The Wedding Ring Page 5

  His servant draws him a warm lavender bath and prepares his meal while he soaks. Ramil never thought he would be able to experience such pampering. This is a long way from crowded hotels or pitched tents in university-funded expeditions. This must be a very important dig site. Ramil only saw the site through one shot sent by Ebo to Mr. McDowell. There couldn’t be a better angle for the dig site.

  Lyla told him that there was already an excavating team ready by the time they appear at the site. Sophisticated machinery would be used to safely unearth every artifact they would find.

  “This is a very important mission for you, Doctor,” Lyla stressed to Ramil back on the plane. “It’s grandfather’s promise to grandmother.”

  Ramil suddenly feels the pressure of the mission. Whatever significant object they collect has to be intact when it reaches Mr. McDowell. He just hopes that everything and everyone buried in there is still in their best mummified condition.

  When Ramil finishes his lunch, he decides to take a nap. The plane ride was not a pleasant experience, especially when you’re seated beside the financier’s granddaughter. It’s either him or Gerry that was supposed to be seated next to Lyla. He thought it was best for him to be seated there because he just didn’t trust Gerry at all. As much as possible, Ramil wants his team to leave a good reputation, anywhere they go. And this is definitely one of those crucial missions that he has to take care of.

  The next day is unsure for Ramil and his team. He still has to make sure that the arrangements are clear and set with Ebo’s help. Until then, he would have to make sure that everyone is still in sync with the mission. Individual tasks have to be done properly so that delays may be avoided.

  Ramil’s eyes are heavy with lack of sleep. The effects of the warm lavender tub bath slowly take effect on him as he lay on his crisp, white linen sheets. Just then, the servant comes in with the prepared meals only to find Ramil sound asleep. He decides to place the meal on the trolley by the bed. He covers it with linen cloth and leaves the room. Ramil set his alarm for half an hour’s nap. However, the alarm sets off thirty minutes later, and he doesn’t even twitch. It was a rough flight for him and that huge, soft bed is everything that he needs.

  Meanwhile, Gerry looks out his bedroom window and finds the three ladies walking towards a golf cart. It seems that they will be having some sort of tour. At that moment, his eyes can’t focus on anything or anyone else but Lyla. She may be out of his league, so to speak, but somehow, there’s something there. He doesn’t want to scare her, knowing that Cynthia and Nomia may have already warned her about him. Lyla McDowell—The granddaughter of their rich sponsor. Would it be too much for a guy like him to end up with someone like her?

  Gerry shakes his head. Nah. He tells himself as he goes back to unpacking his things.

  Chapter Six: The Find

  “He’s an interesting guy—your friend, Gerry,” Lyla says as the three get off the golf cart. They start walking towards the family museum.

  “Well,“ Cynthia starts with worry. “He’s interesting but not interesting enough to have a relationship with.”

  “What do you mean?” Lyla asks as she nods at the doormen who open the huge wooden door, carved intricately with Egyptian hieroglyphics.

  “I mean,” Cynthia pauses for a while to catch her breath as they enter the magnificent museum lobby. Its floor is pure polished marble. Everywhere you look, there are Egyptian, European, and Asian artifacts that are obviously from family travels around the world. “He’s a jerk.”

  “But he seems nice,” Lyla retorts as she guides the two to the family room first. As the doormen open the huge doors, Lyla nods to them and smiles at the spacious room that she hasn’t visited since she was seven. It’s the same large room with a high ceiling. The windows almost touch the floor making them illuminate the entire room. Nomia’s mouth slightly opens as the vast collection of books and paintings. There were glass cabinets that house precious family heirlooms. The largest portrait in the room is of Lyla’s grandparents.

  “Is that your grandmother?” Nomia asks Lyla as she moves a bit closer to the painting at the center of the room. It’s occupied the entire space in between two, large, old rose, ceiling-to-floor drapes on each side. Lyla joins Nomia in admiring the painting.

  “Yes,” Lyla replies as she looks at her grandmother’s elegance and beauty captured in the portrait. His grandfather’s face is full of pride in the painting. He stands by his wife’s side with his left hand on her left shoulder as she sits on an intricately carved antique chair. His right hand holds a goblet of wine and in between his fingers is a lit, half smoked cigar. “She was Anarina McDowell.”

  “She was beautiful, Miss McDowell,” Nomia says as she turns to Lyla.

