He approached her and cupped her elbow. “Is there someplace we can go and talk?”
She nodded. “Yes. Come to my office.” Angela unlocked the door to the hallway leading to exam rooms, her office and the private offices of Drs. Franklin and Hawkins. She smiled at the X-ray technician. Stepping aside, she allowed Lee to enter the space with barely enough room for a desk, love seat and side table.
Lee reached for her left hand. “I have to leave for Seattle.”
Angela’s body stiffened in shock. “Why?”
“One of my buddies who graduated Ranger School with me was involved in a head-on accident. His pickup caught fire and he would’ve died if several good Samaritans hadn’t risked their lives to extricate him before the car exploded. He was airlifted to a burn center with severe head trauma and burns over the lower half of his body. His wife says he’s now in a medically induced coma.”
Angela remembered an adolescent boy running into the clinic, screaming in pain after he’d sustained burns to his face. Dr. Franklin had quickly assessed he had second-degree burns and directed the EMTs to transport him to the county hospital’s trauma unit. “At least he’s not aware of the pain.”
Lee nodded. “I don’t know how long I’m going to be away, and now with Vivi going on vacation I don’t feel comfortable about you staying at the house by yourself.”
“I think you’re overreacting. If you were staying at The Falls House you would know Viviana had the place wired once she closed the boardinghouse. All I have to do is sync the security system with my phone, and if I see or detect anything suspicious I’ll dial 911.” There were no-delay sensors on the rear and side doors and motion detectors positioned in easily accessible areas.
“You’re right. I am overreacting.” Releasing her hand, he reached into the pocket of his jacket, and removed a small, velvet box. “I hadn’t planned to give this to you until Friday.” Lee opened the top to reveal a magnificent emerald-cut ruby ring surrounded by brilliant blue-white diamonds.
Angela clapped a hand over her mouth. “Oh, no!” she repeated over and over. Grasping her left hand, he slipped the ring on her finger. It was a perfect fit. “It’s beautiful. When did you buy it? Why now? How did you get my ring size?” The words were tumbling over one another.
Cradling her face between his palms, Lee gently kissed her mouth, and then went down on one knee. “Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
Tears flooded her eyes as she struggled not to cry. “Yes, I will.”
Lee rose and kissed her again. “I have to go.”
Angela fisted her hands to stop their trembling. “How are you getting to the airport?”
“A driver is outside waiting for me. I’ll call you once we’re on the ground.”
“Be safe.”
Lee angled his head and flashed a smile that did not quite reach his luminous eyes, and Angela knew he was worried about his buddy. He had buried one friend and she prayed he wouldn’t have to stand at the graveside of another soldier.
He took her hands and kissed her fingers. “I will.”
Turning on his heel, he walked out of the office, leaving Angela staring at his broad shoulders until he disappeared from her line of vision. She closed the door and sat down again. Instead of resuming billing, she swiveled on the chair and stared out the window overlooking the rear parking lot. The joy of wearing her fiancé’s engagement ring paled when she thought of what his friend’s wife was going through. She had been there herself.
Once Justin made the decision to drop out of medical school and enlist he’d talked at length about the pros and cons of becoming a soldier. He wasn’t certain whether he would be deployed and took out additional insurance in case something happened to him. Angela remembered becoming inconsolable when she accused him of being fatalistic, but he must have had a premonition about dying.
And when word reached her that her husband had given his life in the service of his country she had gone completely numb. She’d wanted to cry but couldn’t. It wasn’t until she saw his flag-draped casket that she was able to accept that she was a widow, carrying two babies who would never see their father.
The sunlight coming through the window fired the blood-red stone and diamonds on her hand. It was the second time she’d accepted a marriage proposal. The first was from a man who chose the military over medicine, and the second had given up his military career to support his sister. Voices in the parking lot shattered her reverie and she once again focused on billing.
* * *
Angela woke when she heard the programmed ringtone. She’d attempted to stay up and wait for Lee’s call. He’d left her a text that he had arrived safely and would contact her later.
She glanced at the time on the phone. It was minutes after midnight, which meant it was nine o’clock in Seattle. “Hello.”
“Did I wake you, babe?”
“I was just dozing,” she lied.
“No, you weren’t. You were asleep.”
She exhaled an audible sigh. “Yeah.”
“I’m sorry, Angela. Go back to sleep. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“It’s already tomorrow.” Now she was wide awake. “How’s your buddy?”
“He’s still in a coma. Doctors say he’s critical, but they expect him to pull through. Even with the burns and two broken legs, his vitals are stable. It’s his wife who’s a mess. She had to be sedated.”
“Where are you staying?”
“I’m spending the night at her house along with three other guys. Richie’s parents and his sister and brother-in-law are flying in from Ohio and will be here tomorrow afternoon. Once they get here I’m going to check in to a hotel.”
“Tell Richie’s wife I’m going to say a prayer for her husband’s recovery.”
“I’m certain she’ll appreciate all the prayers that come her way.”
“Lee?”
