The choice of car was a reflection on Rosie herself. That thought put him in mind of the golden-haired, eighteen-year-old girl he’d made his wife fourteen years ago. Her lilting smile and extraordinary leaf green eyes had worked their magic straight into his heart.
Where was that girl who’d sworn she’d wait for him till the end of time?
The composed elegant woman occupying the front passenger seat, gleaming hair caught in a large tortoiseshell clip at the back of her head, was a far cry from his loving, passionate young wife. The day he’d left, Rosie had clung to him at the base airport, refusing to let him get on that plane because they both knew it might be a year before they held each other again.
As it was, they’d made love all night long, not willing to waste a second of the precious time left to them, never dreaming it would have to last seven years.
There’d be no night like that tonight. Perhaps never again.
He’d known that much when he’d kissed her, trying to get something from her she couldn’t give. Her mouth had always been like a spring of fresh water to him, but when he went to drink, he discovered that the source had stopped giving freely. He’d only caught a trickle.
After glimpsing his injured arm, she’d attempted to cover up her repulsion, but it didn’t work. When her initial horror had fled, he saw only a sorrowing pity in her eyes, the one emotion he couldn’t tolerate from her. Not his Rosie.
But she isn’t your Rosie. Not anymore.
Who was the man? How much did he mean to her?
She’s taken off your rings, Armstrong. That’s how much the guy means to her.
How many times has he held you? Touched you?
How long have you been going to bed with him, Rosie?
A cold sweat broke out on Nick’s body. He knew he was going to be sick like R.T., so he took the Bountiful turnoff, searching frantically for the nearest gas station.
After pulling to a stop alongside a set of pumps, he got quickly out of the car. “I’ll be right back.”
He barely made it to the rest room in time to empty his stomach. While his hand still clutched the wall to support his weakened body, Cody walked in and shut the door.
“Dad? Mom was worried about you and sent me to see if you’re okay. How come you’re sick? Do you have one of those Gulf War diseases they talk about on Channel One?”
Before the war, if he’d been sick she would have followed him to find out for herself that he was all right.
As soon as the sickness passed, Nick rinsed out his mouth, then turned to Cody, anxious to take away the panic.
His hand went to Cody’s left shoulder. “What’s Channel One?”
“It’s a news channel we have to watch at school. They’ve had all these stories about vets from Desert Storm who have unexplained diseases. Even their wives and kids are getting them. Do you have one?” The tears trickled down his cheeks.
Nick sucked in his breath. “Have you ever thrown up just before a football game?” His son nodded.
“Well, getting bumped around in that transport over the Rockies and then being reunited with my family after seven years kind of made me feel the same way I used to feel before a game against the Highland Rams.”
“Honest?” Cody’s eyes were hopeful.
“I wouldn’t lie to you, son. The fact that R.T. and I were held in semi-isolation below ground throughout our imprisonment probably protected us from a lot of things, including disease. Our unit had hardly arrived before R.T. and I went out hunting for land mines and were captured.”
At those words, relief broke out on Cody’s face.
“There’s nothing wrong with either of us that a weight gain of forty pounds won’t fix. I dreamed about double-thick chocolate marshmallow malts the whole time I was captured, figured you and I would make a stop at Snelgrove’s our nightly ritual for a while. In fact, I’m craving one right now. What kind do you like?”
“Chocolate-chip cookie dough.”
“Are you putting me on?”
“No. Honest.”
“I’ve loved chocolate-chip cookie dough since I was a little kid. You’re my son, all right.”
Cody grinned. “What about R.T.?”
“He likes butterscotch. We’ll pick one up for him, too.”
“He doesn’t look very good, Dad.”
“That’s because he hasn’t been able to get in touch with his family yet. We’ll let him hang around with us until he can find out what happened to his wife and aunt.”
“Does he have kids?”
“No. But after six and a half years of hearing me talk about how terrific you are, he can’t wait to have a Cody of his own.”
“Dad…”
Pleased to see the light back in his son’s blue-green eyes, Nick decided it was time to prepare him for certain new realities. “You’ll probably hear me and R.T. talking in our sleep,” he began. “We might even scream and act strange. Don’t let it scare you and don’t be afraid to ask us questions. It won’t last forever. But it’ll happen for a while because our minds will be working overtime, remembering things we don’t want to remember. We’re going to hate certain things now.”
“Like what?”
“Oh, going into the basement, being in a dark room, being enclosed in a crowded place where we can’t get out.”
“Will it bother you to be at a stadium?”
He could see where this conversation was headed and ruffled Cody’s hair. “No. That’s different. That’s outdoors in the fresh air and sunshine. Being confined so many years has taught me a lot of things about myself.
“I know I don’t want to work behind a desk as a stockbroker anymore. If I had my way, I’d buy some property up in the mountains near Heber and do a little farming. Keep some horses. Grow a garden.”
“Hey—they’re selling property up there right now! A whole bunch of my friends’ dads have already built places near the Jordanelle Dam. They boat in summer and ice-fish in winter.”
Ignited by Cody’s enthusiasm, Nick’s heart started to pick up speed. “The Jordanelle Dam?”
