Midway Between You and Me (Harlequin Super Romance)

by Rogenna Brewer

  But maybe she should have. At her age, the woman could have a heart attack from shock.

  “How do I look?” her dad asked for the hundredth time. “I should have worn a suit.”

  “You look fine,” Tam reassured him for the hundredth time. She tried to see him as her mother might. A little older. A little grayer. But still hot.

  And what would he think of her? A little wiser. A little heavier. But still very beautiful.

  They waited near the baggage claim. Tam spotted her mother, but she didn’t say anything. She just wanted to watch—to see the looks on their faces when they first saw each other.

  That she had no doubt they would recognize each other was a testament to her own true love. Bowie could walk into her life right now or thirty years from now, and she would still know him.

  Her father saw her mother first. Tam could tell by the way he stood up straighter. His eyes got bluer just focusing on her mother. And when Lan saw those blue eyes, she choked back a sob that would have made people stop and stare if they hadn’t been in an airport.

  They didn’t run into each other’s arms; there was a little more uncertainty than that. But they did meet halfway. And when her father took her mother into his arms and kissed her, Tam couldn’t help but smile.

  She turned to leave then. The two lovebirds would find their own way home. She was going back to her own nest. One that a certain Seabee had made sure was comfortable.

  Summer 2002

  Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

  BOWIE OPENED HIS EYES. His stomach growled with hunger, and he didn’t know where he was. It looked like a hospital. What was he doing in a hospital?

  Did he have amnesia? There was such a thing as posttraumatic stress amnesia. Would he know that if he had amnesia? Would he know his own name?

  The room got very busy very quickly. And he became easily confused with everyone trying to talk to him at once. If he was in a hospital, where were his family? His friends? Hell, where were the flowers and cards?

  Someone put the bed into the upright position.

  “Where is…” he tried to form the words but the question didn’t come out right. The doctors and nurses were answering him. He just couldn’t understand anything they were saying.

  Then Zach burst into the room. His big brother crying?

  “Tam?” Bowie managed to get the rest of the question out.

  Zach hugged him, but Bowie couldn’t seem to make his own arms respond the way he wanted them to. He grabbed onto Zach’s sleeve. “Don’t leave,” he said.

  “I won’t.”

  When the doctors and nurses finally left him alone with his brother, Bowie asked Zach to explain everything to him all over again.

  “What’s wrong with me?”

  “You had a closed brain injury. A blow to the head.”

  “Damage?”

  “Some of your gross-and fine-motor skills. You’re going to have to relearn some things, starting with the ABCs. Just give it time.” His brother patted his hand.

  Was Zach patronizing him?

  Bowie was an engineer. He knew calculus, for heaven’s sake.

  He had a headache. And he was tired.

  “I’m going to call Mom and Dad. Do you want me to call Tam?”

  Bowie nodded. He wanted to see Tam.

  Zach moved from the bed toward the door, and Bowie tossed back the covers. Swinging his legs over the side, he put his weight down and collapsed to the floor. A bedpan and some things from the nightstand crashed down beside him.

  His brother rushed to his side. “Let me help you up,” Zach said, grabbing hold of his arms.

  “I had to go pee.”

  “You have a catheter,” Zach reminded him.

  He knew that.

  He lay there for a minute in a crumpled heap, not cooperating with his brother, who was trying to help him up. He could walk. He wasn’t paralyzed. He just had to relearn.

  “Don’t call Tam,” he said. “I’m not ready to see her yet.”

  And he wasn’t ready a month later after they’d moved him to a rehab hospital, and he took his first steps in physical therapy.

  “You’re pushin’ hard today,” his physical therapist said.

  “I have a reason to push,” Bowie said, inching his way between the parallel bars.

  “I like a man who knows how to push,” the older woman teased.

  Bowie chuckled. It felt good to laugh again. And he’d been doing a lot more of that lately. He was even able to laugh at himself.

