by Jordan Dane
Sam lifted the corner of his lip into a tired smile.
“I gave her a rain check. Guess you might say we have unfinished business.”
“A promise is a promise.” Grey shrugged.
“Call me tomorrow, Sam,” Athena said. “I have something to share, but nothing that can’t wait. Go be with your mother…and Kate.”
Sam left with a hard-fought grin and he didn’t look back.
***
Pinecrest Memorial Hospital and Trauma Center
10:50 pm
Before the firefight at the safe house, Sam doubted his plan in every way imaginable. Dark scenarios played out in his mind, each more cruel than the last. He wanted to be at the hospital, worrying over his mother, even though he knew he didn’t have much of a choice.
He had to draw Camila’s fire and risk everything—for his mother’s sake and Kate—and he had to find a scheme to end the senseless violence of the Borrego cartel to protect his team. But that hadn’t stopped him from worrying.
When he found Kate at the hospital, he stopped before she saw him and watched her. She touched his heart like no other woman had. Maybe he had always been hers, even when she didn’t feel the same, but now it mattered how she felt—about him.
You used to love me once, he thought.
Sam had things he wanted to say to her. She’d risked her life, taking on a hurricane and a Cuban drug cartel, to search for Geneva as if she were her own mother. Kate was a strong, intelligent woman who spoke her mind and they had history. Good history. She’d trusted him with her virginity. That meant something to him. It still did.
You marked me, Kate Cypress.
When Kate turned and found him staring at her, he saw tears fill her eyes and every word he’d rehearsed left him.
She took a step toward him, without a word, and never took her gaze off him. Mud caked her uniform and she had a smudge on her face. Her silky dark hair had leaves and dust in it, but she never looked more beautiful to him.
In the end, Sam didn’t need words at all. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. Her skin warmed his body and her hands were eager. He lifted her off the floor and kissed her deep, never wanting their intimacy to end. Her lips tasted sweet and he breathed her into his body, craving every sense of her, until the world faded to nothing except Kate in his arms. He never wanted to forget the moment he knew.
He would always love her.
Chapter 9
Tampa, Florida
Morning
A week later
Any remnants of the hurricane had gone. Only the clean up remained and life went on for some.
Set against the clear blue sky, the morning sunlight glimmered on the waters of the bay, making diamonds across the undulating waves. The promising day radiated hope, a sentiment Athena Madero could not embrace. She and the rest of the Omega Team had come to mourn the death of Clive Landry—one of their own.
The hearse that carried his body from the church to the cemetery drove slowly through the streets of Tampa. A long line of cars, with headlights shining, trailed behind the hearse carrying Clive to his final resting place. People lined the roadside and stood across overhead bridges waving American flags and saluting.
It didn’t matter what uniform they wore, or in which war they served—men and women paid tribute to Clive, lined up by the hundreds along city streets. Civilians placed a hand over their hearts as the hearse drove by. At one location, a steel crane hoisted a huge American flag that wafted slowly in the breeze over the heads of countless people who came to honor him.
“They’re all here for your father, Melissa,” Grey said. His voice cracked with emotion. “Look at this. It’s unbelievable.”
“Your father left his mark on this world,” Athena said. “He touched all these people.”
With every tribute, Athena cried fresh tears as the city mourned one of its own—a brave soldier who paid the ultimate price, living his life as one of the good guys. It made her proud to have known him. She and the Omega Team had been blessed to serve alongside him.
Athena squeezed the hand of Melissa, Clive’s pregnant daughter, as she sat beside her in the backseat of the limo that followed the hearse.
“I didn’t see Sam Rafferty at the church.” Melissa sobbed. “Daddy loved him…like a son.”
“Sam took it hard, but don’t give up on him.”
Athena spoke with more confidence than she felt. As she glanced at Grey, who sat on the other side of Clive’s daughter and shared the same concerned expression, she hoped she was right about Sam.
In truth, she didn’t know what he would do.
Athena hadn’t told Sam about what happened to Clive until the day after Camila Borrego died. With Geneva Rafferty recovering from her gunshot wounds, Sam had enough to worry about.
She remembered the weighty silence between them after she told Sam what had happened to Clive and told him about the memorial service and funeral. When he did eventually speak, Sam didn’t try to hide his tears and the gut wrenching sadness that had found a dark corner in his heart.
“It’s not fair…that Camila Borrego only died once.”
She didn’t speak to Sam after that day. He dug a hole and crawled into it, only surfacing to take care of his mother.
At the cemetery, Melissa nearly collapsed from the depth of her emotion as she saw the hundreds who came. Athena and Grey stood on either side of the young pregnant woman, holding her in their arms.
Clive Landry had touched a lot of lives and his service to a grateful nation brought countless others who didn’t know him personally but wanted to pay him respect. His military brethren—from all branches of service—wore their dress uniforms with solemn pride. Athena never felt so proud.
