Backlash

by Traci Hunter Abramson

  Suddenly uneasy, she glanced over at Riley. Then she forced herself to relax. If Riley came across the old red folder, she would simply ask her where to put it. One thing she liked about Riley was that she wasn’t nosy.

  Still hopeful, Marilyn grabbed another bag, but her sense of unease began to grow as each bag was emptied. She tried to remind herself that she had been writing for weeks now without having her old work, but she dreaded the possibility of someone finding her file and reading her words.

  Riley’s voice broke into her thoughts, “Okay, I think that’s the last one.”

  “Are you sure?” Marilyn asked, hoping that the panic in her voice wasn’t noticeable.

  “I think so.” Riley’s eyebrows drew together. “Why? Are you missing something?”

  “Nothing really,” Marilyn managed. “There are just a few things that I thought would have been here.”

  The rumble of Tristan’s truck sounded outside. “Looks like the guys are here. Should we go help them unload?”

  “I’ll be right down. I’m going to finish up this last bag.”

  “Okay. I’ll see you downstairs.” Riley headed out of the room, and Marilyn quickly finished putting away the contents of her pajama drawer. When she reached the bottom of the last bag, she pushed it aside and then pulled open one of the drawers Riley had unpacked for her. She searched through it and then proceeded to the next drawer. After checking the contents of her dresser, she moved to Kel’s and riffled through all of his clothes.

  Finally, she shut the last dresser drawer and let out a long sigh. It wasn’t here. The pages she had poured her heart and soul onto were missing, and she had no idea where they were.

  27

  Marilyn parked in front of the physical therapy office and shifted to look at her husband. He had been unusually quiet as they drove the few miles, and now she contemplated why. “You look worried.”

  “I’m afraid that I’ll go in there and they’ll tell me I’m not ready and that I shouldn’t push it,” Kel told her. “I don’t know if I can wait another week.”

  Marilyn considered his concerns and tried to suppress her own. “You’ve never been very good at taking no for an answer. Why start now?”

  Kel stared at her for a moment, and then the corner of his mouth lifted. He opened the car door and mumbled, “Here goes nothing.”

  Marilyn waited for him to balance on his good leg before handing him his crutches. Then they went inside together.

  The waiting room wasn’t terribly large, and the receptionist’s desk was currently empty. Kel looked over at her and said, “You did say we were supposed to be here at nine, right?”

  She nodded, glancing down at her watch to see that they were only five minutes early. “Yeah. You’re supposed to be the first appointment of the day.”

  Before he could respond, a young woman emerged from a short hallway. “You must be the Bennetts. Come on back.”

  Remembering the one time she had seen Kel in rehab in Bethesda, Marilyn hesitated. “Maybe I should wait here.”

  “Actually, Adam wants to meet with both of you.”

  “Okay.” Marilyn relented and followed the woman and Kel into the hall and then into an examining room where they were quickly met by a slender man holding a clipboard.

  Adam introduced himself and then had Kel sit on the examining table. Marilyn watched on as Adam poked and prodded. He moved Kel’s knee one way and then another, constantly asking how it felt and if there was any pain. Finally, he stepped back and nodded. “Okay, it looks like you’re healing as expected, and your mobility isn’t too bad. Let’s go ahead and take you into the back, and we’ll do some exercises.”

  Kel nodded, looking visibly relieved. “Okay.” He stood and then picked up the crutches. “Do I have to keep using these?”

  “For now.” Adam nodded. “Let’s keep you on the crutches until tomorrow. I’d like to see how your knee holds up after we stretch it out. If it looks okay tomorrow, we can have you use a cane for extra support for a couple more days. By the end of the week, you should be able to get around without any extra help as long as you take it slow.”

  “Sounds good,” Kel agreed.

  “I’ll go ahead and wait for you in the waiting room.” Marilyn watched Adam lead Kel out of the room, and then she went out to the car and retrieved her laptop. She had missed spending time with her characters since all of her time had recently been spent unpacking and shopping. Ideas had been brewing in her head, and she hoped to at least jot a few down while Kel underwent his first physical therapy session.

  She sat down in the corner of the waiting room, booted up the computer, and opened the correct file. The ideas started flowing the moment the document flashed in front of her, and her fingers could barely keep up.

  The door opening didn’t break into her chain of thoughts, but Kel’s voice abruptly brought her back to reality. “Are you ready?”

  “Yeah.” Marilyn swiftly hit the save button and then exited the document. She slipped the laptop into its case and then stood and headed for the door.

  Then Kel asked the dreaded question, “What were you writing?”

  “Oh, nothing,” Marilyn said a little too quickly. “Just a letter to my mom.”

  Though he looked a little puzzled, Kel seemed to accept her answer.

  Before he could question her further, Marilyn asked, “How did it go?”

  “Good, I think. Adam said I can use the bike at home for a few minutes a couple of times a day, at least to start with.”

  Marilyn gave him a knowing smile. “I guess compromising works sometimes after all.”

  “Maybe.” Kel considered for a moment before leaning forward to give her a quick kiss. “Thanks for moving up my appointment.”