  A month after that he’d graduated to a walker. The next month a cane. And then came the day when he didn’t need any assistance at all. But he still wasn’t ready to see Tam.

  McCain stopped by his room at the rehab center. He’d been made X.O. of NMCB133 in Bowie’s place. “Hey, how’s it hanging?”

  “It’s hanging.”

  McCain filled him in on all the battalion news. Bowie liked to stay connected, and as soon as he was able he’d be right there in the thick of things. He hadn’t been medically discharged from the Navy, but if he didn’t get his act together soon he could be facing a medical review board.

  “Calculus?” McCain picked up the book from his nightstand. “I thought you didn’t like this the first time around?”

  “I don’t like it any better now.” Which wasn’t exactly true. He loved numbers and had a natural knack for mathematics, and it had all come back to him.

  “How is she?” he dared to ask. As X.O., McCain didn’t get to Midway Islands much anymore, and the Alpha Dogs had rotated to homeport. Another NMCB133 detachment had taken their place.

  Bowie didn’t want another Seabee to take his place with Tam.

  Even if he still wasn’t ready to see her.

  “How do you want her to be?” McCain asked. “Because I could tell you anything, but until you go see for yourself, you’ll never know.”

  “A man should have a future before he asks a woman to be a part of it.”

  “You have a future. Go get it. I put your name in for a new job…overlay manager of Midway Island. For the next three years. It’s yours if you want it. Of course, the command was looking for a single guy to fill the slot because the tour of duty is unaccompanied. But if the guy’s wife already lived on the island, what could they do about it?”

  “I’ll think about it,” Bowie said seriously.

  “What’s there to think about?” McCain said, putting on his cover and taking his leave.

  There was a lot to think about. But maybe he was doing his thinking in the wrong place.

  Fall 2002

  Sand Island, Midway Islands

  “WHAT IS IT THIS TIME?” Tam asked, joining Will on the tarmac in front of the airplane terminal.

  “What do you think is in that cargo hold?” Will asked.

  “What is this, twenty questions?” Tam asked, easing the muscles in her back. “It’s the regular log flight. Let’s just hope there’s toilet paper, since I have to pee every few minutes,” she said, turning and heading for the terminal.

  Once inside the nearest depot, she stepped between two waist-high stacks of empty pallets and dropped her bag. She dug through it for change for the Coke machine. Her hand came in contact with the invitation, and she took it out of the envelope to read.

  “Trouble in paradise?”

  Tam spun around.

  Trouble? Oh, yeah. And she was looking right at him.

  “Boyfriend trouble?” he asked, rephrasing the question.

  “No,” she said, looking him square in the eye. “My boyfriend’s in a coma. If he wasn’t I’m sure he’d pick up a phone and let me know.”

  She wasn’t going to go easy on him. She’d spent the past five months walking around the island with all the Seabees shutting their big traps whenever she was within earshot. At first she thought it was the circumstances of her pregnancy. Single mother, father in a coma…nobody knew what to say to her, congratulations or condolences.

  Then she realized nobody was sayi
ng anything at all.

  Or she’d hear his name slip out and catch the guarded looks. Finally she came right out and asked her father, and he told her the truth.

  She’d also told him that if news traveled both ways, she’d disown him. She didn’t need some sailor thinking he had to put a ring on her finger because he’d knocked her up.

  “I don’t know what to say.” He removed his cover. “Because I don’t think I can make you understand why I didn’t come…until now.” He sounded humble, he looked anything but.

  “Please just leave.”

  “I can’t do that. I’ve been assigned to Midway for the next few years.”

  The color drained from her face.

  “I’m sorry if that upsets you.” He wrung his garrison cap in his hands. “I’m sorry if I waited too long. I loved you from the first moment I saw you standing right there in that exact spot.”

  Okay, now he looked humble. Tears stung the back of her eyes. She was making a man who’d risked his life for her beg. She knew why he hadn’t called. It wasn’t because he’d abandoned them.

