by Fields, MJ
Semper Fidelis means “Always faithful,” and that Jodi is, and so is Lee.
Even though Laurie seemed unscathed by the news, I worried she would go through some emotional breakdown, and she noticed.
One night, after Calee was in bed, she came over to my place, and I watched her a little too closely.
“I’m fine. I’m good. And how about you?”
She didn’t have to tell me that she was doing the same thing to me. It was understandable since I had told her to let me die not too long before that.
We both got through our shit, because we’re strong, and now we have each other. We don’t dwell or feel sorry for ourselves. We keep our heads in the game, look at the big picture, and work our asses off to make sure not only Calee is safe but so is the girl we found ourselves calling Ana.
Semper Fortis means “Always Courageous,” and that we are, and that we will always be.
With my medical discharge well underway, Laurie’s unemployment, and her parents now staying at her place to make up for lost time with Calee, it was easy to work out our plan in full.
We knew Laylee, now known as Ana was safe for now in Turkey. We knew the Rev was watching over her from a distance, and that he had an interpreter teaching her English. We also knew she had horrible nightmares and isolated herself from others.
We heard from Peterson indirectly. She’s one year away from retirement and back Stateside. She swore she’d never say a word, and we both believe it.
Since being told of our plans, the Rev reports almost daily and sends pictures of her. We both acknowledge she looks thinner than before and decided that now was the time to let this little five-year-old girl know she is loved and that we were working our asses off to bring her home.
The day before Laurie and I leave for Turkey, Johnny as pilot, Laurie tells us she has an idea. She’s been in contact with Doctors Without Borders and thinks we should look into moving her to Greece where a single mother will have no problem adopting an orphaned child with health issues—Ana’s being a missing limb—and bringing her back to the US by Christmas, which is after the election.
When she rolls out the rest of the plan, I’m adamantly against it. It would mean that Calee and she would be an ocean away from me.
“She won’t be alone,” Lee adds. “JoJo and I will go, too.”
“Abso-fucking-lutley not,” are my exact words.
Laurie interrupts what would have been a neighbor-waking discussion when she stands and walks out of the room.
I follow because, as much of a man as I know I am, there’s something about love that makes you a bit of a fucking puppy dog once in a while.
She stands, arms crossed, tapping her foot and glaring at me.
“We gonna have our first real fight, Doc? Because, if so, I suggest we save it for when we have an empty house and my cock is buried inside you while you’re screaming my name.”
“You do realize I go toe-to-toe against a four-year-old daily and very rarely give in, correct?”
I start to respond, but she interrupts me.
“Do you think I’d put her in harm’s way? And before you answer that, do you think he would?” She throws her thumb over her shoulder toward her kitchen. “I don’t need an answer. I just need you to stow the macho bullshit and realize that this way is so much more logical than you and I flying back and forth under the radar, bringing her comfort and taking it away. Not to mention that I can sell this house and, in just a few short months, return here with two little girls, who’ve had time to bond before bringing Ana into a world she has probably never dared even dreamed of. Calee and she will be on equal footing in a new home. The election will be over, and you will have been a part of it, which you need to be. It will raise fewer red flags this way, Tanner, and you know it.”
“That man will always be a threat.”
“Then eliminate the threat and do it before Christmas.”
“Are you being serious right now?”
“Dead serious. I’m also serious about getting some sleep because we leave very early tomorrow morning. Think about this logically, Tanner. Not with your dick.”
“With my dick?”
“Yeah, that thing you think is going to fall off if it’s not inside me at least every other day. As a doctor, I’m telling you, it won’t.”
“You’d miss the hell out of it, and you know it.”
She smirks. “Yes, I will. But someone has been teaching me patience as of late.”
* * *
Sitting in a tent surrounded by hundreds of others, knowing how easy it was to get into the compound that’s less than secure, the wait for our little Syrian friend is nerve-racking. It’s not just that it’s not safe. It’s hot and smells like urine and shit.
Men walk around with guns, and I know not all have good intentions. Laurie’s caught plenty of attention from them, and the idea of her being here without me, even if she did have a small army surrounding her, was a firm no fucking way.
When my phone vibrates in my hand, we both look at it.
“It’s him.”
She smiles.
Rev: Two minutes out.
She looks at me. “I know what you’re thinking.”
“Then you know damn well it’s not gonna happen.” I know damn well this is just words right now, she’s right, but there has to be another fucking way.
“Then we go back to your plan. She stays here, we fly back and forth, and hope someone doesn’t recognize her or us. We hope that she doesn’t get sold, or killed, or—”
“God damn you.”
“Just admit it’s a better plan. Please, Tanner. She can’t stay here. Dad knows people at the international adoption agency who can speed up the application, push the foster program ahead quicker, and then she can be with me and Calee and people who will be her forever family. And you can come as often as you can get away. Please stop being stubborn about this and have a little more faith in—”
When “Ameri—” is muffled by the hand of a man I trust more than most and I see pure terror in her eyes, I fight to stand up, but Laurie beats me to it.
I watch her run to Ana, drop to her knees, and pull her into a hug as they both begin to sob.
