Port in the Storm

by Mary Crawford

  “Nothing. It says nothing except you were young, naïve, and not expecting someone to totally take advantage of you. You are smart and beautiful and didn’t deserve what was done to you,” Sam assures me, as he tries to warm my suddenly cold hands between his.

  CHAPTER NINE

  SAM

  AS I WATCH JESSICA and Taylor walk away, it’s easy to imagine Taylor staying in my life forever. Her eyes are sparkling with mirth as she laughs at something Jessica says while they are feeding a baby goat in the petting zoo. Without question, this has been the best week of my life and I don’t want it to end. Just like we’ve done every day since she’s been here, Taylor and I talked for hours until the sun came up after we took a tour of the Christmas lights on Peacock Lane. She probably knows more about me than any person on the planet. This is how I always thought a relationship with someone should be, but I’m still having a hard time believing this is my life.

  Our relationship has been an incredible whirlwind. In my wildest dreams, I never expected for history to repeat itself. I never understood how my dad could fall for my mom in just a few days, yet I am in the same situation. Taylor is everything I ever wanted in a partner. She’s smart, funny, and she doesn’t seem to even notice my disability much. If she does, she doesn’t make a huge deal out of it.

  “Hey, weren’t you supposed to be taking pictures?” Jessica asks as she gently pokes me in the shoulder interrupting my thoughts.

  “I was,” I admit. “I got distracted.”

  “Not that you asked my opinion, but I think Taylor is the perfect distraction for you. You guys are great together. In all the years I’ve known you, I’ve never seen you so happy.”

  “Did you feed her to the lions or something?” I ask, looking around.

  Jessica shudders as she answers, “No, she and Mitch wanted to go look at something which requires climbing in high places and you know how I am about heights. Quit trying to change the subject, Sam. It’s nothing bad. I was just trying to say I’m thrilled for you guys. You seem like you are in a great place.”

  “Do you really think we’re in such a great place? I mean, she’s leaving. We haven’t even specifically talked about whether she feels the same way I do.”

  Jessica ducks her head close to mine and speaks in a soft, but intense voice, “Sam, I’ve never pulled any punches with you. Over the past few days, your girlfriend and I have been talking like long-lost best friends. What you guys have has taken her completely off guard. She’s understandably nervous after what she’s been through. Taylor says she’s never had anyone like you in her life — as a lover or anything else.”

  I blush clear to the roots of my hair. “Come on Jess, you’re just messing with me. There’s no way you guys talked about those kinds of details. I figured she would keep that stuff between us.”

  “In her defense, I’m pretty good at getting people to tell me stuff that they don’t plan to. My grandpa is a pastor, remember? I learned from the best. You don’t need to worry, Sam; everything she told me came from a place of love and acceptance. She loves you like Mitch loves me.”

  “How can it possibly work? She’s leaving in just a few days. Who falls in love so quickly?”

  “Who says there has to be a time limit? When it’s right, it’s right. I knew there was something different about Mitch when I saw his picture on an online dating profile.”

  “I forgot about that. What about the fact that she’s leaving? How can our relationship survive that?”

  “Everybody’s life has a little crazy in it. It has been insane with Mitch setting up Hope’s Haven in Kansas while working with Tristan and Isaac in Florida. All I can say is thank goodness Tristan has his own plane. Still, the time Mitch spends away from Kansas is very hard. We just have to love each other fiercely when we’re together and hope someday it will settle down.”

  As I watch Mitch and Taylor walk towards us pointing to something on Mitch’s cell phone, I murmur to Jessica, “With all the stuff that’s going on, I pray hope and love are enough.”

  Taylor looks up at me and scrutinizes me carefully before asking, “What are you guys doing?”

  Looking at her steadily, I answer, “Planning for the future.”

  Taylor looks back and forth between Jessica and me with a curious, almost hostile expression, as she retorts, “That’s funny, I could’ve sworn Jessica already has a future planned with Mitch.”

