The Eden Factor (Kathlyn Trent/Marcus Burton Romance Adventure Series Book 2) (29 page)

Juliana started to walk back
toward the mess tent. Kathlyn followed. "I haven't seen him in six years,
Kat. I don't even think about him anymore. But seeing him again...."

Kathlyn understood. "It's
going to be hard, no doubt. He was your high school sweetheart and it's
difficult to get away from that first love stuff. Especially since you're still
married to him."

Juliana rolled her eyes. "I
don't want to deal with this. Can we go to Iraq, like, today?"

Lynn came out of the mess tent at
that moment, followed by Dennis and finally Marcus. Kathlyn eyed the three of
them in the distance. "Whatever you decide to do, you'd better tell Lynn
before he finds out some other way."

Juliana looked at the powerful,
cocoa-skinned man standing several yards away. Since their dinner date a couple
of weeks ago, it was like the dam had burst and they found themselves in a
whirlwind relationship that had been well worth the two-year wait. He was sweet
and sensitive and absolutely adored her.  Though they had yet to be intimate,
it was only a matter of time. The joy of discovery had been incredibly exciting
and Juliana didn't want anything to mess it up. Especially the appearance of
her estranged husband.

"I'll tell him today,"
she finally said. "He's not going to be happy."

Kathlyn shrugged. "It's not
like you've kept anything from him, really. You two only just really got
involved."

"Then now's the time."

"Those are my thoughts,
too."

Juliana walked away from her.
Kathlyn watched her go to Lynn and pull him away from the other two. Dennis,
left out, turned in the direction of the tomb while Marcus came over to his
wife. He had a curious look on his face.

"What's going on?"

Kathlyn cast him a long glance.
"Something potentially explosive, I think. Debra Jo told me that the FBI
is sending an agent here to talk to me about Fayd and CeMEH.  The agent just
happens to be Juliana's estranged husband."

Marcus' eyes widened. "I
didn't even know she was married."

"It's not something she
really talks about. I don't even think she remembers most of the time. But Jace
is coming and I told Juli she'd better brace Lynn."

"Jace?" Marcus
repeated. "What the hell kind of name is that?"

Kathlyn could already hear the
animosity in his voice, a protective instinct on Lynn's behalf. She grabbed her
husband by the arms and pretended to shake him.

"Enough of that," she
said. "It isn't your battle. Jace Deverona is a nice guy that we all went
to high school with. He was a police psychologist for years until he apparently
went to the FBI.  We didn't even know he was with the Bureau, that's how much
Juli keeps in touch with him."

"If he's so nice, how come
she's not still with him?

"It's kind of
complicated."

Marcus just shook his head as if
confused by the entire thing. "Lynn isn't going to be happy. He's really
crazy about her."

"Then if he's really crazy
about her, he'll understand."

Her words had a double meaning.
Marcus looked at her, knowing without explanation that she was referring to him
keeping his illegitimate daughter from her. But it suddenly occurred to him
that she, too, had kept something from him the entire time they had known each
other.  Since the subject of secrets was at the forefront, now was as good a
time as any to bring it up.

"I guess you're right,"
he said quietly. "Sometimes it just isn't the right place or time to blurt
out deeply private things. But I guess what I kept from you was much worse than
what you've kept from me."

She looked at him, confused.
"What have I kept from you?"

"That thing about your
health?"

"What thing?"

"Sweetheart, your heart
defect."

Kathlyn just stared at him. She
almost appeared as if she had no idea what he was talking about, but she would
not insult him so. She took a deep breath and looked away.

"Who told you that? My
mother?"

"It doesn't matter who told
me. Why haven't you ever told me?"

He could see her breathing
quicken and she visibly paled. It was obviously a shock to her than he knew.
Before he could say anything further, the tears came and he instinctively put
his arms around her.

"Sweetheart, I'm not
mad," he whispered. "I just wish you had told me."

"I'm sorry," she wept.

"It's okay."

She wrapped her arms around his
waist, holding him more tightly than he could ever remember. It was as if,
suddenly, she was very much in need of his strength.

"I didn't want to tell
you," she wept softly. "I didn't want you to know. You're always so
upset at me for taking chances in the field, or in any arena, and I didn't want
to add one more thing that would worry you constantly."

"That's ridiculous," he
said. "I'm your husband, Kathlyn. I need to know everything about you,
good or bad."

She clung to him. "I didn't
want to tell you before we got married for fear that it would give you second
thoughts. I mean, nobody would want to marry someone who might someday have a
heart attack and just drop dead, or pass the defect on to any children we might
have. It's a horrible burden. I don't even think about it, but I didn't want
you looking at me for the rest of my life like I was going to fall dead at your
feet any second."

He sighed, slowly. "Is that
how bad this is?"

She was quiet a moment. "My
mom didn't tell you this, did she?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Because if she had, she
would have told you everything and you would have known all of it."

"So tell me all of it."

"That is all of it. Not to
get too medical about it, I have a genetic heart defect where my heart can
spasm uncontrollably and go into cardiac arrest. It has something to do with a
defect in the large muscle of the heart. Stress and strain only aggravate the
problem. When I was young, my heart used to spasm painfully all the time. I was
on medication for it. But the older I got, the more I seemed to have gotten
away from the spasms. But when I get really tired, or exerted...."

"Like when you were in labor
with the twins. That's why they had you on the EKG machine."

She looked sheepish. "Exactly."

"They told me it was because
of all the drugs they had given you to speed up the labor and they wanted to
monitor you."

