Navajo's Woman (29 page)

"When will that be?"

"Soon, my darling."

Joanna lifted a strawberry from the fruit tray and handed it to Dinah. "Nibble on this. If Eddie and—If Eddie doesn't get here soon, we'll go ahead and start without him."

Andi had been having one of her odd feelings all morn-ing, and just now she had picked up on Joanna's slip of the tongue. Who else was Joanna expecting? The Black-wood clan was here, as were the Whitehorns, minus Eddie. The Ornelas family was all accounted for. And Doli was here, too. Excitement tightened Andi's stomach. Could it be?she wondered. Yes, of course, that was it!

As if her thinking about them conjured them up, the front door opened and in walked Eddie Whitehorn.

At his side was Lieutenant Russ Lapahie, U.S.N. They hadn't seen Russ in over a year and they hadn't heard a word from him since he had returned from his last assignment as a Navy SEAL.

Doli gasped and began crying. Russ made a beeline to his mother. After hugging her and wiping away her tears, he turned and grabbedAndi, lifted her off her feet and whirled her around.

The minute Russ put herdown, Andi pointed her finger at Joe's nephew. "Eddie Whitehorn, you knew Russ was coming home, didn't you?" Then she eyed Joanna. "And so did you and J.T."

"I drove to the airport to pick him up," Eddie said. "He's going to be home two whole weeks."

Joe walked over and held out his hand to Russ, who immediately accepted his brother-in-law's greeting.

"You're looking fit these days, Lieutenant," Joe said.

"So are you, Captain."

"Son, we're proud of you. I hope you know that."

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“Thanks, Joe. I guess when you first marriedAndi, you had your work cut out with me, didn't you? But by ex-ample, you showed me what a man should be." Then he grinned and embraced the man who had become like a second father to him.

Later, Eddie and Russ mingled with the others. Andi looked on and thought, another good day in an altogether happy life. Today was special for two reasons: Joe's pro-motion, of course, but also Russ's homecoming. She had been opposed to Russ joining the service after college and greatly opposed to him becoming a SEAL. But Joe had pointed out that her brother had a right to live his own life and that the wild, adventurous streak in Russ would be channeled into productive work in thespecial forces . He seldom came home, and occasionally Andi felt as if they had lost him to that wide world outside the reser-vation. But in her heart, she knew that someday he would come home for good.

By late afternoon, with all the youngsters piled into J.T.'s SUV and Eddie's truck, half their guests were headed out to the O&W Ranch to ride horses and pet the new colts. Joe and Andi plopped down on the sofa in the den and put their feet up on the coffee table.

"Quite a day, wasn't it?" Joe said.

"One of life's perfect days," she told him.

He draped his arm around her shoulder, and she cud-dled close. After the day's excitement, the house was eer-ily silent.

“We have a couple of hours before we have to leave for the ranch to pick up Seth and Dinah." Joe nuzzled her neck. "Do you have any suggestions on how we can spend those two hours?"

"Well, you could help me do some laundry, or we could watch a movie on TV, or—''

Joe kissed her. She giggled. He swallowed the sound as he intensified the kiss. When he finally let her come up for air, she gasped.

"Any other suggestions, Mrs. Ornelas?" he asked.

"Well, I can think of a project upstairs in our bedroom that will require both of us to accomplish it. And I'm sure we can get it done in two hours."

Joe stood, swept her into his arms and headed toward the stairs. Andi laughed, her heart overflowing with hap-piness.

Her life with Joe was just as she had dreamed it would be when she first came to the reservation.

Perfect.

* * * * *

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