There had been dead silence in the office apart from the slight buzzing of the light panels above until someone began knocking on the door. Moffitt looked over from the inventory documents he had been double-checking to see the smiling face of Doctor Allerby through the window. "Unlocked!" Moffitt called.
The older, stockier man opened the door. He was carrying a long, thin box. "Good morning. I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"
"No, not at all. What do you need?"
"The researchers at the Kestle Institute would like your assistance with something. An Egyptian staff, recently brought back from the Valley of the Kings."
"I'd be delighted to help. What do they need?"
"They want it matched to its original owner. They found that a number of enchantments applied to it are over a hundred years apart from the death of the pharaoh that this staff was found with. They don't think it belonged to one of his priests." Allerby set the box on the table. "They also sent someone to work with you. I believe you know her very well."
Vanora stepped into the room, and Moffitt grinned at the sight of his wife. "Why, I do know this lovely lady quite well," he said.
"And I know this dashing gentleman quite well," Vanora said. She walked up to the table, and leaned over it to give Moffitt a kiss on the cheek. "Hello, love."
"Darling." Moffitt blushed, then turned to Allerby. "We'll have this sorted out for you before the end of the day. Vanora and I work splendidly together."
"We haven't had a chance to really collaborate on something for the university in a few years, love," Vanora said.
"No, but we did very well last time. Besides, how could I pass up the opportunity to work with my wife?"
Allerby smiled. "Then I trust the staff is in good hands. Good day to you two." He left the room.
Once the door had closed and they were alone, Moffitt turned to Vanora. "Come here." He opened his arms.
"We should get to work on this, Jack," Vanora said.
"One hug?" He smiled. "Please?"
"Oh, alright." Vanora hugged him. "How are you?"
"Much better now that you're here," Moffitt said. "I was about to start checking the inventory papers for the third time."
"Third? I only have to check ours twice."
"You know how my father is when it comes to inventory."
"Yes, I know." Vanora opened the box on the table. "The staff was already checked for curses. It's safe to handle."
"Good." Moffitt kept smiling. "This'll be nice. Just the two of us. Best of all, no Anah this time."
"Yes." Vanora opened a manila folder. "We narrowed down a few possible sites for where the staff was originally from. Take a look."
Moffitt took the papers. "I know a couple of these locations quite well. I take it the staff's age prevented them from finding the exact date of the enchantment applications?"
"Yes."
"Blast. That would've helped. Guess we'll have to search our records and see what we can find. My father has records for a handful of these tombs. We can ask him if we don't find anything here."
"Sounds like a plan."
Moffitt searched his office until finding several folders packed thick and heavy with papers. "These should have everything we need. I do also have magazines documenting the discovery of these tombs, if you'd like me to look through those first."
"Let's do one thing at a time, Jack. Try not to overwhelm ourselves."
"Right. Would you like a cup of tea, darling?"
"No, thank you. Let's focus on this, love."
Moffitt managed to focus for all of ten minutes while searching the documents from one of the folders. "You know, doing this reminds me of when we were dating. Remember how I took you to the library, and—"
"Jack." Vanora looked at him. "Focus."
Moffitt bit his tongue. "Are… Are you alright, darling?"
"Yes. We're working now. Can we keep this professional? I convinced my superiors to let me work with you because I know you're among the best in your field, not just because you're my husband. If word gets out that this was nothing but a huge distraction, they won't let me work with you again."
"I see. I'm… sorry."
Vanora sighed. "I should apologize, too. I didn't want that to sound… like I don't love you."
"Oh, I know you love me. I love you, too."
"I'm glad you understand. There's a way we can do this without being too… oh, what's the right word?"
"Lovey-dovey?"
"Yes. Not lovey-dovey, and not cold and stiff, either. Troy and his wife are able to work together without falling behind."
"Uh, have you actually seen Troy and Shauna working together?"
"No. I just know they do."
"For one thing, they don't work at a prestigious university. They don't have any sort of reputation to uphold. They do goof around quite a bit—well, that's an understatement. They goof around a lot. I'm not saying we should. I'm just pointing out that their situation is vastly different to ours. We, for example, could never get away with something like the Great Hay Fight of 1958."
"No, absolutely not." Vanora studied the paper in front of her. "I hope they're doing alright, now that they have a child."
"From what Anah told me after her last phone call with Troy, they're very happy."
"That's good. Speaking of children, though, we're getting really close to when Dietrich's will be here."
"I know. He told me he hasn't been sleeping well, and neither has Esther."
"That doesn't surprise me. Did I tell you she called me a few nights ago?"
"No. Is she alright?"
"Oh, yes, but the poor thing's scared and fretful. She just wanted someone to talk to who understood what she's going through." Vanora paused for a moment. "It got me thinking about how the last month with Jules dragged. Every day was the same thing, over and over, waiting for him to come."
