“Your mother sent your friend to us.” Her uncle patted the top of her head. “Now come, your Aunt Nur is worried.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
It didn’t seem possible to be sitting in her aunt Nur’s living room when hours before, she had been running for her life from a crazed man intent on killing her.
Aunt Nur had greeted them warmly when they arrived at the country home near Beni Suef, crying from relief. She saw to it that Leila and Xander got themselves cleaned up and changed into fresh clothing while theirs was being washed. Now she happily puttered about, preparing tea and a midnight snack.
Aunt Nur hadn’t changed a bit since Leila had last seen her. She had the same dark hair and warm brown eyes with deep wrinkles at the corners. It was as if they hadn’t gone a day without seeing each other, even though it had been two decades. Leila smiled at the first sound of Aunt Nur’s loud, infectious laugh.
Leila was home again.
“When that young man showed up at our door, all roughed up, and said Aisha had sent him—you can imagine how shocked we were.” Aunt Nur shook her head, her lips pursed together while she poured the tea.
“It sounded too ridiculous to be true, but we had to take the chance to find you. The police were no help whatsoever. They won’t go near the Al-Rashid villa. They laughed in Hani’s face when he suggested it.” She handed Leila one of the glass teacups brimming with the sweet, purple brew.
She heaved out a sigh and wiped up a few droplets on the coffee table with a dish towel. When she finished, she dropped to her knees on the floor and picked up a kitchen knife. Her hand paused, hovering over the golden cake on the coffee table, a frown tugging at her mouth. “Aisha. Alive. It’s been twenty years.”
“I know,” Leila said quietly, cupping her hands around the warm glass. “I can’t believe it either.”
“I haven’t heard about the Al-Rashid family in so long,” Aunt Nur went on, her eyes staring into the distance as if she were watching a movie play somewhere beyond the walls of the living room. “There was always something I didn’t like about Faris, but I could never say what it was. Now that I think about it, it was the arrogance. Faris always got his way.”
With a shake of her head, Aunt Nur sliced through the cake, the blade hitting the platter with a clink. She slid a piece of kanafeh onto a plate and set it on the table in front of Leila. “I’m sorry you had to go through this. I hope you’re feeling okay.”
Leila set the cup down to pick up the plate. She was going to get this question over and over again, wasn’t she?
“I’m fine,” she said before she could stop herself. Her scratches and bruises would eventually fade in time, but her mind reeled. She needed a distraction, something to keep herself busy while she sorted everything out. “All I want is to get back to the excavation.”
“Are you sure? Maybe you should take some time off. Go back to the U.S. for Christmas.”
Leila swallowed, staring into the white wisps of steam rising from the surface of the tea. The idea was tempting. But if she left Egypt, Amir would win. He’d search for the tomb relentlessly. And when he found it, everything inside would be lost. She had to go back and start excavating before it was too late.
“I’m staying.”
Xander shuffled into the living room, wearing a set of pajamas about three sizes too big. Leila bit back a smile at the sight of him. Hoping he hadn’t noticed, she cut off a corner of the sweet, cream-filled pastry with her fork.
“Just want to thank you again, Nur, for the hospitality,” Xander said as he plopped onto the couch. He glanced over at Leila. “Hani has done the honors and contacted the police in Cairo. He told them we were resting, so they said to come by in the morning. They’ll be expecting us.”
Leila breathed in slowly through her nose, willing herself not to turn red. She met his gaze, and a vision flashed her eyes. His sandpaper lips crushed against her own, parted enough for his breath to brush her cheek. How would it feel now that he had scrubbed himself clean?
“Sounds good,” she croaked then dropped her gaze and cleared her throat. What on earth was wrong with her? She rotated the cup in her hands, her mind now on Amir. “Do you think he’ll come looking for us?”
Xander shrugged. “From what you described of his injury—not anytime soon. Is that kanafeh?” He leaned forward, inspecting her plate.
Aunt Nur held another dish with a slice of the pastry under his nose.
Uncle Hani ambled into the room, holding a box under his arms. “Take a look at this, Leila,” he said with a chuckle, setting the carton on the table. He jiggled off the lid.
Leila peered inside. “No way,” she gushed, lifting the first few envelopes sitting on top of the box’s contents. “You saved all my letters?”
Uncle Hani smiled proudly. “Every last one. The photos too, of course.”
Aunt Nur took a photograph out of the box. “This one is my favorite.”
Leila slipped the picture from her hand and laughed. “It’s Roger.”
“Roger who?” Xander asked, already scraping the last streaks of cream off his plate.
“Roger, from 4-H,” Leila said, pointing at the brown cow she stood next to in the photo.
“4-H? What is that?” Xander raised an eyebrow.
“Head, Heart, Hands, and Health. All the cool kids in Indiana do it.”
“What? You mean like Girl Scouts?”
“No, it’s not scouting. There are different clubs and each one has its own topic. I did 4-H for bovine and got to show Roger the Shorthorn one year.”
“Cows?” Xander asked, his forehead wrinkling as he lifted an eyebrow even farther. “Are you serious?”
“I learned about care, showmanship, and all that at meetings. Here’s a picture of me with Roger. I was so proud he got third place at county. He got sold and eaten, though.”
“How…?” Xander took the picture from her hand and held it up to his nose.
Leila put a hand to her mouth to hide her smile.
“Oh, Leila!” Aunt Nur exclaimed, grinning widely. “I even still have the scarf you knitted for me. I did get to wear it once when we went to France.”
“Oh, wow.” Leila covered her face, recalling how she had been so excited to have made the scarf she had forgotten completely her aunt didn’t need one—aside from occasional visits to cooler climates and a rare freak snowstorm that passed over Egypt.
