Dark Fire

by Peggy Webb

  "Don't jump. Skipper. It would break my heart."

  Sid grinned. The only thing that saved his sanity was the fact that Lieutenant Commander Panther Malone was in his squadron.

  "It must be bad," Panther said. "You haven't cracked a joke about your shnozzola since we left stateside."

  "I'd tell a thousand jokes about my nose if it would win Rose Anne back. Here I am, stuck at sea, and she's God only knows where and I can't do a damned thing about it."

  "You've got it bad, Eagle."

  "I've got it bad."

  Panther looked out over the waters, whistling. He always whistled while he was thinking.

  "There is something you can do," Panther said, stopping in mid-whistle.

  "Why does that look on your face send chills down my spine?"

  "'Cause I’m so damned handsome and brilliant besides." Panther winked. "I have all these connections, see . . . and you have all this talent. . . ." He told Sid the plan.

  "Even If I consent, she might never know," Sid said.

  "Trust me. When I say connections, I'm talking big-time. She'll know."

  o0o

  Rose Anne was just coming out of the shower when she heard the music. She froze, squeezing the towel until her knuckles were white.

  "It can't be," she whispered.

  The passionate music she had first heard in Paris washed over her. Dripping water on her wooden floor and not caring, she ran to the radio and turned up the volume.

  It was piano music, backed by a full orchestra. Although some of the purity was destroyed by the backup instruments, there was no mistaking the melody. It was Sid's.

  Her towel drifted to the floor as she sank to the bed and lay back on the pillows. When she closed her eyes, it was almost as if Sid were in the room with her, seducing her.

  A tingling sensation started deep inside her and radiated outward. Her skin began to catch fire. She sucked in her breath as the old familiar feelings took her captive.

  Suddenly the music came to a crashing climax. Still tingling, Rose Anne sat up, drew her legs up, and propped her forehead on her knees.

  Surely her mind was playing tricks. That couldn't be Sid's music, for he had once told her that he never shared it with anyone. She had been alone too long, dreaming of him.

  "That was 'Rose Anne's Melody,'" the radio announcer said.

  Rose Anne jerked upright, holding her breath.

  "Performed by the inimitable Theo Borgessi," the announcer continued, "and written by the brilliant new composer Sid Granger."

  She reached to turn up the radio.

  "And now, stay timed as Borgessi performs another Granger composition, 'Love Dreams of Rose Anne.'"

  Sid's music evoked memories of the moonlit courtyard and the fragrance of white roses. She could almost see him standing tall and magnificent underneath her balcony.

  Sighing, she lay against the pillows, throbbing with need.

  o0o

  In the middle of the Mediterranean, Sid got his dog-eared copies of slick women's magazines and spread them out. Rose Anne's face stared back at him from every one of the covers.

  "Do you hear my music, Rose Anne? Do you know that I love you?"

  o0o

  Week after week Rose Anne kept her radio playing. She didn't want to miss a single one of Sid's songs. When she had to leave the house for errands, she carried a Walkman.

  "You've got a radio growing to your body," Bitsy told her on one of her visits. She was sporting a new wedding ring and a new radiance.

  "I'm color coordinated. It matches my dress."

  "It's good to hear you laugh. You've been doing a lot of that lately. Any reason I should know about?"

  "Maybe, Auntie. I’ll know in two weeks."

  "What happens In two weeks?"

  "Sid comes home."

  o0o

  The U.S. Navy carrier quit the Mediterranean and headed stateside. Somewhere in the Atlantic, F14 Tomcats left the deck, one by one, streaking into the skies, lifting so high, they were chasing the glory of the sun before pointing their slim noses homeward.

  In the cockpit Sid chased his own private glory. His triumph at being a part of the burning blue skies was matched by his exhilaration of going home. Six months of Med cruise had made him lean and hungry for all that life had to offer, and he planned to grab it and hold on, starting with Rose Anne.

  If he could find her.

  o0o

  Rose Anne stood on the flight line, holding her breath as the Tomcat zoomed toward Norfolk naval air station. Beside her, Ensign Herbert Mitchell stood so stiffly upright, he looked like he would break if she touched him.