I finally get my feet under me and point at Rev as I walk toward him. “Was that necessary?”
“This place is crawling with ’em today. Something’s up. So, yes, it was fucking necessary,” he hisses. “The words echo through this fucking tent, and if someone out there wants to make a quick buck, all four of us become swiss fucking cheese. You aren’t flying above it today, man; you are boots on the ground, knee-deep in shit, avoiding getting your ass lit up.”
I put a hand on the back of each of their heads and gently rub them. Laurie’s is silk; Ana’s is knotted and filthy. I look down and see it swarming with bugs. I even see sores.
I look back up at Rev. “How fast can we take off and get to Greece?”
“With the kid?”
“You bet your ass with the kid.”
Doc looks up, red-eyed, tears flowing, and sobs, “Thank you.”
Ana looks up. “Get me fucking out.”
Rev laughs, and I look at him, gaping.
“No need to thank me for teaching her that one. Didn’t even have to try. She’s a quick one.”
Ana repeats herself, sobbing, “Get me fucking out?”
Laurie stands, lifting her tiny, frail body and carrying her to the makeshift sofa where she sits down. I sit beside her. Both of them are crying, and tears sting my own eyes.
When she finally looks at me, she yells, “Miss me?”
I nod, and now the tears fall.
“Please, Titan, please.”
“Laurie and I are going to make it all better.”
“Laurie,” she cries and looks at her. “Laurie.”
* * *
The wait felt like forever, but Rev returned relatively quick.
Ana won’t let Laurie put her down, and I know damn well sneaking out is goin
g to be difficult with her sobbing.
“You need to calm down, kid,” Rev tells her. Then he puts his finger to his lip and whispers, “Shh …”
She looks at me. “No, no, please don’t leave.”
“You’re coming with us,” I tell her. “But, shhh … And you have to walk.”
When Laurie tries again to set her down, she clings to her even more.
“You have to work with us,” I tell her.
She nods. “I work.”
“You walk.”
“Hurt.” She holds up her foot. “Hurt.”
“She has sores on her feet, Doc.”
Doc looks at Rev. “I’m assuming you have a gun.”
He nods.
She looks at me. “Can you run if you have to?”
“I could fly if I had to.”
She smiles. “I don’t doubt you could.”
Rev interrupts, “Follow me and keep moving no matter what.”
When we exit the tent, there is a loud explosion. Rev heads right toward it, while hundreds of people panic and run the opposite way.
When Laurie stalls, I yell to her, “Let’s go.”
“But—”
“Dammit, Doc, trust me.”
As we hurry to the evacuation point, I see a helicopter landing.
Doc looks at me. “You okay?”
I almost laugh. “Are you okay?”
“Arrogant ass,” she yells over the loud noise of the rotor.
As we start to board, Rev looks up. “Son of a bitch.”
I look up, too, and see another helo flying in.
When I look back at Rev, he’s got a hold of Laurie’s shirt and is yanking her out of the helo. The men in the pilots’ seats begin shouting in Arabic, not Turkish. Then the copilot pulls out a weapon, pointing it at me and grinning as the pilot gets out of his seat. When I hear a shot, I look out as Rev falls to the ground.
“Not today, motherfucker,” I say as I lunge toward the copilot and we struggle for control.
When I hear another shot, I look out to see Laurie holding a weapon in one hand, our girl still in her arms.
I turn as the copilot turns back to me, and now I grin at him.
He attempts to turn the weapon now pointing at him, and I squeeze his trigger finger. One shot is fired, hitting him directly between the eyes.
Looking at Laurie, I notice two white pickup trucks with weapons mounted on the roof coming toward us. Laurie is still looking at the body on the ground.
I get out and hurry toward her. “Doc, now’s not the time to freeze.”
She drops the gun and looks at her hand that is shaking.
As rounds begin to fire from just over the hill, I look back to see them pointing at the helo coming in.
“Get the fuck in now!” I scream at her, and she blinks and looks at me. “Baby, we need to get—”
“Okay!” she screams. “Okay. Okay!”
As she begins climbing in, I run to Rev, who is holding his leg. “You fucking Marines, always needing to be saved.”
“Fuck you,” he groans as I help him up. “You frog fucker.”
I do what I can to assist him, but running in the sand with one leg is more difficult than one could imagine.
“Who’s flying this fucking thing?”
“Who do you think?” I groan as I help him in.
As I make my way around, I grab the copilot and pull him out. Then I make my way to the pilot’s seat.
“Don’t you need two of you?” Laurie shouts.
“No, ma’am.”
For the first time in my life, it feels foreign to be in this seat.
“They’re getting closer, Titan. Get us the fuck out of here.
“Seat belts? Shoulder harnesses?”
“No time for that shit!” Rev yells.
I continue in my head, Avionics?
I picture Shadows answering, On and set.
Fuel?
Check.
The rest I do out loud.
“We ready to rock?” I ask.
“Yes!” Laurie yells in almost a panic.
“Clear on one,” I whisper.
When I look beside me, I see Johnny to my right. He salutes me, and I salute him back.
