by Hart, Lea
“Tell me what you’re thinking. I’m hoping to hand everything to you and then I won’t have to think about it. I’m damn happy that I am marrying a financial genius.”
“Let me work on a plan and then we can discuss it. I want to talk to my friend who is up on the latest tax laws and then I will have a better idea.”
“I’m going down to the base for a couple of hours and then I’m going to bring the last of my clothes over. Let’s go down to the fish place for dinner and then we can come home and work on those children we’re going to have.”
“We are still in practice mode. I want to enjoy being married to my handsome husband for a while. Which reminds me, how do I plan a honeymoon when you are on active deployment?”
“We have to wait until we are done and on the down cycle again. Sorry baby, we are going to have to wait.”
“That’s fine, you are worth the wait.”
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
SUNDAY
Birdie and Mark stood in the kitchen eating the bagels that Mark had gotten them earlier that morning. They watched the guys put up the jumpy jump and the rock wall towards the back of the yard. “Baby, you sure went all out for this party. Are you sure that we need all of this?”
She finished her bagel and wiped her mouth. “Do you remember when you said that I could be the boss? Well I am the boss of the parties.”
He studied her as he finished his coffee. “So let me get this straight, you are the boss of the food, money and parties.”
“Yes, I think that about covers it. I might come up with a few more things too.”
“Well come on boss, show me where you want the tables and chairs set up in the back yard.”
“As I recall you enjoyed being very bossy this morning in the bedroom. I think our balance of power is working out just fine.”
“I plan on showing more bossiness before everyone shows up this afternoon, so be ready.” He watched her laugh and hearing that sound still made his chest feel tight. It had been a month since he heard it for the first time. He had a feeling that hearing her laugh was going to have the same effect on him at the end of their lives. He just had to make sure that he kept giving her reasons to laugh.
SUNDAY AFTERNOON
Their house filled up with Mark and Blake’s Platoons and their families and Birdie’s friends as well. Their party turned into a team dinner and an engagement party. Birdie moved around the party making sure that everyone had what they needed and Mark was doing the same.
Birdie saw Rory arrive, “I’m so glad that you were able to make it.” Looking at her best friend, she noticed that she looked stressed but as beautiful as ever. Rory had the same figure as Sophia Loren - she was tall and had the most delicious curves. Her hair was the color of cherry coke and it was set off by her pretty emerald eyes. Rory was wearing one of her lovely day dresses that captured the feel of the 1950’s without feeling dated and pretty flat gold sandals. Birdie embraced her dear friend, “Come in and let’s get you a drink. I am so happy to see you.”
“I’m so sorry that I’ve been incommunicado for the last couple of weeks. I was hoping that if I traveled enough, I could shake this. Unfortunately I’m still receiving the creepy notes.” She studied her friend closely, “You are in love. I can see it on your face. You never looked this way with Justin.” She took a step back and held her at arm’s length, “I can feel the happiness rolling off you, where is the man who is responsible for this?” Pulling up Birdie’s hand, she admired her engagement ring. “He picked out the perfect ring for you, I think that’s a good sign.”
“Let me get you a glass of wine and then we can hunt up Mark and I can introduce you.”
As they walked into the backyard, Birdie spotted Mark talking to some of the guys, “He’s over there. Come on and let me introduce you and we can find out if Max is here yet.”
They made their way through the crowd and Mark spotted Birdie walking over with a woman who must be Rory. They stepped up to the group and everyone made room, “Hi guys. I came over to introduce my best friend, Rory. We have been best friends since grade school and she is the keeper of all of my secrets. Fortunately, we have a mutual no destruction policy. Nothing gets out.”
Mark took her hand, “I am happy to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you and I look forward to getting to know you.”
Rory held his hand, took his measure and looked him in the eye. “Good to meet you Mark, thank you for making my best friend so happy.” The serious expression on her face gave way to a spectacular smile, “Come here and give me a hug. I have a feeling we are going to become good friends.” Letting out a laugh he hugged Rory, he liked this woman.
“Let me introduce you to the guys that you don’t know yet.” Taking Birdie’s hand he introduced the ladies to the group and noticed that a couple of the guys were staring at the women. “Everyone behave, because I don’t want to have to explain anything to Birdie tonight about how you all acted with her best friend.” He threw a look to everyone and turned to Birdie and kissed her. “Rory, we are happy to have you here.”
She looked at the group and laughed, “Darn, I think I just inherited a big brother or something. I hope he doesn’t kill all of my fun. At least we won’t tell him when we start the strip poker game later on.” She looked at all the guys, “Right?” They stood there and didn’t say a thing. Rory laughed, “Gotcha!”
Birdie took her arm, “Quit torturing these men. Now they’re going to be thinking of you with your clothes coming off.” She shook her head as they walked away. Rory turned around and waved to the group.
Travis was the first to speak, “Those two are like a package of C4. We can just sit back and watch the explosions. Good luck Mark, it’s never going to be boring at your house.”
Taking a sip of his beer he nodded, “You have no idea. I knew when I went on my first date with Birdie that it was never going to be dull. So far I’ve been right.” The group watched the women walk away and Mark noticed several men were watching as well. He was sure glad he put a ring on Birdie’s hand.