  “I know why you didn’t call. But I’m still pretty damn mad at you.” She was sniffling now, but she hadn’t offered him any encouragement, so he made no move toward her.

  Sometimes heroes needed a push in the right direction.

  “Just say you love me.”

  “Toi khong biet, I love you, honey.”

  “Toi khong biet, nhieu lam. I love you, too much. And now I’m ashamed to say I let pride stand in the way of telling you something I should have told you a long time ago.”

  “You can tell me anything.”

  “Remember that night?” The one and only time they’d ever made love.

  “How could I ever forget?”

  “Trust me, you’re never going to forget.”

  She gauged his response. He didn’t get it.

  Why did men have to have such thick skulls? Then again, maybe it was a good thing Bowie did.

  She stepped out from behind the pallets, cradling her protruding stomach.

  He stared at her middle.

  “Say something,” she said.

  “I don’t know what to say.” He shifted his sea-green eyes to her face. “I’m in shock.”

  “Then just hold me.”

  He reached for her, and she met him halfway.

  “We’re going to have a baby,” he said. “I’m going to be a father. You’re going to be a mother.” His tone softened. “We’re going to be a family. I think we’re missing something here.”

  “What could possibly be missing?”

  He reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a diamond solitaire. “The ring.”

  EPILOGUE

  February 14, 2003

  Barber’s Point, Hawaii

  A CLIFFTOP WEDDING overlooking a Hawaiian sunset, what could be a more perfect setting for a wedding? Bowie escorted his mother up the white-carpeted aisle on his arm. “Bride or groom?” he asked.

  “Where do you want to sit?”

  “Groom. I get a better view of the matron of honor from here.” He ushered his mother into the second row.

  “It’s maid of honor. Only married women are matrons of honor. So when are you going to marry the girl?” Lily Chapel Prince’s whisper sounded like a hiss.

  “You’ll have to ask Tam. She didn’t want to take away from her parents’ big day.”

  “So what was wrong with last month, or the month before that?”

  “We’ll get there.” He hoped. He’d been pressing Tam for that very same answer. He wanted to be married before the baby was born. And since Tam was already overdue their time was running out.

  For months she’d been putting him off with one excuse after another. Too close to her parents’ wedding, too close to their baby’s due date. He was kind of scared she was getting cold feet.

  Seated in front of them were Rob’s parents, his sister, Susan, and her family, which included her husband and four rowdy boys. On the bride’s side were the rest of Tam’s newfound family—Lan’s brother, Bay, his wife and their three kids. Coworkers and friends filled the remaining seats on both sides.

  A man sat alone in the back. Bowie guessed he was Shane O’Connor, the man Tam had told him about. Bowie couldn’t even imagine what it would be like to watch Tam marry another man—he hoped to hell he never had to find out, but things weren’t going exactly as he’d planned.

  The chaplain, the groom and the best man, Bowie’s father, chatted quietly under an arch of white flowers.

  Zach and Michelle slipped into the seats on the other side of his mother. “Happy birthday, little Bo,” Zach said.

  “Have I ever told you how much I hate that name?”

  “Speaking of names,” Michelle said. “Have you picked out baby names yet?”

  “Bay, boy or girl,” he said. “It’s Vietnamese for seventh month or seventh son. It’s a family name.”

  “That’s pretty,” Michelle said.

  “Very pretty,” his mother agreed.

  “She won’t let me add Frisco to the birth certificate.”

  “Smart. Very smart,” the women said in agreement.

  A string quartet began the introduction. The small gathering of friends and family turned. Bowie reached under his chair for the video camera and focused it down the aisle.

  Tam carried a small white nosegay, resting it on top of her expanding girth. She wore a flowing, ankle-length dress in a floral pattern that appealed to him.

  She looked right into the camera as she strolled past, smiling just for him. He lowered the camcorder so he could see her beauty firsthand.

  The first bars of the bridal march began. Everyone stood. And Bowie remembered to shift the camera as Lan Nguyen started down the aisle in a pale yellow dress.

