Canyon of the Sphinx (17 page)

She sat back in the couch,
thinking. "Your excuse of it not being safe there doesn't hold water.
What's the real reason you don't want me to go, Marcus?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that ever since you
joined me at that clinic in the Yucatan, you've stuck to me like glue. You
haven't left my side, not even when your dad was undergoing chemo. I can't
clearly recall one memory when you weren't right by my side, even in the shower
or in the bathroom. You've been my shadow for six straight weeks."

 He looked like a kicked dog.
"I'm not supposed to be with you during your time of need? What kind of
husband would I be if I wasn't?"

She cocked an eyebrow at him.
"That's not what I mean and you know it. You're the best husband in the
world and I have no complaints. But it's more than simply being with me through
a crisis, Marcus. It's like you've reached these tentacles into every aspect of
my being; you answer my phone calls, you check my email, you hover over me
twenty-four hours a day as if I'm going to suddenly disappear." She
watched the expression on his face darken. "Honey, I'm not complaining,
please believe me. I love everything you do for me. But... but there's an odd
sense of desperation in everything you do. It's like something is bothering you
terribly but you won't tell me what it is. Why won't you tell me?"

He looked thoroughly perplexed. 
The baby squirmed and he put her down, watching her toddle away.  Moving to
where Kathlyn sat on the couch, he lowered his big body down beside her.  She
looked at him, the strong lines of his face, the shape of his cobalt blue eyes
that were as familiar to her as her own. He just sat there, not looking at her.
Then, he leaned sideways until his head was against her chest and his massive
body was wedged in between her legs. He just lay against her and she cradled
him, her arms and legs wrapped around him, kissing the top of his head and
stroking his arms.  This time, Marcus needed comfort.

"What's wrong?" she
whispered.

He sighed. "I don't even
know. I can't even put it into words. All I know is that I came closer to
losing you than I want to admit and to say that it scared me isn't a strong
enough description. Kathlyn, this whole episode has been devastating for me. 
One freak accident and you almost die. I just can't take it anymore."

"What are you saying?"

He could hear her heart beating
in his right ear. She was alive and warm and soft and he would have been
content to spend the rest of his life curled up against her. Flipping over, he
ended up lying on top of her as he did when they made love, her legs and arms
around him.  It was a tender, intimate moment, and he ran his finger down the
side of her face, studying her beauty. She was breathtaking.

Ethan and Trent saw their father
on top of their mother and thought  that Daddy was playing a game. They decided
it would be a good idea to jump on him and they did, squealing with delight.
Trent threw himself across his mother's face and Kathlyn burst out laughing;
her arms were trapped and the baby was slowly suffocating her. Marcus started
laughing; he couldn't help it. A beautiful moment interrupted by the realities
of life. Eden stood at the edge of the couch where everyone was squirming and
grabbed her mother's long hair, putting a handful in her mouth.

 With one twin clutched against
his back and the other one clutched against his front, Marcus pushed himself
off his wife. He looked down at her, so beautiful he could hardly believe it.

"You want to know what's on
my mind?" he said. "This. Our kids and our life. This is what
matters, Kathlyn. Not some dig in Egypt, or some lost city in the Yucatan. Our
family is the most important thing of all. I'm going to resign as Site Director
of the Ay Project and take a professorship at UCPR.  We're going to buy a house
somewhere near the university, have ponies and dogs and as many kids as the
house will handle, and we're going to get away from the craziness that seems to
follow us. I just want a normal life, with you and the kids."

Kathlyn lay there, looking up at
him. She was stunned. For Marcus to give up the greatest archaeological
discovery ever recorded was beyond shocking. She sat up, taking her hair from
the baby, and moved away from her husband and the frolicking kids.

  "You've already made up
your mind." It was a statement, not a question.

"Yes."

"And you didn't think to let
me in on this decision making process?"

He put one of the twins down.
"You asked me when you were in the hospital to leave Egypt and raise the
kids in California should anything happen to you. I've taken your request to
heart. I thought we were both on the same wavelength on this."

She leaned up against the window.
"I requested that of you under uncertain circumstances, Marcus, and I
meant it at the time. But I've recovered now and I don't see any reason why you
should leave your dig, or why I need to stop doing what I do."

He wasn't sure where she was
going with this. "You were right, Kathlyn. I'm agreeing with you. Isn't
this what you want?"

She spun around, more passion in
her face than he had seen in a long time. "Marcus Burton, you are the
greatest archaeologist who has ever lived. For you to give up what you've
worked so hard to achieve isn't only disappointing, but it's a waste of the
greatest mind our science has ever seen.  You're thirty-nine years old; do you
have any idea what you could achieve in the next thirty or forty years?  To
even think about it blows me away. I can't let you destroy what you've worked
so hard to attain."

His eyebrows furrowed. "I
don't understand."

She threw her hands up in the
air. "I made that request of you when I thought I was dying. The
circumstances were very different than they are now. But I'm very much alive
and I can't let you sacrifice yourself like that. I don't want to sacrifice
myself, either. I have a gift, Marcus, something I was born to do and something
I love doing. I've never been one to stay stationary for very long, you know
that. I could go live in your house in the country and raise kids and dogs, but
my mind and heart would always be soaring to places like the Yucatan, or Egypt,
or the deserts of ancient Iraq, wondering what's out there to never be
discovered because I've repressed my natural instincts to explore." The
hands came down and tears came to her eyes. "I don't know if I can do
that."

 Marcus knew that. But it didn't
make it any easier. "So you're saying that your family isn't as important
as your career?"

"That's not what I'm saying
and you know it. I'm saying that I am the way I am. I can't change
things."

