The Marine Meets His Match

by Cathie Linz

  “I had no idea Heidi was going to pull a stunt like this,” Rad assured Serena once he had her in a relatively quiet corner. “I told her not to.”

  “And we can see how well she obeyed that order.” Serena’s voice was tart.

  “This isn’t my fault.”

  But she wasn’t listening to him. All she could hear was her father’s voice from the other side of the room.

  No, it wasn’t Rad’s fault that her parents had shown up tonight. It wasn’t his fault that her father couldn’t seem to accept her for who she was. It wasn’t his fault that the age-old hurt and resentment from her childhood was coming back with a vengeance.

  She was an adult now. She should be able to handle situations like this. “How did Heidi get all these people here?”

  “I don’t know, but I plan on finding out.”

  “Not now.” She grabbed his arm. “Don’t make a scene now.” Her father was doing that on his own, she didn’t need to add more fuel to the fire.

  “Okay.”

  Serena stuck it out, the smile she used to placate difficult customers plastered to her face, for as long as she could. But the humiliation was growing by the second.

  Then she heard it, the words she’d been dreading all night.

  “There’s nothing wrong with being rebellious,” Striker’s wife Kate said, defending Serena. “I wish I’d been more rebellious as a teenager.”

  “Serena was more than rebellious. She was a regular juvenile delinquent. She was arrested for theft, you know,” her father declared in that booming voice of his.

  All conversation in the room ceased.

  Serena had had enough. She couldn’t breathe. “I can’t do this!”

  She had to get out! She ran to the nearest exit, not caring that it was an emergency exit and that the alarms went off as she left.

  By the time Rad made his way through the chaotic crowd and got outside, Serena had disappeared.

  A moment later, Frank joined him, shaking his head. “She’s up to her old tricks again. Disappearing when the going gets tough.”

  Wanda put a restraining hand on Rad’s arm, as if sensing that Rad was just itching to deck the older man and that only years of Marine Corps training was keeping his anger under wraps.

  “You should not be insulting my grandson’s fiancée the way you have been doing. That is very wrong of you.” Wanda shook a finger at Frank. “You have no idea how lucky you are to have a daughter like Serena. Someone so clever and hardworking. So kind and generous. A real man would be proud of such a daughter!”

  Deciding his grandmother could take care of giving Frank the business, Rad concentrated his efforts at looking for Serena. He checked the parking lot, the businesses next door, but there was no sign of her.

  Serena didn’t stop running until a stitch in her side proved to be too painful to ignore any longer. Somehow she’d ended up several blocks away from the restaurant, on the beach, the sand pouring into her strappy sandals. Leaning over to catch her breath, she kicked her shoes off.

  The rhythmic sound of the ocean soothed her battered soul. It was amazing how much words could hurt. They left bruises as surely as physical blows.

  She’d never been sure why her father couldn’t love her. He had once. She remembered being cuddled as a little kid, remembered him smiling at her and calling her his pumpkin. But once she’d gotten older and had started questioning his orders, things had changed.

  The harder he’d been on her, the more she’d acted out, starting a destructive cycle that hadn’t ended until the night she’d graduated from high school and taken his car without permission.

  She’d lied and told her mother that he’d said it was okay. It was a lie that would cost her dearly.

  Her father had reported the car stolen.

  The police found her at three in the morning. She could still remember how terrified she’d been at seeing the flashing lights of the squad car in the Ford’s rear-view mirror.

  She’d tried to explain that she wasn’t a thief, that the car belonged to her father. The burly cop hadn’t cared.

  He’d placed her in the back of the cruiser as if she were a common criminal. She’d been fingerprinted and interrogated.

  “This is all a mistake,” she’d kept telling them. “A big mistake.”

  “It’s a big mistake, all right.” The cop had looked down at her sternly. “A big mistake you made, young lady.”

  She’d gotten one phone call. She’d called home. Her father had answered. She’d tried not to cry as she’d told him where she was.

  “I know,” he’d said. “Maybe this will teach you a lesson.”

  It had.

  Serena sat on the beach, her position the same one she’d adopted that night she’d spent in lockup—her bent knees locked to her chest, her arms tightly wrapped around them as she tried to make herself as small and inconspicuous as possible.

  The moon came out from behind a cloud, shimmering down on the waves rolling onto the beach. A sea breeze ruffled her hair. She reached up to touch her face, surprised to feel a tear rolling down her cheek.

  That night had changed everything for her. She’d no longer hoped for the best. She’d expected the worst. At least where her parents were concerned. And she’d left her father’s house. He’d kicked her out, but leaving immediately was the one thing they’d both agreed on.

  She’d packed up the four boxes she’d always had to fit her belongings into for every move and had gone to a girlfriend’s house for a few days. Since Serena had already been accepted at UNCW, she’d simply gone to Wilmington early.

  It had been hard at first, but she’d managed, getting a job as a waitress, moving in with three other girls for the summer until her dorm room was available.

  That had been eleven years ago, but some wounds didn’t disappear with time.

  Oh, they healed over, but the scab remained. And tonight’s debacle had brought it all back with a vengeance.

