why she was separated from Jack? Why they’d drifted apart? Surely it happened everywhere, even in Greece. Not everyone lived happily ever after. Not every couple with the same last name wanted to share a room.
“I’m sorry, someone in your group mentioned that you were married and said you wouldn’t mind sharing. I’d like to help you,” Elena said, “but we’re overbooked tonight because of the ferry boat accident. Some people are still missing. Everyone is sharing, making sacrifices. The students have been placed with families in town, but we just don’t have enough rooms for everyone. We’re trying to accommodate you all. I hope you understand,” she added stiffly.
“Of course,” Olivia said, quickly chastened. She felt as if she’d behaved like a pampered American tourist.
“It’s a very nice room. With a large bath. The hot springs on the edge of town have been routed to several hotels including ours. But if you don’t want the room…”
The thought of a large hot bath made Olivia’s skin break out in goose bumps. “No, of course we’ll take it. Thank you. I didn’t mean to sound ungrateful.” For one night she could put up with anything. Anything for a hot bath. Tomorrow she’d find a room for herself if she had to move out of the hotel. She took the room key, and when she turned to go Jack was standing behind her.
He was so close she got a good look at a long scratch on his cheek and a bruise under one eye. She had to clench her hands into fists to keep from reaching up to touch his face. To smooth the skin, to reassure herself he was really all right. The way an ordinary wife might. One who lived under the same roof as her husband, saw him every day, taught at the same university in the same town.
“I…They’ve put us in the same room by mistake, but it’s just for tonight,” she said, wishing her voice was more steady. How many times was he going to surprise her and catch her off guard?
“I heard,” he said. He wasn’t grinning anymore. In fact, he looked beat. He probably didn’t want to room with her, either. Lines of fatigue creased his face, and his eyes were half-closed.
“Jack, you look terrible. Why don’t you…we go upstairs? At least you have to get out of those clothes.”
It occurred to her he didn’t have any other clothes. Neither did she. Neither did anyone who was on the boat. The luggage had all sunk or had burned up. A shared room. No clothes. It sounded like a recipe for a personal disaster. At least a very personal embarrassment. She straightened her shoulders. If Jack could face it, so could she. Thank God they’d shipped all their equipment ahead.
The room was small with hardwood floors, a hand-painted dresser, a closet and the promised large porcelain tub in the adjoining bathroom. And a double bed covered with a hand-sewn quilt. Well, what did she expect? Greeks didn’t know about king-size beds. They didn’t know any married couples who didn’t sleep together, either.
After a quick look around, Olivia opened the doors to the balcony and inhaled the smell of the sea in the distance and the scent of thyme growing wild below them and tried to put the image of the bed out of her mind. She told herself to calm down. Not an easy thing to do with Jack standing next to her. He was too close. Way too close.
“Go ahead, take a bath,” she told Jack. “It’s a beautiful night. I’ll sit out here.” Sit out there and pretend he was in another room, another hotel, even another country. That way he wouldn’t be able to torture her with the memories of happier times. Of bathtubs big enough for two. Of beds so small they slept in each other’s arms, even their breathing in perfect sync.
“We’ll both sit out here,” he said, dragging two deck chairs toward the railing.
“Aren’t you tired?” she asked desperately. Go to bed, please go to bed.
“Are you?”
“Yes.” She was tired of pretending she didn’t care about him. Tired of pretending she wasn’t worried about spending the night in the same room, in the same bed as Jack.
“Enjoy this luxury while you can. We’ll soon be back in our tents at the site.”
“Will we? I thought…”
“Yeah, I know. Staying here at the hotel was Robbins’s plan. He likes to be comfortable and it’s his dig. But I want to be out there in the field like last time. Otherwise we lose too much time going back and forth. You’re with me on this, aren’t you?”
Like last time. The words echoed in her brain. It wasn’t going to be like last time. Last time they’d shared a tent as well as their hopes and dreams. Those times were gone for good.
Did she really have a choice of accommodations? Sure, she could stay at the hotel with the oldsters, taking hot baths every night and letting Jack get first crack at the contents of the tomb, maybe even discovering whose it was.
Or she could even board with a family in town the way the students did. That way there would be a large distance between them. It would definitely be easier on her psyche. But that would be counterproductive. It didn’t make sense. She’d come all this way to take part in a major discovery. She wasn’t going to let her emotions get in her way. Jack didn’t. This was work. It wasn’t supposed to be a vacation.
“Of course I want to be out there. It won’t be just you and me, will it?” She gnawed at a broken fingernail.
“What are you afraid of?”
“I’m not afraid of anything.” Except being alone with Jack out on a grassy field, under a blazing sun by day and a starry sky by night. Afraid wasn’t the word for it. She was terrified. She’d have to pray others would give up their comfortable beds here and choose the field option, too. Of course, this time she’d have her own tent and sleeping bag that had been sent on ahead. How hard could it be to keep her emotions under wraps?
“The only thing I’m afraid of is gossip,” she said. “Already people are talking about our relationship.”
“That doesn’t bother me,” he said. “As long as we’re clear on us.”
“I’m clear. We’re not a couple anymore. We just have to be sure everyone else knows it, too.”
He sent her a sharp look. Obviously, their muddled status didn’t bother Jack. He never had cared much what people thought. And still he didn’t bring up the divorce.
“Anyway, tonight the bed’s all yours,” he said, quickly dropping the subject of them.
He was resting his head on the back of the chair and he just looked extremely tired, while she was tied up in knots. For him, he was merely sharing a room with a fellow scientist. It was the way things were. Perfectly normal procedure. Except when the fellow scientist was your wife.