  “Please, call me Lyla,” Lyla says as she smiles at Nomia, who smiles awkwardly back.

  Cynthia walks towards a slanted, glass jewelry display case She has never seen such detailed jewelry in her entire life. Most of them have Egyptian symbols. Among the antique rings, one space is still vacant.

  “Miss Mc Dowe—er—Lyla, why is this ring slot vacant?” Cynthia asks as she points at the empty ring holder.

  “That’s where my grandmother’s wedding ring was supposed to be placed,” Lyla replies. “But grandfather said that she wanted to wear her ring even in death.”

  “She must’ve loved your grandfather so much, Lyla,” Nomia says.

  “They met when my grandmother was ten and my grandfather was thirteen,” Lyla starts. “Since then, grandfather decided never to let her out of his sight. They married seven or eight years later.”

  “Wow,” Cynthia exhales.

  Lyla continues to tell her two new friends the story of her family’s museum as the Butler comes in with refreshments. Just as Lyla finishes her narration, Gerry suddenly walks in, carrying his handy cam.

  “Ladies, sorry to interrupt,” Gerry announces. A bit startled, Lyla looks at Gerry and feels her heart skip a beat. Even as she told the story of her family, she still thought about Gerry. There is something she wants to know about him. Maybe it’s just to prove that Gerry is really a nice person and not a jerk, as Cynthia put it. The three ladies look at Gerry in his fitted white shirt and khaki work pants. “Doc told us to meet him after six hours, right? We still have half an hour to do that.”

  The four ride the waiting golf cart to the mansion. Lyla decides to use the family den for the meeting. As they wait for Ramil to join them, the governess serves refreshments once again. Lyla instructs her to prepare a dinner of roasted lemon chicken, savory pastries, seared lamb, and mango trifle for dessert.

  Ramil wakes up suddenly, realizing that he didn’t hear his alarm. He looks at his watch and gets up. He only has ten minutes before the meeting starts.

  Wednesday—4:06 AM.

  The sun is barely out of his bed when Kyra wakes up. Her alarm is supposed to go off at 5:00 AM, but excitement fills her too much to extend her sleep some more. She immediately enters her bathroom and showers. Her ever attentive Butler is surprised to find her up and ready in just twenty minutes. He was supposed to prepare her bath and serve her breakfast. But Kyra wants to meet Aisha very early at the dig site that morning. She needs to be there first if other people really are as interested in the ring as she is.

  Kyra’s black rented Rover is already parked outside the Majesty. She smiles at how perfect it is for her work. Quickly, the bellboy assists her in putting her things at the back of the vehicle. The sun is already starting to come out. She has to get going. Kyra starts the car and drives off to the site.

  Aisha calls Kyra and tells her to go straight to the coffee shop by the pottery supplies. In five minutes, Kyra pulls over and appears in her white chiffon blouse and khaki Capri pants. Her beaded tan sandals are perfect for the first day at the site. She plans to wear work boots when the site is finally opened. Aisha smiles at her friend and offers her a seat. The attendant takes Kyra’s order as she makes herself comfortable in her cushioned seat.

/>   “Love the outfit,” Aisha says.

  “Don’t be modest, Aisha,” Kyra retorts as she sweeps a long look at Aisha’s white slip-on, knee-high dress and brown sandals. She also had a cream shoal over her shoulders to cover her bare arms. “You’re stunning.”

  “I don’t plan to be less of a woman when I cross paths with Ebo today, my friend,” Aisha says with an eyebrow raised.

  “I’m with you on that,” Kyra says. The attendant brings her double espresso cherry smoothie. Kyra sips right away, savoring the cold steak from her lips to her throat. “Is the team ready?”

  “They’re supposed to be,” Aisha answers. “I called them earlier and they said they’re on their way.”

  Just then, Aisha’s phone rings.

  “What?” Aisha says in alarmed tone. Kyra suddenly stops sipping. “Did you show them our papers?—All right, we’ll be there in half an hour.”

  “What’s going on?” Kyra asks as she put down her drink.

  “I’ll tell you as we drive to the site, Kyra. We have to go,” Aisha replies with urgency. Kyra brings her unfinished smoothie and places it in the beverage holder hear the steering wheel.

  Half an hour later, Kyra and Aisha make it to the dig site. Their eyes widen as they see a much more advanced excavation team already at the site. The leaders of both teams are discussing about documents when they arrive.

  “What seems to be the problem here?” Kyra asks the moment she and Aisha reach the two men.

