Read Outside Eden for Free Online

slow down. But he couldn’t stay there, had to keep moving. Fadil stepped out of the cul-de-sac, back onto the path. Realized that he’d run to the Christian section, was close to the school. Not far from the gate. He started for a main street, but a figure stepped in front of him, blocking his way, swinging an arm in front of him. Fadil spun around, running, vaguely aware that something was wrong. Blood? Spouting from his neck? What? His legs wouldn’t obey him. He sank to the ground, trying to yell, emitting frothy gurgles. His face hit the cobblestones. Confused, he struggled to understand his situation, but unable to accept the truth, he kept proposing alternative explanations until he faded, and the truth didn’t concern him any more.
    Hank seemed distracted. He was looking at something on his laptop and holding Chloe, who leaned against his chest, perfectly content. ‘Baby. Okay to bring?’
    ‘There’s a daycare at the kibbutz where we’d be staying. Apparently, all the young kids stay there in the daytime. I’d be done working at one thirty, so I’d be there all afternoon and night. And Hagit said she’d go with us and watch Chloe while I’m at the dig.’
    Hank’s scowl deepened. ‘You already. Asked Ha. Git?’
    Harper took a breath. ‘I did. Because I didn’t even want to suggest anything to you unless I could work everything out.’
    ‘When talked?’
    Why was that important? ‘After the cocktail party. I called her.’
    He looked down at Chloe, put his free hand on her head as if already missing her.
    ‘It’s not like we’d be gone long. And it’s only a few hours’ drive away.’
    ‘Okay, good. Go.’ He closed his computer, carried Chloe to the sofa and sat, holding her small foot in his big hand. Reciting, ‘This little. Piggy. Went to. Market . . .’
    Was he avoiding the conversation about the dig or just playing with Chloe? Harper wasn’t sure.
    ‘This little. Piggy. Stayed home.’
    Harper watched her husband and baby, their comfort with each other. They cuddled. They played. They gazed at each other with adoration. They’d never been apart for a day since Chloe’s birth, and now, Harper was talking about separating them for ten.
    ‘And this little. Piggy . . .’ He held her pinkie toe.
    Chloe started giggling, tensing with anticipation.
    Hank raised his hand, repeated, ‘This little. Piggy . . .’
    Chloe laughed harder – so hard, she almost choked.
    ‘This. Little piggy. Ran all. The. Way. Home.’ Hank’s hand tickled its way from her toes to her tummy. He was laughing; she was shrieking with joy. How could Harper interfere with that? How could she even think of taking Chloe away from Hank, if only for a few days? She couldn’t. It was heartless.
    She went into the bedroom to respond to Dr Berkson. He’d asked for her decision as soon as possible, since the other volunteers were already arriving and would be attending an orientation meeting the following day. She wondered how experienced they were. Where they’d come from. How many there would be . . .
    But what difference did it make? She wasn’t going. She couldn’t. Dr Berkson had been generous to find her a spot on a dig, but he’d understand. She was an archeologist, but she was also a wife, a mother. She had to put her family first.
    Her laptop was on her nightstand. She opened her email and reread the details about the dig site, Tel Megiddo South. It was fifty miles north of Tel Aviv in the Jezreel Valley, a fertile area of farmland and vineyards, on the site of a former prison. The excavation was at an early stage, extended from more developed sites at Tel Megiddo and Tel Megiddo East where twenty-six layers of ruins had already been discovered, including stables, a Bronze Age fortress, a third-century church . . .
    Harper stopped reading. She couldn’t bear it, ached to be part of it. And why couldn’t she? Why should she turn down a rare opportunity like this one, a chance to practice her