  Marilyn simply nodded. “You’re welcome.”

  * * *

  Desks, bookshelves, end tables, and filing cabinets filled the far corner of the store. Kel looked at their choices and wished he never had to go shopping again. They had selected the shelves they wanted, but now they needed to find a desk. Kel glanced over at Marilyn, noticing that she looked as exhausted as he felt. “Are you getting tired of looking at furniture?”

  Her shoulders lifted noncommittally. “It will just be nice to have the house all put together. It kind of feels like we haven’t had time to enjoy living in our new house because we’re always busy trying to get it ready to live in.”

  “I know what you mean,” Kel agreed. “Just think, though. Once we get a desk and some bookshelves, we’ll be able to get the rest of our stuff put away, and we won’t have any more boxes or bags lying around.”

  “That’s true.” Marilyn ran a fingertip along a long, sleek desk. She looked at it a little wistfully before moving on.

  “Did you like this one?”

  “It’s great, but it’s too big for the study.” She turned and pointed at a more traditional desk. “Something like that would probably be better.”

  “You’re probably right.” Kel moved closer to the one she had motioned to. Then another desk caught his eye. It was an old-style rolltop desk in honey oak. A little smile crept over his face as he thought of the desk his father had owned when he was growing up that was very much like this one. “What about this?”

  “It’s nice,” Marilyn said hesitantly.

  “What?”

  “Nothing,” she started. Then she gave a little shrug. “It’s just that it isn’t very functional—it won’t really hold a computer.”

  “I know, but we weren’t really planning on having a desktop computer anymore, and a laptop would fit fine on it,” Kel reminded her. Then he pointed at a small hutch in the same honey oak. “We could put the desk along the wall by the window and then put this behind it to put a computer on.”

  “I think the hutch would make the room too crowded.” Marilyn shook her head. “If you really want that desk, why don’t we get it and the bookshelves today? Once we get all of that set up we can decide if there’s room for the hutc
h, too.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Kel agreed. Then he grinned. “Do you think I can talk Tristan into coming and picking this stuff up today so we don’t have to wait for it to be delivered?”

  Marilyn gave another shrug. “You are his commanding officer.”

  Kel laughed now. “I think he’s going to regret owning a pickup truck before this week is over.”

  * * *

  The research had been time consuming and tedious, but after days upon days of looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack, Halim had found his first breakthrough. His list of possibilities wasn’t as long as he would have liked, but he was determined to make this new information work for him.

  Four days had passed since the SEALs had visited the commander’s house. Four days since he had received the news that Akil Ramir had been kidnapped by the Americans and thrown into one of their prisons.

  The news of his employer’s capture had brought out mixed emotions. His first reaction had been complete outrage. Then the realization settled over him that as Ramir’s second-in-command, the Americans had in effect promoted him. They had also relieved him of the concern that Ramir would call him back before he completed his objective.

  He felt a new sense of urgency to free Lina. His feelings for her aside, he needed her now. Or at least he needed her last name if he was going to be successful in accessing many of Ramir’s key assets. If he could convince her to join forces with him, one way or another, his takeover of the Ramir empire would be complete.

  Surely, Lina already knew that Seth wasn’t who he claimed to be. With him no longer in her life, Halim was certain that she would finally return his affections, especially once he succeeded in liberating her.

  Halim saw Ramir’s capture in a new light now. He was taking charge of Ramir’s empire using phone calls and cryptic e-mails. His plans for his time in the US had changed, but, finally, everything was falling into place. A little more time, a little more research, and all of his dreams would become reality.

  28

  Finally, everything was coming together. Marilyn knew that there were still a lot of things she needed for the house to help make it feel more like a home, but at least now she felt like it was functional.

  Kel’s new desk was already in the study, and she had to admit that it looked great. Even though she knew it was more suited for his needs than hers, she was glad she hadn’t insisted on a more traditional computer desk. All of the bags and boxes were now unpacked except for the few books and files Kel’s squad had rescued from their house.

  Marilyn was hoping to finish putting all of those away as soon as Kel finished putting the bookshelves together.

  “Hey, Marilyn,” Kel called out to her.

  “Yeah?” Marilyn answered as she walked into the front entryway and looked into the study. “What do you need?”

  “Can you get me a regular screwdriver?”

  “Is this one of those requests that requires me to get in the car and go buy what you need, or do we already have one here at this house?”

  Kel chuckled and grinned at her. “We already have one. It should be in the junk drawer in the kitchen.”

  “In that case, I’d be happy to get you a screwdriver.” Marilyn retrieved the tool and handed it to him. “Did you have any preferences for what I fix for dinner?”

  “Anything is fine,” Kel assured her. “I should be done with these in about an hour.”

  “Okay.” Marilyn headed for the kitchen and busied herself with fixing dinner and working in the kitchen. An hour and a half later, she called out, “Kel, dinner’s ready.” When she didn’t hear any movement in the office, she called out again. “Kel?”

