Which was always a wonder considering that most of these bones were fossilized during a great catastrophe. That’s why, on so many of their digs, they found partial skeletons. Sometimes just a skull.
But now. Well, now they were accomplishing her father’s dream.
Two hours later, she had two sketches done. Not all the detail was there yet, but even so, just wait until her father saw these! It was almost enough to have him jumping out of bed. If only he could—
Stop.Be thankful for the progress Dadhasmade.
She pulled her mind from worry to the garden. The project scared her more than she wanted to admit. Maybe, with Julian’s help, this time would be different. Maybe the garden would grow and flourish.
Checking her watch for the umpteenth time, she scanned the horizon for Joshua. How odd that he still wasn’t here. When he’d said he would be late, she hadn’t expected him not to show up at all. That wasn’t like him.
But then again, Caleb was home. Their family had a lot of celebrating to do. And dealing with the old wounds of Mary’s loss, which Caleb’s disappearance had stirred up.
What would it be like if Mary were still here today?
Maybe Anna could have learned to garden earlier. Maybeeven learned to cook. At ten years old, Mary had already been a wonder in the kitchen. She made apple pie for every church picnic and it was so good. Mrs. Ziegler even said it was better than hers, which was why she allowed Mary to make it each time.
Such good memories ... but hard, too. She’d never had another friend like Mary.
Joshua had soon taken his sister’s place in Anna’s life. At school. At church. Running around climbing rocks and exploring. Joshua had become her best friend.
“What’s got you smiling?” Zach stood in front of her, his hands on his hips.
“Good memories.” She hopped down from the crate she was sitting on and walked toward him. “Have you found something interesting?”
“Yep. Your dad is gonna love this.” He pointed to the bones of the spine they’d been working on. “Look in the hole from where we removed the other two parts of the spine.”
She peered in and gasped. “There’s more!Yes!”Bouncing up and down, she clapped her hands. “Gentlemen, I think we might be sitting on a quarry of bones. Wouldn’t it be amazing if we found one of the most intact skeletons of a dinosaur ever?”
Luke huffed. “As long as Cope or Marsh don’t hear about it, we’ll be fine.”
“Don’t rain on my parade.” She frowned at him.
Both men had too much money. They could fling around whatever they wanted and hire whoever they wanted to accomplishwhatthey wanted.
No one but her team could know about this dig. It would ruin everything.
Oh, wait. Mr. Oppenheim was coming. She groaned. Why, ohwhy, did Dad let him know what they’d found? Sure, they probably needed the money because it was expensive to do this kind of work, but would Oppenheim keep his mouth shut?
There was a confidentiality clause in the agreement. There always was. But rich people did whatever they pleased.
She gave the guys more instructions for the rest of the afternoon because she wouldn’t be able to stay out for too much longer. There were plants that needed to get in the ground while it was still daylight and she’d asked Julian to bring everything this evening.
Dad would be so thrilled! Especially if she could keep everything alive until it bloomed. Wouldn’t that be a wonder?
She added a little more detail to the sketches before she wrapped each of the bones in burlap and laid them in the straw in the crate where they kept the fossils. They didn’t have that many out of the rock yet. There were hundreds more to go.
She glanced around at her table. Looked underneath it. Where was her other sketchpad? Hadn’t she brought two out here today?
Good heavens, she must be losing her mind. That’s what being in love did to a person.
What would she do without Joshua when he left for his next term? His extra set of hands had been a lifesaver. But then again, Dad could be a good deal better by then. Probably not strong enough to wield a hammer and chisel, but maybe he could sit out here in a month or two?
That was optimistic thinking. But she needed that right now.
A lot.
WherewasJoshua? And why hadn’t he let her know that he wasn’t coming at all? It was so odd.
