For Love of Emily

by Bonnie Gardner

  Thad stood stroking his daughter’s hair in a tender moment that he didn’t want to end. Finally, he touched Emily’s shoulders and pushed her gently away. “Do you think we could eat now? Some of us have a big day tomorrow.”

  “Okay.” Emily slipped out of his reach and ordered, “You help Miss Burdette to her seat.” She stood, primly watching as he complied.

  Thad winked at Emily and crooked an arm for Silver. “May I have the honor of escorting you to your chair?” he asked very formally.

  “Why thank you, kind sir,” Silver replied, with a barely concealed smile.

  “That’s better,” Emily said as she slipped into her own seat. “You can sit down now,” she prompted as Silver took her seat, leaving Thad standing.

  “Thank you. I will.” He took his place in front of the huge platter of food. He served a generous portion of salad to Emily and passed the bowl to Silver.

  ****

  Much later that evening, Silver found herself alone in the living room with Thad Thibodeaux. With Emily around it had been almost possible to forget the not-unpleasant discomfort she felt when around the man. Now that her chaperone had gone to bed, the sensation came flooding back. She tried to make small talk.

  “Emily really seems to be coming around. I’ve noticed a big change,” Silver remarked to fill the awkward silence.

  “I see it too, but occasionally something like what happened earlier and realize that we still have a long way to go,” Thad replied thoughtfully. “We have gotten to be excellent Scrabble players. However, she hasn’t quite caught on to military speak, yet,” he said with a slight upward quirk of his lip.

  “I noticed the stack of games on the bookcase.” She smiled, and went on. “You have to remember, even though she is your daughter, she didn’t grow up around the military. Most military kids grow up hearing that stuff and don’t think anything about it. She just has to get used to it, that’s all,” Silver suggested.

  Thad massaged his temples tiredly and replied, “You’re probably right. I’m still finding this parenthood stuff is tougher to handle than I expected.” He looked pensive for a moment. “I can handle a company of men, but one little girl has me baffled.”

  Silver looked up and shrugged, trying unsuccessfully to look reassuring. “They’re not that much different than grownup women,” she said.

  “Like that’s going to help. I don’t seem to know that much about adult women either.”

  Silver looked down at her fingers and toyed with a sofa throw. She glanced up again quickly as Thad started to speak.

  “Imagine her thinking anyone could want to kill you,” Thad murmured softly.

  Silver wasn’t certain what he’d said or if he’d been speaking to her. “Did you say something?”

  He looked up. “Oh, nothing. I was just thinking out loud,” he replied absently and changed the subject. “I’ll have to turn in. I don’t know what time the exercise will begin, or even if it will begin tonight.” He covered his mouth to stifle a yawn and hauled his big frame out of his chair.

  “I have an early day too,” Silver agreed, wishing that Thad wouldn’t wear those tight shirts that showed off his muscles. She couldn’t breathe when he moved like that.

  “You can go on up, Miss Burdette. I have to lock up the house. Good night.”

  “Night,” Silver answered back. Then she turned and hurried to her cell-like room.

  Thad called after her. “By the way, Miss Burdette, I would prefer that you not entertain your gentlemen friends here in my absence.”

  Chapter Five

  Silver almost ignored the statement, but she looked back over her shoulder and answered him. “That won’t be a problem, Major. I’m not seeing anyone.”

  As she turned back toward the stairs, Silver thought she saw a slight smile play around the corners of Thad’s mouth. Was he pleased that there was no competition? Or was it just because he wouldn’t have to worry about her behaving inappropriately in front of his daughter?

  She smiled to herself as she trudged up the stairs.

  Surprisingly, Silver fell asleep quickly and slept soundly. Sometime in the wee hours of the morning, a telephone jangled, muffled and far away, and pulled her briefly from her coma-like state. Once she had identified the sound, she sank back into deep sleep, her mind eased because she knew that the sound meant Thad would be gone in the morning. And that staying in this house without his disturbing presence would be easier.

