by Kim Hornsby
“No thank you,” Tina said, like it was as simple as that. “I don’t care if you have Jamey. I’m not staying.”
Milton looked over at Jamey. Whether he knew that Jamey figured it out or not, he stared hard into his eyes.
“Permission to speak in private, sir,” Jamey said.
Tina looked at Jamey. Although she still wore the burqa, she’d shed the veil to eat. Her eyes questioned Jamey’s need for secrecy.
Milton studied Jamey’s set face. He nodded, and the guard ushered Tina from the room.
As soon as the door closed, Jamey spoke. “You God damned fucker. You threw her to the fucking wolves.” Jamey stood, his hands squarely set on the table in front of him, leaning towards Milton.
Milton excused Bingo and Ranger, then sat back in his chair. “I don’t need to explain military tactics to you.” Milton lit another cigarette from his last one.
“Sitting Duck, be damned. You sent her over there, served her up to the Taliban.”
Milton’s calm was in direct contrast to Jamey’s mood. “This is none of your business, and it’s my recommendation that you contain yourself, Private.”
He looked as unctuous as he was. Jamey stared hard at the man who’d sacrificed Tina to get two reporters out. “They were reporters, not fucking Generals.”
“The world was watching.”
“She’s an innocent woman.”
“I had faith you could do it. I guessed you could communicate with her. How else did she know you were trapped in a dream? Her presence in Afghanistan, her note, said it all. She’d come to get you out. She did just that. And now, Freud, I believe she could be the other half of your diminished talent. I want her on the Force.” He looked so confident, Jamey wanted to spit in the man’s face.
“No.”
“Your tour isn’t finished.”
“You can have me. As useless as I am.” He’d stay in this fucking shit box with his fucking heightened intuition.
“You need her. We need her.”
What was Milton doing? Maybe he wanted to hear Jamey confess that he was jumping. Or maybe he just thought he could pluck Tina out of civilian life to join Sixth Force.
“Bring her back in,” Milton said to the guard.
When Tina sat down at the table, her eyes darted between Jamey and Milton.
Milton pushed a file across the table to Tina. “I’d like you to join us voluntarily, Duck, but if you don’t want to enlist, I have something that might entice you to be a part of this elite, top secret unit.” He sat back and folded his arms across his chest. “Open it.”
Jamey braced himself, knowing what was coming. His biggest fear was on the table in that manila file. Milton was going to draft Tina. Mandatory Enlistment under Special Circumstances, they called it. Top Secret. Milton had been prepared, knowing she’d refuse to enlist voluntarily.
“I have a paper here stating that as the head of an Elite Force in the U.S. Military, I can draft talent for special services.”
Tina looked at Jamey, her eyes wide and fearful.
He shot her a look of calm and shook his head just slightly.
Milton noticed the look. “We can, and we will have you on Sixth Force. Especially now that Freud is not able to successfully get out of dreams. Like it or not, Duck, you and Freud are now a team.”
Little did they know that Jamey couldn’t even jump into a dream unless another jumper pulled him in. And even then, he risked the problem of not being able to exit the dream. Milton believed Jamey could jump but not get out. Jamey waited. The big gun he had against this coercion was lying within reach, but he wanted to handle it correctly. What he had to say next would be remembered by him and Tina their whole lives. He moved in closer to her. Close enough to smell her fear.
“Jamey, is this true?” Her expression resembled that of a horse in a lightning storm.
Milton lifted his chin and squinted. “Welcome to Sixth Force, Duck.”
Jamey lifted his hand for Milton to stop talking, and put an arm around Tina’s shoulders. She was trembling. “Tina. Look at me.”
She did.
“You’re not going to war. They will never have you. Don’t worry. You’ll be back on Maui in a week or two.”
Milton spoke. “I’m not so sure, Freud.”
He looked smug, puffing on a cigarette. Jamey wanted to punch him.