Clive Landry’s flag-draped coffin was carried from the hearse by an honor guard and placed over his open grave.
Athena couldn’t help it. She searched the crowd of mourners for the face of Sam Rafferty. Something stirred her to look for him. When movement caught her eye, she shifted her gaze to a sycamore tree on the horizon. Sam Rafferty stood underneath the massive shade tree on a rise beyond the grave of Clive Landry.
He wore full dress uniform with white gloves. Against the lush green lawn and blue sky, Sam stood with his chin up and shoulders back—a sight Athena would never forget. Kate Cypress stood at his side dressed in black. The exotic beauty with long dark hair had her arm in his as Sam walked toward the huddled mourners.
“It’s Sam. He came.” Melissa clutched Athena’s hand with fresh tears brimming in her eyes.
As Sam Rafferty approached, all eyes turned toward him and mourners parted like a dark sea. He kept his eyes on the casket with his strong jaw clenched tight before he took his place next to Melissa with Kate at his side.
“Thank you for being here.” Clive’s daughter took the hands of Sam and Kate.
“Do you mind if I say a few words?” Sam asked.
“No. Please do.”
Sam shut his eyes for a moment before he raised his voice and spoke.
“Clive taught me that family isn’t just defined by blood. I’m a better man because I was privileged to know him.”
The trace of a tear glistened on his cheek.
“With acts of violence, nothing is fair and there are no answers that will ever make sense. What I wouldn’t give to have one more day, one more mission, with him.” His voice cracked. “If we are the sum of our memories, it will seem impossible to forget the senseless way he died, but from today forward, I choose to remember how he lived.”
Sam Rafferty shared the stories of how he would remember his friend. He made Melissa smile and cry. When he was done, the girl hugged him and didn’t let go throughout the graveside ceremony.
A priest spoke next and he shared his special memories with Clive and read from the Bible. After the reading, the firing party took their positions, carrying their weapons and marching in silence. The first volley into the air made Melissa jump and fresh tears came. The next t
wo volleys did not come any easier.
Clive’s daughter winced and Sam squeezed her hand.
When the bugler played Taps, the lonely sound of the trumpet made Athena’s throat wedge tight and her stomach clenched. She shut her eyes as chills trickled over her skin until the last note, when two uniformed men folded the flag that had been draped over the casket. In solemn respect, one handed the tightly folded bundle to Melissa.
With the ceremony nearly done, Sam Rafferty kissed Melissa’s cheek and stepped toward the casket alone. He touched a gloved hand on the coffin and lowered his head. He spoke in a low voice, words meant for only Clive. When he was done, he took off his Navy SEAL trident, and slapped it upon the casket. His slap echoed across the cemetery, followed by the pounding of the medal into the wood with a strike of his fist, before he gave one final salute.
Athena knew enough about the tribute to know that others would follow and do the same until the coffin lid would be covered in Navy SEAL tridents—a gold lapel pin of an eagle holding a Navy anchor, a trident, and a flint-lock pistol—a time honored tradition where SEALs paid respect to a fallen comrade, men of honor like Clive. The special warfare insignia was only worn by SEALs who had earned the right to wear it and was known as the ‘Budweiser’ from SEAL school, the Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training.
She fought the burn of tears as she watched Sam say good-bye to Clive Landry, a man she knew he loved like a father. One by one, other SEALs stood in line to pound a trident into the coffin lid.
“Your father would’ve loved to see this,” Athena said to Melissa.
Clive’s daughter smiled and reached for her hand.
“He’s here, Athena. He knows.”
***
Tampa General Hospital
ICU
Rafael made it his business to know enough about the equipment that kept Jacqui alive to call for help when something changed in her condition. He watched the IV fluid levels, monitored the reading on the ICP unit that tracked her intracranial pressure, and adjusted the anti-embolism stocking on the leg that hadn’t been broken. He kept her lips moist with ice and talked to her, whether she heard him or not—often speaking in Spanish in a low voice meant only for her.
He hadn’t left her side, except for a brief time when he’d made a decision and acted on it. Whether Jacqui made it or not, he knew what he had to do. His decision gave him comfort when nothing else would.
Rafe sat by her bed and stroked her arm, touching her with his fingertips, as machines kept her heart beating and her lungs filled with air. Athena and Grey would bring him food that he never recalled eating. An overnight bag with clean clothes and toiletries appeared one day. He never knew who brought it. Others offered to spell him, but he couldn’t leave.
Love made him stay.
Smiling, Rafael picked up her hand and cupped his face with her palm, rubbing her skin against his.
“I have not shaved. You would probably not like seeing me like this.” He kissed her fingers, one by one. “But you look beautiful, like a precious, sleeping child.”
That was how he saw her. The machines were gone, the tubes and IVs were invisible in his eyes. He imagined her lying next to him, asleep in his arms, after they had made love. It was the last memory he had of her before the accident.