  Silver woke early and lay in the comfortable pre-dawn darkness, waiting for her travel alarm to announce the new day. The darkness began to soften, but the sounds of the neighborhood were still quiet, so she knew she had not overslept. After troubled sleep in anticipation of her stay at the Thibodeaux home, Silver was grateful to realize that now that she was here, she had awakened fully rested and relaxed. The day would be a good one.

  At precisely six thirty, her tiny travel-sized alarm clock heralded the day, and Silver rolled languidly out of her covers. She ambled across the room in the soft, grey morning light and pushed the button that silenced the clock. She yawned and stretched and fumbled for the light switch. A quick glance out the window provided the reason for the muffled morning sounds and the softness of the light. The house was shrouded by a thick, clinging fog. The air seemed unusually warm for October, so Silver simply grabbed her robe and padded into the hall with it draped over her arm.

  Thad wasn’t there, so why would she need it?

  ****

  Thad Thibodeaux pulled his SUV into the garage and let himself quietly back into the house. Another one of those irritating maintenance delays had caused the mission to abort almost as soon as the first plane had lifted off. The formation of planes, minus one, had circled the airfield while he and his men had sat inside packed like parachute-clad sardines in among the gear and material until he had been told that they would have to return to the airfield and wait until the necessary repairs were made. And then the fog had settled in.

  Most of the troops had elected to head for the mess hall for chow; nobody there would be surprised at the unusual getup they wore. But as an officer living off base, he wasn’t entitled to use the mess hall, and he couldn’t go into a fast food place for a sausage biscuit in full battle dress uniform and face paint. He certainly didn’t feel like eating something from the drive-through restaurant in his car. He had secured his gear and headed for home in the eerie, morning fog.

  Thad struggled with his hunger and irritation as he trod wearily upstairs. At the top of the steps, he blinked as he saw what appeared to be an apparition. There standing in delicious disarray was the sylph-like — had he really thought her as prim? —figure of Miss Sylvia Burdette.

  Now he wondered if his eagerness to get home had more to do with his daughter’s teacher than his daughter. He shook his head. That was totally inappropriate. What was wrong with him? And why was he so attracted to her?

  ****

  Silver paused in front of her room in the dark hall illuminated only by the light escaping from the crack where her bedroom door stood ajar. She was so preoccupied with her plans for the day that, at first, she didn’t see Major Thibodeaux standing at the top of the stairs.

  He was in full battle dress, and his face was green! It took a moment for Silver’s mind to register what her eyes had seen, and she was already well down the hall when the information clicked. She turned slowly around and verified her first impression. She whispered a silent “oh”, and she dropped the robe as her hand went involuntarily toward her mouth. She stood that way, listening to her rapidly beating heart for what seemed like an eternity.

  Finally the man behind the face paint spoke and broke the morning stillness. “I’m sorry I startled you. The lead plane developed engine trouble so we have to sit until it’s fixed. We’ll be delayed until at least zero nine hundred hours. That’s nine o’clock,” he explained.

  His blue eyes shining through the face paint, he made a thorough appraisal of Silver’s form, from the top of her
head to the tips of her naked toes. He stooped to pick up the robe that had slipped from Silver’s hand.

  At that moment, several thoughts rushed around in Silver’s mind, though none made it to her mouth. They ranged from relief that the intruder was only Thad, to embarrassment that he had seen her in the skimpy, filmy nightgown, and finally annoyance that he had felt it necessary to translate military time for her. The three emotions acted to cancel out each other, preventing Silver’s face from going scarlet as she mutely accepted the robe.

  As Silver tugged on the flimsy piece of cloth that hid little but would, at least, preserve her dignity, she felt Thad’s hand brush her shoulder. Instead of falling back as she would have expected it to, it hovered, then rested lightly beneath her chin. With swift, but gentle pressure, Thad raised her down-turned face to his.

  He captured her mouth and plundered her lips, and Silver was too surprised to struggle. After the initial shock, though, she responded ardently to his demanding lips. She had longed for this since the moment she had discovered who he really was.