  She wiped her tears away but they kept silently coming, slowly but consistently.

  Her engagement ring glowed in the moonlight. Rad wouldn’t want to continue the charade any longer, not now that he’d met her father and heard about her past. His fellow Marines had been there as well, men he worked with. Now they all knew that she wasn’t the sedate bookseller she’d worked so hard to become.

  Humiliation washed over her as surely as the waves hitting the shore. Her father’s cruel barbs were impaled deep within her. Maybe this pain was the price she had to pay for her sins of the past.

  Lucy knew her history. Lucy would understand. Serena reached for her cell phone and dialed her best friend’s number, then belatedly remembered that she and her family had gone down to Disney World for ten days. But before she could disconnect, someone answered. It was Lucy’s twenty-four-year-old younger brother Bobby, who was house- and pet-sitting. “Hey, Serena, howyadoin?”

  “Any chance you could come give me a lift?” she asked in a wobbly voice.

  He was there within minutes. By then Serena had text messaged Rad to let him know that she was okay and not to come after her tonight. She’d had all the upheaval she could handle for one evening.

  “That future father-in-law of yours is some piece of work,” Striker noted.

  “Yeah.” Rad couldn’t concentrate. He just needed to know Serena was okay.

  “We could start a search party and go after her,” Striker suggested.

  It’s what Rad wanted to do. But he suspected Serena would hate that, being tracked like an enemy combatant. “No.”

  “Your wife is looking for you,” Ben told Striker as he joined them. He waited until he and Rad were alone before speaking again. “What are you going to do now?”

  Rad looked down at his cell phone and the text message he’d just this moment received from Serena. As difficult as it was, he had to go against his natural instinct to confirm for himself that she was okay.

  She didn’t want to see him.

  He couldn�
��t blame her.

  “Serena was never comfortable with any of this, you know.” Rad’s voice was flat. “She didn’t like the deception. I practically had to force her to do what I wanted. She accused me of being like her father, but I didn’t get it. Not until tonight. Now I understand what she meant.”

  “There’s no way you’re like him.”

  “Think about it. He wanted her to be obedient, to do what he wanted.”

  “Most guys feel that way at one time or another.”

  “Yeah, but most of them don’t act on it. They don’t create situations where the other party has no choice. At least, real men don’t do that.”

  “You didn’t blackmail her into saying yes.”

  “I might as well have. I knew she was in tough financial straits. So I made her an offer she couldn’t refuse.”

  “I repeat, what are you going to do now?”

  “I’m going to make it right.”

  “How are you going to do that?”

  After Rad observed her father complaining about his daughter and how headstrong and difficult she’d always been, he finally understood what Serena had told him before. He didn’t hit me with his fists. His words were as powerful as a punch.

  “She told me how she hated being bossed around. I could see how important freedom of choice was to her. But by arm-twisting her into this fake engagement, I took that away from her. In the very beginning, I made a big deal out of telling myself that marriage wasn’t for me, how I wasn’t giving up my freedom. I valued it. But I didn’t value Serena’s freedom. The freedom to make her own choices was as important to Serena as the Marine Corps values of honor, courage and commitment are to me.”

  “Talk to her.”

  Rad nodded, but he already knew that there was only one thing to be done. Rad had to put things right for her, no matter what the cost.

  When Serena entered her apartment later she saw the light blinking on her answering machine. Bella ran to greet her and started purring. Picking up the small cat, she cradled it against her chest and rubbed her face against the plush gray fur.

  Bella’s purr got even louder.

  Here was unconditional love.

  The moment was interrupted by the sound of pounding on her door. Bella flew out of her arms and headed under the couch. Serena wished she could join her.

  But there was no point putting off the inevitable. She might as well face the music. She opened the door, expecting to see Rad. Instead she found her parents standing there.

  “We need to talk.” Her mother’s voice was so uncharacteristically emphatic that Serena was momentarily stunned.

  Iris walked into the apartment with her husband in tow.

  “I think I’ve already heard enough about how difficult I am for one evening,” Serena wearily noted.

  “You should have told us you were engaged,” her father said.

  “You should have told the police that I didn’t steal your car,” Serena shot back, that devastating moment still fresh in her mind thanks to his comments this evening.

  “I wanted to teach you a lesson.”

  “What lesson? That you didn’t love me? Believe me, I already knew that.”

  “Sure,” he growled, “blame me for all your mistakes.”

  “That’s enough, Frank,” her mother said.

  Her sharp voice had both Serena and her father staring at her in amazement.

  Squaring her shoulders, Iris seemed to grow in stature before Serena’s eyes. “This has gone on long enough.” Iris faced her husband, her gaze direct. “I will not allow you to ruin Serena’s happiness. I’ve stood quietly by for far too long. I can’t change the past, but I can prevent history from repeating itself. Enough is enough. Either you shape up, Frank, or I’m leaving you.”

  Frank was stunned. “You…you’ve never spoken to me like that before,” he sputtered in disbelief.

