Me * yeah three times
Dad * wow and he’s still around he must really like you or he’s plain nuts
Me * I think the later he’s a Marine after all
Dad * hey you saying I’m nuts
Me * yes
Dad * okay fair assessment… So what you going to do?
Me * I don’t’ know… I’m going to the summer ball with him next weekend…
Dad * not what I meant
Me * I’m going to ask him right out tonight when he gets here
Dad * I’ll call you back later Baby okay I think I can sneak another call… Being CO of the platoon helps.
Me * I love you Dad
Dad * I love you too Sweetheart
I hung up as the sound of Ryne’s truck pulling into the driveway made me look up, I walked to the front door and opened it.
“Hey Beautiful” he grinned bending his head and kissing me “Something smells good and I’m not talking about the food” I put my hands on his chest
“We need to talk” his face fell a little I took his uniform and hung it on one of the door frames
“Oh that doesn’t sound good” he put down his bag.
“Come out side” I walked over to the back door and opened it and sat at the table Ryne sat opposite me
“What have I done?”
“I get this feeling that you’re hiding something from me”
“This again” He held up his hands
“Yes this again and if I’m going to get into any sort of relationship with you I need to know about any skeletons in the closet” I was trying to keep calm and it was a struggle.
“I thought you said you loved me or was I wrong and it was just because we’d banged each other brains out” he snapped
“Don’t get smart with me. You know all about my crap going on and when you think about it I don’t know a lot about you”
“You knew enough to get in bed with me”
‘Oh my god” I groaned “Ryne what’s the damn issue here what are you keeping from me?”
“I’m leaving I didn’t come here for this” he got up
“What did you come for a roll in the hay?” I yelled at him as he walked into the house “what the hell?” I heard his truck start and the tire screech down the driveway. I sat back down and rubbed my hand over my face “Okay so what just happened?????"
Chapter 63
Bursting bubble
I was still sitting there when Brit and Marek walked round the side of the house.
“Okay I’ve been calling you and knocking the door for the past five minutes” Brit plopped down in the chair opposite me “We saw Ryne on the gate”
“Aly are you okay?” Marek asked I can see why Brit fell for his softly spoken accent it was like honey and full of concern.
“AL?” Brit leant on the table “that douche hasn’t been here has he?”
“I just think whatever Ryne and I had is done” I looked at her.
“Done you only just… OMG what did you do?”
“I asked him what he was keeping from me and he lost it”
“Maybe he wasn’t keeping anything?” Marek suggested Brit looked at him
“Babe the girls in this family tend to know if somethings being kept from them” She sighed “It’s a crazy Marine brat thing” he smiled at her. “So you want me to go drag his ass from the gate?”
“No if he doesn’t want to tell me then that’s down to him” I ran my fingers through my hair. “I knew it was too good to be true”
“You know it might be something and nothing” she smiled
“And he could have a crazy past like Dad did” I watch Marek smile a little “Look you only have the ten days together you don’t need to be sitting here with me” I got up “I’m going to put on some chick flick and hit the Ben and Jerry’s” I kissed Brit’s cheek “Thanks for…”
“I didn’t do anything but I will be back in the morning and I hope you’re not going to be in a sugar coma” I walked in the house Marek looked at the closed door then to Brit
‘You’re seriously going to leave her alone tonight?”
“Believe me I know her better than I know myself sometimes and I know when to leave her alone” she put her head on his shoulder “She’ll be okay”
I didn’t hear Ryder come home but when I got up he was tucked up in bed sleeping soundly. I changed into my riding things and left a note on the table for him. I wasn’t hungry I needed to feel… well my horse was the one thing that made things feel right. I forgot all about Ryne being on duty as I pulled up to the gate.
“We need to talk” he said quietly taking my I.D. from me “and I don’t want you leaving the base”
“Now we need to talk” I scoffed “seriously after the way you left give me one damn good reason why I should do what you want me to?”
“Because I was out of line. You love me and Justin drove passed the gates three times during the night” I felt sick “so there’s three reasons not just one”
“Right now I’d rather face Justin than deal with a Hollywood pretty boy” he raised his eye brows
“Please Aly” he begged “turn the truck round and go home and wait till I get there”
“Fine” I snatched my I.D. from him and slammed the Truck into reverse. I headed home seeing a slight haze of red as I drove. He was so far under my skin I’d need surgery to pull him out, but the fact even after the beating Ryne had given him Justin was still around. I pulled into the drive and walked into the house and flopped on to the couch.
The only sound in the house was the ticking of the clock on the Mantle. I almost jumped out of my skin when Ryder came over and put his hand on my shoulder.
“Okay you’re sitting there like a damn statue” I looked at him “What’s wrong?”
