There's A Fine Line Between Coincidence & Fate ✓

Chapter 27

I rolled my eyes. "Gosh you sound like a bunch of girls." They ignored this and grabbed my hand, inspecting the ring.

"And just who had the balls to marry you, with all your modern ideas?" came Edward's snarky reply.

"Ardeth. The really tall, Egyptian that came in with me. The chieftain I was sworn to protect." This made Edward gulp and James to laugh at him in retaliation. "Is that a problem Edward?" I asked, a cocky grin on my face that mirrored the one on his a few seconds ago.

"Nope, not at all." James said for him, placing a hand over his mouth so Edward couldn't respond and further insult me or Ardeth. "Are you going to tell Mom and Dad, Peggy?"

"I don't know yet. I didn't even want to tell you and if you had stayed in Texas where you belong, I wouldn't have had to." I said, giving them a pointed look.

"You can't expect us to keep this a secret." Edward said, having wrestled free of James' grip.

"That is exactly what I expect of you. Until a point in time where I'm ready to tell them what exactly happened, you need to keep me, and the story I told you, a secret from everyone. Let them hold out hope that Jack and I got lost in the desert and got picked up by some tribe. When I'm ready to deal with it, I'll come home and tell them."

"So that's it? After this we're not going to hear from you for only God knows how long?" Edward said. I had never gotten the impression that he and I were close enough that he cared. We definitely fought the most, as he was under the impression that I should be doing what our parents were telling me, without complying to what they asked of him.

"If you can keep your big mouths shut, I'll remain in contact with the two of you but only if you can keep it to yourself. You can't even tell Sarah, James. The less people who know this, the less likely it is to get out. I mean it, no one can know." I added when it looked like James was going to argue. Realizing that they weren't going to get me to budge any more on the subject they both nodded. "Now tell me, what has been going on at home? Did Jacob's wife have their baby?" I asked, excited at the prospect of having another niece or nephew.

"Oh yeah, but it wasn't just one." Edward said, chuckling.

"No!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah, twins. Girls. Poor Jacob doesn't know what to make of it. He just kind of stared dumbfounded when Momma came in with 2 blankets instead of just one." James said, laughing at the memory. I couldn't help myself and laughed along with him. Jacob was only three years older than me, so when I was born he didn't really know what I was there for and by the time Susan came around when he was sixteen, he really didn't know what to do with her. For a good two months after she was born, the closest he would get to her was just being in the same room. He wouldn't hold her or anything. Of course, since we had so many brothers and other than Susan it was just me and Rose, it made sense but still. The poor guy was undoubtedly going crazy.

"So, you're married? When are we going to meet him?" James asked.

"If y'all can act your age," I started, sending a rather pointed look at Edward, "I'll ask him to come in now." They both sat down and put on their most innocent faces. I sighed and went to the door. Sure enough, Ardeth was just on the other side and had been listening to the whole conversation. "They want to meet you. They promised to be on their best behavior. Will you come in?" I asked him. He answered with his little side grin that made me weak at the knees and a wink.

I stood back to let him enter and immediately I could see a change in my brothers. They weren't short by any means, but they were still dwarfed by Ardeth. I couldn't help but chuckle at the faces they made. Any threats they might've been preparing fell flat. "James, Edward, this is Ardeth Bay, my husband. Ardeth, this is James, my oldest brother, and Edward who is just a year older than me." Ardeth didn't say anything for a little while, just stood there with an impassive look on his face and a hand on the hilt of his sword. This isn't going to go well, I thought, preparing for the worst. I eased up when I saw a smile cross over his face and he took his hand off the hilt of his sword, now extending it in greeting to my brothers.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. Peggy has told me so much about her family. It's nice to be able to put faces to names." Ardeth said in greeting. I sighed in relief, which caused Ardeth to let out a quick chuckle. The tension finally broken, my brothers shook his hand and we continued with catching up, now with the attention on Ardeth and everything anyone could possibly want to know about him. The rest of the afternoon past by quickly after that and soon it was time to go.

"How long will you be in Cairo?" I asked James as we were walking out of the curator's office. Ardeth had gone ahead to speak with the curator about Medjai business.

"Our boat leaves the day after tomorrow. We had given up hope and had scheduled our return before coming across the curator at the museum." James said.

"Well we're seeing our friends off tomorrow morning and then I have a few errands to run in town. Maybe you can come by our house for dinner?" I asked, hoping he would say yes.

"Will you be the one cooking?" Edward asked as he and James shared a look of concern.

"Ha ha. You're very witty. I'll have you know that I have become very domestic since getting married. I can cook now." I said, punching Edward in the arm for the joke.

"Mother would be so proud." James said with a laugh. We parted ways at the front of the museum, them heading to their hotel and Ardeth and I heading back to the house. We stopped to get Nasir and then went to a restaurant that the two of them had been raving about for dinner. I was pleasantly surprised with how today had turned out. As I laid down in bed to go to sleep that night, I shot up a short prayer that this would be the last surprise I had to deal with for a while.