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feel right.  I’ll have a mechanic take a look at it later.” He looked at her curiously. “You know cars?”
    Lara hid a smile at his skeptical expression. “Among other things. Good night,” she dismissed him, returning her gaze to the wine.  The roar of the jeep sounded, and he was gone.

Chapter 5
     
    Over the next few days they communicated primarily by email, although he did call when the preliminary tests on the age of the site came back.
    “There was a piece of charcoal in the sample that we were able to date to just before the start of the common era, so we are looking at Adena, although it could be early Woodland."
    "Well, that's good, I suppose," she said.
    She had taken the call on her cell phone as she pushed Mackenzie on the swing. The child's hoots of delight kept interrupting the conversation, but the doctor seemed to take it in stride even as he sought to contain his obvious excitement about the potential for the site.
    “Higher!”
    “OK, Kenzie Bug,” Lara said, holding the phone between her ear and shoulder so that she could push higher.
    In the background of the call, she could hear music playing; Pink Floyd, turned down so low that it formed a hum of background noise.
    “Kenzie Bug?”
    “My brother’s nickname for her. She was very premature when she was born, only three pounds. She looked like a baby bug.”
    Lara pushed a little higher, and Kenzie was suspended, weightless for a split second on the arch of the swing. Her squeal had a note of terror that quickly turned to glee. Her feet, encased in sparkly shoes that glittered like the ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz, kicked madly. Lara loved moments like this, when she and Mackenzie could just be happy together, enjoying the air of a perfect spring morning.
    “Sounds like she is having a good time. I can call you back later.”
    It touched Lara that he was willing to put off speaking about the site to please a child. “It's no problem; I can talk and push at the same time. So what needs to happen now?”
    “You have said that you could not allow a full scale dig to take place.”
    “No, I’m sorry. I only have temporary custody of Mackenzie right now. There is a hearing in August, but until then…” She trailed off. The world of Children’s Services and kinship custody that she had come to know and loathe was complicated, messy, and so stressful that she had recently found her first gray hair, which had formed the cherry on a rotten day. 
    “I understand. Everyone on the dig would have to have back ground checks and the county would be involved. That’s too much disruption for her right now.”
    “Exactly.” It was a relief to talk about it with another person. “And there is the issue of her grandparents.”
    “Oh. Are they trying to get custody?” His voice had changed from friendly to serious. There was a squeak, the sound of a chair protesting under a change in position.  Lara could imagine him in a cluttered office, shelves groaning under the weight of books. And Dr. Gilbert, who loved to surround himself with history, would not use a modern office chair. It would be one of those oak chairs with the slatted backs typically seen next to roll top desks.  He would be kicked back, with his feet resting on the desk.
    “Yes, but I am going to fight them if it goes to court.”
    He made a noncommittal noise in the back of his throat. “Let me think for a second.” There was another noise, like the tapping of a pen. Mackenzie had stopped laughing, so Lara pulled the swing to a stop.
    “You done, sweetie?”
    “Yep. Go a sandbox.”
    After Lara lifted her down, the child zoomed over to the sandbox and began industriously burying her feet in the warm golden sand. Keeping an eye on her, Lara went and retrieved her glass of iced tea and sat down in one of the chairs scattered around the patio. She had been up since before dawn, and keeping up with a toddler was quite a workout on its own, without the responsibilities