by Margaret Kay
Gazing at Sienna after she put her gown on, Elizabeth recalled the vows she said to Alexander in that room they were locked in, vows that meant everything to her. She wished she had kept the beautiful dirac she wore. She’d left it in the bathroom at the hangar in Djibouti when she’d changed into the fatigues Madison lent her. At least they had a confirmation of their vow’s ceremony that Lambchop had insisted on to sign their marriage license. A few of Alexander’s friends had snapped pictures on their phones of them with Reverend Johnson. Angel had printed out a few, framed them, and gave them to her, so she had something to commemorate their union.
In a nontraditional procession, all the ladies, in no particular order, filed down the aisle to the waltz music that played over the speakers. When they reached the chairs that were positioned in an arc around the arch, where Lambchop and Garcia stood, they sat wherever they wanted. Elizabeth took a seat beside Alexander on the left side. Moments later, the Wedding March boomed through the room, bringing everyone to their feet.
Sienna walked down the aisle alone, carrying a bouquet of red roses. Elizabeth watched the expression of joy spread over Sienna’s face as her eyes remained locked with Garcia’s. Then she gazed at Garcia. Wow! His eyes were focused on Sienna. She was all he saw. The look on his face screamed how much he loved her. Their pictures would be beautiful, Elizabeth thought as Sienna joined him. He wore a white shirt with a red tie, matching her in every way. She looked beautiful and happy.
“Please be seated,” Lambchop said. “Friends, we gather here today to celebrate the love of this couple. It is not enough for either one of them to love the other, they wish their union to be blessed by God and celebrated by those close to them. The joining of a man and a woman in the bonds of holy matrimony is one of God’s most sacred ordinances. God calls upon everyone present to support and nurture this union. When I was speaking with Sienna and Anthony about this ceremony, we went over several Bible verses. One stood out to each of them, representing how they felt. Sienna identified ‘I thank my God every time I think of you’ from Philippians 1:3 as a verse that represented the love she has for Anthony. And he told me that the following verse from Song of Solomon 3:4, summed up his feelings for Sienna, ‘I have found the one whom my soul loves’. Indeed, to have found the one person who you know you love deeply, who you thank God for their presence in your life, is a rare gift!” He closed his Bible and kissed it.
Elizabeth felt a pang of emptiness. She knew she felt love for Alexander, but they never spoke the words to each other. Though wrong, she knew, she felt a jealousy that Sienna and Garcia had that love and openly professed it the way they did. And how she wished one day she could see Alexander look at her that way. She prayed that someday, she and Alexander would share what this couple had.
Lambchop nodded to Madison, who sat beside Cooper in the front row. Madison took Sienna’s flowers.
“Please join hands,” he said. “Sienna, do you take Anthony to live with as husband and wife, to love him and to cherish him in sickness and in health, for richer and poorer, forsaking all others until death do you part?”
Sienna smiled with tears moistening her eyes. “I do.”
“Anthony, do you take Sienna to live with as husband and wife, to love her and to cherish her in sickness and in health, for richer and poorer, forsaking all others until death do you part?” Lambchop repeated.
“You better believe I do,” Garcia replied, garnering laughter from their guests.
“The rings,” the pastor prompted. Sienna took Anthony’s off her thumb and handed it to Lambchop. Anthony grabbed Sienna’s from Madison, who had held it for him and gave it to Lambchop as well. He sat them on the Bible. “God, bless these rings as the outward symbol of the pledge these two children of Yours have made. If the ring is on or off your finger from this moment forward is irrelevant. God sees you joined as one.” He handed Garcia’s ring to Sienna.
“With this ring, I take you, Anthony, as my wedded husband. I promise to love you with all my heart as I know tomorrow is never guaranteed. I promise I will always be honest with you. And I will always, with my actions, make sure you know how much I do love and appreciate you.” Her voice became more unsteady as she spoke. She slid the ring onto his finger.
Lambchop handed Garcia Sienna’s ring.
“With this ring, I take you, Sienna, as my wedded wife. I promise that I will always love you as I do today. I too promise my honesty. I will show you every day that I am grateful that you are in my life.” His voice was strong and full of emotion as he spoke. He then slid the ring onto her finger.
“Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, from Proverbs 3:3. And one last reading, ‘So, they are no longer two, but one. Therefore, what God has joined together, let man not separate’, from Matthew 19:6.” Lambchop paused for dramatic effect, smiling at those assembled. “By the power vested in me by God, I pronounce you husband and wife. Garcia, you may kiss your bride.”
Cheers and claps serenaded the couple as they shared their first kiss as husband and wife. Then they went into the seating area and greeted their friends. The marriage license was already signed and sitting on Angel’s desk. Madison and Cooper had signed as the witnesses. Angel would file it at the county building for Lambchop on Monday as the team would be gone early.