“We need Duck to get you out of missions. She’ll wait at the portal. We’ll talk about the logistics later, but we need both of you. She’s your ticket, Freud, and that makes her very valuable to us.” He smiled at Tina like he was welcoming her to an elite country club. “And valuable to you, Freud. Essential, in fact.”
Milton was practically shaking with excitement, and Jamey almost felt bad for him because of the bomb he had to drop on Milton’s idea. Almost. Holding Tina’s hand, Jamey was sure of her trust. She’d stopped trembling and was waiting for Jamey.
Milton continued, oblivious of what Jamey would say next. “We will take every precaution to make sure she’s safe, but I’m afraid it’s within the U.S. Military’s rights to draft your girlfriend here. Look at it this way.” He smiled. “You’ll be together. Better get used to the idea, because we’re going to need your cooperation when we fly back to Afghanistan tomorrow. We have a jump scheduled in two days.”
Jamey looked at Tina. “I’m pretty sure we’ll be going back to Afghany without her, Lieutenant. Tina can’t go to war, or be drafted.” He looked into her big browns. “She’s pregnant.”
Tina’s head tilted slightly, as if to ask if he was still playing along, and he smiled at her. “It’s true, Sweetheart.” He nodded, a smile stretching across his face. “Congratulations to us.”
Her expression had frozen in shock. “We’re having a baby?”
“We are.” As sure as Jamey knew that she was with him in that room, and that this was not a dream, he knew that Tina was pregnant. Even if he’d never seen them walking on the beach with their son in a precognitive dream, months before, he knew. And, even though he never wanted to keep secrets from Tina again, he wouldn’t tell her the child was a little boy named Kai who looked like him.
***
Jamey would never tell her this news if it weren’t true and he looked absolutely sure, like he’d known for a while. “Oh, my God, Jamey. A baby!”
Milton stood. “We’ll need proof of this today,” he said, and left the room, slamming the door.
They didn’t even look over. “This means they can’t draft me, right?”
“Right. And it probably means they have no interest in me either, unless they need someone to sweep the floors around here.” Jamey looked sure of himself.
“They’ll let us go?”
“You, for sure. Hopefully, me. I only have another three months left in this tour, so if they make me stay, it won’t be for long.”
It sounded like three months too long to her. No Jamey until the end of the summer. She’d be showing the pregnancy by then. She imagined cribs and diapers and how Obi would react to a baby. “Maybe that’s why I’m so hungry these days.” She kissed Jamey’s sweet lips and whispered. “Did you see Milton’s face when you told me?”
Jamey chuckled. “I wasn’t looking at his ugly face, only you.”
“How long have you known?”
“Just since last night. When we were lying in bed together. I wanted to wait until you told me, but I had to shoot down this plan of you joining Sixth Force. I’m sorry I’m the one to tell you.”
“Are you kidding? I’m pregnant!” Before she could relax into the joy of being pregnant, she needed to do a pregnancy test, get to a doctor, and have science add its two cents to the psychic prediction. “I want to do a test,” she said apologetically.
“Milton needs medical verification too,” Jamey said.
The feeling that she was growing a baby made Tina feel very protective of her body, and she rested her hand on her belly, now full of food. She shuddered to think she might have been tortured by th
e insurgents. Or worse. Days ago, she’d been a free agent, unafraid to fly to a war-torn country in the name of love, and now she was pregnant and running through the what-ifs in her mind. What if she’d died on the dream jump, or been raped in the Taliban house? What if Special Ops hadn’t been successful in their recovery mission? She had to put these worries out of her mind or she’d drive herself crazy thinking about how close she’d come to killing the life inside her. “Can we leave now?”
He nodded. “Let’s go to the hospital.”
After the lab work was completed and Tina’s pregnancy was verified, she was almost afraid to ask Jamey the burning question. “Do you know when we conceived?”
He shook his head. “The last time was in my bedroom.”
Tina smiled to herself. “Remember, we were trying to be quiet?”
He grinned. “Let’s remember that for the next one. We need to take it slow and smooth. No moaning or calling out.”