  “Maybe I should have. I love you, Frank, but there are times when you can be a donkey’s behind. I haven’t stayed with you all these years because you made me. I did it because I love you. Now you be a man about it. Look your daughter in the eye.” She turned him to face Serena. “See the pain that you’ve caused her and then swear you won’t hurt her again, that you’re going to honor her choices. Tell her that you love her.”

  It was a life-altering moment for them all. Serena froze, unable to believe this was really happening.

  She wanted to swing away from her father’s inspection, but couldn’t—not given her mother’s astounding burst of courage. So Serena met her father’s gaze head-on. At first she hid her pain beneath the cloak of resentment and rebellion that she’d used to hide her emotions since her adolescent years. But then she recognized her old patterns for what they were.

  Despite the huge emotional risk, she let some of the rejection and pain show through.

  Frank looked into his daughter’s eyes and slowly his expression changed. The stubbornness and hardness fell away as he finally saw the damage he’d done.

  Serena saw something flicker in his green eyes, so like her own. It was a combination of things she’d never seen before.

  Vulnerability.

  Regret.

  Sorrow.

  In the end all Frank could say was “I’m sorry” before his voice broke and he uncertainly held out his arms.

  Serena took one hesitant step forward, then another.

  Her father met her more than halfway, taking her in his arms for a bear hug like he used to give her as a child.

  Serena had been so consumed by the painful moments in her past that she’d almost forgotten the good ones. She’d briefly remembered them on the beach earlier that evening, but only in comparison to her father’s later behavior.

  Now she closed her eyes, inhaled the smell of Old Spice and allowed the good memories to return….

  Like the time her father had taken her to a football game and let her sit on his lap because she was too small to see over the heads of the other people. He’d gotten her a hot dog and hadn’t complained when she’d gotten mustard all over herself and him.

  He’d taken her trick-or-treating, come to father-daughter night at the middle school she’d just entered, painted her pink with Calamine lotion when she’d gotten chicken pox at age eight.

  They’d gotten far off track, but Serena suddenly had a flicker of hope that with help and time, they could find their way back.

  It was a start. A milestone, really. She didn’t think she’d ever heard her father apologize for anything before in her entire life. And she’d certainly never seen her mother become so assertive.

  This was all new territory, but it felt like one filled with hope and possibilities.

  When her parents left a short while later, with the promise to meet again for breakfast, Serena felt at peace for the first time in years.

  But that newfound serenity was shattered moments later when she played the single message on her answering machine.

  Chapter Eleven

  Rad’s expressive voice filled the room as it floated up from the tiny answering machine speaker. I’m sorry I dragged you into this mess of an engagement, but you don’t have to worry about it any longer. I’m calling it off and setting you free.

  Rad was calling off the engagement! The words all blurred together as Serena’s knees gave way and she sank onto a dining-room chair.

  Serena was devastated. Had her father’s talk about her wild past and arrest made Rad ashamed of her? Was he breaking off their engagement because of that? Because she was no longer suitable, even as a fictional fiancée?

  The old Serena would have taken her pain and angrily shoved it deep down inside. But the new Serena examined her emotions and Rad’s. She’d just been through an epiphany with her parents. She wasn’t going to jump to conclusions here.

  What’s not to get? Serena Serious demanded. It’s over.

  He didn’t say that, Serena Sensuous denied. There’s something else going on here.

  What exactly had he said
? Every word mattered now. She was searching for clues.

  She played the message again, this time noting his voice when he talked about setting her free. His inflection was definitely on the word free, along with the comment about her not worrying anymore.

  Which meant what?

  Bella popped her head out from beneath the couch, cautiously checking to see if the coast was clear. Once she’d assured herself it was, she strolled out as if she hadn’t just been spooked. Her recovery time really was remarkable.

  Serena needed to take a page out of Bella’s book.

  The cat jumped up on Serena’s lap before curling up and starting to purr. Within sixty seconds Oshi had joined her.

  The image of Rad, laid out on her dining-room floor trying to coax the cats to play, to trust him, came vividly to mind.

  Serena reviewed what she knew—that she loved him. That he seemed eager to reassure her that she was free. That maybe he finally understood how important freedom was to her, now that she valued love more.

  Okay, there was only one thing to be done here. She loved Rad. She needed to take action.

  “I’m not letting him go without a fight!” Saying the words aloud made them seem more powerful. After the breakthrough she’d had with her father, she had to believe that anything was possible. Coming to terms with her past gave her the courage to go after him.

  “Right, girls?” Okay, so a part of her was still nervous enough to check with her cats. Her version of Clay’s Mystical Magic Ball. Oshi and Bella gazed up at her. “Blink once if you agree with me.”

  They did.

  Not that Serena would have abandoned her plans if they hadn’t, but still it was nice to get a sign, even one as lame as a feline blink.

  “Good girls.” She rubbed a cat with each hand, focusing on the spot behind their ears that was a favorite of theirs.

  A moment later, a knock on the door startled them all.

  Rad?

  The cats flew off into the bedroom while Serena flew to the door, too excited to even remember to check the peephole before opening the door.

  Heidi stood there.

  Serena’s stomach dropped to the other side of the universe. “Haven’t you created enough trouble for one night?”