Birdie and Rory found James and his friend Franco, they decided to get some food and catch up. They walked up to the table that was overloaded with food and each made a plate. Finding a table underneath the big tree, they sat down and started talking. “I knew that the love train was coming at you Birdie. But I didn’t think it was going to happen so fast.” James snickered at his own joke. “I want you all to know that I was there when Birdie met Mark. She was a smitten kitten from the start. Her plan was to use him as a slump buster.”
Rory was eating and almost choked, “Are you serious - you were going for a fling?”
“Yes I was going to use him for his body and one month later I’m engaged to be married. It just goes to show, you never know what’s going to happen.” She smiled and looked at her friends, “I get to enjoy his body for the rest of my life.”
They all laughed and Rory gave her a hug. “I’m very happy for you. He has a lot of good looking friends so this is going to work out for me as well.” Birdie laughed and admired her friend, who never backed down when she saw something she wanted. “Travis is very good looking, I may have to go over there and chat him up.”
James head popped up as he saw a man walk into the party. “Birdie look, there is a man that looks like he is from that Instagram account. He looks like the men we were drooling over.” The whole table turned and looked, Birdie didn’t recognize him. He looked a couple of years older than Mark and had the same presence. He must be from the teams - he held himself the same way all of the guys did. He was probably around 6’1” and was built like a bear. He had broad shoulders and you could see how big his chest was under his polo shirt. He had light brown hair and was an attractive man, she’d find out soon enough.
Mark, Blake, Travis and Max were catching up, “Where is your fiancée? I want to meet the woman who agreed to take you on.”
Mark clapped Max on the shoulder, “Right over there. Birdie is the beaut
y in the red dress.”
Max lifted his chin in the direction of the table, “Who is the woman who looks like an Italian movie star sitting with her?”
“That’s Rory, she is the woman who has been receiving those letters. Birdie wants her to talk to you.” Max studied the woman, she was beautiful but was probably a pain in the ass. Women who looked like that always were. “I will introduce you two later on. I’m going to let them finish eating.”
Ana walked into the back yard and found Birdie. She walked over and noticed Blake standing with Mark out of the corner of her eye. She could feel his presence all the way across the yard. Birdie saw her walking over and got up to hug her cousin. “I finished the last of my lab work for my final paper. I think I may be done, which is impossible to believe.”
“Congratulations, I’m so proud of you. I can’t believe that I’m going to be able to call you Dr. James.” Mark, Blake, Travis and Max walked up to the group and Birdie stood up to give Mark a kiss. “Are you having fun?”
He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her in and kissed her hard. “Baby, you sure put on a great party. When are we going to make our announcement?”
“Mark, everyone already knows. I didn’t realize that men in the Navy were bigger gossips than high school girls.”
“We like to call it exchanging Intel, not gossip.”
“Is that like when you give a stink eye and call it evaluating your opponent?”
“Something like that, anyway, I wanted Max to meet everyone.” Mark introduced Birdie to his close friend and then introduced Rory and Ana.
Rory shook Blake and Travis’s hand and then turned to Max and gave him her complete focus. She held her hand out and he took it. “I’m very happy to meet you and I look forward to coming into your office and discussing my current situation. I think I’ve foolishly ignored it hoping it would go away but in fact it has gotten worse. I hope you can help me.”
Max looked at Rory and noticed she had eyes the color of emeralds and smelled like vanilla. He realized he shouldn’t be thinking about how nice she smelled because she was going to put her safety in his hands. “Please come by first thing in the morning, so we can take a look at everything and put together a plan.” He handed her his card and she leaned forward and hugged him. As he felt her softness he took a steadying breath and tried to remember why he didn’t play with fire anymore.
She let him go and swept her hair over her shoulder. “Sorry, I am a hugger. I’m so relieved that you are willing to take this on.” She patted his chest with her hand, “I hope I did not make you uncomfortable.”
“No, not at all. I’m glad my group is going to be able to solve this for you.” Liar, liar, he was going to be in a shitload of trouble with this one. She smiled at him and he felt his heart skip a beat.
Birdie watched all of this and felt sorry for Max. Rory had this effect on most of the men that she met. She wasn’t even aware of it, it was just the way it was. He looked like he was going down and had no idea. It might be fun to see her best friend in a relationship and not the usual quick affair that she usually engaged in. “Hey everyone, great news! Ana has finished the last of her lab work and she is about to finish her Doctorate.” She pulled her cousin in and gave her a squeeze, “We can soon address her as Dr. Ana James. I am so proud of you.”
Ana looked down, she didn’t like having the attention focused on her. Finally, looking up, she saw all of the happy faces and relaxed a little. That was until she saw Blake looking at her, she never knew what to say to the man. She wished she had more confidence like Rory, but that wasn’t going to happen at this point in her life. “Thank you everyone. I’m happy to be finished….this has been a long road.”
Travis studied Ana, she wasn’t a stunner like Rory but she was very pretty. If you took the time to look at her you could see it. “Ana, what are you getting your Doctorate in?”
Looking at him she gave him a small smile, “In Neurobiology.” She looked down again and took a sip of her wine.