"You mean that you
won't."

He was picking a fight. Kathlyn
could see where this was going but she refused to back down.

"I love you and the kids
more than life. But even as a girl, I never planned to get married or have
kids. I wanted to explore, to discover, to learn, and to enlighten the world.
That's what I've done, and that's what I'm good at. When I came to Egypt four
years ago and met you, what happened between us was so unexpected that
sometimes I still have trouble believing it.  It all happened so fast, Marcus,
and I'm not sure if I was really prepared. All I knew was that I loved you and
I didn't want to be without you."  She sighed heavily, trying to find the
right words. "So I stayed with you in Egypt. I made the sacrifice. We had
the kids with us and we were a family. Now you're asking me to give that up
completely and I'm telling you that I can't. It's not that I won't; I
can't."

Marcus just looked at her.  He
shook his head and turned away. "I don't understand you at all."

"You could if you tried. But
you're only seeing what you want to see."

"And you're only seeing what
you want to see."

"So who's more selfish here,
you or me?"

"Christ,
you
are."

He might as well have stabbed her
in the heart. She sat heavily on the chair near the window, her expression
dazed. "You really think so?"

He refused to answer. Without
another word, she went to their bedroom and closed the door.

Several hours later the sun was
down and the kids were fed and in bed. Marcus hadn't seen or heard Kathlyn in
all of that time.  He sat on the couch a while, debating if he should go into
the bedroom or not. But his resolve weakened and he found himself at the door,
quietly opening it and finding it well-lit and the television on. There were
two large bags on the bed and Kathlyn was packing them.

"What are you doing?"
he pointed at the luggage.

Kathlyn didn't look at him; she
was trying to shove a pair of shoes into pockets that were too small.
"Being selfish."

"Kathlyn, where are you
going?"

The shoes wouldn't fit so she
left them there and went to the bureau to unload a drawer. "I spoke with
my mom earlier. She and my brother are going to come and get the kids tomorrow.
They're going to stay with my mom while I'm in the Yucatan and you're in
Egypt."

Marcus stared at her.
"Goddammit," he growled. "So you're going to go no matter what I
say."

"If you can't give me a good
reason as to why I shouldn't go, then yes, I'm going."

"I gave you my
reasons."

"And they were
baseless."

He slammed the door, rattling the
windows. Startled, Kathlyn looked up to see him bearing down on her. As big as
he was, Marcus was grossly intimidating and when he grabbed her arms, for the
first time since she'd known him, she was actually afraid.

  "Okay, you want to know my
real reason?" he growled at her. "I'll tell you what my real reason is. 
I wasn't going to say anything, but now you've forced me to. When I walked into
that hospital down there in Mexico, I saw Dr. Murphy sitting next to your bed,
touching your forehead the way only I should have touched you. I could just see
it in his face, Kathlyn, the same feelings I had for you when I first met you.
I'd never even met the man before, but looking at him, I just knew. So I don't
want you going back to the Yucatan for that reason alone. I don't want the guy
near you because he's in love with you. Is that clear enough?"

She looked at him, her eyes wide
with surprise. "Dr. Murphy was touching me?"

"You're goddamn right he was,
and had I not been so eager to see you at that moment, I would have broken his
goddamn neck."

Kathlyn didn't say anything for a
moment. Then it dawned on her. "So you don't want me going back because
you're jealous of Christopher Murphy?"

"Yes, goddammit, I am."

She just looked at him. How she
handled the next few moments could quite easily determine the course of their marriage.
"Do you think I've been unfaithful to you?"

He didn't hesitate.
"No."

"Ever?"

"No."

"But you're worried because
you think Murphy has feelings for me?"

"I'm not worried. But I
protect what is mine."

"So why don't you pee on me
and mark your territory."

"If I thought it would help,
I would."

She burst out laughing. Marcus
fought off a grin because this was serious stuff. But she put her arms around
his neck and he couldn't help but respond to her, holding her fiercely.

"Oh, Marcus," she
breathed in his ear. "I love you so much. You're such a treasure."

"I'm serious, Kathlyn,"
he murmured. "I don't want you around that guy. I trust you implicitly and
I always will, but I don't trust people I don't know. If Murphy makes a pass at
you, I'd have to kill him."

The phone picked that moment to
ring. Marcus was prepared to ignore it, but Kathlyn wasn't. She was never one
to ignore a ringing phone. It was McGrath. He sounded strange as he asked to
speak with Marcus. With his wife still in his arms, Marcus took the call and
Kathlyn watched his face go from a healthy pink color to an ashen white. Few
words were spoken. When he hung up the phone, he just stood there a moment,
hand on his mouth, obviously stunned. Kathlyn was concerned.

"What's wrong?" she
asked softly.

Marcus looked at her. His cobalt
blue eyes were in turmoil.  "You just asked me if I trusted you," he
said hoarsely. "Do you trust me?"

"With my life."

"But do you trust me as your
husband?"

She wasn't sure what he was
driving at. "Without question. Why?"

He didn't answer except to kiss
her, passionately. Kathlyn could feel the tension in his kiss, the desperation
in his body. "Marcus," she pulled away from his probing mouth.
"What's wrong? What did Jobe say?"

He sighed, his face buried in her
neck for the moment. Then he pulled back and looked at her. "Jensen Elder
has filed a civil lawsuit against UCPR and SCU."

Kathlyn was shocked. "What?
What in the hell for?"

"Paternity, sexual
harassment, hostile working conditions. You name it."

There was something in his
expression that disturbed her intensely. She knew the whole story without him
even telling her. "It's directed at you, isn't it?"