  “Taylor, I was telling Jessica about what we talked about last night. I was telling her as improbable as it seems, I love you and want to try to figure out how to make it all work between us.”

  She sinks down on the bench next to my scooter and exclaims, “Samuel Jonathan Taylor! You about gave me a heart attack. I’ve been so afraid this is too good to be true that I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Do you mean it? Is this for real?”

  “For me, it’s as real as it gets. We just have to work out the details.”

  Taylor grins at me with tears in her eyes as she responds, “You do get the irony in all this? If we do this thing right, eventually my name will be Taylor Taylor when it’s all said and done. I’ll go from being the butt of bathroom jokes to something like a fancy law firm.”

  “Works for me,” I say, as I pull her into my lap and kiss her, much to the delight of Jessica who is happily taking pictures with her cellphone.

  “You know what? It works surprisingly well for me too. I’m so glad I didn’t decide to stay on the ship that day. I love you, Sam John.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  TAYLOR

  I SWEAR I’M GOING to throw up. If Sam’s hand wasn’t at the small of my back as he carefully drives his scooter beside me, I still might. I really thought I would pass out when we drove up to the big red building where the FBI is housed. It reminded me so much of the jail where I had to regularly visit my dad before he committed suicide after he fractured my mom’s eye socket. The sensory memories were so strong I struggled to breathe through them. The birds even sound the same. Sam senses my distress and helps me with a few meditation techniques. He explains he sometimes uses the breathing exercises to get through very intense muscle spasms.

  When we enter the conference room, Tristan and Isaac are already there, dressed in suits. It’s actually the first time I’ve seen Isaac look intimidating. Isaac clears a spot for Sam to sit beside me and he sits on the other side with Tristan sitting across from me. I feel like they’ve given me a barrier of protection from the unknown agents.

  It takes several minutes for the courtroom staff in Florida to get the technology working, but once they do, I can’t stop my involuntary recoil as Reid Weber’s face comes up bigger than life on the large TV. I flinch as the blood drains out of my face.

  Sam squeezes my knee as he whispers, “3,050 miles and a lifetime ago.”

  I take a drink of ice water and compose myself as I announce, “That’s Reid Weber, crooked hair plugs and all. You’ll find a visible scar in front of his left ear. He says it’s from playing baseball as a kid, but in light of what I’ve been told, it might actually be a plastic surgery scar.”

  An agent turns to me. “I forgot to tell you. Mr. Weber can hear everything you just said and it’ll be part of the court record.”

  “I assumed what I said would be under oath. I’m not afraid of the truth,” I answer with more confidence than I feel.

  Those words seem to shatter whatever composure Reid was struggling to maintain as he screeches at me, “You ungrateful little twit! I knew I should’ve fenced your freakin' ring but I couldn’t get any pawnshops to cut off the stupid inventory number.”

  Just then, the closed-circuit connection is abruptly cut off.

  I glance up at the agent. “Is he under oath too?”

  Tristan grins at me. “He is.”

  I roll my eyes and shake my head. “Does he know that?”

  Tristan chuckles. “I never said the man was bright.”

  After several minutes of tense waiting, the senior agent checks his
phone and then closes the file in front of him. He abruptly dismisses me, “Petty Officer John, it appears your work here is done today; thank you for your time. The district attorney already has your affidavit.”

  As everyone is shuffling paperwork and preparing to leave, about a dozen cellphones go off, including mine. Tristan and Isaac manage to answer their phones first. Isaac scowls as he reads his phone. He looks up at me with a somber expression as he asks, “Do you have your go bag in the van?”

  Something in his tone makes me stand at attention as I admit, “No sir. I wasn’t expecting liberty to be over for several more days.”

