Latched (Coronado Series Book 1)

by Hart, Lea

  Joy turned around and leveled her daughter with one of the looks she reserved for the courtroom. “Birdie James, you are my only child and you know very well that your father and I are paying for this wedding. You behave and use the good manners I taught you.”

  “Thanks Mom, but I think the dress is really expensive.”

  “Well, it’s a good thing that I have only you to worry about.” She stood up and kissed her daughter, “I love you and I’m very happy that you’ve found such a fine man to spend your life with.” The dress was ordered and it was going to come in the next month. Birdie figured she was ahead of the game now, and all she needed was a date and the band and she was done. She drove them back to Coronado and they went to the Hotel Del for a celebratory lunch.

  Carol heard her phone buzz and looked down at the call. This was the call she always dreaded. Birdie looked over and knew something was wrong…. something was terribly wrong, “How bad is it?”

  Carol looked up with tears in her eyes, “Bad.”

  ********

  “He is on a carrier somewhere and is currently stable. They’re going to fly him out as soon as possible. They are assessing whether he can wait for surgery or if they need to do it on the ship. He is going to be flown to the Naval Medical Center in Virginia.”

  Birdie pulled out her iPad, “I’ll get us on the next flight. Do you mind driving to LAX if it is faster?”

  “They will take me out on a transport plane as soon as they can. But since you’re not married yet, they won’t allow you to go.”

  Joy took her daughters hand, “I will take care of everything here. You go.”

  “I’ll meet you at the hospital then. I will get out on a commercial flight as soon as I can and meet up with you there.”

  Carol gave her a squeeze, “He’s going to be all right. Let’s just keep our prayers up.”

  They finished up and Birdie had a flight booked by the time they got the check. She could be on a flight by early evening. She stood up, “He is going to be fine. I am not giving him a choice. He didn’t give me a choice when I was in the hospital, so he does not get one either.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

  SUNDAY MORNING

  Birdie sat waiting for news about Mark’s arrival, somehow her commercial flight had arrived before the navel transport. She was receiving updates because Mark had filled out forms before he was deployed and she had passed the initial screening. She remembered filling out paperwork last week for a background check. The nurse came up and told her they were bringing him in by ambulance. He had some emergency surgery on the ship, but he was going to have another one once they got him prepped and ready. The doors flew open and a patient was being wheeled in, she looked over and caught sight of Mark’s face. Running to the gurney, she took his hand and walked along as they rolled him in. He was almost unrecognizable; he was in bad shape. “Mark Frazier, I love you and you said you would come back to me and you always keep your word.”

  The doctor came in, “Who are you?”

  “I am Birdie James, Mark’s fiancée. His mom is coming in on the transport plane. The doctor nodded and looked at the chart and started speaking to the nurses. The Doctor explained the upcoming surgeries for Mark. He’d received several gunshot wounds and was also going to need reconstructive surgery on his knee. They had done an initial surgery on the Navel boat and they were going to do the rest here.

  She looked down at the man she loved and knew he wouldn’t leave her. Because if he did, she wasn’t going to survive. Leaning down, she kissed his bruised and bloodied cheek. She had a very strong urge to kill the son of a bitch who did this to him. She began to understand why Mark was so mad when she was in the hospital. She was having very violent thoughts towards whoever was responsible.

  Mark was evaluated and, the Doctor decided to let his temperature go down before they did the next surgery. He was taken into a room and Birdie followed him in and thankfully there was a chair. The nurses gave her an update and said they would be back every hour. “I love you Mark, I’m going to be right here.”

  At some point during the night, Mark’s temperature spiked. Then the Doctor came in and decided to take him into surgery.

  ********

  Mark had been in surgery for over six hours and she’d received only one update. She looked up when Carol walked in, she led her over to the chairs and handed her a bottle of water and gave her what little news she had. They sat together and waited to hear how the surgery went.

  About an hour later, the Doctor came out and Birdie introduced him to Mark’s mom. “Mark is out of surgery and we are cautiously optimistic, we were able to repair the damage from the bullets. We now have to let his body take over and start healing. We almost lost him on the table, but we were able to repair the damage on his lung.”

  Birdie’s face went white and her legs collapsed, she was no longer able to hear anything the Doctor was saying. Carol sat down next to her and took her hand, the Doctor told them that they could probably see him in a couple of hours.

  Birdie’s head started to clear and she was finally able to look at Carol. “Well I knew he was stubborn. There is no way he is going to give up. Plus he promised to come home to me, so he really has no choice.” Carol smiled and nodded her head.

  “How have you done this for eleven years?”

  “I didn’t have a choice. Mark decided this is what he wanted to do and there wasn’t a thing I could do about it. He’s not been seriously injured in about eight years. Most of the time, I don’t hear about it until months later when he gets home.” She drank some water, “This is only the second time that I’ve received a call. The Navy only calls you when they think the injuries might be fatal.”