"And he was a week late." Moffitt grinned. "Just like me."
"And he was big," Vanora said with a sigh. "Ten pounds and very long."
"Also just like me."
"Yes. I remember your mother asking me what I was thinking when we told her that we were expecting, and then told me to pray that it would be a girl."
Moffitt shook his head. "Instead, we were blessed with Jules."
"Blessed indeed. He's growing up so fast. Maybe a little too fast. Can't believe he'll be ten in a few weeks. What does he want this year?"
"Well, he asked for his own horse again, and I said 'not yet,' again. Although the good news on that front is that the horse we will be giving him when he turns thirteen was born a month ago. I went to visit the farm last week after work to see the foal myself. Beautiful, healthy, black-as-night little colt. Same bloodline as Snowstripe."
"You still think having Jules with an untrained horse is a good idea?"
"By the time he's thirteen, yes. He's already a fantastic rider."
"Yes, but would you say he's experienced enough to work with a horse like that?"
"In three years, yes."
"What if he loses interest? Then what?"
"Then I keep the horse."
"You've already got Snowstripe and Icepatch."
"Technically, Icepatch will be going to Dietrich. She was going to be mine, but when I saw how attached she had gotten to Dietrich after our trip to North Africa, I decided to just keep her until he had the land and money to house her himself. I know…" Moffitt sighed, "Snowstripe is getting up there in age. It's not something I like thinking about. I don't want to say that I'll have to 'replace' him, because I'm not. I don't want to quit riding, though. It'll… It'll be hard, though, because it would feeling like I'm replacing him if… when I get another horse. He's more than just a horse. He's a friend, and you don't just replace a friend."
Vanora gently squeezed Moffitt's shoulder. "This has been bothering you for a while, hasn't it?"
"How can you tell?"
"It all came out at once."
Moffitt nodded. "Yes, yes, it did. I'm sorry. We… We should be working."
"We can work and talk, love. I don't want this to fester on your mind. It's not good for you."
Moffitt lowered himself into a chair. "Why can't our animals live forever?"
"Well, we know Anah will live forever."
"Yes. With her, it's the opposite problem—why can't we live forever with her?"
"I don't know. I guess… it's to teach us to appreciate what we have when we have it. I know you've never taken Snowstripe for granted. You've given him the most fulfilling life a horse could have."
"I hope I have." Moffitt looked at Vanora. "I also hope… I haven't taken you for granted. I've had a lot of… bad dreams where I lose you."
Vanora went silent, and looked like she was trying to busy herself with the documents.
"Did I say something that upset you?" Moffitt stood.
"No, you didn't. That was another reason I wanted to bring this staff to you. Last night, I dreamt that… you were killed in an auto accident."
A tight feeling rose in Moffitt's chest. "You did?"
"Yes."
"Why didn't you tell me this morning?"
"I was still upset by it, and I know you have a lot of nightmares and I didn't think it would help."
"Darling," Moffitt's heart sank, "that doesn't mean you can't talk to me about your own nightmares. I understand how distressing dreams like that are, and there's no worse feeling than trying to deal with it alone." He knew they were supposed to be working, and acting professional, but he hugged his wife anyway. "I'm not going anywhere. I know bad things can happen, but I do my best to make sure I come home to you, and Jules, and Anah every single day." He kissed her forehead. "I love you."
Vanora hugged him back. "I love you, too, Jack. I'm sorry for keeping that from you."
"I don't blame you. It's one of my greatest fears as well, and not one I like to talk about. Anah once said that I should talk about it, because just talking about it isn't going to make it happen. It's not a curse or jinx or anything like that."
"No, but it's very… morbid."
"It is."
"It's still something we should discuss, so it's not sitting on our minds all the time." Vanora glanced over at the staff on the table. "We really should—"
"Get back to work? Yes." Moffitt kissed Vanora again. "Maybe we should do this more often."
"I was thinking we actually work now, and maybe go out later. Anah can manage Jules for the evening."
"Alright. We haven't had an evening to ourselves in quite a while. I'll go call her and let her know." Moffitt went over to his desk, grinning at his wife while dialing the house number. He waited, and his grin began to fade the longer he stood there in silence.
"No one picking up?" Vanora said.
"Hopefully, they're just out with the horses," Moffitt replied.
Eventually, Anah's voice came through. "Hello?"
"Hello, Anah," Moffitt said. "How are you?"
"Alright. It is a bit early for your lunch break call," Anah replied. "Is everything okay?"
"Yes. Vanora and I are going out for dinner this evening. Just wanted to let you know so you didn't worry."
"Just the two of you?"
"Yes. We want a night to ourselves. That's all."
"Alright. As long as you and Vanora are okay. That is—"
"Miss Anah?" Jules's voice was heard in the background.
"What is it, dear?" Anah gasped. "What in heaven's name happened to you?!"
"I was trimming the deadheads off Mum's rosebush, and fell in."