“It could have been at my house the day before.”
He kissed her forehead. “In that case, we’ll have to remember to have wild, monkey sex, with lots of screaming and sweating.”
She laughed. “Do you know?”
He shook his head. “Maybe Molokai.”
“So long ago?”
“It’s just a hunch, and what I felt could have been that we would get pregnant in the future.” He looked concerned. “Remember, I’ve never been able to read you very well.”
She reassured him with her smile. “It’s okay. I don’t think it was Molokai, but if it was, I’m just surprised that I conceived the first time we had sex.” She and Hank had tried for months with no results.
Jamey hugged her. “We’re a great team, Darlin’. I guess we’ll get a due date later, back in Seattle or Maui.”
From years of wanting to be pregnant, Tina knew all about calculating a date. “There’s a chart. I need to remember the date of my last period and count ahead from there.”
The doctor, whose name was Sophie, came back in the room and handed them the paper to verify Tina’s pregnancy. She also gave them the chart to determine due date. “Congratulations.” The doctor’s smile was genuine, and Tina reminded herself that aside from Milton, this was the only other person in the world who knew their good news. She hugged Sophie and thanked her, as if she had anything to do with helping Tina fulfill a lifelong dream. Tears ran down Tina’s cheeks, and the doctor smiled kindly.
“Looks like a January birth if our calculations are correct.”
Jamey and Tina walked arm in arm out the main doors of the large army hospital. The sun’s intensity was enough to pummel her to the pavement, but still, she walked a few feet off the ground in happiness. “We’re going to have a baby, Jamey.”
Jamey stopped them at the car and took her hands in his. “We are going to have a baby, Tina. I love you. And I love this baby.”
She smiled at Jamey who looked like a little boy who’d just discovered he had a candy tree in his backyard. “I love you, too. And now that you’ve put a baby in my tummy. . .” she teased, tracing circles on his chest. “If it’s possible, I love you more.” They kissed tenderly, and she whispered against his lips, “I’m in awe that you made me pregnant. In a primitive way, I’m kind of turned on.”
“Ah, Tina.” He pulled back, his expression tender. “This isn’t how I imagined,” he said, looking around the busy parking lot, “but I did imagine asking you this question, and you saying yes.” He sank to his knee.
Chapter 36
Pops’ yard was abloom with color on the day of the wedding. As a master gardener, he’d timed his planting so the flower gardens were peaking mid-August. Deep blue delphiniums, burgundy and sunshine yellow snapdragons, blue lupines, pastel gladiolas, and bunches of daisies stood tall amongst the pansies and flowering ground cover, creating a pastoral scene on the lawn by the Tolt River. He’d outdone himself, getting the yard ready for his youngest son’s wedding. It was a good thing that Pops’ health had all but returned to normal now that he’d quit smoking. Jamey teased it was a miraculous recovery and couldn’t figure out how Pops had all this energy.
The twins ran circles through the gardens in their flower girl dresses, people milled about at the side of the house, and Tina thought it couldn’t be a more perfect day. The weather report promised a cloudless sky and the happy couple promised a marriage on the patch of lawn between the old house and the river.
The preacher hushed the crowd, and Tina walked with Jamey to the front of the assembled group. Their vows included promises of commitment and love. And a big kiss at the end, with Tina bent over backwards. Laughter from the happy onlookers followed, the whole event being casually posh, elegant but informal like a mid-summer garden party.
Standing in her flimsy, ecru dress with a Haku lei wreathing her freshly curled hair like a crown, Tina was joyfully four months pregnant. Her loose dress barely hid a rounded tummy. Luckily, the nausea was over and she was back to eating regular meals again.
When Tina had left Ramstein Airbase in Germany at the end of May, she’d kissed Jamey goodbye, not knowing when she’d see him again. That trip home was almost as frightening as her flight to Afghanistan, but this time she had a baby in her tummy to keep her company.
