Page 92 of Teach Me Your Ways

He reached out, and together, we lifted the chest. It was heavy but not too heavy. We carried it in between us, back to the surface slowly, careful of buoyancy. We made it to the surface where Felix was already waiting to take it on the boat.

Lina was already aboard and out of her wet suit. I wondered how long she’d been out of the water. “Holy crap,” she mouthed, eyes wide.

Grady helped me climb up. I stood on the deck, dripping wet, my heart still racing from the discovery. Grady was already barking orders, his voice sharp and commanding as he directed Felix to secure the find. The weight of it was apparent in the way Felix grunted as he set it down carefully on the deck.

Grady turned to me, his green eyes intense and his smile wide. “You did good out there,” he said, his voice low. “Really good.”

I felt a flush of pride warm my cheeks, despite the chill of the ocean air. “Thanks,” I managed, my voice steady even though my insides were doing somersaults. “I just… I can’t believe we actually found something like that.”

“Neither can I,” he admitted, running a hand through his damp hair. “But we’re not done yet. We need to get this chest open and see what you found.”

Back at the dock, we carried the chest up to the field station lab. It was a small weather-tight room. Papers and charts were pinned to the walls. Instruments for preservation and documentation were on a shelf. Two long tables were in the center of the room. We placed the chest reverently on one of the tables.

“Everyone, get changed and meet back here in ten,” Grady ordered.

We all left the room. I felt like I had swallowed a beehive and now all the bees were buzzing in my belly. I changed in record time, and when I returned, Grady was already back. Felix was setting up the video camera. Lina sauntered in, wearing a pair of shorts and a tiny tank top. Her hair was piled on her head and she had taken the time to put on some makeup.

I didn’t care that I looked like a drowned rat in my wrinkled cargo pants and loose T-shirt. My hair was up as well, but I had not bothered with makeup.

Felix stood to the side, snapping pictures as Grady started the process to open the chest. Again, I was looking at his fingers and finding myself still turned on. I shifted my weight on my feet and thought about what those skilled fingers could do to me.

We all put on gloves and stepped up to the table. Grady opened the chest up. More pictures. More documentation and then finally Grady started to pull out each item. It wasn’t treasure in a monetary sense. No coins. No gold. No jewels. But to history lovers, it was absolutely a treasure trove.

Lina and I took the brass instruments and laid them out on the other table in the room. There was a nautical spyglass with a leather tube cracked but intact. A brass compass in a scuffed wooden box. A sextant. Once we had everything spread out, Grady stood beside me and surveyed the items. “These are seventeenth century navigational instruments.”

I frowned and did my best to identify them. “They look like it. Maybe Belgian or Spanish.”

We spent the next two hours documenting and carefully labeling and packaging every piece.

Felix and Lina left the room to get something to eat.

“You’re remarkable,” Grady whispered.