  When he still didn’t answer, she walked down the hall. Her brows drew together when she saw that the French doors leading to the study were closed. Through the glass she could see Kel sitting at the desk reading something.

  Behind him the bookcases were all assembled and lined up against the wall, a box filled with books sitting on the floor beside them.

  Marilyn pushed open the door, surprised that Kel didn’t react to the sound. “Honey, dinner’s ready.”

  Kel looked up now, an unreadable expression on his face.

  “Is something wrong?” Marilyn took a step forward.

  Then Kel held up the ragged folder Marilyn knew so well. He seemed to draw up his energy, and then he asked, “What’s this?”

  She could feel her cheeks heat as an overwhelming wave of embarrassment welled up inside her. At first she couldn’t even speak. Then she managed to ask, “Where did you find that? Why were you going through my things?”

  “I wasn’t going through your things,” Kel said now, his voice tight. “It was in one of the boxes I was unpacking.”

  “And you read it?” Marilyn asked, horrified.

  “I just wanted to know what it was.” Kel’s voice was low and even. “Imagine my surprise to find the better part of a novel hidden with our books, and I never even knew my wife liked to write.”

  Rather than answer the underlying accusation, Marilyn took another step forward and held out her trembling hand. She hated that her voice shook, and she wished desperately that she could just disappear. “May I have it back?”

  Kel picked up the pages he had apparently already read—over a hundred of them—and stacked them with the others. Marilyn could feel her cheeks heating. He had been in here reading her words, her private thoughts, for the past hour while she was cooking for him.

  After putting the papers back into the folder, he held it up and stared at her. “Why didn’t you ever tell me about this? This is part of who you are. I can’t believe you would keep something like this secret from me.”

  “Secret? Don’t you dare talk to me about what secrets I am keeping from you.” She swallowed hard, staring at him with a combination of anger and embarrassment. “You don’t tell me anything, even when I beg you to share your life with me. Now you’re going to criticize me for having something I want to keep private?” She took a steadying breath before speaking again, her voice now flat. “Dinner is on the table. Help yourself.” She then stepped out of the study and turned away from the kitchen.

  * * *

  Kel sat on the deck and stared out at the water. The smell of meat grilling tingled his senses and stirred his stomach. He hadn’t bothered to eat dinner. After Marilyn had stormed out, he had come outside, staying in the kitchen just long enough to put the casserole in the refrigerator. That had been over an hour ago, and he had yet to hear any movement in the kitchen since then.

  He imagined Marilyn was hiding up in their room, probably using her laptop to create some other fictional account of why his career was ruining someone’s life. He still couldn’t get over what he had read. The characters’ emotions had been so real. Within the lines, he could see the woman’s struggles. He found himself feeling sorry for her. At times he even caught himself rooting for her husband to change careers.

  Kel shook his head as he wondered how his wife had found the time to write and then realized that he didn’t have to ask that question. Obviously, she had to do something when he was away. Except for an occasional comment about work or going out with Heather, Marilyn rarely talked about how she spent her days. A wave of guilt washed over him as he considered that he had never before thought to wonder what she did with her time while he was gone. He could see now how her anger and frustration about each assignment had poured into the words she had written.

  He also began to understand just how deeply seeded her resentment really was. Even though he was now making an effort to be more open with Marilyn about his life as a SEAL, after tonight, he was beginning to realize just how hard his career had been on her.

  A back door opened a couple of houses down, and Kel watched a boy of about seven race outside and bound down the back steps holding a baseball glove in his hand. Following more slowly was his father. Something twisted inside Kel as he watched the father cross the lawn and then turn to toss the ball
to his son. He might never have that, Kel realized.

  Then another thought invaded his mind with a swift vengeance. Did Marilyn really want children? In the early days of their marriage, they had talked about starting a family. Nearly three years had passed since they had started trying for a baby. As the months had passed into years without any success, Marilyn could barely talk about children without tears filling her eyes. What should have been a joyous discussion had become a topic he had learned to avoid.

  Even though he continually hoped and prayed that they would be able to start a family of their own, Kel now wondered if Marilyn still shared that desire. After reading her unfinished novel, he wondered if everything about her was just an illusion.

  As he watched the neighbors throwing the ball around, he stretched his leg out in front of him and then slowly lowered it. The exercise was a simple one, one that had become a habit every time he found himself sitting for more than a few minutes. He repeated the motions ten times and then switched to his stronger leg.

  A woman’s voice called out that dinner was ready, effectively ending the ball practice down the street. Minutes stretched out unnoticed as darkness fell and the sounds of the neighborhood faded until only the lapping of the water and an occasional dog barking could be heard.

  The door behind him opened, but instead of Marilyn’s voice, it was Seth’s Southern drawl that broke into the silence. “Hey, Kel.”

  Kel shifted enough to see the big man standing behind him. “Hey. I didn’t think I would see you until the wedding. It’s getting close.”

  “I know.” Seth was grinning as he moved forward so that he was standing in front of Kel. “Believe me, Saturday can’t come soon enough.”

  Kel tried to muster up some enthusiasm for his friend. “So what brings you by?”