As Joshua approached the dig site, he spotted Anna studying the wall of bones from about twenty feet back. What was she looking for?
She must have heard his horse approaching because she turned. “Oh my goodness, how’s your mom?”
“She’s okay. Broken femur. It’s going to take a long time to heal, but she should be all right. No other broken bones, which is miraculous.” He swung his leg over the back of his horse and dismounted.
She leaned in, her brows drawn together, and touched his arm. “I wasn’t expecting you to come work. And seriously, if you are needed at home, I understand.”
For a second, as their gazes collided, he was transported back to the Joshua and Anna they’d been ... before. But then she pulled back and stared at the ground.
Taking a moment to school his thoughts, he turned and patted his horse’s neck. “No, Martha is taking good care of Mom, and I promised your dad I would help while I was home. So here I am.”
“Well, thank you for coming. We could definitely use your help.” She shifted her gaze back to the wall.
He stood next to her and tried to see what she was seeing. “You looking for something in particular?”
Tipping her head back and forth, she squinted. “Just trying to envision what my father saw in the drawing.” She held up the sketch she’d made of the wall and then looked back at the actual thing.
“What’d he see?”
“He thinks this is the fossilized remains of an Allosaurus. Which would be exciting. Especially if most of the skeleton is here.”
“A what?” Over the years, he’d heard her and her father spout dinosaur names, but he had no idea what any of them were.
“Allosaurus. A large carnivorous biped.”
“And that means what, exactly?”
“Well, for one, its size would be about twenty-five to thirty feet long. It would have large, sharp teeth to eat meat, and it ran on its hind legs.” She kept staring at the wall, pointing at sections as she spoke. “The first thing I saw when the flash flood exposed this was the curved spine here. Now I can clearly see the tail over there.” She pointed to a higher section of the wall. “Then over here”—she shifted to another section—“Dad thinks that is part of the neck, but we won’t know until we start getting it out of the rock.” Stepping forward, she went straight up to the wall. “Look, right here. Dad must be correct. I’m pretty certain this is one of the talons.”
“Yikes. I wouldn’t want to run into this guy when he was hungry.”
She chuckled. “You wouldn’t want to run into himanytime. Their arms were short, but they ended in three-clawed fingers. Sharp claws, I might add.”
He stared at the wall and tried to picture it but couldn’t. All he knew was that some of the bones visible were much larger than any other animal bones he’d seen before. “I’m amazed at what you and your father do. How you can see what’s there. It’s definitely a gift.”
When she turned her gaze toward him, the look in her eyestook his breath away. She laid a hand on his arm. “Much like the gift you have for healing people.”
He held her gaze. Every bit of love he’d ever known for her flooded his heart and soul. It was like he was looking into Anna’s eyes frombeforehe’d left things in shambles.
“I still believe in you, Joshua. I always have and always will. You were meant to be a doctor.”
So she’d read more of his letters. The ones where he doubted himself. Doubted why anyone would ever believe in him. Without Anna those first few months, he’d been lost and so alone.
He didn’t want the moment to end. “Thank you. It hasn’t been easy. But I’m grateful for the generous opportunity at school.”
She dropped her hand and began walking toward her satchel on the table where she’d set up several of her sketches under rocks. “Have you ever met your benefactor?”
“No, but Mr. Bricker has corresponded with me regularly. He has been a great encouragement. He said he will be at my graduation.”
“Any idea why he chose you?”
“I have no idea.”
“One day I hope to be able to thank him. I’m so glad someone gave you this chance. You deserve it.” She picked up another sketch and a pencil. Every now and then she would add a little mark here or there on the paper.
Watching her sketch was like watching the waves on Lake Michigan. Soothing, yet ever changing. Beautifully exciting and calming all at the same time.
She caught him staring. “Josh?”