“Life sucks yet again” he sat next to me and put his leg up on the table “I’m tired Ryder I’m so tired right now I wish I could pack a bag and head some where no one knows me” I put my head on his shoulder “I’m fighting with Ryne, Justin’s still around and I seriously don’t think I can take much more of this life”
“Do I need to smack sense into you?” he sighed hugging me to him “You’re just PMSing you need chocolate and you need Dad back am I right”
“About wanting Dad back yes and I haven’t spoken to Jack since he left”
“You wouldn’t be half this bad if I wasn’t here would you?”
“Nope it’s made things seem and feel different since you’ I touched his leg
“I’m still alive, I’m still your big brother bugging the crap out of you” he chuckled “You and Ryne have fought since day one it’s going to be your thing” he laughed as the door knocked I looked at him. “Well I can’t get it I’m the injured one”
“Oh you’re so milking this” I got up and opened the front door Ryne was standing there.
“Can I come in and at least have a decent coffee?”
“Come in I was about to put the pot on” Ryder called out I stepped back and let him in I closed the door. Ryne walked into the Kitchen to Ryder the two of them making small talk over a baseball game. Ryder filled his cup. “I’m going to go watch TV in my room” he limped out “You kids play nice” I poured Ryne a cup and handed it to him.
“You not having one”
“You really want me to have something boiling hot in my hands when you talk to me” I sat at the kitchen table.
“I’m sorry” He sighed taking the seat across from me “You’re right I am keeping something from you” I closed my eyes and shook my head ‘When we were talking yesterday about people being able to handle the life of a Marine, and I said about how it surprised me that only a few people can handle it” I nodded “well the only other person I’ve been in love with couldn’t handle it” he messed with the coffee in front of him.
“Okay?” I chewed the inside of my cheek and waited for him to go on.
Chapter 64
And I thought my life was bad
&nbs
p; Ryne took a drink of the coffee and took a deep breath
“I was what I really thought was in Love and had been since the first time I kissed her” he put the cup down “we dated from Freshman year in high school she knew I wanted to be a Marine and begged me time after time to think again and not do it she didn’t think she could live without seeing me every day” He got up and walked to the coffee pot and poured another cup and came back pushing it across the table at me “I don’t’ like drinking alone” he smiled weakly. I nodded and wrapped my hands round the cup. “She broke her heart the night I left before I left for boot camp to the point we had to get a doctor in to sedate her”
“Wow and I thought I was bad on deployment day” I murmured
“Yeah this was almost a breakdown… but I thought she might have been doing it to get me not to go” he shrugged “and I went anyway”
“Was she pissed?”
“Pissed didn’t even begin to cover it” he rubbed the back of his neck “She wouldn’t come to my graduation and when I went round to see here she apologized and said she loved me” I took a drink I could see his eyes glassing over a little “She told me she was pregnant” I couldn’t help it I choked on my coffee
“Sorry”
“Its okay that was basically my reaction as well” he rested his elbows on the table
‘So?” I pushed
“I dropped onto one knee and handed over my Marine class ring to her and asked her to marry me” Okay now I was in shock. “She said yes we were happy” he didn’t sound to convincing “I had my ten day break we started to plan the wedding and she seemed okay when I went back to training but half way through that training was when we had that big push in the Mid east and they pull most of us from the end of training and deployed us within 48 hours of notifying us.” He hung his head “I got to see for three hours with all the briefing’s and the getting shit sorted” I nodded I’d been through enough EMRD to know the chaos that ensues “She was really not happy as the deployment was 12 months I’d miss everything to do with the baby, which is understandable”
“Yep but the amount of babies that get born in the corps without their daddies around is through the roof”
“I tried to explain that but she thought I’d done it on purpose”
“Okay it doesn’t work like that”
“I know that and you know it because you’re grown up knowing it” he was a little sharp with me I looked down “I’m sorry’
“No I shouldn’t have said it. Go on”
“She refused to come and see me off and I was devastated… I heard nothing for 5 weeks until I got a letter from Her Mom calling me every bad thing imaginable” he shook his head “she said I’d only joined the Marines to get away from my responsibilities and I should have quit or something” I took another drink of my coffee “She’d gotten a call for some clinic in Seattle that her daughter had gone there to…" he choked up, he took a breath “She’d gone to have an abortion. She didn’t want a part time father and she didn’t want to deal with not knowing if I was going to come home dead or alive. So she didn’t want a kid like that, only something went wrong seriously wrong with the anesthetic and she’d suffered severe brain damage because of it” I was wided eyed now “so not only had I had the baby taken from me I’d lost the only girl I’d ever loved. I got compassionate leave and went home to try to see her but wasn’t allowed and three days later they pulled the plug on her life support” A single tear escaped and rolled down his cheek “No one would tell me where the funeral was and I don’t know to this date where they buried her I got my class ring back in the mail and that was it”
“I'm sorry” I got up as he bent his head his shoulders shaking with the silent sobs I wrapped my arms round him and pulled him to me holding him tight until the sobbing eased he pushed the chair back and pulled me onto his lap. “I threw myself into my job I banged anything with a pulse at one point well female” I put his head on my shoulder “I hate everything and everyone the only person that could talk to me properly was Ana”
“How long ago?”