  By the time the bride reached the altar his thoughts had once again returned to Tam. He wanted a wedding just like this one. Except he and all his buddies would be dressed in their choker whites. And Tam would be wearing a long white bridal gown.

  But they weren’t reciting their vows today.

  He wasn’t going to kiss the bride. Well, he probably would give his soon-to-be mother-in-law a kiss. But he wasn’t going to be kissing his bride today.

  Tears glistened in Tam’s eyes when her parents kissed. Then the happy couple ran back up the aisle. Lan turned midway and tossed the bouquet directly at her daughter, making sure she got the message. At least their families were on his side.

  As the crowd dispersed for the reception, Bowie headed to the altar where Tam still stood. “What’s the matter?” he asked.

  “My back is killing me,” she said, reaching around behind her.

  “Let me do that for you.” He pulled her to the circle of his arms and rubbed her back. “When’s it going to be our turn?” he asked, hoping she’d ease his.

  “You know I love you, Bowie.” That was code for back off, don’t pressure me. He was learning to interpret her language very well. He just wasn’t fluent.

  “Bowie,” she said.

  “Yes, honey?”

  “I have a birthday present for you.”

  “You already gave me my present this morning. Remember?”

  She blushed at the reminder. “This is an even better one, and it can’t wait. You better pull the car around.”

  “Seriously?”

  She nodded. “But don’t make a fuss. I don’t want to spoil the day.”

  “How could you possibly think the birth of our baby is going to spoil anyone’s—”

  “The car. Now. Please.”

  “Sit down, then. I’ll be right back.”

  “Don’t forget the suitcase.”

  He and Tam were both on leave, staying in Hawaii at the Stevens’s home until after the wedding and the baby. It looked like both were happening today.

  He was so excited he didn’t know which way to turn. Or which dad to borrow the car from. They were both standing together so he walked up to them and said as casu
ally as possible, “Dad, can I borrow the car keys?”

  Both his dad and Stevens reached in their pockets for a set of keys.

  “I’ve got it,” Stevens said. “This one’s a present for Bowie. It’s a Porsche I owe him. Happy Birthday.”

  Well, that oughtta get them to the hospital fast.

  Wait, this wasn’t a race. Maybe he needed something more subdued for the ride.

  “Thanks, Dad. And thanks, Dad,” he said, taking both sets of keys.

  He headed back toward Tam. She had the wooden folding chair in a death grip.

  “Do you need me to carry you?” he asked.

  She gave him a death-ray glare.

  “No, okay, then Dad’s car is just out front.”

  He walked and she waddled to the front yard as inconspicuously as possible to the front of the house, which had become a parking lot.

  “Help!” Bowie screamed at the top of his lungs as panic set in. “I need keys! I need keys!”

  The guests ran toward the front of the house. By this time Tam had doubled over, and he was trying to keep her on her feet.

  “I forgot the suitcase,” he shouted to his brother, who got right on it.

  Stevens took charge and found the owner of the car closest to the exit, then grabbed the keys and got behind the wheel. Between moans and groans, Bowie managed to get Tam into the back seat and to crawl in beside her. Before he could shut the door his brother tossed in the suitcase.

  Then Lan climbed in the front seat next to her husband of a few minutes. “Breathe, Tam, remember to breathe,” she instructed.

  Hey, that was his job.

  But it sounded like good advice to Bowie. He released his tie and remembered to take a few breaths, before coaching Tam.

  But they weren’t rolling yet. Both the right side doors were still open and his mother was getting into the back seat.

  “I’ve got the video camera,” she announced, holding the camera and dropping Tam’s satchel to the floorboards.

  “Can we get going?” he asked impatiently.

  “We’re waiting on one more person,” Lan said, just as the chaplain took the last seat up and closed the door.

  The car started to move. Stevens was in charge of the driving. His mom and Lan were breathing with Tam. The chaplain was reciting wedding vows that nobody was listening to. And he felt left out.