“I know,” Ethan said, placing his hand on Ford’s shoulder. “But I’m here for you. Always. We all are,” he said, motioning around the group.
Ford smiled at them, and it warmed Corrie’s heart. “I know.”
“So, what is it? What did you find?” Ethan asked, clearly satisfied with that small acknowledgment.
Ford glanced at Corrie again, as if looking for permission. She nodded.
“We found Chimalli.”
“What! Where?” Ethan said.
“Behindthe waterfall.”
“Behind the waterfall?”
“Nature’s curtain,” Sunny said.
Corrie smiled, proud that Mendoza’s recounting of Chimalli’s life was right.
“But that’s not all,” Ford continued. “We didn’t just find Chimalli. There were drawings on the wall. Two other bodies. And it looks like the tecpatl is buried beneath one of the bodies.”
“Threebodies?” Ethan started, but Corrie finally chimed in.
“It’s Chimalli and his family. According to the drawings, Yaretzi and their child became ill, and it appears Chimalli may have taken his own life.”
“But I thought—”
“So did I. Turns out I was wrong.”
“So you’re not a descendant of Chimalli?” Sunny asked.
Corrie shook her head. “Appears not.”
“Well, I know that would have been pretty awesome, but you two still made one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of our time! You’re going to be famous!” Ethan said.
“It was all Corrie,” Ford said.
She shot a look at him. “No, we both found it.”
“We wouldn’t have even been here if it wasn’t for you. And you know Ineverwould have swum under that waterfall without your goading.”
“Oh, please, you just didn’t want anyone to see your naked ass,” she teased, momentarily forgetting they were in the company of others.
Now Ford was the one staring wide-eyed.
“Naked ass? Sounds like your afternoon has been... surprising as well,” Ethan said with a smirk.
“We were... uh... we didn’t have swimsuits and we didn’t want to get our clothes wet,” Ford rambled.
It was actually kind of sweet hearing him try to protect her honor. But, man, he was a terrible liar. She had to put him out of his misery. “Relax, Ford. Ethan already knows.”
“Ethan knows?”
“Oh, Ethan knows,” Ethan said. “And now Sunny does, too.”
All three of them looked at Sunny. “Yeah... I figured it out this morning when I came by your tent. You looked freshly fucked, and, jeez, it’s about time.”
Corrie snickered. Sunny wasn’t into that whole teacher-student thing in more ways than one, as evidenced by her complete and utter honesty when talking to him.