“It’s a nice day to fly, ladies,” I yell back to Laurie, Rev, and my future daughter. “It’s a real nice day to fly.”
Epilogue
December
Laurie
Wrapped in a blanket, standing outside on the patio overlooking the Mediterranean Sea in the brisk December air, I finish my cup of hot tea as I quietly say goodbye to a place where two became four.
The new Navy slogan, now tattooed on my husband’s thigh, fresh on my mind, Forged by Sea. I laugh at how sexy I find that damn stump and how he knows it. He makes jokes, calls me an acrotomophiliac, but we both know if not for that ‘stump’ and him giving in to what needed to be done, he wouldn’t be here today. So yes I love it, and yes I find it attractive, because nothing is as sexy as my husband.
When I was pregnant and alone, I was sure I would always be a single mother with a demanding career, who didn’t trust her own father. I was a hot mess … until him.
I turn around and look through the French doors of our tiny, little, cliffside, two-bedroom home and see Tanner with his arms protectively wrapped around our daughters.
He is sexier now than he was the night I met Will.
A cold burst of misty air causes me to shiver, so I decide to walk inside.
When I open the door, he opens his eyes and gives me a slow, adoring smile.
“Go back to sleep,” I whisper.
He doesn’t listen. He carefully slides his arms out from under the girls then gets off the twin-sized bed we use as a couch.
“What were you doing out there alone?”
“Saying goodbye.”
He moves his arms under the blanket and wraps them around me, pulling me in for a tight hug as he rests his chin on top of my head. “I’m never going to forget this place. The place I married the most beautiful badass I have ever set eyes on.”
I silently chuckle as I slide my hands around him and push them under his shirt.
“Fuck, Doc, your hands are freezing.” He steps back and looks down at me. “Want some tea?”
“Just finished a cup.”
“Did you finish the Christmas card?”
“I did.”
“Let’s see what you came up with.” He takes my hand and leads me the two steps it takes to sit at the tiny table, made for two, but we made it work for four these past few weeks. Then he pulls out one of the chairs, and I sit down. He sits down next to me, picks up the paper, and reads it aloud.
There is much we could mourn about this year. Instead, we choose to heal, grow stronger, and to love deeper than we felt possible.
This holiday season, it is our sincere hope that your hearts are as full as ours and that your love is as deep as the sea.
Merry Christmas from the Titans
He leans in and kisses me. “It’s beautiful, Doc, but I still like mine better.”
I laugh. “You may be a genius, but you’re no poet.”
He grabs his letter and clears his throat before he begins to read, “I fucked her so good that she decided, in order to keep me, she had to cut my leg off.” He looks at me. “That may not be poetry, but it’s art.” His eyes crinkle in the corners a bit as he thinks about what he’s going to say next. “It’s Van Gogh-ish.”
“It’s something all right.” I lean back, wrapping the blanket tightly around myself.
“She shot her first terrorist, and I hunted one down and shot myself one, too.” He looks up. “Totally normal, comparable to all your Facebook friends who post pictures of the deer they shot up during hunting season.”
“Totally normal.” I roll my eyes.
He whispers, “Adopted a beautiful little girl and killed her father to make sure that shitbag never came after her.”
“Redundant. You already talked a
bout that in the previous paragraph.”
“It was worth repeating.” He winks.
“She left a three hundred thousand dollar a year job to build her resume and is currently making less than two thousand dollars a year doing some pretty amazing work.”
I shrug. “Kind of braggy. No one wants to be that girl.”
“He helped his friend win the Virginia governor race.”
“Lie. You were out ‘hunting’ on election day.”
“Still voted.” He smirks.
“You are a patriot, Tanner Titan.”
“Father to two stunning little girls; one who thinks she’s a Looney Tunes character and the other swears like a sailor.”
I laugh. “Need to rewrite in the past tense. You have Calee hooked on pirate shows, and she does say her Rs as Rs now and not Ws. And our other daughter now knows fuck isn’t a word used by children or for emphasis.”
“Oh, and this one lost his dream job where he got to fly and help keep Americans safe without a cape and is going to start the new year as a stay-at-home dad of two girls slash sugar baby for the sexiest surgeon on the planet.”
“Wrong.”
“How is that one wrong, Doc?”
“Stay-at-home dad of three, Tanner.” I lean in, take his two hands, and place them on the blanket over my belly. “In July, it’ll be three.”
“Are you …?” He pauses as he looks me over, his eyes filling with tears. “Are we …?”
“We’re going to have a baby in July.” I smile.
He closes his eyes and a smile begins gracing his handsome face. “I can’t wait.”
About the Author
USA Today bestselling author MJ Fields love of writing was in full swing by age eight. Together with her siblings and cousins, she wrote a newsletter and sold it for ten cents to family members.
She self-published her first contemporary, new adult romance in January 2013. Today she has completed 10 self-published series, The Love series, The Wrapped series, The Burning Souls series, The Men of Steel series, Ties of Steel series, The Rockers of Steel series, and The Steel Country series. Two duets, The Truth About Love, and Matched, and one stand-alone basketball romance, Offensive Defense.