Sixth Force had detained Jamey for three more weeks at Ramstein and another week at KAF. Without jumping, he was useless. The Force had better psychics and didn’t need his intuition. They’d let him go, but instead of an honorable discharge like Jamey wanted, Milton released him on another medical leave, keeping the job open. Jamey had been angry to have that hanging over his head, but for Tina’s sake, he’d shrugged it off. Better than nothing, he’d told Tina. After a quick stop in Carnation, Jamey joined her on Maui, mid-June, just in time to have the ultrasound confirm she’d conceived in Seattle. Not Molokai. Or Maui.
When Jamey’s girls arrived for the summer, Tina had been in the thick of morning sickness, but the ten-year-olds were used to having a pregnant woman around and amused themselves when their dad was taking care of things at the dive shop in town. The twins did lots of jumping on the trampoline and painting scenery pictures for Tina on the outside deck, while she lay in the hammock. As well as refereeing their sibling rivalry, Tina talked to them about their lives back home, trying to learn as much as she could before they left. At the end of July, the twins returned to Carnation with suntans, Puka shell necklaces and plans to be flower girls at the wedding.
Afternoon sunshine filtered through the maple and alder trees’ canopy as the sun shifted lower in the sky. Pops’ hearty laugh was heard above the conversational din of the wedding group. Looking over, Tina overheard her mother tell him about Mr. Boo and smiled to hear Pops look interested. “My dog, Harry, likes cats,” he said with a straight face. “We should get them together sometime.”
Everyone mingled amicably on the lawn, champagne in hand. Everyone but Tina and Carrie, who slipped off for a moment of quiet conversation on the lawn swing. Carrie’s face was bright, animated. “I’m pregnant, too,” she said.
Tina’s eyes widened. “You are? Oh my goodness. Congratulations. How far?” Their children would be close in age.
“Almost five months. Just ahead of you by a bit.” Carrie looked apologetic. “I hope you don’t mind me stealing some of your thunder.”
“Are you kidding me?” Tina hugged her genuinely. “There is plenty of thunder for everyone. I can’t believe you’re not showing.”
“Tall women hide it well.” Carrie flattened her loose dress to show the bump on her abdomen. “Our children will be like cousins. Or half siblings. No, step siblings. Oh, I don’t know,” she laughed. Tina looked at the group of friends and family celebrating on the lush green lawn, her gaze settling on Wyatt’s birthfather, and his quiet girlfriend.
Pepper flirted innocently with Katie’s brother and his cousin, two gorgeous college-aged young men who were practically drooling over Pepper’s low-cut summer sheath and décolletage. When Carrie noticed Kevin repriman
d Wyatt for something, she excused herself and crossed the lawn hurriedly.
“What’s the bride doing all by herself over here?” Jamey grinned his way to the swing and sat down.
“Just watching everyone,” she said. “This is the perfect wedding.” She smiled into her husband’s face. “If someone told me last summer I’d be remarried and this happy, I’d have said they were nuts.”
“If someone told me a year ago, I’d end up with you, and with a baby on the way, I would’ve found it hard to wait until this summer.” He took her hand, circling her palm with his thumb. “I can’t imagine what’s in store for us in the next few months, but let’s make a pact to slow things down now.”
She chuckled. “No guarantees with a baby on the way.” The throng of children played touch tag around the gardens, their giggles floating in the afternoon sunshine, their movements a colorful blur of happiness. “Our child will be a part of all this.” She gestured to Jade and Jasmine clutching each other and laughing by the rose garden. “What a wonderful gift to be born in to this family.” She heaved a long sigh. “I wonder what we’ll be doing exactly a year from now.”
Jamey wondered too, then a flash of something broke the moment and he cleared his throat to buy some time before smiling at his new wife. She looked so blissfully oblivious to what was coming. Like he’d been a minute earlier. “I wouldn’t tell you, Darlin’, even if I knew.”
The End
Thank you for reading my book. Truly. It’s thrilling to write, rework, and publish a story.