“Congratulations that’s awesome. Which lab do you want to work in after you are done?”
“I’m not sure. Once my paper is published and I apply for grants, I’ll see where the best opportunity is. Thank you, by the way.” Travis smiled and looked at his friend Blake who was staring hard at Ana. If the guy was interested he should talk to her and not stand there like a tree.
The sun was starting to set and people were getting ready to leave. Birdie and Mark were saying goodbye and thanking people for coming.
As they walked back into the house, he stopped her near the stairs. “Thank you. It means a lot to the guys that we can get together and relax before we go down range.” He dropped his lips to hers and kissed the hell out of her as he held on to her ass. “When is everyone going to leave? I want to go upstairs and practice our happy some more.”
“Stop, we have guests. They are welcome to stay as long as they want.” They walked back to the patio and she heard him mumble, No they are not. She noticed the only people left at the party were Mark’s platoon, Blake and Max and the wives. “Does anyone want coffee?”
Karen stood up and walked over to Birdie, “Let me help you make it.”
Sam looked up at his wife, “Remember, no coffee. You already had your cup this morning.”
She turned to her husband and stuck out her tongue, “Spoilsport. I can at least smell it.”
Birdie hugged Karen, “Let me make you a cup of tea instead.”
Karen squeezed Birdie, “Thank you. I think you are my new favorite person.” She turned and gave her husband a dirty look as she walked back into the house.
Mark was laughing, “I think you may have killed your chances tonight.”
Sam shrugged his big shoulders, “I have to make sure that she is following the Doctor’s recommendations. She has two babies growing in there so this is considered a high risk pregnancy.” He smiled at Mark, “I have a secret weapon with my wife anyway. When I rub her feet, she’s pretty much putty in my hands.”
Karen leaned out the French doors, “I heard that Sam, and it is not true.” She went back inside and the guys looked at Sam and started laughing.
Mark looked at each man on his squad, “You guys know that we are going to be up on our next rotation within the next week. I want to make sure everyone has their lives squared away. If you need anything, let me or Frisco know. We want everyone to be totally focused when we are out there.” The guys nodded and started talking about what was coming up for them in the next several months.
Max was ready to head out and Mark stopped him. “I didn’t get a chance to ask you to put a security system in the house and upgrade the locks. Do whatever you think is necessary. I want Birdie to be secure when I am deployed.”
“I can take care of it. I’ll have Derick come out this week. Do you remember him? He was on my squad, he retired about six months before me. He was shot up pretty bad on our last mission and they were never able to clear him for duty.”
“I remember him - crazy smart with computers and his specialty was breach.”
“That’s the guy. He is one of my partners along with Frank. I’m hoping when you retire you’re going to come join us.”
Mark took his friend’s hand and shook it. “Let’s hope I have a couple more years before I come knocking on your door.”
“I will call you in the morning and let you know when Derick can start on the system. He’ll probably come over tomorrow for an eval and then put a plan together. Let Birdie know what’s going on so we don’t surprise her.”
“No problem, good luck with Rory. I hope you can get to the bottom of it quickly. I know Birdie is worried about her and thinks Rory isn’t taking it seriously enough.”
“She’s supposed to come by first thing in the morning. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of her.”
Mark walked him into the house and Max said his goodbyes. Birdie hugged him, “So nice to meet you. Thank you for taking on my friend. It means a lot to m
e.”
Rory looked at Max and felt relieved she was going to be able to put this nonsense in his very capable hands. “Thank you Max. I will see you in your office at around nine if that works for you?”
“Sounds like a plan, you have my card with my numbers. Call me if anything changes.”
Rory looked at him, nodded and gave him one of her dazzling smiles. Mark walked him out and the women resumed their conversation. He swore he heard Rory say she wasn’t going to allow herself to be attracted to him. Their voices trailed off and he lost the conversation.
Frisco and the rest of the team came in the house and got coffee. Everyone hung out for a while and had dessert. Frisco stood next to Birdie as she put pie on plates. “Whatever happened with my cousin Rachel, did it all work out?”
Frisco had a big smile on his face and put his arm around Birdie and kissed her. “Thanks for the introduction - we had a great time. She is wild, we really enjoyed each other.”
Mark walked in and saw Frisco with his arm on his fiancée and used his Commander’s voice. “Lieutenant, get your hands off my woman.”
Birdie looked over and laughed, and Frisco gave his friend a dirty look. “I was friends with her first, don’t try and break us up.”
“It doesn’t matter who was first, it matters who she’s in love with and going to marry.” He smiled at Birdie and winked.
Frisco kissed her again, took his pie and went around the island to sit down. “Just ignore him Frisco, I’m going to.” Frisco ate his pie and smiled at Mark.
Mark stood next to Birdie and put his arm around her. “Do I get my dessert now?”
She handed him a plate, “This may be all the dessert you get tonight.”
Frisco heard and snickered and finished his dessert. He watched Mark lean down and whisper in her ear and Birdie’s face started to get red. She smiled and kissed him. Frisco wasn’t in a place to want what they had. But when he was ready, he hoped he was half as lucky as these two.