  “If I don’t miss my guess, that message on your phone is the same one I got. I think your holiday leave has officially been canceled. You probably should go get your bag and say your goodbyes for now.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  SAM

  I WATCH IN DUMBFOUNDED disbelief as controlled chaos erupts around me. Yet, as tense and harried as it seems, I appeared to be the only person who is clueless about what’s happening. It reminds me of when I was younger and my dad would be abruptly deployed with no notice. Crap! I don’t know how I could be so clueless. It’s not as if I’m not a military brat. That’s exactly what’s happening here. I don’t know why I didn’t figure it out sooner. I guess I was just focused on keeping Taylor safe and away from Reid Weber.

  It’s too early for the fairytale to be over. I want to scream at the top of my lungs. I just found her! How can this be happening? It’s like a bad movie.

  I’m so stunned I can’t move. Isaac comes in lays a hand on my shoulder. “Son, you need to pull yourself together. We may not be able to tell you what’s going on, but your woman over there will still need you in her corner. Your relationship may be new, but that doesn’t mean it’s not the real thing. I met my Rosa in the middle of a mission and I knew I would love her forever. So, don’t let the timing of this throw you off.”

  There’s something about Isaac’s bearing which makes it impossible for you unravel in his presence.

  I sit up straight and draw in a deep breath. “Yes sir, understood. Message received on all fronts.”

  “What time do you have to report back at base?” I ask as Taylor dries her hair and puts on her uniform.

  She wipes away a tear as she shakily responds, “0600 hours. In the whole time I’ve been in the Navy, I’ve never dreaded anything quite as much as much. For the first time ever, there is some place else I’d rather be.” Taylor slides into my lap and kisses me deeply. “I don’t want to leave these arms. I like the way you make me feel.”

  “In a perfect world, we wouldn’t have to make this choice, but this isn’t a perfect world. My arms are always open for you.”

  The ride back to the Naval base in Washington is weirdly electric. It seems as if we both know we have so much to say and no time to say it. We are both lost in our thoughts, yet eager to say a lifetime of words in case we don’t get another chance. I can’t seem to formulate my thoughts coherently, I don’t know if it’s the same for her — but I suspect it is.

  “From the moment I joined the Navy, the ship has felt like home. It was the place I wanted to be, my safe-haven from a world of violence and fear I didn’t understand — but you helped me face down the monster in my dreams and nightmares and put my past where it belongs. For the first time, I can dream of the future again, a better future than I ever envisioned. As corny as this sounds, you have become my port in the storm, my safe place to be. Will you be here when I get back?” Taylor asks, her voice trembling with emotion.

  Taylor flashes her I.D. at the security guard on base and I pull my car into the parking spot. I reach into my coat pocket and pull out a box. “I know that these aren’t the circumstances under which I wanted to do this and I know you’ve had a tough history with rings. Let me tell you why I chose this one. This is a virtually unbreakable titanium ring — like the bond between the two of us. I know we haven’t known each other long, but even in Florida I felt a pull towards you, even when another man was prepared to put a ring on your finger. I have never met another person who has as much in common with me, yet can challenge me at the same time.”

  Taylor laughs softly as she declares, “I promise you as many rematches as you need to beat me at Trivial Pursuit.”

  I smile as I continue, “When we work with gems, we often work with counterweights. It is like your heart and soul are the perfect counterweight to mine. We met under the most unlikely circumstances. Some people might consider it a mistake. I’m not a big believer in mistakes. There was a purpose behind everything that happened to us. I want to give you this ring to remind you of the promise of my love.”

  Taylor’s hand is shaking as she holds it out for me to slide the ring on. “I love the ring. More importantly, I love you. I will be home eventually and then we can build a future together. You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I’m not going to let a little time and distance come between us. As they say, keep the home fires burning.”

  I place the ring on her finger and kiss her knuckles. “I never planned to do anything else. I think I fell in love with you the first time I saw you. For love like that, I’ll wait a lifetime.”

  EPILOGUE

  TAYLOR

  FOR ONCE IN MY naval career, I have someone at the bottom of the ramp waiting for me at the end of a deployment. I always thought those vintage pictures from Life Magazine showing sailors being reunited with their families were so romantic. Now, I am about to reenact one.