Dinner was catered in and a self-serve bar was set up. Lambchop said a blessing before Garcia and Sienna followed by Doc and Elizabeth began serving themselves at the buffet. The remainder of the guests followed. Shepherd covered the cost of everything, one of his gifts to the couple. He also had an envelope in his pocket of an expense paid honeymoon vacation, the date to be determined. He knew Sienna could not take off when school was in session. It would be up to the couple if they wanted to go over the upcoming Spring Break or wait until the summer. He also had a second envelope with the same gift for Doc and Elizabeth, realizing their wedding had happened so fast, he’d done nothing to acknowledge it.
After dinner, the birthday party went into full swing. His friends all got Doc gag gifts jabbing fun at his age. He handled it well even though he realized the number did bother him. His birthday was the next day. Forty years old and he was about to become a father for the first time. He should have felt blessed, but all he could think about was that he would be nearly sixty years old at his daughter’s high school graduation, probably one of the oldest parents there.
“Hey old man,” Cooper said in jest, slapping Doc on the shoulder. He handed a gift wrapped in black paper to him. “From Madison and me.”
Doc shot him a glare. “You guys get away with this today and today only,” he warned.
Cooper and Madison laughed.
“Open it,” Elizabeth prompted him. She knew what was inside as Madison had told her. They didn’t go the route of the gag gift.
Doc opened the package. Inside, wrapped in tissue paper was a newborn baby outfit. The pink short-sleeved onesie had the phrase ‘Daddy’s little fishing buddy’ on it. The light-weight pants had pink fish against the water-blue background.
“Oh hell,” Doc swore as a smile curved his lips. It was the cutest damned outfit he’d ever seen.
“Little girls love to go fishing with their daddies,” Madison said with a smile.
“Thanks, this is awesome,” Doc replied.
Joe Lassiter made his way over next. “Happy Birthday,” he said. Then he turned to Elizabeth. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Elizabeth. I’m Joe Lassiter.”
“You’re the team,” she paused, not sure how to refer to him. Everyone who had mentioned him to her referred to him as the team shrink. She didn’t think that was an appropriate thing to say to his face.
“Shrink, yes.” Lassiter laughed.
Elizabeth shook his hand. “I’ve heard about you. Alexander told me you helped him.” She didn’t elaborate any further. She didn’t need to.
Lassiter nodded. “I tried. That’s my job. You’ve got a good
man, here,” he said, clasping Doc on the shoulder.
“I know I do,” Elizabeth replied.
She was sure this man knew intimate details about them, and probably knew Alexander’s thoughts and fears more than anyone else did, herself included. She didn’t feel jealous or insecure realizing this. If anything, it made her feel a warmth towards him. Alexander had said he was messed up after Africa, no one she would have wanted to be around. It was this man who enabled Alexander to be the person he was with her when she arrived in Chicago.
Angel and Sienna came and dragged Elizabeth with them to the corner where they had a karaoke machine. Doc watched her from across the room. She talked and laughed with the other women. She looked confident and sexy, a part of the group in every way. She had come a very long way in a short period of time. She truly was one of them now.
Madison unboxed two small cakes, one a wedding cake decorated with white frosting, red flowers and a wedding couple standing in the middle of it. The other was his birthday cake, black frosting with aqua writing wishing him a Happy 40th. Then she lit the candles.
Over the loudspeakers, Doc heard her, and the other women sing Happy Birthday to him. He heard Elizabeth’s voice over everyone else’s. She had a beautiful voice. He couldn’t wait to hear her sing lullabies to their daughter.
After he blew out the candles, the ladies broke into Angel and Sienna’s signature song, If You’re Going Through Hell, by Rodney Atkins, damn Jackson and his country music, but appropriate to the ladies’ pasts. He’d give them that. He was surprised to see and hear Elizabeth sing along with them. She knew all the words. The next song they sang, Elizabeth dedicated to him for his birthday, Tom Petty’s, I’m Learning to Fly. She again knew all the words. He couldn’t help but smile. He knew she had learned the song for him.
He felt pride as he watched her, even though it wasn’t his doing that she was becoming this wonderful woman. He credited the other women for that and Elizabeth herself for wanting to be a part of his world. He knew she was brave from the moment she had told him she was leaving the Sisterhood and had to figure out the rest of her life. After twelve years, it would have been easier to remain rather than face the unknown, but she knew she didn’t belong there, and she faced her future with courage.
The next morning Elizabeth got up early and made Alexander breakfast. She served it to him in bed. She had his birthday card on the tray, her gift inside. If coming up with a Valentine’s Day gift hadn’t been hard enough, coming up with a fortieth birthday gift was even harder. She took Angel’s suggestion and got creative. Angel had done something similar as a gift for Jackson.
Doc opened the card. It was a heartfelt ‘Happy Birthday Husband’ card. It spoke of love. She only had her name signed at the appropriate space, nothing else. Inside was a book of coupons. He flipped through the first few of them. They were handwritten by Elizabeth. His grin spread wide.
