He didn’t have her attention yet. But hopefully soon. “Since we are relatively ahead of schedule the past couple days, I was thinking it would be nice to do something to refresh our minds and spirits.”
“Oh?” She didn’t look up, penciling something else in on the grid.
He was invested now. “The guest lecturer—the one on the Bible and science going together?—has been invited back with a promised mediator. Apparently a lot of folks complained that they wanted to hear what he had to say. He’ll be back this coming Monday evening.”
She didn’t respond, just kept studying the papers in front of her.
Jacob licked his lips and plowed on ahead. “We could leave a bit early Monday, get cleaned up, perhaps have some dinner, and then head to the lecture. What do you think?”
Her head slowly turned in his direction, expression thoughtful. “That would be lovely, Jacob. Thank you for asking.” She surveyed the quarry and turned back to him. “You’re correct, we need a break. A moment to refresh. I’ll make sure that Lily Rose is available. If I remember correctly, she told me she needed to run an errand on Monday.”
Oh. Disappointment rippled through his chest. He understood the need for propriety and a chaperone. But Martha’s companion unsettled him for reasons he couldn’t quite pinpoint. Still, any time he could get with Martha would be a treat, no matter who was with them. “Great. I’ll look forward to it.” He plopped his hat back on his head and grinned the grin that was sure to look that of a smitten schoolboy. “I better get back to it.”
“I’d like for us to finish up quadrant J15 today, if you think it’s possible?”
“Certainly.” He tapped his leg. “I’m almost done with it, so with your help, it shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Perfect.” Her tone was enthusiastic. “Let me ensure everyone knows what their tasks are for today and I’ll be over with my tools.”
Jacob headed back to his little square of the quarry and began the tedious process of chiseling, brushing, blowing, and then starting all over again. Within half an hour, Martha had joined him in the upper right corner of the square. From what they could tell, there were two more bones that needed excavating. One appeared to be a vertebra from the tail—a caudal vertebra, to be exact. The other one they weren’t sure about since it appeared to be perpendicular in the rock layer rather than horizontal. Those were the ones that took the greatest amount of time.
Martha worked on the vertebra while Jacob continued the time-consuming work on the larger bone.
The next hour passed in the sounds of chinking and a little bit of conversation.
The wind whipped up several times and produced little dust devils that swirled around them and covered everything in a fine mist of red dirt. But they’d brush it aside and focus on the tasks at hand.
“Aha!” Martha’s exuberance was palpable. “I’ve got it.” She held up the vertebra and several of the workers in the quarry applauded.
Jacob grinned at her. “Excellent work, boss.”
Getting to her feet, she handed the bone to Lily Rose. “Would you take this to the tent so that I can catalog it in a little bit? First, I need to double-check and make sure there isn’t anything in the layer underneath.”
Lily Rose attempted to take the bone with her gloved right hand and keep a hold on her parasol with the other. It didn’t work.
Fear shot up Martha’s spine. She jerked the precious bone back from her friend’s grasp, clutching it close. “Drop the parasol, Lily Rose!” Irritation laced her command.
The older woman’s gaze landed on Martha with a split second of anger. The emotion had flickered across her pretty features so quickly, Martha thought she might have imagined it.
Lily Rose snapped her parasol shut and leaned it against a smaller boulder. “I apologize for my carelessness.” She held out both her hands and Martha placed the bone in them, making sure Lily Rose’s grip was tight. “I’ll return momentarily.”
Martha turned back to the digging area with a deep breath.Her nerves were on edge more than usual. Still, Lily Rose’s lack of caution in handling an important piece of the dig grated on her. If the bone was dropped and it shattered, it wasn’t like they could just conjure up another one. Hopefully, she’d learned her lesson just now.
Releasing a long sigh, she plucked out her small hammer and pounded away at the thin layer of rock on top of where they’d found the vertebrae. From experience, they’d learned that there could be fossils three, four, even up to six layers deep. There weren’t any other bones or fragments in that foot-wide section, so she worked to remove it.
Jacob waited to continue his own chiseling until she was done. No sense having the vibrations mess up the delicate work he was doing. The thin bone he was working on seemed to go quite deep. Which made him think it might be part of the pelvis or even the scapula. Either one would be exciting since they didn’t have them yet.
“Well, that is disappointing.” Martha raised up from her kneeling position.
“What?” Jacob studied her.
“I was hoping there might be more fossils underneath here. Not that we need to add to the workload, but there’s still several bones unaccounted for. The skull being the most important. I’ll go another layer down when you’re finished.” She walked over to where he worked. “How’s it coming?”
“Pretty well. This one goes deep, though, so it will take a while.”
She clapped her hands together and then wiped them on the apron that covered her skirt. “I will catalog that bone and check the grid. Then I’ll be right back to help.”
“Sounds great. Thanks.” He pointed his gaze back at the rock. To work in close proximity with her on the same bone made his palms slick with sweat. He wiped them on his denims. Somehow, he’d have to keep his focus and his grip. Especiallywhen her perfume wafted over him. Sweet Verbena, she’d told him. The scent would forever be matched with Martha.