  When I first met Sam, I have to admit I thought all of this was too good to be true. In my experience, men like him just don’t exist in my world. I thought Reid Weber had destroyed my ability to love anyone. Yet, Sam has taken the time to rebuild me and my ability to trust. Over the past few months with the help of the U.S. Postal Service, Facebook and Skype, we’ve been able to fill in much of our relationship that we skipped over during our whirlwind week long courtship. The more I find out about Sam Taylor, the more there is to like — or more precisely — love.

  Still, I can’t believe that I fell in love in such an unconventional manner with such an unusual man. But the truth is, I’ve never been happier in my whole life. My friend Emily jokes about it all the time. She says she’s planning to start randomly pushing men down on the sidewalk just to see if she can find a guy as nice as Sam.

  I peer over the railing and my heart skips a beat when I see the scene unfold in front of me. I can’t believe Sam drove all the way to California to meet the ship. He is decked out in a suit with a huge bouquet of red roses. I run my thumb over the edge of my promise ring. The past several months have reinforced my initial feelings for Sam and made them even deeper. I chose the right guy or the right guy chose me. I’m not actually sure how all that works. Still, for all the pain and rotten, terrible luck both of us have had in our lives, something seems to have worked out for us this time.

  As I get closer, I watch as he unfurls a banner above his head, which reads, “Petty Officer John, are you ready to be Taylor Taylor?”

  For a moment, all the air leaves my lungs. In another time and another place I have been in this position before — but Samuel is not Reid Weber. He helped me catch the man who made my life miserable. Samuel John Taylor is the man who helped me find my strength again. He will be a true partner. So, in the instant that my brain catches up with my heart, there is only one answer to give and I shout it in a loud, clear voice, “Yes, of course — for as many light years as you can count, Samuel John Taylor.”

  Sam turns to the crowd who are clapping wildly and says, “See? Didn’t I tell you she was perfect for me?”

  I passionately kiss him until I accidentally lean against the horn on his scooter causing it to beep. I bow when the crowd laughs. “As you can see, he’s perfect for me too.”

  I watch nervously as the ramp jerks before the door closes on the rental van. Only after it completely closes do I relax and throw my gear in the back of the van. After I climb in the pa
ssenger seat and put my seatbelt on, I lean over and kiss Sam again. “Geez, I can’t believe it took so long to get through that crowd. I’ve been counting down the days, hours and minutes, until we can go home.”

  To me it looks like Sam is holding his breath. I don’t blame him. I’ve been keeping him in limbo. Heck, I’ve been keeping myself in limbo. This is the toughest thing I’ve ever had to decide. When we stop at a stoplight, Sam pivots his head toward me sharply and addresses the hard question. “What did you decide?”

  “My Chief is not a happy camper, but this is the last time you’ll ever have to come pick me up after a mission.”

  Sam grins widely. “I know this decision wasn’t easy and I probably shouldn’t be completely over-the-moon happy, but I’ve missed you so much I can’t even pretend I’m sorry that you’ve decided to retire.”

  I choke back a laugh. “Retire! It’s a good thing my grandparents aren’t alive because they would be mortified. I’m not even thirty.” I gaze out the window. “Sam… Are you sure we’re going the right way? That sign says we’re going south. Last I checked, Oregon was north of San Diego.”

  Sam shrugs. “I figured since we are both footloose and fancy free for a while I’d add a few extra stops. Do you mind?”

  “No, I guess not. I’m not sure what I plan to do. It’s weird. The Navy got nine years of my life and was a safe place for me when the outside world was scary, but now I’m ready to define myself on my terms.”

  Sam opens his mouth and closes it and then opens it again before he says, “I don’t know. I think there’s a flaw in your logic. You’ve been defining yourself on your own terms for a long time. Perhaps you’ve been using the structure of the Navy’s as a tool, but you left a terribly abusive relationship and came out the winner. Not only that, you are a respected, decorated officer in the Navy who is retiring with honor. It doesn’t get much better than that.”