Chapter 36
CECE
I was so bummed I couldn’t go into the wreckage.
I was anxious to explore but I understood the reasons why Lina and I were being kept out.
It made sense. And as long as the weather held, there was a chance we could go in on tomorrow’s dive.
Again, as long as Mother Nature didn’t get a wild hair and mess up our plans.
I thought about watching through one of the gaps to see what Felix and Grady were doing. But the fewer fins the less waves. Yes, I wanted to be in there, but it was about the find first. I would just have to be patient.
Pouting was an option, which seemed to be what Lina’s choice was. Not me. I was going to make the most of the dive because I had no idea when I was going to get the chance to explore anything like this again.
I ever so gently took myself on a wide loop around the wreck, my fins cutting through the heavy saltwater as I traced its outline a full hundred feet long—or at least that’s what it must have been before it split in two.
I was basing my assumptions on historical evidence of ships from the time period.
Now the ship lay in two distinct sections, separated by a gap caused by some ancient fracture before the hull finally gave, dropping it to the seafloor.
The seaweed drifted overhead like ghost banners, fish darting through old timbers.
I inwardly smiled as a colorful fish swam in front of me.
I couldn’t wait to take Sophie snorkeling.
One day, if she wanted, I would take her scuba diving too.
I hovered just off the front section, where barnacles had claimed a lot of the structure. The vague shape of an old cannon barrel protruded into the open water. I wondered what brought the ship down.
Was it the roar of battle? A wild storm? Moby Dick?
I supposed it was possible a rogue wave could have cracked the ship in half, flooding it and sinking it to the bottom. I examined the cracks in the hull, the torn seams, and felt a low hum in my soul. It felt like I was literally swimming through history.
Bones from those that had been on board were long gone. It was a little macabre to be disappointed no one would ever get to find their remains. We weren’t going to get the chance to identify any of the sailors that way. At best, we might find a ship manifest listing the crew.
I took a breath and angled toward the stern, floating through shadows, peering into portholes still intact.
People that saw a ship like this would immediately look for treasure.
Not me. Not Grady or Felix. And I had no idea what Lina would be looking for.
She seemed to be doing her best to look interested, but it was difficult to tell with her.
I had a feeling she would prefer to be stretched out on the deck of the boat or back on the dock in her itty-bitty bikini.
That was rude. Mean. I sounded bitter. I wasn’t.
Not really. It was just a little obnoxious to know I had almost lost my chance to do this dive and she was going to be allowed to come along.
That would have been so unfair. Grady had forced me to fight for this opportunity but it was worth all the effort.
When I rounded the first bend in the stern’s curve, I saw something.
It was half-buried in the silt between the two sections, just where the ship had broken in two.
I did my best to stay where I was. I didn’t want to move too fast. I allowed my vision to focus on what I was seeing.
My pulse shot up the moment I realized what I was looking at. It was an honest to god chest.
Was it an actual treasure chest or just some poor, forgotten soul’s clothing? Could be books or dishes. Maybe even food.
I fought an instinctive gasp. The excitement of actually finding something was like fireworks inside me.
I moved closer. Sand and silt hazed around it, but I recognized its form: iron-banded, wooden panels thick with sea growth, but still solid, still chest-shaped.
It was small, maybe eighteen inches long but unmistakably made to lock and carry valuables.
I had to take slow breaths to keep from freaking out with excitement.
Underwater, it could be just as dangerous as panicking.
If I could have shouted for one of the others to come and see what I found, I would have.
But I was on my own. I knew vaguely where they were, but I didn’t want to leave my discovery to find them.
I had been on countless dives and never actually found a treasure chest.
Okay, treasure chest might be a little much, but until I could prove there wasn’t anything in the chest, I was going to pretend it was treasure.
I brushed away sand with gentle strokes of my gloved fingers. My vision narrowed, focused on what lay before me. It was definitely a chest, real as the glove on my hand. As much as I wanted to open it, I knew better.
I needed to tell Grady. I glanced up through the green-blue haze and looked toward where I had seen him last. I saw him rising from the stern of the wreck.
He hovered with Lina and Felix, taking more pictures.
I waved my hand, which was more like a slow-motion movement.
I waved faster in order to get his attention.
Grady noticed me and quickly swam toward me. The sight of him speeding toward me made my heart surge. Holy shit, he thought I was in trouble. My knight in shining armor. He reached me and grabbed my upper arm, his eyes searching mine.
I gave him a thumbs-up, doing my best to tell him I was okay. I could see the concern in his eyes. It was hard not to get the warm and fuzzies knowing I had a man like him looking out for me. It was sexy as hell.