  “I didn’t realize that was the only time you get a call.” The nurse came out and told them they could go in, one at a time. Carol went in first and spent the allotted few minutes and Birdie went in next. When she walked up to his bed, her heart fell through her stomach, she took his hand and leaned down and kissed his cheek. “I love you Mark Frazier, thanks for pulling through surgery.” She held onto to him for a moment and drank in his handsome face. The nurse came up and she knew her time was up. She gave him one more kiss, then walked back to the waiting room and sat next to Carol. They held hands for a moment, and Birdie knew how lucky she was that Mark made it through surgery.

  CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

  MONDAY

  She went to Mark’s room and took his hand and kissed him, “Hi handsome. You look good today. I love you and I’m looking forward to seeing those pretty eyes of yours soon.”

  Birdie got comfortable in her chair and dug her iPad out, she had downloaded a couple of books at the hotel and figured she’d start one now. She moved her chair close to Mark, took his hand and got settled in. She spent the day like that until Carol arrived around 4:00. She looked rested and in good spirits and brought them something to eat from the hotel. They kept each other company for the rest of the evening until Carol decided to return to the hotel for the evening. Birdie was going to spend the night again with Mark so she walked Carol out around 9:00. She returned to his room and got comfortable. She dug her iPad out and started on one of the books she’d downloaded last night. Moving her chair close to Mark she took his hand and settled in.

  After the nurse left, she went over to his bed and fixed his gown and blankets. She started talking to him just as if he was awake. Looking down, she noticed movement in his hand and wondered if she was mistaken. “Mark, I would like you to wake up now. I miss seeing your pretty eyes and I love you. So if you’re thinking about it, I would appreciate you doing it sooner as opposed to later.”

  She bent down and her hair draped over him. She kissed his cheek then rested her head on his, “Love you.” She felt movement again, lifting her head, she looked down and swore his hand moved. She started kissing him all over his face, “I love you, please, wake up if you’re ready.” Tears ran down her face as he opened his eyes a little. He opened them again fo
r longer and she pushed the nurse’s button and prayed that he was going to fully come back to her. The nurse came in and called for the doctor, and Birdie got pushed to the corner while they evaluated him.

  The Doctor finally spoke, “Let’s decrease his medication. I think the Lt. Commander is ready to join us.” The nurses did as he asked, and it was now a waiting game. She texted Carol with the information and told her to take her time. The Doctor didn’t think they were going to see any significant changes until the morning.

  Birdie went to the nurse’s station and got a cup of tea then returned to the room. Settling in with her iPad, she decide to start working on a song list for their wedding. She plugged in her earphones and started choosing songs. She didn’t realize she was singing along to the music and also didn’t know how loud she was. She suddenly felt Mark squeeze her hand, she pulled out her ear buds and stared at him. He was trying to say something - she quickly popped out of the chair and leaned into him. “I would know that awful voice anywhere, I sure missed it.” She started kissing his face and crying, “I knew you wouldn’t leave me.” She pushed the nurse’s button and they came in - everyone was surprised how quickly he was coming back. “People have always told me how bad my singing was and I sort of believed them. Now I know I’m bad enough to wake someone up from a heavily medicated sleep. I guess I really am that bad.” The nurses all laughed and Mark looked at her with love in his eyes. She looked back, “Hi. I missed you, thank you for coming back to me.”

  MONDAY EVENING

  Carol sat next to her son’s bed as the nurses took his vitals. Birdie had just left for the hotel to get cleaned up. Mark’s voice had not fully come back yet and he was speaking very quietly. “Mom, thanks for coming, you didn’t have to.”

  She looked at her son with a disbelieving face, “As if I would not come and make sure my only son was all right. It worked out, I had gone down to spend the weekend with Birdie and her Mom, so when I got the call she had a plan within five minutes. I think you’re going to be in good hands with her, she never faltered for one second. She actually arrived before me. Unfortunately I took the Navel transport and it took forever.

  Mark tried to sit up and remembered how badly he got banged up this time. “I knew she was special before any of this happened. I’m damn lucky to have survived this one, we had some bad Intel and our back up came in a little late. We got the job done though. That is the last thing I remember before the explosion. Some asshole got lucky with a rocket launcher. Gave us a little trouble during our extraction.

  The nurse came in and disconnected some of the equipment that he was plugged into and changed some of the meds in his IV line. “We are going to try and get you in a wheel chair later on and let you get out of the room for a little while.”

  “I can try walking, with some help.”

  She looked down at him sympathetically, “Not with your knee so torn up. They are going to reconstruct it here.” He looked down at his leg and recognized the feeling of pain in his knee. He knew it was unlikely that he was going to go back to active duty. All of the king’s horses and all of the king’s men were probably not going to be able to put him back together again. He had already had it reconstructed twice before. A new bionic knee was going to be nice, but not enough to get him back on the teams. He knew he had a lot to be grateful for but wasn’t sure if he was ready to leave active duty.

  Carol looked at him, “We knew it wasn’t going to last forever. But it is always a shock when it happens sooner than we think.” He looked at his mom and nodded.