  “Good morning, Miss Porteza,” Kyra’s excavation team leader greets “This gentleman over here claims that they have a permit to dig the site as well.”

  “When was yours issued?” Kyra asks the other team leader.

  “An hour before yours was,” he answers. “Looks like we’ll be working on this site together.”

  “You think?” Kyra says with a hint of annoyance as she takes the man’s clipboard and reads the permit. “Well, even if your permit is an hour earlier, we STILL have our permit, so we stand our ground.”

  “There’s no problem at all, Miss Porteza,” the other team leader says in a mellow tone. “Dr. Geoffreys and his team won’t be here until tomorrow. Since there’s no rule that says who gets to break ground first, you could do that since your team is already complete.”

  Aisha and Kyra look at each other. They then turn to their team leader.

  “Let’s get started,” Kyra tells his excavation team leader.

  The entire day passes and everything goes well. Kyra is pleased to have the first break of the site. The excavation team manages to uncover the entrance of the community grave. The door was made of stone with pure iron ring handles. It was still sealed in clay so Kyra told her team to take the clay seal out as gently as they possibly can because she wants to open the door as if it was just yesterday.

  The breaking of the clay seal starts at about three in the afternoon. By seven in the evening, only the top clay seal of the left door is removed. Kyra calls it a night and sends her team home. She and Aisha both clean up in their private tents and decide to have dinner at her hotel’s restaurant. When they arrive at the restaurant entrance, the receptionist informs them that they have a dress code that evening. The women should be in dresses while the men in their casual or formal jackets.

  Aisha looks at Kyra and shrugs. Kyra smiles and decides to buy the tan dress that she saw before she left the hotel that morning. After half an hour, Kyra appears in a tan, V-neck, low-back, knee-high dress that matches her sandals. She slowly walks over to the receptionist with Aisha at her side.

  “Can we have dinner now?” Kyra asks. The receptionist smiles and personally leads them to the best table in the restaurant, right in front of the lounge pianist that evening. After about two hours, the ladies decide to rest up and get to the site two hours earlier than that morning.

  “They work fast, huh?” Ramil says as he gets to the site at six in the morning the next day. He and his team arrive and see Kyra and her team already continuing to break the seal of the other door. “C’mon We’ll just wait for them to take a break, and then we introduce ourselves.”

  After three hours, Kyra finally calls a thirty-minute break. She then heads to her private tent and decides to shower. However, just as she’s about to unbutton her shirt, someone calls her attention and asks her to spare some of her time for them.

  “Hello, Miss Kyra Porteza,” Ramil says as he waits for Kyra to offer her hand.

  “Hi, Dr. Geoffreys?” Kyra answers without offering her hand.

  “We would just like to introduce ourselves to you, as we will all be working together on this site,” Ramil says. He introduces his team members one by one but Kyra just smiles a little and nods slightly at them.

  “I’ll be honest with you, Doctor,” Kyra starts. “I work alone and I do not like having another team in this site, but I was also instructed to welcome other archeologists who might want to study the site.”

  Ramil smiles and accept’s Kyra’s handshake. I guess I will see you in there, doctor,” Kyra says. She immediately retreats into her tent and showers.

  As the sun sets on the third week, the tomb that Kyra wants is finally uncovered. When the tomb cover is lifted, Kyra is amazed at the position of the mummies inside. The couple is joined by their hands, and the female wears a ring on her ring finger. Kyra and Ramil agree to handle the ring one tea at a time. This time, Kyra lets Ramil and his team, look at the find first.

  “Be careful with it, Doctor,” Kyra says. “I have my instructions.”

  “And I have my instructions, Miss Porteza,” Ramil retorts. “We’ll take care of it.”

  The ring gleamed under the tent lights. Ramil and his team analyze the ring and discover how crudely made it is. The ring has intricately carved symbols that don’t exist in Ramil’s books. It’s as if they are of another language and not Egyptian. That’s impossible! Ramil tells himself. It has to be an Egyptian dialect at the very least.

  A day passes.

  Ramil and his team still cannot figure out what the symbols represent. He then keeps his word and turns the ring over to Kyra, who just talked to Gwendolyn.

  “Dr. Geoffreys,” Kyra starts as she accepts the ring. “My sponsor wishes to settle things tonight with your team. Come inside, I would like to discuss her offer with you.”

  Ramil obliges and sits on one of the three cushioned chairs in the tent. Kyra one for her and starts.