I grabbed his hand and slowly pulled him back to the chest. I pointed at the find and looked back at him. His eyes widened. I saw the smile in them.
He nodded and pulled out his camera and flipped the strobe button.
Light blossomed as he took multiple shots with rapid fire.
I stayed out of the way, doing my best to stay perfectly still.
The light was a necessary evil, but while it highlighted the chest, it also highlighted all the silt in the water.
He put away the camera and gestured for me to follow him down. We slowly moved, nearly sitting on the ocean floor.
The chest was between us. Grady was studying every angle without actually touching it.
I was perfectly content to watch him work.
I had to be a freak because watching him check out the chest was turning me on.
I was wet and it had nothing to do with being submerged in the ocean.
I loved how respectful he was. How he studied every detail, mentally cataloging what he saw.
The man was an expert, and fuck me, that was hot.
Felix appeared. Grady glanced at him, and once again, I could see the excitement in his eyes.
Felix gave an approving nod. Grady pulled out a brush.
He gently cleaned around the chest’s rim, freeing it from sand.
I hovered and watched him work. Normal people watched porn and got all hot and bothered.
I watched him clean an old treasure chest and was having some serious fantasies about him using that brush on me.
He gestured for me to take the brush. Me?
He nodded. I took it and allowed him to show me how to do what he was doing. His gloved hand rested on mine, directing my movements. We worked methodically at brushing and documenting the find. The chest was sturdy, despite the weight of passing centuries.
After ten minutes, Grady gave Felix a thumbs-down. I knew what that meant. Being less than twelve inches from Grady and unable to see him clearly was a sign. Visibility was going. We cleared all we could.
He discreetly patted my shoulder. I nodded, chest thumping.
He tapped his watch. We had to resurface.
If we couldn’t get the chest today, we’d have to come back tomorrow.
It wasn’t going anywhere, but the whole time we worked, I kept imagining what we would find inside. I didn’t want to leave it behind.
He reached out, and together, we lifted the chest. It was heavy but not too heavy. We carried it in between us, back to the surface slowly, careful of buoyancy. We made it to the surface where Felix was already waiting to take it on the boat.
Lina was already aboard and out of her wet suit. I wondered how long she’d been out of the water. “Holy crap,” she mouthed, eyes wide.
Grady helped me climb up. I stood on the deck, dripping wet, my heart still racing from the discovery.
Grady was already barking orders, his voice sharp and commanding as he directed Felix to secure the find.
The weight of it was apparent in the way Felix grunted as he set it down carefully on the deck.
Grady turned to me, his green eyes intense and his smile wide. “You did good out there,” he said, his voice low. “Really good.”
I felt a flush of pride warm my cheeks, despite the chill of the ocean air. “Thanks,” I managed, my voice steady even though my insides were doing somersaults. “I just… I can’t believe we actually found something like that.”
“Neither can I,” he admitted, running a hand through his damp hair. “But we’re not done yet. We need to get this chest open and see what you found.”
Back at the dock, we carried the chest up to the field station lab.
It was a small weather-tight room. Papers and charts were pinned to the walls.
Instruments for preservation and documentation were on a shelf.
Two long tables were in the center of the room.
We placed the chest reverently on one of the tables.
“Everyone, get changed and meet back here in ten,” Grady ordered.
We all left the room. I felt like I had swallowed a beehive and now all the bees were buzzing in my belly.
I changed in record time, and when I returned, Grady was already back.
Felix was setting up the video camera. Lina sauntered in, wearing a pair of shorts and a tiny tank top.
Her hair was piled on her head and she had taken the time to put on some makeup.
I didn’t care that I looked like a drowned rat in my wrinkled cargo pants and loose T-shirt. My hair was up as well, but I had not bothered with makeup.
Felix stood to the side, snapping pictures as Grady started the process to open the chest. Again, I was looking at his fingers and finding myself still turned on. I shifted my weight on my feet and thought about what those skilled fingers could do to me.
We all put on gloves and stepped up to the table. Grady opened the chest up. More pictures. More documentation and then finally Grady started to pull out each item. It wasn’t treasure in a monetary sense. No coins. No gold. No jewels. But to history lovers, it was absolutely a treasure trove.
Lina and I took the brass instruments and laid them out on the other table in the room.
There was a nautical spyglass with a leather tube cracked but intact.
A brass compass in a scuffed wooden box.
A sextant. Once we had everything spread out, Grady stood beside me and surveyed the items. “These are seventeenth century navigational instruments.”
I frowned and did my best to identify them. “They look like it. Maybe Belgian or Spanish.”
We spent the next two hours documenting and carefully labeling and packaging every piece.
Felix and Lina left the room to get something to eat.
“You’re remarkable,” Grady whispered.