“Yeah. They’ve built this dam and made a huge lake—it’s just before you get to Heber. It’s fantastic. I’ve already been waterskiing there. Could we do that?” Cody’s eyes were shining like stars at the mere possibility.
“Well, I don’t see why we couldn’t check into it. Of course, your mom’s going to have something to say about it.”
Now would be a perfect opportunity to ask Cody about the man in Rosie’s life, but he couldn’t do that. It had to come from Rosie.
Cody hadn’t said a word. Neither had Nick’s parents. Either everyone was keeping quiet to protect Nick from being hurt or none of them knew how deeply Rosie was involved with the other man. But that didn’t seem possible, not when she wasn’t wearing Nick’s rings.
No. The family was guarding the big secret. In any event, it didn’t matter. Nick would confront his wife before the day was over.
“Mom won’t mind. She could drive to the university every day. Everyone commutes.”
Nick blinked. “Is she still in school?”
“No. She’s a teacher on the faculty.”
Stunned by the news, Nick opened the rest-room door and headed for the counter to buy some gum. She’d once talked about getting her elementary-teaching certificate….
He offered Cody a piece before they went out to the car. “What does she teach?”
“Chemistry. She got her doctorate last year.” Nick heard the love and pride in his voice. “Mom has her own office. Her students call her Dr. Armstrong. Isn’t that neat?”
Chemistry? Dr. Armstrong? Nick remembered what a whiz she was at chemistry and physics in high school. All the kids used to ask her for help. Certainly, teaching at the university would pay fairly well and promise her a challenging career.
Was that where she’d met the new man in her life? Was he a professor, too?
As Nick got back in the driver’s seat, he studied his wife’s featur
es. Her anxious face might have given him a glimmer of hope that she wasn’t indifferent to him, if it hadn’t been for the pitying look in her eyes.
Their leaf green color hadn’t changed.
Everything else had.
“You’re so pale, Nick. Are you feeling ill?” she whispered. “Please stay here for a while if you need to.”
“I’m fine. We’re just hungry for some ice cream, aren’t we, Cody?”
“Yeah.”
“If it’s all right with you, Rosie, we’re going to stop at Snelgrove’s on the way home.”
“Of course it’s all right.” Her voice actually shook.
She sounded hurt. He hadn’t meant anything by the comment. He was just trying to be polite. Hell.
While they got back on the freeway, his thoughts digested the new information about his wife.
He had to admit she looked the epitome of the successful career woman. Earlier he hadn’t quite known how to describe her to himself, how to describe the difference in her. Now everything made perfect sense.
“Nick, I’ve been thinking about the sleeping arrangements for R.T. Since your parents always stay in the guest room upstairs, he could sleep in the spare room down in the base—”
“I want him to sleep with me, Mom,” Cody broke in before Nick could suggest the living-room couch.
Cody, Cody. You’re not only wonderful, you’re a quick study.
“My room has two beds. It’ll be cool to talk to him about stuff.”
Nick felt Rosie stir restlessly. Her gaze kept swerving to his hand on the wheel; she was obviously still in shock that he was minus the other. “He might not like to be questioned, Cody.”
“He’ll love it,” Nick intervened. “Once you get him going, he won’t know when to stop. The biggest mistake a person can make with a vet, particularly a POW, is to clam up on him. He needs to talk everything out, to validate what happened to him.”
Do you hear what I’m saying, Rosie?
CHAPTER THREE
“W-WERE YOU AND R.T. put in the same cell?” she asked quietly, breaking the tension-filled silence.
That’s a start, Rosie.
“No. Sometimes we were on the other side of the same wall. Other times we were separated by several walls. When the guards were lax, we could talk out loud. Otherwise we spoke to each other in Morse code by tapping on the wall.”
“Do they still use that, Dad?”
“Some parts of the military do. But R.T. taught it to me in prison. It’s a good communication system if all else fails.”
“Neat! Do you think R.T. would teach me?”
“Of course. In fact, we’ll demonstrate as soon as we get home. You can teach your friends. It’s easy. I wish your mom and I had known how to use it in high school. We wouldn’t have gotten into so much trouble passing notes in class.”
That comment brought a bark of laughter from Cody. More importantly, Rosie’s lips softened into a smile reminiscent of the old happy Rosie.
“What do you mean notes?” she challenged. “I hate to admit it, but we were terrible, Cody. We had three classes together our senior year, and I didn’t learn a single thing in any of them because your father wrote me these long letters I had to return.”
“Yours were longer, and nobody forced you to do it, sweetheart.”
Suddenly Rosie went silent and turned her head away.
For a moment they’d met on equal ground, enjoying a memory together.
Until the endearment had slipped out, triggering something so distressing his own wife couldn’t face him.
Did the new man in her life call her “sweetheart,” too? Was that the reason for her reaction?
“Tell me about your friends, Cody. I want to know their names and hear about the things you guys do when you mess around.”
As he’d hoped, Cody kept up a running commentary until they reached Snelgrove’s, in the heart of town. Nick learned that Jeff Taylor was his best friend and that you didn’t say “mess around” anymore. You were supposed to say “hang out together.”