"You fell in the—Moffitt, I will have to call you back, dear. Have a good day." Anah hung up.
Moffitt stared at the phone for a moment, and gave a heavy sigh.
"Everything alright, love?" Vanora asked.
"Yes, darling. Jules fell in the rosebush."
"Those are full of thorns! Is he okay?"
"Anah has everything under control."
"That's not comforting."
"Well, at least it's me saying it and not Troy."
"Good point."
Moffitt set the phone down before going back over to the staff. "Back to the task at hand. Have you found anything?"
"Not yet, but I set aside some papers with information that could be considered clues as to the staff's origin."
Moffitt looked over the papers, then the staff. "The hieroglyphs on the head of the staff line up with some of the cartouches from these particular tombs. Good eye, darling."
"Thank you, love. There is a bit more to it. Now, I can't read the ancient Egyptian language. Could you—"
"Of course."
"Thanks. I'll keep looking for something more definitive."
The two paused for lunch a few hours later. Moffitt picked up the phone to call Anah again, and while waiting for the cobra to pick up, he looked at Vanora. "Should we ask Anah if she might know anything about this staff?"
"I'm not sure she'd know anything. The staff is definitely from the New Kingdom. She wasn't around until the Ptolemaic era."
"Yes. Still, she might know something. She may even be able to more accurately date the enchantments on it."
"I thought you said you were glad it was just us and no Anah?"
"I'm not asking her to come here. Just asking for her advice."
Anah's voice came through the phone. "Is that you, Moffitt?"
"It is," Moffitt replied. "How is Jules?"
"He is alright. A bit scratched up from the rosebush, but all bandaged up and ready to go now."
"Good. Could we trouble you for some advice for a moment?"
"It would be no trouble at all, dear. What do you need?"
"We're trying to date this Egyptian staff that belonged to a warlock priest. We know it's New Kingdom, but the tomb it was found in was not the one it was originally in. The enchantments are from over a hundred years after the pharaoh's tomb was built."
"Normally, something like that would have been placed there to curse tomb robbers," Anah said.
"This one isn't cursed."
"Strange."
"We managed to narrow down a few options, but nothing has been a perfect match yet."
"Have you asked your father?"
"Not yet. We might after lunch."
"I would suggest that. I cannot help if I cannot see it, and I am a bit busy with Jules at the moment."
"That's alright. He's more important anyway."
"Yes, he is. What are we doing for his birthday? He keeps asking to go to Dietrich's, but I do not think that is a good idea right now, not with how close the baby is."
"We'll bring Dietrich here, then."
"Even that might not be a good idea."
"I don't want to disappoint Jules."
"I know. We will think of something." Anah was quiet for a moment. "It may do Dietrich some good to bring him here. He could use a few hours with Icepatch."
"Yes, and I'm sure Jules will be more than happy to ride with him."
"It is sweet that Jules is perfectly happy with doing something so simple for his birthday. He treasures the people he loves so much."
"It's a good mindset to have," Moffitt said.
"We taught him well."
"Yes." Moffitt looked over at Vanora. "All three of us. I don't think Jules will ever take anything for granted."
"I doubt it. I should probably let you go, if you are spending time with Vanora."
"It's alright, Anah."
"No. You do not get to work with your wife very often, and I… should not interrupt."
"You're not interrupting."
"Still. She is your wife. I will see you two when you come home." Anah hung up without waiting for a "goodbye" from Moffitt.
Silence fell over the room as Moffitt put the phone back on its hook.
"What happened?" Vanora asked.
"I don't know. She… felt like she was interrupting us." Moffitt picked the phone back up. "I'm going to try calling her back, make sure everything really is okay." He dialed, but instead got a busy signal. "I think she's upset."
"Why?"
"Busy signal. She's probably called Troy."
"Poor Anah. I wish she'd understand we're not leaving her out for bad reasons."
"Most people would understand by now, but with her… the result was two thousand years alone in a temple. I get why she's struggling. She is right, though; I don't get to work with you very often, and I do want to go out tonight. She has Jules."
"You are special to Anah, though. I think you should spend some time with her this weekend."
"Alright." Moffitt nodded. "I'll do that."
"Now that's settled—" Vanora pointed to a paper bag and water bottle on the table, "eat your lunch, love."
"I really should go find my father before his next class starts."
"No. Eat your lunch. You're not getting back into bad habits."
"Oh, fine." Moffitt sat next to Vanora, and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "We really should do this more often."
"Part of me was worried you would be a little too affectionate today, but we've been making good progress."
"We have, and had some important discussions."
"We did." Vanora squeezed Moffitt's hand. "I know we're going to be helping Dietrich out with the baby this summer, but maybe next summer, we can take a trip, just us, like we used to do after we got married."
"I do miss our little trips together. Where would you like to go?"
"Anywhere, as long as I'm with you."