  “My sponsor would like to purchase the ring from the site,” Kyra says. “She has already spoken with Egyptian authorities, and they have given me the authorization to fly the artifact out of the country for a hefty fine. Of course, everything was done in discretion.

  “And you want me to let it go under your possession?” Ramil confirms.

  “Yes, Doctor,” Kyra says. “We know that your team needs funding. Not just for this particular site but on a long-term basis.”

  Ramil watches Kyra hand him a check of five hundred thousand US dollars, signed by Gwendolyn herself. He nods and smiles.

  “The artifact is the only reason why you’re here, right?” Ramil asks as he places the check in his jacket pocket. Kyra smiles.

  “Why I’m here is no longer your concern, Doctor,” Kyra says. “Well, I think we’re done. Thank you for working with us even for just three weeks.”

  Ramil and Kyra shake hands and part that night.

  The following day, Kyra flies back to New York, leaving Aisha as her eyes and ears in Egypt, just in case something turns ups about the ring.

  Chapter Seven: A Couple’s Story

  Gwendolyn Mckinley meets up with Kyra at their favorite fine-dining restaurant called Shaker’s Post. Kyra didn’t spend another day in Egypt, knowing that she should immediately get the item to Gwendolyn. It’s clear that the ring is important to Kyra’s widowed friend. Even if they’re very close, Kyra still doesn’t ask about Gwendolyn’s married life back then. She doesn’t want to be nosy. She wants Gwendolyn to open up to her about that part of her life.
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  As their starter is served, Kyra talks about the dig. Gwendolyn is all ears and is mostly entertained about what the other team wanted to get from the site. Ramil revealed to Kyra on the second week that they were only after artifacts that the granddaughter thought to be significant to their family’s history. They were to spend a week more at the site to accomplish the task.

  While the two enjoy their chocolate almond tower dessert, Gwendolyn tells Kyra that she will only be handling the ring for a week until her late husband’s twentieth death anniversary ends. Before Kyra and Gwendolyn part ways, the old widow hands a check of three hundred and fifty thousand dollars to Kyra.

  “I can’t accept this anymore, Gwen. It’s too much already,” Kyra says.

  “Nothing is too much in this world, my dear. Accept it, please, at least for your new puppy,” Gwen says as she hands the signed check to Kyra.

  “Thank you, Gwen,” Kyra says as she gives her friend a hug. “I’ll drop by after a week for the ring.”

  Gwendolyn enters her four-storey New York mansion that has eight servants, one Butler, one chauffeur, and two utility men. All workers of the mansion have been there for more than twenty-five years. The mansion is like how it always was—clean, quiet, and smells of roses.

  The Butler gets her coat, and two servants assist her in taking her medications, bathing, and going to bed. The moment she’s finally alone, she brings out the ring and gazes upon it like it was the most precious thing in the entire world. To her, it definitely is because it is the last thing that her late husband wanted to give her on their wedding anniversary.

  Earnest McKinley was a rich philanthropist/businessman/archeologist His parents left him with the entire McKinley fortune because he was the only child. He managed to make the McKinley pharmaceutical and petroleum empires grow by the age of thirty. He was still single then and played around most of the time until the day he met Gwendolyn Fyre.

  Gwendolyn was a simple corporate secretary to one of Earnest’s business colleagues. There was a function in his mansion back then, and Gwendolyn had to attend even if she didn’t like such events. She just wore a red turtle neck, sleeveless long dress with a slightly low back. The dress didn’t have any intricate embroidery. Gwendolyn simply wore very small earrings and a thin gold chain. The moment Earnest saw her that night, he could only see her and no one else. Her beauty stood out from the rest of the rich, fabulously decorated women of the highest stature. However, he if he knew that he has to be careful if he wanted to approach and get to know this young woman. Earnest closely watched Gwendolyn that night and waited until she separated herself from the noisy, small talk crowd. Finally, after about an hour, Gwendolyn went out into the balcony for fresh air. Earnest grabbed at the chance and immediately followed her. It looked like she was about to faint so Earnest offered to get her a non-alcoholic drink while she relaxed on the lounge chair. Earnest and Gwendolyn talked for the rest of the night. Earnest didn’t even have to tell Gwendolyn who he was. He just gave her his first name and that was it. Earnest offered to take Gwendolyn home, but she said that she had to ride with her boss because her car was parked at the office.