  Almost as suddenly as it started, the kiss ended. Thad released her, about-faced, and retreated down the stairs.

  Silver touched her tingling lips with a trembling hand and watched his dark figure disappear down the stairs. Then she turned and pushed open the door to the bathroom.

  As the water began to do its work and clear her sleep-slowed reflexes, the dreamlike effects of the kiss left her. Silver’s emotions flip-flopped from wonder to annoyance to embarrassment. As she shampooed her hair, much too roughly, she fretted over what she would say to Thad when she had to face him downstairs. She hoped that he would go back to the post before she went down, but was realistic enough not to expect it. As she toweled her hair dry, the clock radio in Emily’s room came on, signaling the need to hurry. She tried to shrug off the memory of the brief encounter with Thad and went to rouse Emily.

  Hearing no signs of activity coming from the child’s room and seeing no light, Silver knocked loudly and opened the door. She switched on the overhead light and discovered Emily’s sleeping form, burrowed deep into her bedding.

  “Hey, sleepyhead, get out of bed. Time’s a-wastin’,” Silver announced from her vantage point at the door.

  Emily’s head slowly appeared from beneath the mound of covers. She smiled sleepily and yawned. “My dad usually does that,” she mumbled as she pushed herself up and rubbed her eyes. She yawned again. “Is he gone yet?”

  “Not yet. If you hurry up and get dressed, you can see him before he leaves.” Though you may not recognize him under all that war paint, Silver thought wryly as she watched Emily fumble her way to the closet. She turned to complete her own morning routine while Emily did hers.

  Emily and Silver arrived in the hall, dressed and ready, at the same time. Emily wore jeans and a purple and white rugby shirt while Silver was dressed more professionally. As Emily chattered about her plans for the day, Silver remembered with a sudden flash of discomfort that the girl’s father had seen her in nearly nothing only a short while earlier and had taken more than just a look.

  The imprint of Thad’s lips still burned on hers, and Silver stopped halfway down the stairway as she remembered. Almost without thinking she lifted her hand to her mouth.

  “Come on, Miss Burdette. We’ll be late for school.”

  “You go on, sweetie. I’ll be right down. I forgot something.” Actually, I remembered something, she thought ruefully. She would never forget the way Thad’s eyes, gleaming from behind the dark face paint, had travelled up and down her nearly-naked form. She remembered every detail of the indolent way he had handed her the robe and the way his strong hands had so gently tilted her face to his. She fervently hoped that he would forget.

  Silver delayed on the stairs as long as she could then continued down. The aroma of bacon frying greeted her at the foot of the stairs and hunger urged her to follow her nose. As she neared the kitchen, the smell of coffee perking mingled with the bacon to create a pleasant early-morning potpourri. Tempted by the tantalizing scents wafting toward her, she nearly forgot her embarrassment.

  Only temporarily.

  Thad stood over the frying pan, prodding the strips of meat as they cooked and emitted that beckoning aroma. He looked up as Silver approached and smiled. “I don’t know how you feel about breakfast, but I could use a big meal to kill the time while I wait.” The words were innocent enough, but a knowing look in his eyes made her squirm under his forthright gaze.

  Silver wished he wouldn’t look at her that way. Even with that ridiculous war paint on, he still made her tingle. Would he never leave?

  Aloud, she said, “The bacon smells wonderful. I’d love some with toast and juice. Let me help with the table since you’re cooking,” Silver added as an afterthought. She looked toward the cabinets. Anything to avoid his eyes.

  “No need. Emily has already done it. This stuff is almost ready.” He reached for a fork and speared several strips of bacon and placed them on paper towels to drain as Silver started for the dining room.

  Almost as an afterthought, he called her back. “Miss Burdette?” He addressed her much too formally considering what had recently occurred between them. “About this morning. I was out of line.”

  “Is that an apology?” Silver surprised herself by how coolly she had asked the question.

  Thad shrugged. “Yes, I guess it is,” he replied as he turned a strip of bacon.