“Almost three years” he sniffed “I had vowed I wasn’t going to let some girl get to me like she did I took the job I do so people would back away, and then I get moved here and I walk into a pool hall and spill beer on you” he looked at me his eyes red and blood shot from crying “and damn you’ve… you’ve changed my mind you’ve calmed me and made me realize yes I was in love with her but nothing like how you make me feel”
“Come on you need sleep” I got off his lap and took his hand and lead him upstairs
“Aly, I should have told you right from the start but it hurts like hell still and when you kept pushing I snapped and I shouldn’t have” I shrugged
“Get into bed we can talk about this later” I smiled “Thank you for telling me”
“Will you curl up with me?” he looked at the bed “I just want to hold you” I nodded. My Marine had one hell of a story and I knew there was something else still to come.
Chapter 65
Losing ourselves
Ryne fell into a deep sleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow I lay facing him stroking his hair. My head was reeling with everything he’d said no wonder his Mom was wary of me and why Ana wanted him to tell me. I rolled onto my back Ryne didn’t stir. Well the women in this family certainly know how to find men with issues and skeletons in the closets. My phone started to ring, I got up and picked it up from the dresser.
Me * hello
Jack * hey you
Me * okay who’ve you been talking to?
Jack * I called Brit this morning and she said to give my little cousin a shout so here I am
Me * how’s things going?
Jack * it’s peaceful without Ryder’s snoring and bad jokes
Me * but you miss him?
Jack * yep but don’t tell him… so why is your underwear hanging from the ceiling fan in my living room?
Me * how do you know?
Jack * my sister told me you and a Marine trashed the place… you didn’t get to my bed did you?”
Me * no just hers but don’t tell her
Jack * oh god Al… so this Marine my sister’s hooked up with?
Me * is sweet and follows her round like a lost puppy and I think they are so well matched
Jack * really?
Me * Yep I gave him the talk don’t worry and he’s seen my aim with a gun
Jack * oh so you scared him then?
Me * no I pointed out that our family doesn’t like people messing with us, come one who else is here to do it
Jack * I know and thank you… So this Marine who has you hanging your underwear in my house?
Me * it’s… it’s complicated
Jack * okay how?
Me * a lot of stuff going on… I’m trying to be the Marine kid that can handle it.
Jack * but
Me * I hope I’m half as strong as the other girls in the family
Jack * oh come on Aly you’re the toughest out of all of them even Dad says you’re the perfect mix of every single one of them only with a shorter fuse.
Me * I know it’s just been a really screwy summer so far and it’s not the 4th of July yet.
Jack * I have to go Al
Me * thank you for calling, I miss you
Jack * miss you too kid Love you
Me * Love you too and Stay safe Marine
Jack * Yes Ma’am
I ended the call and put the phone down
“You need a hug?” I looked round Ryne was on is side in my bed smiling at me
“Yeah” I nodded and climbed back in with him “I didn’t mean to wake you”
“It’s okay I’m guessing you answer every call when you have Marines away” I nodded
“It was jack and that was the first time I’ve spoken to him since he left” I put my head on Ryne’s chest and absently trailed my fingers over his abs.
“He a Sniper too?”
“No” I
shook my head “He gets his hands dirty close up” I smiled ‘How you feeling?”
“Like I’ve been ten rounds with a prize fighter” he sighed “SO what’s going to happen with us?”
“Nothing”
“Nothing… what… I mean?” I looked at him
“We carry on, I love you and I can’t turn that feeling on and off” I shrugged “If you still want me”
“Oh god you have to ask” he sat up and pulled me to him “I was scared that you’d not want to have anything to do with me after telling you about my ex”
“Why… it’s not your fault that she couldn’t handle a Marine” I stroked his face “Does it hurt to say her name because you never have”
“I guess” he shrugged “It was Sarah” He held me tighter “You’re okay with it”
“It happened way before I even thought I’d look at a Hollywood Marine” I smiled “You’re the one that ended up hurting with no answers. It’s not your fault she did what she did and I’m sorry I don’t like to speak ill of the dead but you get what’s coming to you for the bad stuff you’ve done and what she did was wrong to a guy out in combat” I was on the Marine Corps defensive like normal
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