“There are forty of them. You may only use each once, and you may only use one a day. They expire one year from today.” She sat cross legged across from him with a proud grin on her face. “The first ten are get out of doing something for the baby, that is your turn to do, like changing a messy diaper. The next ten are fishing related, go off alone for a day or splurge on yourself and buy something fishing related you don’t really need, but want. The next set of ten are for me to do something specific for you, like a massage, make you breakfast in bed, or something.” She blushed red knowing she had sexual favors written in there as well. “And the last set of ten are for you to ask me to do anything for you.”
“Anything?” He asked with a leer curving his lips.
“Yes, pretty much anything,” she agreed.
Doc laughed out loud. “Oh, honey, you have no idea what you just agreed to.” He tore off one of those coupons from the last section and handed it to her. They stayed in bed for hours.
Doc kissed Elizabeth goodbye Monday morning. “I’ll text and call when I can.”
She nodded and smiled. Then she embraced him again. “I’m glad this is a simulation mission.”
“Yeah, this one should be fun. I think Jackson is pissed he won’t be going.”
“I think Angel would prefer he does the missions like this too, rather than the dangerous ones.”
“But that’s our job.” Doc shook his head. “It’s who I am, Elizabeth.”
“I know,” she agreed. “I told you I could be fine with all this, and I am.”
Doc embraced her again. Yes, she had handled it very well, what she knew about, anyway. “I have to go. I’ll see you in about a week.”
After Alexander closed the door and left, Elizabeth stared at it for a few seconds. She was disappointed. She wasn’t sure what she expected him to say as he left, but he hadn’t said it. Okay, to be perfectly honest, she was hoping he would say he’d miss her or that he loved her. She felt they had gotten closer the last few weeks. The love they made was different. It was intense. Certainly, it was driven by emotions.
Uniform
The mood on the Lear on the flight to Virginia was light, even though the accommodations were jam-packed with both teams and all their gear aboard. Even though they were going to test the training of the new teams, this would be an excellent training exercise for them too. Doc suspected Cooper or maybe Ops would file a report with Shepherd on the team as a whole and on each team member’s performance.
When they landed, they were escorted to an unoccupied barracks on the base, the Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story. Its former residents, SEAL Team Four, had just deployed to the Middle East. Both Gary ‘the Undertaker’ Sloan and Brian ‘the Birdman’ Sherman had spent time at this base when they were with the SEALs as they were part of the Atlantic Fleet. Landon ‘Lambchop’ Johnson’s time was spent in Coronado assigned to the Pacific Fleet. This barracks would be their base of operations.
“Home sweet home, huh Sherman?” Sloan said, glancing around the rec room.
Brian Sherman smiled. “Yeah, I don’t think our team was ever billeted in this particular barracks, and this is a whole lot nicer than I remember it being when we were here. This room is actually heated. I remember it never being over fifty degrees in the winter inside the barracks. I froze my nuts off at night.”
“Yeah, and then over in the Sandbox we sweated our asses off,” Sloan said.
Cooper went over to the table that had been set up in the center of the rec room. Maps of the base territory where the exercises would take place were stacked on the table. “We’re going to go over the first exercise now, then grab some sleep, then we’ll hit it again. As you know, the first simulation will be against what has been designated as Fire Team Red, at twenty-three hundred hours.”
General Seyller, the officer who had contacted Shepherd for their assistance in conducting these tests, came into the room, halfway through the briefing.
“Atten Hut!” Cooper called as he came to attention. The others followed suit.
“As you were,” the General said, his eyes sweeping over the team. “As of nine hundred this morning, the four teams were brought together for the first time and have been switched to paintball loads. They know this next week will hold multiple simulations. They do not know how many each team will face or from whom. And they will not know the scenarios they are facing until they are scrambled to respond. I’m sure they are expecting the tests to come from teams they are familiar with and associated with this base.”
“Yes, sir,” Cooper acknowledged. “I know Shepherd worked with you to identify for us what they have been trained on. We are going to throw our own little spin on it.”
The General nodded. “That’s what I’m counting on.”
“Yes, sir,” Cooper repeated.
Then, Cooper filled him in on the particulars of each simulation and the timing planned. The second exercise would occur immediately after the first, when the next team coming on deck would least expect it. They would no doubt know of the first simulation as the first team would
be allowed to return to the barracks all sixteen men were housed in, but they would not be allowed to talk with the first team. The Shepherd Security personnel would only have time to change out of any paint-splattered clothing and arm themselves with fresh loads.
Each of the four teams would be tested alone twice, and there would be two simulations that all four teams responded to at once, a first for them. That meant ten simulations to be run by the Shepherd Security personnel in just under five days. It was a tight schedule.
“Eight against sixteen, hardly seems fair,” Lambchop remarked with a laugh. “I hope the four teams can figure out how to operate together quickly. We’ve been doing this together for so long, we’ll destroy them if they can’t.”
“That’s the idea,” the General said. “That’s one of the reasons I reached out to Shepherd rather than using regular military to test this team. You boys have operated outside the teams for enough years that you’ve picked up some tactics that will be new to these boys,” he paused as his eyes landed on Madison. “They need to be tested with the worst you can throw at them. We’ll grade them for their tactical cohesiveness, response time, and if they choose a frontal or multi-side response.”