“Yes?”
“I miss you.”
“I miss you, too.”
“Good night.”
“Sleep tight.”
A beeping sound indicated Lee had ended the call.
Angela shifted onto her side and closed her eyes.
Sleep had become her enemy. She tossed and turned and when she finally woke the twisted sheets bore the evidence of her restlessness. She lay in bed until the alarm on her phone went off. It was time for her to get up and get ready for work.
Lee knew he’d shocked Angela when she saw him leaning against her Honda’s bumper. He’d reserved a car to take him from the Charleston airport to Wickham Falls. Separated by three thousand miles and a three-hour time difference, he’d been forced to examine the depth of his feelings for the woman who’d accepted his proposal.
Many years ago, he’d sat in the school cafeteria pretending interest in his notes or a textbook when he’d surreptitiously stared at a tall, beautiful girl with a quick smile and a hypnotically modulated voice sitting at the next table with a boy he’d assumed was her boyfriend. Then, one day he’d glanced up to find her looking directly at him. There was something in her eyes that enthralled him and it was the first time he experienced a teenage crush.
Lee knew firsthand how some residents in The Falls resented anyone with Wolfe blood. And his father’s criminal behavior had further tainted the family. He knew people were waiting for him to mess up while he was determined to prove them wrong. He stood straight, extended his arms and wasn’t disappointed when Angela came into his embrace.
* * *
Angela couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw Lee with a black leather carry-on. She’d spoken to him earlier that morning and he hadn’t mentioned he was coming home. Going on tiptoe, she kissed his stubble. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming back?”
He stared at her under lowered lids. “What happened to welcome home?”
“Welcome home.
”
“That’s better. I wanted to surprise you.”
“You succeeded.” She traced the outline of his eyebrow with her forefinger. “You look exhausted.”
“I admit to being a little sleep-deprived.”
Angela pressed the button on the handle of the van, unlocking the doors. “Get in. I’m taking you home.”
Lee picked up his carry-on. “Will you spend the night with me?”
She heard a pleading in his voice and knew he didn’t need to be alone. Whenever she asked about his friend, he claimed nothing had changed. That it would be a while before the doctors would bring him out of the coma and monitor his discomfort with pain medication. Angela wondered if Lee was thinking about his father, whose downward spiral into drug addiction had begun with the opioids prescribed to him in the VA hospital.
“I’ll spend as many nights with you as you want,” she said quietly.
Cupping the back of her head with his free hand, Lee lowered his head and kissed her until she struggled to breathe. “Let’s go home.”
* * *
Lee was exhausted but he didn’t want to sleep until he made love to the woman lying next to him. He managed to shower and brush his teeth without falling on his face and got into bed while Angela unpacked his bag and put up a load of laundry. He dozed off and on while she showered and then got into bed with him. He hadn’t bothered to close the drapes and light from a near-full moon silvered the space in an eerie glow.
It wasn’t the first time they would share a bed, but tonight it was different for him. He had forced himself not to make love to Angela until she wore his ring. The ruby and diamond symbolized love and commitment and his desire to grow old with her.
Turning to face her, he rested a hand on her belly under one of his T-shirts.
Lee reversed their positions and pressed her body down on the mattress. Lowering his head, he nuzzled her neck. “I didn’t make love to you because I didn’t want you to think I only wanted you for sex.”
“I was under the assumption you wanted to wait until we’re married.”
He trailed kisses along the column of her silken scent neck. “You assumed wrong, princess. There’s no way I could remain celibate around you and not lose my mind.” His hand slipped between her legs and covered her mound.
“I’m not on birth control.”
Lee shifted slightly and reached over to open the drawer in the bedside table and took out a condom. “Don’t worry, babe. I’ll take care of it.”
* * *
Angela experienced the full range of foreplay for the first time since becoming sexually active. Lee had kept his promise to sample her body as if she were a smorgasbord, starting with nibbling that began with her mouth and then every inch of her body until he tasted the soles of her feet. She quivered at the tenderness of his kiss and when he slipped on the condom, parted her legs and entered her, she surrendered completely to the erotic pleasure she had forgotten existed. Passion swept through her like a lit fuse, burning hotter and brighter until she felt something explode inside her in a brilliant shower of ecstasy. She still hadn’t returned from her sensual free fall when Lee groaned out his own pleasure as they climaxed simultaneously.
They lay together, still joined, enjoying the aftermath of a shared fulfillment making them one with the other. “I love you.” The three words she’d wanted to tell him days before slipped out unbidden.
Lee raised his head and stared at her. “Do you know long I’ve waited for you to tell me that you love me?”
Angela shook her head. “No. How long has it been, Lee?”
“Fifteen years. I fell in love with you before you came over and introduced yourself.”
Angela cradled Lee’s face. “A few times I’d ask myself how different my life would’ve been if I’d met you first.”
“How much different would it be?”
“I wouldn’t be a widow.”
“You forget that I am also a soldier.”
