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, multi-layered 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 took 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 make sure she was over Jack. Last chance before they closed the site for good which was located on private property.
As for love and marriage, she’d given it her all, but it didn’t work. She’d done her best and what happened? What she’d gotten in return was heartbreak and disappointment. She had moved on. It was time to make it official. Her marriage was over.
In her field, when she’d done her best and worked hard, she’d gotten praised and promoted for her efforts. Which was why she was here, to add to her credentials. 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.
“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. Digging 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. She was immune. She was a different person. She had 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 a man, no doubt about that. Dark wind-blown hair, blue knit polo that matched his eyes, khakis and bare feet in topsiders. She couldn’t tear her eyes away then and she couldn’t do it now.
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, but they certainly weren’t together.
“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 archeologist 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, same thing you’re doing here. Excavating Hermapolis.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she demanded.
“Thought you might not come.”
“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 coolly. “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 some day. 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 mean nothing to you anymore,” he said. “The only thing you care about is your research.” There was a hint of bitterness in his voice, but just a hint. Mostly he sounded so casual, so all-knowing, she wanted to smack him on the face. “That’s why you wouldn’t come with me.”
Not go with him to Cal U? He knew why she hadn’t gone. She was not going to be dragged into rehashing any old problems. It was pointless.
“I’m talking about now,” she said. “All I ask is next time you join a dig I’m on just let me know.”
“So you can back out?”
“Why would I do that? The past is in the past. We had some good times, we worked well together. No reason we can’t do it again.” Olivia was proud of herself. She sounded so rational, so over Jack. She thought she was. It took ten minutes to tell her she wasn’t. If only she could stop trembling on the inside. Stop the memories from crowding in on her.
“That’s good to know,” he said. “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? “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. How could he be so nonchalant? Because he didn’t care. He’d moved on. Really moved on. If only she could do the same. She felt his eyes on her. He was scrutinizing her as if he was 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 five years ago? She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of asking. What did it matter what he thought?
“It’s good we’re working together again,” he said. “One more time.”
One more time? And then what? He was treating her as if she was just another team member he had to work with. As if she was some casual acquaintance. Or perhaps a difficult team member who had to be humored. It shouldn’t bother her. But it felt like he’d stuck a knife in her chest. She wished she could be as casual as he was.
She wanted to shake him. She wanted to scream, We met on this island. Doesn’t it mean anything to you? We’re married. What are we going to do about it? Of course she didn’t.
“I read your article in Archeology Digest,” she said, desperately looking to change the subject. “Interesting conclusion.”
She glanced at him to get his reaction. His eyes were glittering like the blue Aegean. Jack loved a challenge. That much hadn’t changed. “Does that mean you don’t agree with me?” 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.” 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.
He’d reminded her of the heated discussions they’d had about work, yes. But about their problems? Never. Those subjects were off limits. Too painful. Too fraught with possibilities for wounding each other.
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 couldn’t ignore Jack. She couldn’t talk to him about anything but work. She’d be walking a tightrope for more than two months.
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 had to. But he was so close she could smell the same citrus after-shave 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 like she treated everyone else on this dig, including Marilyn Osborne, a middle-aged archeologist from the University of Pittsburgh who was ambling toward them across the deck.
“How are you feeling?” she asked Olivia.
“Fine, thank you.” She did not want a reputation of being sickly before they’d even docked on the island.
“As Homer said, ‘Beware the stormy seas of May.’ Have you been to the island before?”
Olivia exchanged a brief glance with Jack. What was she supposed to say? What had he already said?
“Um, 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 ladies something?”
Marilyn shook her head.
“More tea, Olivia?”
“No thank you.” How like him to skip out when the conversation got dicey.
Marilyn took Jack’s place on the bench. As soon as Jack had disappeared down the steps to the lower deck, she spoke. “I understand you two are married.”
“Technically yes, but we’re actually separated. We…Jack’s at California U and I’m at Santa Clarita.”
“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 teen-age 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. “I’ve ruined your new topsiders.”
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 when they’d split up. She’d tried to bottle up her feelings. But he knew what she was going through. It 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 not him.
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, but it seemed like yesterday, and 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 with no intention of interrupting her career for him.
“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?”
“Are we going down?”
“Calm down, everyone,” he said. “I’m going in to speak to the captain. In the mean time, 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 ferry boats sank from time to time and it was 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 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 who knows, 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.
“Just better to be prepared,” he said.
The same 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 why 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. At least never before.
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.
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 would have fallen apart. One reason why there’d never been any other woman for him. No one compared to Olivia.
“Two on either side of the main cabin. Fortunately the ferry isn’t full because…” He didn’t need to finish the sentence. If the boat had been at capacity there wouldn’t be enough space for everyone in the lifeboats.
“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 the small boat 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?” 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. He 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. 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. 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. The deck was engulfed in smoke and flames. Where was Jack? 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. Helpless tears ran down her face. He was gone.