  She shaded her eyes against the sun, watching the powerful silver bird plummet from the skies. It was an awesome sight, and worth every bit of the trouble it had caused her. In order to come on base she had asked permission, produced ID, signed documents. She had done everything except swear on a stack of Bibles and taken a lie detector test.

  Jet engines screamed as the Tomcat aimed home, breathing smoke. The plane set down as gently as if it had been landing on a mother's lap, and Commander Sid Granger emerged from the cockpit. Tall and erect in his flight suit, he strode across the tarmac, removing his helmet as he walked.

  "That's him, ma'am," Ensign Mitchell said.

  "I know."

  Even if she hadn't been close enough to see his face, she would have known him by the way he walked. He was a commanding presence, every bit an officer and a leader.

  All the breath seemed to leave Rose Anne's body as she waited, waited for him to see her, waited for him to acknowledge her. In spite of the winter chill, she felt hot.

  Suddenly Sid saw her. He stopped in mid- stride, his helmet dangling from his hand. He didn't speak, didn't move. Rose Anne's heart almost stopped beating.

  Then he smiled and started toward her, powerful, purposeful. She waited for him, hoping.

  He halted when he was even with her, not touching, but still smiling as if he might never stop. His eyes glowed in a way that made Rose Anne hot.

  "How did you know I'd be home today?" he asked.

  "A determined woman can find any man in the U.S. Navy if she knows the right senator to call."

  "Are you a determined woman?"

  "Yes."

  "Determined to do what?"

  There was a blur of movement as Ensign Mitchell discreetly faded into the background. Neither of them noticed his going.

  Rose Anne touched Sid then. She couldn't bear not to. With her arms laced around his neck and her skirt brushing against his flight suit, she smiled up at him."

  "I'm determined not to make a mistake this time," she said. "I've made too many of them already."

  "So have I." His gaze captured hers. "Can we start over?"

  "You don't know how many months I've waited to hear you say that."

  He cupped her chin and tipped her face gently upward. "Did you ever doubt that I would?"

  "I've sent you away three times."

  "Like a bad penny, I keep coming back."

  He moved his hands over her face, as if he couldn't believe she was real.

  "I've missed you so," she whispered.

  "And I've loved you so, from the first moment I saw you." He traced her lips with his finger. "Don't you know that I can never let you go?"

  "I got your note after you left for the Mediterranean, but even then I didn't believe in your love. I didn't believe in it until I heard your music on the radio."

  Her lips parted, and he caressed the moist inner lining. She pressed her tongue against the soft pad of his finger, loving the masculine, slightly salty taste of him.

  "Your music seduced me all over again," she whispered. “Just as you did in Paris . . . and Africa . . . and Norfolk." She drew his finger into her mouth, sucking. "Just as you're doing now."

  Sid laughed with pure delight. "Who's seducing whom?"

  "I am, and this time for all the right reasons."

  "Say it, Rose Anne. I need t
o hear you say the words."

  "I love you, Sid. I've loved your soul since I first heard your music." She laughed from the sheer joy of loving and being loved. "It took me a while to learn to love the rest of you."

  "My nose?"

  "It's a noble nose. I love it."

  "My lips?"

  "Hmmm, I don't know about that, Commander Granger. Maybe If I could have a sample, just a little taste . . ."

  He drew her close and kissed her to the roar of a very appreciative audience. Pilots descending from Tomcats, officers nearby, swabbies peering around corners—all gave a rousing cheer as their commander claimed the gorgeous woman waiting for him.

  Holding Rose Anne close with one hand and his helmet in the other, Commander Sid Granger began the long walk home. The cheering audience came to attention, and Lieutenant Commander Panther Malone snapped a sharp salute.

  "Way to go, Eagle," he said, winking.

  "They love you," Rose Anne told Sid.

  "I love them."

  "What does a woman do when she's walking through the base with an important man like you?"