“You were a soldier, and now you’re a civilian. And please don’t repeat what guys in the Corps claim—once a marine, always a marine—and say it’s the same with an army ranger.”
He kissed her nose. “The only thing I’m going to say is that good things come to those who wait.” He pulled out. “I’m going to the bathroom to throw away the condom.”
Angela rose slightly and stared at his magnificent nude body. The older Lee had opened up and revealed things about himself she never would’ve or could’ve imagined. He’d admitted to being mature enough to become a husband and father, and he’d just demonstrated that by talking to her instead of shutting her out. If she had one pet peeve about her first husband, then it was his inability to openly communicate with her.
She closed her eyes and waited for Lee to come back to bed. She smiled when his warmth enveloped her as he rested an arm over her hip. “Good night, darling.”
“Sleep tight, princess.”
Chapter Eleven
Angela hugged her children so tightly they squirmed to get away from her. Six weeks had passed quickly and she had driven to Charleston to meet her parents’ flight from Los Angeles. She was disappointed when her father revealed they had booked at flight from Charleston to Daytona Beach for later that afternoon instead of spending a couple of days in Wickham Falls.
Holding on to her son and daughter’s hands, she met her mother’s eyes. “What on earth have you been feeding them? They’ve grown at least an inch since I last saw them.”
Emmaline Banks smiled. Still very attractive at sixty, the college English professor ruffled Malcolm’s hair. “Their Aunt Cassidy, who’s now a total vegetarian, introduced them to dishes they would’ve normally turned their noses up at.”
Angela’s brother, Nathan Jr., or Nat, for short, had married a California girl who was a yoga teacher and health fanatic.
She stared at her father. Nathan Banks, Sr., who’d been appointed dean of student affairs by college trustees, had shaved his head when he began balding several years ago. He’d recently added a neatly barbered mustache and goatee to his sculpted, angular face. Angela always felt her genes had compromised when she inherited her father’s height and complexion, and her mother’s features and hair texture, while her twins hadn’t inherited any of the Bankses’ physical characteristics.
Emmaline reached for Angela’s left hand. “It’s beautiful, sweetheart. I hope he makes you happy.”
She blushed. “He does. I’d wanted you to stay a few days so you could get to know Lee better.”
“Don’t worry, baby girl,” Nathan said, smiling. “Make sure you let us know once you set the date. We’ll try and take off a couple of days before to help with whatever you need to make your big day special.”
“Thanks, Daddy.”
“Your mother and I will wait with the kids while you go and get your car. Then we’re going through security to get something to eat before we have to board our next flight.”
She hunkered down to the twins’ height. “I’m going to get the van, then I’ll be back to take you to see Grammie.”
Zoe looked around her. “Where’s Grammie?”
“She’s home waiting for you.”
Angela walked out of the terminal to the lot where she’d parked the minivan. Her parents had checked the car seats and the kids’ luggage to Charleston. She retrieved her vehicle and when she stopped curbside her parents were waiting outside. Her father helped her secure the car seats, and within minutes Malcolm and Zoe were seated and strapped in. She stored their bags with colorful animated characters in the cargo area, hugged and kissed her mother, and then her father. They waited, waving to her as she pulled away from the curb and into traffic leading to the airport exit.
She was going to live with her mother-in-law again until repairs to The Falls House were completed. Angela had stayed with Lee until it came time for he
r children to return home. She’d told Joyce that she was moving back with the twins until she and Lee married, then they were moving permanently to the bed-and-breakfast.
Joyce appeared overjoyed to once more have her grandbabies under her roof. She had met with Viviana and agreed to provide the baked goods for the bed-and-breakfast.
It had been two weeks since work had begun on the newly incorporated Wickham Falls Bed-and-Breakfast. Lee drove over to meet the construction crew who arrived at six in the morning to begin repairing and renovating the interiors while another team arrived two hours later to concentrate on the exterior. Viviana, having returned from her cruise, had temporarily moved into one of the guesthouses.
“Mama, I’m sleepy,” Zoe said, as she tried to stifle a yawn.
Angela glanced up at the rearview mirror. “Go to sleep, baby. It’s going to be a while before we get home. You should also take a nap, Malcolm. I’ll wake you when we get to Grammie’s house.” The drive from the state capital to The Falls took an hour, barring traffic delays.
“Okay, Mama.”
She knew the twins missed their overindulgent paternal grandmother. There wasn’t anything they asked for that Joyce didn’t try to give them.
Joyce was waiting on the porch when she pulled into the driveway. She came down. “I can’t believe they’ve grown so much in just a few weeks.”
Angela unsnapped their harnesses. “That’s what I told my mother.” She woke Zoe and took her out of the seat. “You’re going to have to stand up like a big girl,” she said when the child’s knees buckled slightly. Her parents had gotten them up early to make it to the airport.
Malcolm woke with wide eyes and spotted his grandmother. “Grammie!”
Zoe came alert. “Grammie!”
Joyce took Zoe’s hand. “Come give Grammie a kiss.”
Twins for the Soldier Page 14