CHAPTER SIXTEEN

"Daphne! I'm so happy to hear from you," laughed Elena. "How are you? How is your family?"

"I'm good. We're good, really, Elena. How are you?"

"Perfect. Married, happy, getting fatter by the minute," she laughed.

"I doubt that," smiled Daphne into the screen. "How is everyone?"

"By everyone, do you mean Brix?" Daphne said nothing, just looking down at her lap. "He's great. He asks about you all the time as well. I thought you two were staying in touch."

"We are. I mean, we text and try to speak on the phone a few times a week. I just worry that it won't last, Elena. I mean, how long will a long-distance relationship actually work when we've never even had sex," she whispered.

"Maybe you should trust him a bit more and come and visit. He's a wonderful man, Daph. I know you think they all want something from you, but this man definitely doesn't. They're all different here. Come and see us."

"I'll think about it," she said. "Mother and Father are pressuring me again to get married. They've been parading groups of men through the house on the pretense of Father meeting with them, but I know what they're doing."

"Will they force you to marry again?" asked Elena.

"No. I mean, I don't think so," she said, shaking her head. "I don't know, Elena. Honestly, I'm not sure of anything anymore. I feel as though my brain is scrambled."

"Well, I know you'd be welcome here. I'd be happy to have you near," said Elena.

"I'll think about it. Take care of yourself and that baby," smiled Daphne. Elena hung up and walked over to the cafeteria to meet up with Major for breakfast. As she was walking in, Brix held the door for her.

"Good morning," he smiled.

"Good morning, Brix. Were your ears ringing?" He frowned at her, tilting his head. "I was just speaking with Daphne."

"Oh," he said, looking wide-eyed. "How is she? I mean, is she well?"

"She's great," grinned Elena. "She was asking about you as well. Maybe you should invite her over here."

"Elena, I like her. I really do, but I'm not the guy for her."

"Why would you say that? She likes you as well, and I think she's hoping to hear from you."

"Elena, she's upper-crust English. The perfect Anglican girl from the countryside. I'm from mixed parents. I doubt that would go over very well," he frowned.

Elena stared at him, not seeing a multi-racial person at all. He was exotically beautiful with greenish-hazel eyes, dark hair, and a kiss of caramel skin. She started laughing, and Brix just stared at her.

"Is that funny?"

"Oh, Brix. I'm afraid so. Did Daphne ever show you the photo of her with her parents?"

"No. We never really spoke about it." Elena scrolled through her phone, then held it up for him to see. "They're black."

"Yes," she laughed. "Daphne and her sister were adopted, Brix. Her parents are originally from West Africa. Call her." She kissed his cheek and then made her way to her husband.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

"Yes, I think just a bit of confusion about Daphne," she laughed. She showed Major the photo, and he looked at it wide-eyed, remembering what Daphne looked like.

"That just might make him feel better," smirked Major. "Let's eat and get back over to those boxes."

"Why would he think she would care about his parents?" she asked.

"Something a girl said to him years ago," said Major. "It doesn't matter any longer, although obviously it mattered to him. Maybe this will help him to get over that."

Back in the huge conference room, folders were spread all over the table as May, Elena, Major, Luke, and Eric began searching the files once again. Elena's elbow hit a stack of books, and she frowned, stacking them once again.

"Why do we have that doctor's books?" she asked.

"Those aren't his," said Luke. "Those were in one of the boxes from your father."

She stood, looking through the titles one by one. Stacking them again in the opposite order, she shook her head.

"These wouldn't have been my father's. He didn't study these things," she said.

"Honey, these were in that box right there with those files. We took the books out because the box was about to crumble."

"These books are about the bible and biblical relics," she whispered. "I don't understand. He never spoke to me about this. Never."

"Maybe he didn't want to tell you about it yet. It makes sense, though," said Eric. "Dr. Goldmeir was an expert in the subject. If they were in that tunnel together. Maybe it wasn't about Egyptian artifacts at all."

"I think we have to start going through those folders," said Elena. Each person took a stack of folders, articles, and papers in the box and began reading through them, making notes. Hours later, Casey wheeled in a cart filled with lunch for them. They stopped briefly, just to eat as quickly as they could, then immediately went back to work.

When the last paper was read, the last note written, they sat back, staring at one another in disbelief.

"Could it be true?" asked May.

"All of the evidence points in that direction," said Luke. "I'm not an expert, but it appears to be true. Elena? What do you think?"

She stood, walking around the table, glancing at each of the note pages from her friends. She looked at the stack of books, then thumbed through the files once again. When she was done, she returned to her seat.

"I think it's true. I think Dr. Goldmeir and my father believed that they had found the greatest known artifact the world has ever known. I think they believed that they knew the location of the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy Grail, and Veronica's Veil."