Olive, love, ye’ve had another idea, have ye no’? Ye’ve solved it!
“She said she was going to prove she is as brilliant as you think she is. Youdothink she is brilliant, do you not?”
His smile was wide enough he was rather afraid of the top of his head falling off.
“Aye, Miss Bonnie, I do, and she is.” He surged into motion, ramming his new hat atop his head as he jumped toward the door. “And I will spend the rest of my life convincing her, if she doesnae already believe me!”
The woman’s laughter followed him out into the sunshine.
Phineas started to run, ignoring the heat and the way the air felt heavy after the storm. All he knew was that he needed to get to the dig site to find his love and tell her how special she was.
He was out of breath by the time he jogged over the last hill, and he had to stop to brace his hands against his knees as he scanned the area. From this height, he could see the river curling in the distance and the ruins where they’d spent the last few days. The canvas tarps were still stretched out over the excavation site, although he was certain anything of interest had already been removed and catalogued to be added to the disregarded Dumpkins collection.
But where was Olive?
Straightening, Phin peered down at the dig site. If she’d had an idea about thesphaera, why wasn’t she working along the ancient riverbank?
But then he saw her and a slow smile came to his face.
Shewasworking along the ancient riverbank, just not near the original building.
Suddenly anxious to see her, he clamped his hat to his head and jogged down the hill toward the opposite side of the ruins where she was bustling around the edge of the excavation site to what he now knew was the riverbank. Thebendin the riverbank.
“What are ye doing, lass?”
It wasn’t until she straightened and spun about that he realized perhaps he could’ve phrased that better—less accusatory—and winced. Before she could defend herself, he hurried to reassure her.
“I mean, I can see ye’re doing a fine job of staking the site, and ye’re making all the correct notations in the chart.” Around the two of them, an archaeological excavation was slowly taking shape. She’d used the same stakes and string and rulers to mark out a grid, and she’d even begun to shave off the top layer, as they’d done days ago along the back wall of the civic building’s ruins. “But whyhere?”
She glanced around, as if confused by his question. Perhaps she’d been expecting him to say something else when he’d come barreling up?
“This is the bend in the river.”
He frowned, trying to understand. “Olive, lass, we excavated the riverbank, remember? We determined thesphaerawasnae there. We dug down past the last level of Roman artifacts.”
Now she was frowning too, as she brushed her palms against one another and stepped closer to him.
“Yes, we did. Overthere.” She nodded meaningfully toward the ruins, her words slow, as if he were the one hard of understanding. “This is thebend.”
He blew out a half-laugh at himself and pulled off his hat to run a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry, lass. I dinnae understand the difference. Can ye explain?”
Slowly, a smile crept across her lips until she was beaming. “Thank you.”
Why wasn’t this making any sense?
“For what?” he asked in frustration.
“For believing me to be intelligent enough to have a reason for my actions, instead of telling me I am wrong or unwise. Thank you for asking me to explain.”
That was it? Smiling gently, he reached for her hands and loved that there was dirt under her nails.
“Olive, lass, I’ve been trying to tell ye for ages that I think ye’re a brilliant scholar. Of course I trust ye to have made an intelligent decision, and I’m looking forward to being enlightened. I will never make ye feel like ye have a lesser intellect than ye do because I ken ye’re far smarter than I am.”
She was chewing on her lower lip again, Zeus help him, and her blush was climbing up her neck. She kept her attention fixed on his chin, but he could see the little sparkle of pleasure behind her spectacles.
“I do not know about that,” she whispered.
“I do.” He leaned forward and brushed a kiss across her forehead. “Now, will ye explain to me?”