  "The same thing a man does when he's seen with the most beautiful woman in the world. Try to act natural."

  Rose Anne smiled and waved at their audience. The cheers went up again.

  "Did I tell you within the last half minute that I love you?" Sid asked.

  "I'm from Georgia. Show me, Commander."

  "I thought that was Missouri."

  "I'll move to St. Louis tomorrow if that's what it takes."

  The laughter that had marked so much of their stormy relationship pealed on the clear wintry air.

  "Is there any chance that I can see you in the near future, Miss Rose Anne Jones?"

  "How much of me do you want to see?"

  "All of you."

  She pretended to consider his proposition. Sid leaned close, loving the sparkle in her eyes and the warmth in her face.

  "Hell is permanently frozen over, Commander Granger. Your chances are looking mighty good."

  "There are some things I'd like to say to you in a properly romantic setting."

  "Are there some things you'd like to do?"

  "That too." He smiled. "Especially that."

  o0o

  Fate was kind to Sid, and gave him a full moon. It shone through the bank of windows of his second floor condominium, illuminating the grand piano, the large sectional sofa, the candles burning on the low glass-top coffee table, and the bottle of wine.

  Sid stood in his kitchen, whistling as he arranged romaine lettuce on two salad plates. Rose Anne would arrive any minute, and he considered himself the luckiest man alive. He had planned to pick her up at her hotel, but she'd insisted on coming to his place.

  He added black olives to the lettuce and was reaching for the croutons when he heard music. Somebody was having a party, a very loud party. It sounded as if a brass band were under his window.

  Sid paused in his salad making, listening. The music sounded familiar. He came around the bar that separated his kitchen from his den. The music was familiar: It was his own, and it was coming from the patio beneath his balcony.

  Sid threw open the French doors and leaned over his balcony railing. A three-piece combo was on his patio, playing earnestly but badly.

  "What is this?" he said.

  Rose Anne stepped from underneath his balcony, and waved the band to a standstill.

  "This is a courtship. Don't you like it?"

  "I love it. But there's no need for a courtship, fair one. You've already won my heart."

  "I didn't win it; you gave it to me."

  She wore the same white dress she'd been wearing when he first saw her. And in spite of the winter weather, she wore no coat. A brisk breeze caught her skirts and the chiffon scarf at her throat.

  "You're going to freeze down there," he said.

  "I'm counting on you to warm me up."

  "I'm ready. Come on up."

  "No. First I have to woo you and win you."

  "You won me the first time I ever saw your face. Your beauty dazzles and enchants."

  "Wait till you hear my poetry."

  "Only if you'll let Ensign Mitchell down there hand you his coat." Sid looked the clarinet player straight in the eye. "That is you, isn't it, Mitchell?"

  "Yes sir." The young man pulled off his coat and draped it over Rose Anne's shoulders. "A few of us like to get together and play when we're off duty, sir."

  "Very well. Carry on."

  "I hope you're ready for this." Rose Anne had her face lifted upward, and the humor he'd always loved sparkled in her eyes.

  "I've been ready for a long, long time."

  "I wish I could compose something as lovely as 'Come fall with me beneath this summer sky/ And feel the grasses bending with our haste,'" she said, quoting the first two lines of the sonnet Sid had used underneath her balcony in Paris. "Like Luther, my tongue ties at poetry, and I fear I would have composed something horrible, such as, 'Come stumble with me beneath this falling sky/ And feel the grasses smushing in our face.'"

  Sid roared with laughter. "If you don't come up, I'm coming down."

  "Wait." She held up her hand. "Let me finish."

  Sid propped his arms on the balcony railing and smiled indulgently as Rose Anne began to quote his sonnet, never missing a word. When she neared the end of the sonnet, she paused.

  "What's that?" she said, cupping her ear with one hand.

  "Come love me now beneath this parting sky," Luther Snell said as he stepped from beneath the balcony. "And cherish this sweet day before it dies." He bowed deeply, then grinned up at his old friend.

  "Lightning! You son of a gun." Sid laughed so hard, his sides hurt.

