The romance between Parker and Christianna flourished. They spent hours together at night after they had dinner with the others. They walked, they talked, they told each other stories about their childhoods and their pasts. Christianna always had to modify hers somewhat, for obvious reasons, but above all she shared the essence of what she felt, and her every thought. They met early in the mornings for breakfast, grabbed lunch together on the fly. The romance was in full bloom in May, as the African spring ended and moved toward summer, and no matter how in love they were, neither allowed it to interfere with their work. If anything, they worked harder, happier than each of them had ever been in their life. Together they were a force greater than even the sum of their parts that could not be ignored or denied. Being with either or both of them made everyone else happy, and everyone agreed that both were exceptional individuals who brought something special to the camp. Where Christianna had kindness, grace, compassion, and a remarkable way with people, Parker had gentleness, intelligence, and an extraordinary expertise in his field. Both of them bright, each of them funny, they added both spice and balm to every group they joined. As Fiona said, they were the perfect couple, but whenever she said it to Cricky, there was a sad look in her eyes. Something was stopping her from thinking about or talking about the future. All she was able or willing to do with Parker was live in the here and now. He had learned to stay off the subject of any future time with her, or what they would do about seeing each other when they went back. They simply lived day by day, more in love with each other by the hour, and happy sharing their work and their lives in this remarkable place, with people they loved so much.
Their relationship remained chaste for the first month, and then finally both Parker and Christianna asked if they could take a weekend off together. People rarely left the camp during their time off, although there were some wonderful places to visit in the area. But most of the time people who worked in the camp ended up spending time assisting the locals in their free time in whatever way they could. Geoff said he had no problem giving them a few days off, since neither of them was essential to the camp medically. Christianna was a willing, devoted and loving, hardworking spare pair of hands. And although Parker saw patients with Mary and Geoff and offered diagnoses frequently, most of his work was directed toward research. Fiona would have been much harder to spare as the only midwife. Or Mary or Geoff, as the two camp doctors, or Maggie, the only nurse.
After talking to people and doing a little local research, they decided to visit both Metera and Qohaito, which were both within twenty miles of the camp. Metera was known for its remarkable ruins, which were two thousand years old, and Qohaito had equally beautiful ruins, from the Aksumite kingdom. In addition, in Qohaito, they wanted to see the Saphira Dam, which was also over a thousand years old. Eritrea was sitting on the remains of a number of ancient civilizations, many of which had been partially excavated, and some of which had still been only minimally revealed. It sounded like an exciting trip to both of them. And a wonderful first adventure, almost like a honeymoon. They were told about a couple of tiny hotels where they could stay, which sounded very romantic. Klaus and Ernst had made several similar trips when they first came, and highly recommended it to Parker and Christianna. The other two trips they wanted to make later were to Keren, north of the capital, and to the port town of Massawa, where they could go water-skiing in the Red Sea.
The only obstacle Christianna had to deal with before the trip was a brief secret pow-wow with Samuel and Max. She knew she was going to have a serious problem leaving with Parker, without them. They argued about it for two hours, and neither of her bodyguards would relent.
“Why can't you just tell him that we'd like to go on the trip?” Samuel said with a determined look. They had been like bulldogs so far, but she knew they had to answer to the prince. And it wasn't fair to ask them to keep her secret, but she was doing it anyway. They were well aware that if anything untoward happened to her, even accidentally, they would be fully blamed, and perhaps even imprisoned. She was asking a lot of them, although they hadn't told her father about the romance yet. They had agreed between themselves to say nothing about Parker to the prince. It was their gift to her.
“No!” Christianna continued to argue with them. “I don't want anyone with us, and neither does he. It would spoil everything.” And Metera and Qohaito were only a few miles away from the camp. She was nearly in tears, and already had been twice, but they were relentless anyway. Their necks were on the line.
“Look, Your Highness.” Max turned to her finally, realizing it was time to be blunt with her. Nothing else had worked so far. “We don't care who you go with, what you do, what your reasons are for the trip. That's your business, and Parker's, not ours.” Fortunately, they were extremely fond of him, but she was asking them to risk their jobs, and worse, perhaps her life. “We're not going to give your father any details about the trip. Just a touristic weekend. He doesn't need to know more than that. But if we don't come along, and something happens to you …” He didn't finish his sentence, but she got the point. What he was saying was entirely reasonable. Living with it as a twenty-three-year-old woman in love with a man, was not.
“Why do you have to tell my father that I'm going, or even leaving the camp? And don't call me Your Highness again,” she reminded him, and he nodded. “There have been no political problems in Eritrea in years. The truce with the Ethiopians may be uneasy, but no one has done anything objectionable or even frightening since we've been here and long before. Nothing is going to happen, I promise you. Parker and I will be fine. I'll call you if I can, and if I feel uneasy, you can join us then. But please, I am begging you, let me have these few days, for once in my life. Max … Sam … this is truly my last chance. Once I go home, I will never have anything like this again … I'm begging you … please …” As she looked at them imploringly, tears ran down her cheeks, and both men looked agonized. They wanted to help her out, but were afraid.
“Let us think about it,” Samuel said finally, unable to think clearly in the face of her distress. They both liked her enormously, and respected her, but she was asking them to violate the conditions of their jobs, and their entire reason for being in Senafe with her.
Christianna walked away in silence, deeply disturbed. Fiona saw her as she walked back to the tent, obviously in tears.
“What's wrong?” She was instantly sympathetic as she put an arm around Cricky's shoulders. “Did you and Parker have a fight? Did you cancel the trip?” She couldn't tell her what had happened, she just shook her head in answer to Fiona's well-meaning questions. She didn't say anything to Parker either, but she was obviously subdued at dinner, and he was worried.
“Are you all right?” he asked her gently, and she had to fight back tears again. But she couldn't tell him what was happening, and didn't want to share with him the likelihood that Max and Sam would probably come on their trip, and in essence, ruin it for them. She didn't have the heart to tell him until she was sure. But she was almost certain now that neither guard would relent. There was just too much at stake for them, and potentially for her.
“I'm fine … I'm sorry …I just had a headache during dinner.” It was a flimsy excuse and he didn't buy it. He knew her better. He wondered if she was coming down with some tropical disease, but she looked fine to him. She was usually so good humored that he found it instantly suspicious that she was so glum.