  ********

  Birdie walked into Mark’s room and caught sight of him sitting up and her heart flipped over. He was impossibly handsome to her. She went up to his bed, took his hand and planted a big kiss on him. “Hi Handsome, how is it going?”

  He leaned his head against hers and whispered in her ear, “Did you miss me?”

  “I sure did.”

  Carol got up, “I am in need of some coffee. Birdie would you like some?”

  “Let me go get it, you two visit.”

  “Catch up with him. I’ll be back in a little bit, I have some phone calls to make.”

  “Oh my gosh, that’s so embarrassing. I feel like I got caught necking with my boyfriend in the basement.”

  “Quick let’s make out before someone else comes in. I missed you.”

  “Is that allowed… I don’t think that’s allowed.”

  He pulled her against him and laid his mouth on hers, “Baby, it’s the best medicine in the world. You wouldn’t deny me a little physical pleasure.” Birdie got caught up in the kissing and didn’t hear the nurse come in.

  She finally heard the laughter and pulled back. The nurse looked at them both, “I’ve heard about the magic powers of SEALs and I guess I’ve seen it in person now.”

  Birdie sat up and pulled her shirt down and whispered in his ear, “Don’t say anything.” He just smiled back at her and looked very satisfied.

  “I heard you found a wedding dress, it sounds like we could get married next month.”

  “I did find a dress, but we’re not getting married next month.”

  “How about a winter wedding….December? We could have it the first weekend of December.”

  “I am not competing with Christmas. We can get married in January. How about the last weekend in January?”

  “How about the first weekend in January? How about New Year’s Eve?”

  She looked as if she was considering the idea, “I will make some calls when we get home. Maybe we can pull it off for New Year’s Eve. Let’s get you out of here first and then work on a wedding.”

  Sitting next to him on the bed, she held his hand, “I’m sure glad to see your handsome face.”

  Mark leaned forward and gently placed his lips against hers and it felt like the first time he kissed her at the wedding. He felt the pit in his stomach and his heart was racing a little. He felt Birdie lean into him, he placed his big hand on the back of her head and deepened the kiss. She returned his kiss with all the love in her heart. Birdie James was a good woman to come home to and he was damn glad he found her.

  Birdie pulled back a little, “Can we not tell people how my bad singing woke you up from a drug- induced sleep?”

  “Sure baby, whatever you want.”

  Mark was damn happy that Birdie had finally latched on to him, he was never going to let her go.

  THE END

  I am a visual thinker and I need a story board to look at while I am creating the characters in my book. Please take a look at my Pinterest board

  www.pinterest.com/leahartauthor/latch/@leahartauthor

  Every story has a soundtrack and during the process of writing this story these songs inspired me and helped write the story. You can find the playlist on Spotify: Latch

  I can be found at:

  www.leahartauthor.com

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  Lea Hart

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  SNATCHED

  CORONADO SERIES

  BOOK TWO

  Coming in May 2015

  CHAPTER ONE

  At least it wasn’t a dead body or rat on the front porch, only a bunch of dead, decapitated roses.

  Ignoring the sweat trickling down her back, Rory jumped in her car and made her way downtown. Dead flowers were not that big of a deal in the scheme of things. Coming face to face with the person who was sending such sweet gifts might be.

  She zig zaged in and out of traffic and thought about the man that she’d met yesterday and how attractive he was. She hoped he was as good as Birdie said, otherwise she was never going to be free. She drove into downtown, found the street and checked the address on the tall elegant glass building. Discovering she was in the right place, she swung into the parking structure and found a spot.

  She gathered her things, got in the elevator and tried to take a deep breath. Unfortunately, the form fitting bu
siness dress she wore made it nearly impossible. She walked up to the offices of ASI and noticed two security cameras above the door. She looked for the door handle and couldn’t find one, she finally saw a panel to the left and a bell right above it. She heard the whirring sound of the cameras as they moved to locate her image. I guess they must be good if they have all of these precautions. She rang the bell and a minute later heard a click as the door slid silently open. She walked in through the door and was greeted by the receptionist, “May I help you?”

  “Yes, I’m here to meet with Max. He is expecting me, I’m Rory Basso.”

  “Of course. Please have a seat and I will let him know you’re here.”

  The lobby was beautiful – luxurious yet comfortable. There were huge plants in the corners, soft classical music in the background and plush armchairs to enjoy. She sat down and looked around as she waited for Max to be available. She noticed some impressive original art on the walls and the lovely Aubusson carpet beneath her feet. They must be good at what they do, to afford such lovely offices.

  She looked through the heavy glass wall that separated the back offices and watched him walk down the long hall in front of her. He, is as attractive as I remember. At a little over 6 feet, with broad shoulders he certainly qualified as man candy. The man was built like a bear, you could see his well-developed chest under his dress shirt. He had short light brown hair and eyes the same color as hers. The man was very good looking. She admonished herself, Pull it together - not here to get a date. Here to get rid of a stalker. She had bigger fish to fry and this wasn’t time for her sleeping libido to wake up.