"That was true. My heart
starts beating really fast and there is the potential for it to go into spasms.
With the extra drugs, it compounded the potential."

He stood there and looked at her.
"Christ, you really should have told me."

"I didn't want to worry
you."

"It doesn't matter. I should
have known."

Kathlyn hung her head. "I
know. I wasn't trying to be selfish about it, please believe me. I was just
trying to spare you any additional worries."

He sighed, sounding something
like a growl. "So you did. But now that I know, it seems to me that you
shouldn't be having this baby at all."

She shrugged. "It's no worse
than the strain of chasing my myths."

"Yes, it is. It's the
supreme physical strain for a woman."

"So what are you saying?”

"That maybe we shouldn't
take any chances. This pregnancy is still in the very early stages."

She knew what he was insinuating
and she put up her hands. "No way, Marcus. I can't do that."

"It's not an easy suggestion
for me to make, Kathlyn, but I'd rather have you alive and well than any more
children. We were lucky with the twins. Our luck may not hold out the second
time around."

"Do you see what I mean
about you worrying? Had you never known about this problem, you would never in
a million years suggest I abort this baby. Even when we realized there is a
possibility that this is Fayd's hybrid embryo, you never once suggested
that."

"I knew back then about your
problem, but it wasn't the time to demand you have an abortion," he said.
"You weren't very strong, mentally. Now you are, and the time is
right."

The thought of selectively ending
the life of the child growing inside her was crushing, no matter what the
circumstances. She instinctively put her hand on her belly.

"I don't know," she
said softly. "I have to think... I just don't know."

Marcus was just as torn as she
was. He loved his children deeply.  He would give up his life for them without
question. But Kathlyn was his whole world.

"Look," he put his arm
around her shoulders. "We'll go back over to that hospital in Luxor and
run some tests on the baby, and also some on your heart just to see if anything
has changed with it, for better or for worse. Maybe they can help us determine
a few things before we proceed with any drastic measures."

"Fine. But after Iraq."

He cocked an eyebrow. "I'd
rather have you do it before we leave."

Kathlyn started to reply.
Instead, she bent right over in the sand and vomited up all of the crackers she
had eaten earlier.  Marcus kicked sand over it like a cat covering up its mess
in a litter box.  Kathlyn stood up, looking pale and panting.

 "Come on," Marcus'
attention was diverted from her heart problem to the more immediate problem.
"Let's go back and lay down for awhile."

Kathlyn wiped her mouth, looking
disgusted. "This is awful, Marcus. It just happens without warning. What
happens if I'm talking to someone and it comes flying out all over them?"

He started to laugh. He couldn't
help it. "That could be a problem. You've got some serious projectile
vomiting going on there. I'll hire you out to sandblast houses at this
rate."

"Oh, no," she rolled
her eyes and smacked him on the stomach, listening to him grunt. "You're
the absolute worst."

He hooted. "I thought it was
pretty damn funny."

She cast him a baleful expression.
"No it's wasn't." Their tent was in sight and she headed directly for
it. "I'll lay down for awhile. You go ahead up to the site."

He let her walk away. "You’re
sure?"

She waved an irritated hand at
him. "Yes, go. I don't want you sitting around, laughing at me."

He grinned. "I'm sorry, I
won't. Well, not right now, at any rate, but I can't guarantee for the rest of
your life."

She went into the tent, but not
before she turned and stuck her tongue out at him. Grinning, Marcus walked off
in search of Lynn.  He found his thoughts turning from his erupting wife and
her delicate condition to his long-time friend. He hoped things were well. 
With Kathlyn resting and taken care of, he wanted to be there if they weren't.

***

A day later, Jace Deverona had
yet to make an appearance and Kathlyn didn't want to wait for him.  Since her
Iraq trip was only going to be a matter of days, she figured he could wait for
her if he arrived during that stretch of time. Dennis and Lynn could take care
of him, but she had her doubts about Lynn. Surprisingly, he had been very
understanding about the whole thing. But she knew Jace, or at least she had
years ago, and the guy could be very cocky. That would not set well with Lynn.

She still wasn't feeling well but
she nonetheless put up a good front as they packed their gear onto a truck for
transport to the airport in Luxor. It was hot and dusty as she directed the
loading of the equipment. Ignoring her nausea was easier said than done. 
Marcus wasn't thrilled that she was determined to go so soon, especially since
their conversation the previous day. He wanted to have her medically checked
out before she did anything this strenuous, but she didn't want to be bothered
at this point.  A strong sense of urgency filled her and she wanted very much
to see what more to the story of the four angels there was.  It was exciting
for her, like her adventures of old before she met Marcus. Grails, arks and
tombs had been a part of her daily routine.

Kathlyn's six-man road crew,
having since been put to work around Marcus' site, were ready to roll for
another Kathlyn Trent quest.  Kathlyn's entire team was ready to go; Otis and
the doctoral students had ample electronic equipment at their disposal and
Debra Jo was already on the laptop with global communication links not only to
Marcus' base camp, but also to McGrath. Juliana and Mark, the workhorses, were
going over their streamlined equipment needs while Kathlyn made sure the entire
thing run like a well-oiled machine.  The anticipation in the air was palpable.

Marcus had been up in the tomb
that morning while his wife and her team prepared. He had offered to help but
she had just smiled and chased him away. He was very reluctant to leave Gary
yet again, but he was more concerned that Kathlyn not go alone. After this
trip, however, he was determined not to leave his site again for a very long
time.  Either that, or he'd have to give up his directorship and sign on with
his wife's entourage.  But he'd rather dig up mummies than chase down angels.