“Okay. Right now, I’d like to head to our room and take a quick shower.”
“‘Our room?’“
“Right.”
Toliver mused for a moment. “You know? We could have dinner at Wong Lee’s. I’ve been dating this girl who works there.”
“Suzy?”
“Yeah, you remember. Turns out she’s a junior at Stanford. I’ve been helping her with her homework.”
“I’ll bet.”
“No really.”
“You getting serious with her?”
“I don't know.”
“Well, get a load of this. Guess who we brought back with us from Mindanao.” He told Toliver about Wong Lee. After landing in Honolulu, he’d boarded a fleet oiler and was home within a week.
Toliver snapped his fingers, “Yeah. I saw the guy just before I went back East. Smokes tons of cigarettes?”
“That’s him.”
“I don’t know if he’ll like the idea of me chasing his daughter. Maybe we better have dinner in the Mural Room.”
Ingram smiled. “Wong Lee will be glad to see us, I guarantee.” He glanced over to see a clerk at the registration desk hand Helen a thick, brown manila envelope. She turned and started tearing it open.
Toliver took Ingram’s elbow. “Yeah. Look, Todd, are Helen’s folks really coming up?”
Ingram looked at his watch, a new Bulova. “Any minute now. She’s on pins and needles.”
“Why?”
“We couldn’t meet them at the station. I was doing this deal for the FBI and she had to go over at Fort Mason, drawing uniforms and paperwork stuff. They just sent over her orders and--” Ingram looked at Toliver. His smile was gone, his expression somber. “Ollie. What is it?”
Toliver’s voice was low. “Todd, look. I know this is the twentieth century and these are modern times and all. But jeez.”
“Jeez, what?”
“You said her dad is a former Marine. What's he going to do when he learns, you’ve been, well, you know, shacking up with his daughter and all that.”
Ingram broke out laughing.
Helen walked back, preoccupied with her envelope.
Toliver asked, “Damnit. What’s so funny? Didn’t you say you were going up to ‘our room?’“
“Ahhhh. I did say that. Here.” Ingram held up Helen’s left hand.
She smiled, displaying a gold band on her fourth finger. “We didn't have a ring so Pablo loaned us his.”
“Holy cow. You’re...you...congratulations!” Toliver grabbed Helen and kissed her again.
Helen gave a broad smile. “Thanks Ollie.”
“When?”
Ingram said, “We waited up in the mountains for the Turbot. I had an infection and ran a temperature of 103. I...we wanted to do something, because, I'll tell you, I thought I was going to die. So Pablo ran down to Agusan, rousted a priest out of bed and we were married at two in the morning. Helen kept me stable until the Turbot showed up. Once aboard, her shanker mechanic fixed me up with penicillin.”
“That’s wonderful.” Toliver shook Ingram’s hand then hugged her close. “God, it’s good to see you again.”
“You too, Ollie.” She kissed him on the cheek.
Ingram looked at Helen’s envelope, his brow raised.
“Fort MacArthur Army hospital. San Pedro California,” she said.
Ingram nodded. “Not bad. When?”
She looked inside the envelope again. “‘report no later than 22 February, 1943.”
“Sixty days. Enough time to pick avocados.”
“Enough time to get married again.”
Ingram turned to Toliver. “We’re sealing it with a church wedding in Ramona, Ollie. How ‘bout being our best man.”
“You bet.” He gave Helen another peck. “Too bad you didn’t check with me, first.”
Ingram said, “All you had to do Ollie, was bail out of a PBY.”
Toliver thought that one over then said. “No thanks. Speaking of Pablo, how is he?”
Ingram said, “We had to drag him down to the beach. After some convincing, he came back with us. It was the only thing to do until after the place cools down. So now he’s with his family in New Mexico.” He reached in his pocket and muttered, “reminds me. Might as well do this now. Before Kate and Frank show up. Otherwise, Frank may beat the crap out of me, like Ollie says. All these damned baubles. Here.” He pulled out a dark blue box labeled I. Magnin, snapped it open and held it out to Helen.
“Oh.” Helen gasped at the gold wedding ring capped with a perfect one carat diamond.
Ingram eased it on her fourth finger. “Back pay does come in handy.”
Helen held it up to the light. “It’s beautiful.” Then she kissed him, deeply.
“...ahem. See you in a while,” Toliver started to walk off.
Helen tensed. “Mom and dad are here.”
“What?” Ingram looked across the crowded lobby, searching the faces streaming through the revolving doors. “Where? I don’t see?”
“She’s here, I tell you.”
“You’re nuts.”
“Back in a minute.” She walked across the lobby and stood before the St. Francis large, revolving doors. Seconds later, Kate and Frank Durand burst through. With squeals of delight, they wrapped their arms around their daughter.
Ingram said, “Come on over and meet them.”
“Hang on.” Toliver wiped at his eyes.
Ingram watched the threesome hugging in front of the revolving doors, impervious to grousing captains and colonels who were forced to squeeze past.
Toliver’s voice cracked. “God. She looks so much like her mother. It’s uncanny.”
“Ummm.”
“And she knew Helen was waiting right there, didn’t she?”
Ingram pulled a handkerchief and blew his nose. “Cold in here, damnit.”
“Yeah.”
Just then, Frank Durand spotted Ingram from across the lobby. He grinned and waved.
“Go,” said Toliver.
Ingram moved then stopped. “See you tonight, Ollie?”
But when he turned, Toliver was gone.
JOHN J. GOBBELL is a former Navy Lieutenant who saw duty as a destroyer weapons officer. His ship served in the South China Sea, granting him membership in the exclusiveATonkin Gulf Yacht Club.@ As an executive recruiter, his clients included military/commercial aerospace companies giving him insight into character development under a historical thriller format. A Code For Tomorrow is the second of five stand-alone novels in the Todd Ingram series. The most recent, Edge of Valor, was released by the U.S. Naval Institute Press in Summer, 2014. Altogether, he has written seven novels involving U.S. Navy action and is currently at work on his eighth. He and his wife Janine live in Newport Beach, California. He can be reached at [email protected].
A CODE FOR TOMORROW: A Ingram Novel (The Todd Ingram Series Book 2) Page 45