“Please give me a sign that you can hear me, my love. Anything.”
Her body needed time to heal and he’d vowed to remain calm, but he was Cuban with the fire of emotion coursing through his veins. Passion came naturally.
When Jacqui twitched a finger, Rafael blinked, unsure if he had actually seen her move or only wished for it to be true.
“Do it again. Move your finger,” he pleaded.
He shifted his gaze to her beautiful face. Her eyelids fluttered and for the first time he noticed she fought for a breath, on her own. With the tube down her throat, she struggled and winced.
Rafael hit the call button, clipped to her bed. His eyes grew wide as he watched for any sign of movement, but he couldn’t wait and ran into the hall.
“She’s coming out of it. Help her.”
He called and a nurse came running. A monitor started to beep, first one, then another.
“Come on, Jacqui. Open your eyes.”
A nurse shoved him from the room as Athena and Grey came toward him.
“What’s happening? Is she—?” His sister didn’t finish.
“She moved her finger when I asked her to.” He forced a smile, unable to stop watching Jacqui. “I think she heard me.”
“She’s a fighter, Rafe.” Athena hugged him and didn’t let go.
Two doctors and four nurses flooded Jacqui’s room, blocking his view of her. He craned his neck for even a glimpse. They removed the tracheal tube that threatened to choke her when she tried to breathe on her own, but after they closed the blinds to her room and shut the door, Rafael pulled from his sister and paced the hall. Doctors came and went from her room, but no one stopped to say anything more than, “We’re running tests.”
“What’s taking so long?” He ran a hand through his long dark hair. “They took her off the breathing tube. That’s a good sign, isn’t it?”
When the door opened again, Rafe searched the eyes of every nurse and doctor who left Jacqui’s room. The last nurse out—Beverly—touched his arm and smiled.
“She’s asking for you.”
Rafael didn’t know if it was possible that his heart could explode from joy, but if it did, he was in the right place. He headed for the threshold of her ICU room before he stopped and pulled back hard.
What if—? He couldn’t finish his thought.
After all his bluster about wanting to see her, Rafe felt a weight pressing against his chest and he couldn’t move. His heart hammered his insides and his mind tortured him with crazy notions.
It took Athena to see his peculiar behavior and do what sisters do. She gave him a hard time.
***
“What’s wrong with you?” Athena punched him in the arm and scrunched her face. “Get in there. She’s waiting.”
“I need a minute.”
“For what?”
Rafael stared at her far too long. He stood rooted into the floor with one hand stuffed into his pocket, his fingers grappling something he had stashed there. Athena cocked her head and narrowed her eyes.
“You want me to play twenty questions? Sure, why not?” She smirked. “Have you decided to become a monk and give up speaking? No wait. Hollywood is doing a remake of the movie ‘Clerks’ and you have the part of Silent Bob. Am I close?”
Rafe heaved a sigh and dropped his chin to his chest. His body grew still, even the fidgety hand in his pocket. When he looked up, he grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the door—away from Jacqui.
Down the hall, he stopped and reached into his pocket. Without fanfare, he pulled out a small black velvet box—the shape that every woman recognized.
Athena gasped.
“Is that what I think it is?” She grabbed it and opened the lid. “Oh my, God.”
She stared down at a beautiful diamond ring, glistening in the light, and her eyes misted. Perfection.
“It’s beautiful. When did you buy it? Did you know you were going to ask her before the accident?”
“No. I bought it the day I thought I would lose her, the day she went into the coma.”
“But you didn’t know she’d make it. Were you that sure she would?”
He shook his head and stared down at the ring.
“If something happened to her, I wanted to put it on her finger. I wanted her buried with it.”
Athena’s eyes filled as she stared up at her brother and handed him back his ring. She’d never been more proud of the man he’d become.
“So why are you not in there, asking Jacqui your question?”
“What if she says no?” he asked. “Guess I panicked. I didn’t know what to say to her. What if it’s too soon? I didn’t want to pressure her. It’s just that I
love her so much. I had to show her.”
Athena sensed Rafe had learned a hard lesson with the death of his wife and child—that sometimes you don’t get a second chance to say how you feel.
“Come here.” Athena smiled and hugged him, hard. “When you look into her eyes, you’ll know what to say, hermano. And trust me, she won’t say no.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because I’ve seen the way she looks at you, Rafael.” She shoved him and grinned. “Now get down there and talk to your girl. She’s waiting for you.”
For the first time in years, Athena saw something in her brother’s eyes. Hope. Rafael deserved a future with Jacqui that would be filled with joy, and God willing, children. With any luck, she’d get to see the father he was always meant to be.
Athena found a spot outside the closed door to Jacqui’s room and listened to muffled voices until she heard a tear filled, “Yes. Yes, Yes.” That made her smile.
“Welcome to the family, sister,” she whispered.
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