Treasures Lost, Treasures Found

to live with emptiness, even to be content with it until you had that heady taste of life again.
    She might have panicked. She might have run if she hadn’t been trapped there, fathoms deep in the midst of a discovery. Instead she accepted the knowledge, hoping that time would tell her what to do.
    He wanted to ask her what was going through her mind. Her eyes were full of so many emotions. Words would have to wait. Their time in the sea was almost up. He touched her face again and waited for the smile. When she gave it to him, Ky pointed at something behind her that he had just noticed moments before.
    An oaken plank, old, splintered and bumpy with parasites. For the second time Ky removed his knife and began to pry the board from its bed. Silt floated up thinly, cutting visibility before it settled again. Replacing his knife, Ky gave the thumbs-up signal that meant they’d surface. Kate shook her head indicating that they should continue to search, but Ky merely pointed to his watch, then again to the surface.
    Frustrated with the technology that allowed her to dive, but also forced her to seek air again, Kate nodded.
    They swam west, back toward the boat. When she passed the cannon again, Kate felt a quick thrill of pride. She’d found it. And the discoveries were only beginning.
    The moment her head was above water, she started to laugh. “We found it!” She grabbed the ladder with one hand as Ky began to climb up, placing his find and his tanks on the deck first. “I can’t believe it, after hardly more than a week. It’s incredible, that cannon lying down there all these years.” Water ran down her face but she didn’t notice. “We have to find the hull, Ky.” Impatient, she released her tanks and handed them up to him before she climbed aboard.
    “The chances are good—eventually.”
    “Eventually?” Kate tossed her wet hair out of her eyes. “We found this in less than a week.” She indicated the board on the deck. She crouched over it, just wanting to touch. “We found the Liberty .”
    “We found a wreck,” he corrected. “It doesn’t have to be the Liberty .”
    “It is,” she said with a determination that caused his brow to lift. “We found the cannon and this just on the edge of the area my father had charted. It all fits too well.”
    “Regardless of what wreck it is, it’s undocumented. You’ll get your name in the books, professor.”
    Annoyed she rose. They stood facing each other on either side of the plank they’d lifted out of the sea. “I don’t care about having my name in the books.”
    “Your father’s name then.” He unzipped his wet suit to let his skin dry.
    She remembered her feelings after spotting the cannon, how Ky had seemed to understand them. Could they only be kind to each other, only be close to each other, fathoms under the surface? “Is there something wrong with that?”
    “Only if it’s an obsession. You always had a problem with your father.”
    “Because he didn’t approve of you?” she shot back.
    His eyes took on that eerily calm, almost flat expression that meant his anger was lethal. “Because it mattered too much to you what he approved of.”
    That stung. The truth often did. “I came here to finish my father’s project,” she said evenly. “I made that clear from the beginning. You’re still getting your fee.”
    “You’re still following directions. His directions.” Before she could retort, he turned toward the cabin. “We’ll eat and rest before we go back under.”
    With an effort, she held onto her temper. She wanted to dive again, badly. She wanted to find more. Not for her father’s approval, Kate thought fiercely. Certainly not for Ky’s. She wanted this for herself. Pulling down the zipper of her wet suit, she went down the cabin steps.
    She’d eat because strength and energy were vital to a diver. She’d rest for the same reason. Then, she determined, she’d go back to the wreck and find proof that it was the Liberty .
    Calmer, she watched Ky go through a small cupboard. “Peanut butter?” she asked when she saw the jar he pulled out.
    “Protein.”
    Her laugh helped her to relax again. “Do you still eat it with bananas?”
    “It’s still good for you.”
    Though she wrinkled her nose at the combination, she reminded herself that beggars couldn’t be choosers. “When we find the treasure,” she said recklessly, “I’ll buy you a bottle of champagne.”
    Their fingers brushed as he handed