“I guess you and R.T. know a lot about that, huh, Dad?”
Nick chuckled, in spite of his pain over Rosie’s silence. “Yup. And you know what? We’re still not sick of each other.”
“Yeah, that’s how it is with Jeff. We like the same things, and we never fight about anything. Did you have a best friend growing up, Dad?”
“Not the same way you do, Cody. I had a bunch of guys I spent most of my time with. I liked all of them for different reasons. But it was your mom who became my best friend.”
“Really?”
That brought Rosie’s head around. Nick could feel her eyes on him.
“You were my best friend, too,” she whispered.
But no longer, Rosie?
“That’s why we married out of high school, Cody. It’s not for everybody, but it was for us. I was making investments in the stock market, so we struggled to make ends meet. Still, it was fun. I joined the army reserve to pay for college. Your mom worked part-time, and took night classes at the university. Then we found out you were on the way. That was one pretty terrific day.”
“For me, too,” Cody said.
Nick laughed again and was pleased to see the faint smile back on Rosie’s face.
“I’ll run in,” Cody offered as they pulled to a stop in one of the parking spaces.
Rosie started to reach for her purse. It shouldn’t have upset Nick, but it did. He forestalled her by taking out his wallet. Again he felt her eyeing him as he laid it across his thigh and propped it open with his bandaged arm, while he extracted some bills with his right hand. Then she hastily looked away. Was the sight so abhorrent to her?
“Is there anything you’d like, Rosie?”
She shook her head nervously. “But maybe you should buy some rainbow sherbert for your grandparents, Cody.”
“Okay. I’ll hurry.”
He was out of the car like a shot, leaving Nick alone with his wife for the first time since the plane had landed.
Because he didn’t know when they’d have this opportunity again before bedtime, he decided to face his worst nightmare right now.
“I’ve had years to think about what our reunion would be like, Rosie. How much would be the same. How much would be different. Seven years is too long to ask of any man or wom—”
“Nick!”
“Let me finish this, Rosie. I don’t need details. To be honest, I don’t think I could handle them right now. What I need is the simple truth.”
A long silence. “I—I thought your parents or C-Cody would have told you by now.”
So, there really is someone else in your life. Like a fool, I’ve been praying I was wrong.
“They didn’t breathe a word about it, and our son has told me nothing, hasn’t so much as hinted,” Nick muttered, exhaling a painful breath. “You’ve raised a terrific boy who’s sensitive enough, and intelligent enough, to leave that up to the mother he adores.”
“He adores you, Nick.” Her voice was full of tears.
His hand had been tapping Morse code on the steering wheel, but he hadn’t even noticed until he saw her watching him. She could have no idea he’d been rapping out the same words over and over again, like a litany— “Is there a way out? Are the guards looking?” Old habits died hard. He stopped tapping.
“Who is he, Rosie? What’s his name?”
Her body was trembling. Despite the distance separating them, he could feel it.
“He moved here from California two years ago.”
Two years? They’d known each other that long?
“His name is Zach Wilde.”
“Are you in love with him?”
She buried her face in her hands. “Please don’t ask me that question.”
Oh, Lord. He’d thought he could deal with this. But he was wrong.
“When I tried to reach you, Mom and Dad said you were on your way back from a Caribbean cruise with Cody. Was Zach with you?”
>
“Yes,” came the muffled answer.
His teeth ground together. “If you’ve known each other two years, I’m surprised you’re not married by now.”
Slowly she lifted her head, but she wouldn’t look at him. “W-we got engaged on the cruise. Not even your parents know about it yet.”
His eyes closed tightly. “When were you planning to be married?”
“June twelfth.”
You wanted the truth, Armstrong. Well, you just got it.
“Is Cody crazy about him, too?”
“No.” Her voice shook with conviction.
“How come?”
“He didn’t want another father if he couldn’t have you. Your parents haven’t been happy about it, either. They never believed you’d died in that explosion with the others,” she explained in an emotional outburst, talking faster and faster, more like the old Rosie.
“I didn’t want to believe it, either, but after this many years without mention of one POW still being held, I decided I couldn’t live with false hope any longer.”
So everyone remained loyal but you.
“Is Cody the reason you haven’t married before now?”
She didn’t say anything.
“Rosie?” He wanted the whole truth now, so there’d be no more shocks.
“He’s…part of it.”
“And the other part?”
“I couldn’t let you go.”
That’s something, anyway.
“When did you change your mind?” he persisted, needing to hear it all.
She sucked in her breath. “Even though Cody couldn’t accept Zach, I—I had a wonderful time on the trip. I never dreamed it would be possible to love anyone again after you, Nick.” Her voice cracked. “But it happened, and I told him I’d marry him.”
Nick felt the way he did after the first week of his captivity, when a select group of Saddam’s henchmen took turns roughing him up every two hours for seven consecutive days because he refused to give them any information.
“I’ll sleep on the couch tonight.” He didn’t want to think about tomorrow night.
“No!” she cried. “You can’t, Nick. You deserve to sleep in your own bed. As if I’d let you sleep anywhere else!” Her cheeks had gone a fiery red.
Strangers When We Meet Page 4