Their Greek Island Reunion

“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.