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August 4 - August 12, 2025
“Sweetheart, will you ...
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The water swept over and around us, but still he didn’t let go. He managed to pull me closer, wrapping his arm around my waist as the river yanked us along. “I have you,” he said. “I have you.”
“Oh,” he said, anger sparking in his blue eyes. “I’m bloody furious, darling.” But then he lifted our clasped hands and pressed a soft kiss on the inside of my wrist.
“Years of my life,” he repeated. “Gone.” Then he bent and kissed me, hard and quick. “Don’t ever pull that shit with me again, Olivera,” he whispered against my mouth.
it over?” she asked in a watery voice. “It will be,” I promised her, wrapping my arms around her shoulders. I kissed her hair as she settled against me. She tilted her head and met my eyes. Hers were red rimmed, eyelids swollen. “Can we have cats?”
“Cats? Plural?” I asked, aghast. “Who doesn’t like cats?” “I happen to love dogs,”
I didn’t know why I was arguing with her. I’d give her the bloody moon if she asked. “Inez, we can have a...
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She lowered her head but not before I caught the soft ...
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“What do you want to do now, sweetheart?” She considered the question...
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Whit was on my left, his hand on my thigh underneath the snow-white tablecloth.
Arabella had won me over from the first. She had thrown her arms around me and thanked me profusely for turning Whit into a cat person. Within five minutes of conversation, we were talking about our favorite works of art, and she showed me a journal stuffed full of her gorgeous watercolors. She had a rare talent, my newest little sister.
I watched her discreetly from the corner of my eye as she took sips of wine from Porter’s glass, her auburn hair shining like polished amber in the candlelight. Porter finally caught on to her antics and glared at Arabella, and I bit back a laugh when she dimpled back at him. But then her attention drifted to the handsome man to her right, and a deep blush bloomed in her cheeks. Whit’s friend, Leo, didn’t notice, but he’d curiously avoided meeting her eyes since he had sat down at the start of the dinner.
“Mr. Whit!” Kareem exclaimed. My husband turned in his chair to face Kareem where he sat on his other side. “Yes?” “Abdullah bought me three jars of honey,” he said. “So, he bribed you,” Whit said, laughing. “Did he say that you could never eat the honey found in any tombs?” Kareem nodded sagely. “I must not consume ancient relics.” “A wonderful motto to live by,” Whit said, just as sagely.
Whit’s hand tightened on my thigh.
Whit made a circle with his thumb against my thigh. “We’re staying in Egypt to work alongside Ricardo and Abdullah.” He shot me a fond look, and I leaned my head against his shoulder. “I’ll be paying you a visit after our honeymoon to secure next year’s firman,” I said. “I believe we have our sights set on the pyramids.” Monsieur Maspero blanched, and I laughed in his face.
Early morning light shone onto the surface of my worktable. Outside one of the many windows of my laboratory, the Nile River stretched for miles, feluccas and dahabeeyahs bobbing in its waters. Dimly, I heard Inez outside in the garden, calling for our recalcitrant cats, Archimedes and Memphis. They hated being told what to do. Exactly like my wife.
Sulfur (oil). Mercury (liquor). Salt (alkali). Also known by what they represent: Sulfur, the soul. Mercury, the spirit. Salt, the body.
She looked at me in alarm, but I grinned at her as I pulled her close, kissing her cheek, her temple, her hair. The rose petals pleasantly tickled my nose. “Let’s have breakfast, and I’ll tell you all about it.” “It’s dinnertime,” she corrected mildly. “Dinner, then,” I said. I bent forward, tucking my arm under her knees, and scooped up my wife—and the damn cat—into my arms. She squealed as I carried her out of the lab while Memphis leapt out of her grasp with an impatient hiss. “Can we invite Abdullah to eat with us? I have something that belongs to him. We are going to celebrate.”
I leaned down and kissed her, once, twice, three times, before whispering against her mouth, “The rest of our lives.”
Much to Ricardo’s horror, Lorena frequently visited Egypt, often bringing trunks filled with gifts that he never knew what to do with. Amaranta married Ernesto. They had six children. The youngest daughter followed in her aunt Inez’s footsteps and became an Egyptologist (much to her mother’s everlasting horror).
The two remained business partners until their old age. Together, they discovered the tombs of Alexander the Great and Nefertiti. Not that either of them would ever admit it.
They lived in Egypt for the rest of their lives, raising their twins, Elvira and Porter, while assisting Abdullah and Ricardo with their excavations. Elvira grew up to be one of the leading papyrologists of her time. Porter studied photography, trained by his honorary aunt Farida.
Both lived long and happy lives and made plenty of discoveries in the garden. But Memphis did, in fact, destroy several of Whit’s beakers.