“After what you’ve been through, you deserve the bed,” she said. If she let Jack make all the decisions, even the small ones, she was in for a long summer of frustration. He loved being in charge. She did, too.
“I’m taking the floor,” he said firmly.
It was clear she’d have to pick her battles. This was one that wasn’t worth fighting, and she wasn’t going to win anyway.
“Okay, if you won’t take the bed, out of some misguided sense of chivalry, I will. But don’t complain when your back hurts in the morning when we start digging.”
There was a long silence. The last time he’d thrown his back out was at a small hotel near the pyramids in Egypt after making passionate love, and he’d had to call in a local masseuse so he could even get up on his feet. Olivia wished she hadn’t brought it up. She was beginning to think there were no safe topics. Nothing to say that didn’t bring back painful memories.
“Never mind,” she said, hoping he didn’t remember what had happened that night and what had caused it. “I don’t want to argue with you.”
“Oh, come on, Olivia, you’ve always argued with me. Don’t quit now. First it was the bodies of the Bog People of the late Iron Age. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten you thought that girl had died of natural causes a few thousand years ago.”
“She did.”
“With a rope around her neck? It was clearly a ritual sacrifice.”
“It might have looked that way, but it wasn’t.” Olivia sighed loudly. “Did you read my analysis in Archaeology Today?”
“Did you read my rebuttal in my letter to the editor?”
“No, I must have missed it,” she said blithely. Instead she’d seethed when she’d read it. He knew just how to annoy her. He knew where she was vulnerable. She sometimes ignored little details to make her point. So Jack had poked holes in her thesis. The editor was delighted she’d caused some controversy in the ranks. He didn’t know it was partly personal.
Jack would never let her get away with anything. She would never admit it to him, but she missed that. He’d made her be more careful, he’d made her test her theories before exposing them to view. He’d made her a better scientist than she was. He’d made her a better person, too.
But she was on her own now. She liked being on her own. No more hurt feelings, no more arguments, no more feeling inadequate taking those home pregnancy tests. It wasn’t easy month after month to stifle the tears and hide her disappointment at the results.
“Liar,” he said, turning his head to grin at her. “You never miss anything.”
She refused to let him goad her. He knew how hard she’d worked on that paper. She didn’t appreciate his attacking her in print. It was as if he’d stabbed her in the back. After that she didn’t write any more papers for a while. He called her and left a message apologizing and telling her she was too sensitive. She didn’t call him back.
She hoped they could stop talking about the past. Tomorrow when they were out in the field at least they’d each have their own tent and their own sleeping bag. There’d be other people around. They’d work together as they had in the past, but that was it.
“Are you going to take a bath or not?” she asked, standing with her hands on her hips.
He waved an arm toward the bathroom. “You go ahead.”
Jack sat alone on the deck and stared out into the dark night. Far out to sea were the lights of fishing boats like the ones that had rescued him and Olivia. He wasn’t lying when he’d told her thoughts of her had inspired him to keep going when the waves threatened to overwhelm him and fatigue was beginning to overtake him.
As he struggled in the cold water not really knowing if he’d make it or not, not knowing if he’d ever see her again, he thought about how sweet life had been when they were together. The memories kept him going. The ones he’d been trying to keep at bay, like how beautiful she was when she got mad at him, her cheeks flushed, her eyes bright.
How she’d stand up to his wildest plans, his far-out ideas, cutting through his rambling theories with her bright insight, always spot-on. No one else could do that. No one else was willing to criticize him, not since he’d been named department chairman at his prestigious university.
Before he got rescued tonight, he was terrified he’d never have another chance to joust with her again, never even see her again. Never be able to tell her how much he’d missed her.
Now, of course, he couldn’t tell her that. Not when she felt just the opposite. She hadn’t missed him. She was doing just fine without him. In fact she wanted a divorce. If he couldn’t convince her to change her mind this summer, that was it. It was over.
These days she was publishing regularly, she had a book in the works and she didn’t need him to make her life complete. Or a baby. It was just as well they’d stopped trying. What would they have done with a baby on this dig? What about when the ferry went down? Who takes care of the baby? Not Olivia. She didn’t even want to share this room with him.
Now here they were, under the same roof for the first time in years, almost the same as when they first got married. At that hotel in Italy above the harbor. Tomorrow morning she’d be here, hair tousled, cheeks flushed, nightgown rumpled, just as she once was. When life had seemed so perfect, so full of promise. How could he get those days back? How could he make her see they belonged together? If they belonged together.
He took a deep breath and tried to keep from thinking of the past. When he did it felt like someone had reached inside his chest and squeezed his heart dry. It must be the stress. He wouldn’t admit it to Olivia, but he’d had a few rough hours out there at sea. It was a reminder that though he and Olivia were together in the same hotel room, nothing was the same at all. It never would be. Too much had happened. Too many harsh words, too many hard feelings stood in their way.
There was a soft knock on the door to the room. When Jack opened it Marilyn was standing there with a white cotton nightgown in her hand.
“This is for your wife,” she said. “Helen found several of them downstairs and I’m going around delivering them to the women.”
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Carol Grace
Тип: электронная книга
Жанр: Современные любовные романы
Язык: на английском языке
Издательство: HarperCollins
Дата публикации: 16.04.2024
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О книге: Olivia and Jack were the perfect couple–it was clear from the start they were meant for each other…Now, five years on, their fairy-tale wedding is a distant memory and their marriage seems to be almost over. But Jack′s never stopped loving Olivia, and has planned for them to spend the summer on the beautiful Greek island where they first met.It′s the perfect place to fall in love…the pretty villages, the gently lapping waves on miles of endless golden sand. But is it enough to help Jack and Olivia overcome their past and reunite…forever?