  “Accepted.” Silver turned into the next room. Why was he sorry? Because he was truly out of line, or had she been, somehow, unsatisfactory? She sighed. Or maybe, he wanted more.

  As she entered the dining area, Silver heard the sizzle of eggs hitting the hot grease. She really hadn’t been hungry before she smelled the food that Thad was cooking. Was food what she really wanted?

  Emily pulled two slices of bread from the toaster and added them to a huge mound of toast in the center of the table. As she prepared to pop two more slices in, she looked up and smiled. “My dad makes great breakfast, but he doesn’t always do it.”

  “I think that’s enough toast, Emily,” Thad said quietly as he entered, carrying a platter heaped with crisp bacon and a mound of fluffy scrambled eggs. He winked in the direction of his guest and added, “We don’t want Miss Burdette to think I feed you cold cereal and toaster pastries every day.” He set the platter down. “Dig in before it gets cold.”

  Silver tried to enjoy her meal, but though she was hungry and the food was delicious, Thad’s presence across the table in his green face paint caused her to pick nervously at the food before her. The green paint hadn’t caused her discomfort. It was the closeness to Thad.

  If only he’d leave and let her put her feelings back into their proper place.

  Almost as soon as the thought was formed, the telephone rang. Preoccupied as she was with her thoughts, Silver jerked up, startled as the phone shrilled its message from the kitchen wall.

  Thad wiped his mouth, leaving a green smear on the paper napkin, and pushed his chair away from the table. “I’m sure that’s for me.”

  The telephone conversation was short, consisting mostly of monosyllables. At the conclusion, Thad announced, “Plane’s fixed — the fog’s lifting. Gotta go. See you when I get back.” He blew a kiss to Emily and turned to Silver.

  “Take care of my kid,” he said huskily. “She’s pretty important to me.” His gaze stayed on Silver perhaps a moment too long, then he turned to leave.

  “Bye, Dad,” Emily called after him, mouth full of toast. “Be careful.” Though the child tried to look cheerful, Silver knew that the gulp Emily swallowed was not breakfast but a lump in her throat.

  “It’s okay, honey. He’s done this zillions of times. He’ll be fine,” Silver said to reassure the child. “Finish your breakfast. You need energy to do well at school.”

  Emily nodded and turned back to her eggs.

  With the distracting influence of Thad Thibodeaux gone, Silver’s appetite returned and she
devoured the food that had only moments before tasted like cardboard and rubber.

  ****

  Silver pointed her car toward Thad’s home that afternoon with a happier heart than the day before. His home. Her day had gone well, and with Emily seated on the front seat beside her, Silver almost felt as though she were headed toward her own home. She looked forward to playing housemother to Thad’s child.

  “Last stop. Everybody off,” Silver called gaily as she pulled into the Thibodeaux driveway. “We’re home.”

  Emily bounded out of the car and headed not toward the front door, but the mailbox.

  As Silver unlocked the house and let herself in, she heard a whoop from Emily. She turned quickly to see her young charge come tearing across the lawn, waving a dainty pink envelope. The girl was so preoccupied with the letter that she left a trail of bills and “Dear occupants” behind her.

  “Emily, you’ve dropped some,” Silver called as the child hurried past her.

  Shrugging, Silver deposited her book bag and purse just inside the open door and went to retrieve the fallen mail.

  “Who is the letter from, Em?” Silver asked as she sorted through the material she had recovered. “A best beau you left behind in New Orleans?” She perched on the arm of the overstuffed chair and peered down at the intently reading girl.

  Emily giggled. “No, it’s from my friend Zola.” She turned back to continue reading. When she finished, she carefully folded the paper and put it back into the envelope.

  “You miss her a lot, don’t you?”

  “Yeah. I hated leaving. But with Ma-Maw so sick, I was just in the way. My mom didn’t think it was a good environment for me.” Emily paused and added maturely, “I respect that.”

  Silver suppressed a smile. “You respect that?” she asked, the corners of her mouth twitching upward.