  "You courted me for him," Rose Anne said. "I thought he should return the favor."

  "You look good up there. Eagle." Hawk sauntered out from under the balcony, grinning his famous grin. "Like Juliet."

  "Oh, Romeo, Romeo," said Panther as he came out grinning. "Wherefore art thou. Eagle?"

  "Hark! It's my feet, and Juliet is the nose." Gunslinger came out next.

  "Do you have the entire U.S. Navy hiding under my balcony, Rose Anne?"

  "I tried, but the rest of them couldn't come."

  "Is this where we're supposed to fade discreetly into the woodwork?" Panther asked, grinning.

  "Come on, fellows. Let's let this man court in peace." Luther started the exodus, and the others followed suit. When they had gone a short distance, they all turned around and saluted.

  "The best man won. Eagle," Luther said. "Just be damned sure you give the rest of us proper credit."

  "We couldn't have done it without you," Rose Anne said.

  "Do you want to bet?" Sid's eyes gleamed as he stuck one long leg over the balcony.

  "Sid, what in the world are you doing?"

  "It appears to me you're never coming up, so I thought I'd come down."

  Sid found a foothold in the grillwork balcony supports and began his descent. The band struck up a sprightly rendition of Elvis’ “Love Me Tender” as they departed with the cheering, whistling pilots.

  o0o

  Rose Anne held her breath as she watched Sid.

  "Don't you dare fall and break anything before I get my hands on you."

  "Don't worry. I fancy keeping these parts in working condition for a long time to come."

  When he neared the ground, he swung down and landed in front her, on his feet, much to her relief.

  Rose Anne stood gazing at him, so full of love and wonder, she couldn't speak. "I love you" was easy to say; it was easy to show. But "I forgive you" was much harder to articulate. In the end she had planned the balcony scenario when she had first learned he was coming home as a way of showing Sid that the events of Paris were not only forgiven, they were transformed into a memory she could laugh at . . . and cherish.

  And he knew. She could see understanding in his sensitive face and his expressive eyes, understanding and love and
passion.

  He held out his arms and she came to him.

  "Thank you. Rose Anne," he whispered, his lips pressed against her temple.

  "You're more than welcome."

  He tipped her face up with the back of his hand, then captured her lips in a hungry kiss. She shivered from the chill of winter, the passion that assaulted her, and anticipation of things to come.

  As his tongue plundered her mouth, Sid cupped her hips and dragged them into his. She clung to him, desperate with a desire that only he could rouse, a need that only he could fill.

  In a frenzy of wanting, she arched against him, feeling the size and heat of him.

  "Sid . . . Sid," she whispered, moving to the frantic pulsing of her heart.

  He lifted his head and gazed down at her, his eyes dark with passion.

  "There's some lettuce upstairs that's just about wilted," he said.

  "I hope that's the only thing wilted." She arched provocatively against him.

  "Why don't we go up and see?"

  Sid lifted her into his arms and kissed her all the way up to his apartment, executing maneuvers that she told him would do the marines proud.

  "I thought it was a little on the shabby side," he said as he set her on the sofa. "Wait till you see what I do to make the Navy proud."

  He knelt in front of her. "Do you know how long I've waited for this?"

  Leaning down, she cupped his face. "The waiting's over ... for both of us."

  They studied each other, savoring their togetherness. The candlelight picked up the glow on their faces and the shining surface of the glass table and the polished wood of the piano.

  "A toast. Rose Anne ... to love." Sid poured two glasses of wine and handed one to her.

  "To love."

  His eyes never left hers as they sipped. The Virginia moon was brighter than it had any right to be in wintertime, and it shone through the window, sending its beams over them in quiet benediction.

  Rose Anne bent over and set her glass on the coffee table. "I want you, Sid."

  "This time for love?" He set his wineglass beside hers.

  "This time for love." She brushed her lips down the side of his cheek and across his lips.

  Still squatting beside her, Sid lifted her feet onto his knees and removed her shoes. He caressed the bare soles of her feet, sending shivers skittering down her spine.