Flying High (19 page)

Lena said grace, and they began the meal with coulibiac of salmon, pumpernickel bread, and Moët & Chandon champagne.

“I don’t drink champagne,” Ricky said to Rufus. “They won’t let me.” He then took it upon himself to entertain Meade as they made their way through Lena’s seven-course dinner. Nelson waited for Ricky to complain, but nothing was forthcoming, and he wondered what Lena promised him in exchange for such exceptional behavior.

He recognized in himself a sense of pride in his home, his family and the woman who faced him at the other end of the table.
She’s what I need in my life, but I am definitely not what she needs. Not with the uncertainties facing me. And if she knew how much pain I’m in right now, she’d want to send me to a hospital.

She’d been speaking with Naomi when her glance caught his, and she stopped midsentence as if experiencing a shock. At that moment, something akin to tremors rolled through him while he stared at her, transfixed. He knew that if they had been alone, they would have made love. The urge to have her nearly overpowered him as heat fired his loins and desire found its target with the accuracy of a marksman’s arrow. He didn’t shift his gaze, for he knew that everyone present, including Ricky, had focused on them. He smiled as best he could, and Audrey expelled a long breath, releasing her tension.

“We’ll have coffee in the living room,” Lena said, making him fully aware of those present and giving him an excuse to get up and walk over to Audrey.

He extended his hand to her and marveled that she rose from the chair with the grace of an eagle soaring, when he hardly had the strength to stand there, so hobbled was he by the currents flowing between them.

“You’re so lovely...so...so warm and feminine,” he said, and wondered whether he sounded foolish.

But she squeezed his fingers, reassuring him. “How could I not be feminine when I’m with you?”

“Anything you say will definitely be used against you. I’m grabbing any straw I can get to support my case.”

“What’s your case?” she asked, looking over her shoulder as she preceded him to the living room.

He put a heavy hand on her arm, detaining her. “Ever watched an animal eat that hadn’t been fed in a couple of days?”

She lifted her shoulder in a slight shrug. “Speaking of hunger, you had your last meal when I did. You know what I’m saying?”

She would have continued toward the living room but he held her there, letting his gaze bore into her, exposing his thoughts and feelings. “I take it you understand the meaning and value of your words and that you choose words that express exactly what you intend to communicate. Right?”

“Of course,” she said, giving him a level look. “Isn’t that what you’d expect?”

“You’re not saying much, but you’re telling me a helluva lot, and I want to keep the facts straight.”

“I’ve never lied to you, Nelson. Never.”

He stared down into her eyes. Vulnerable. Yes, and proud. How did a man deal with that kind of mixture? Her bottom lip quivered, and his hand went to her waist to bring her body close to his own.

“Y’all gon’ stand there all night? You can take care of business later,” Lena said, although her voice was devoid of censure.

Meade leaned against the mantelpiece sipping espresso. “A man has to do what he has to do, Lena,” he said as a broad grin settled over his face. “And taking care of business gets priority.”

Ricky stood beside him, looking up. “When can I come see Judy, Mr. Meade? My Unca Nelson and Miss Lena won’t mind, ’cause I ate all those different things for dinner and didn’t make a fuss.”

Meade’s laughter filled the room. “You two will make an awesome pair,” he said, mostly to himself. To Ricky, he said, “We’ll arrange that with your uncle and Miss Lena in a day or so. All right?”

“Yes, sir,” Ricky said clapping his hands together.

* * *

An hour after the Meades left, Nelson tucked Ricky into bed and prepared to take Audrey home. He’d put the BMW in the garage as he’d been instructed to do, and they entered the garage from the hallway off the kitchen. Still on fire from the heat that began its ascent to his loins while he faced her at the dinner table, and nearly consumed with desire thanks to her admission that she wanted him as badly as he wanted her, he got behind the wheel, turned on the ignition and headed for Bethesda. He didn’t dare put his hands on her until he had her inside her house and that red dress was tumbling away from her shoulders. Nor did he trust himself to talk; feeling as he did, only God knew what might fall from his tongue.

His cellular phone rang, and he answered it thinking that Lena had an emergency. “Hello.”

“Checkmate. Watch it when you get to 68 Hickory Lane. Don’t let Dr. Powers out of your car until our man sweeps the place. Be in touch.”

He slowed down. This was the very last time he would allow himself to be ignorant about his life and those dear to him in the interest of security or anything else. If Marilyn were on his staff, he’d fire her. He didn’t care how efficient she was.

“You’re so quiet. Something wrong?”

He wouldn’t treat her as Marilyn did him. “Seems like it, but I’ve been assured we’re in no danger.” He glanced over and saw that she was no less relaxed than before he’d received the phone call. “Security is tight right now.”

“I know a car is trailing us, but one of those guards is always either beside me or behind me, so I thought nothing of it.”

He slowed down, and the car behind him did the same. Deciding to test the situation, he flashed his distress signal, and the car behind him moved ahead and pulled to the shoulder of the highway. After verifying the government insignia on the side of the car, he flashed his lights and headed for Audrey’s house.

When he reached the house, he pulled up to the curb and stopped, but didn’t cut the motor until he recognized the guard as the one who tailed him most often.

“All clear, Colonel Wainwright.”

“What happened?” he asked the man.

“I don’t know, sir, but whatever it was, it sure did create a commotion.”

“Did you check the house?”

“Bomb unit checked it.”

He didn’t doubt that his eyes increased to twice their size. “Whatever in the hell for? And how’d they get in?”

The security officer shrugged. “Entering is never a problem, sir, either for us or for criminals. That’s why we checked. I’m sure headquarters will fill you in tomorrow, sir.”

In the circumstances, he didn’t dare linger with Audrey. No one had to tell him that, in addition to the protection of one or more guards, for the remainder of the night cameras would film every shadow within fifty yards of that house. And he didn’t want their private lives to become public record.

“I’d better tell you good-night. I wanted more than anything to spend time with you—quality time and a lot of it—but I don’t want our personal lives debated in the press.”

Her voice took on a wistful note. “I was thinking the same thing, but...well, I hope we’ll have other opportunities to...to be together.”

“We will.” He kissed her quickly and ran down the steps. If she had so much as whispered his name, he wouldn’t have left her till morning. The taste of her kiss, though fleeting, had sent heat spiraling through him to his loins, hardening him into full readiness. He released an expletive, got in the BMW and headed for Alexandria.

* * *

“Unless you give me some facts right now, I’m not cooperating in this any longer,” he told Marilyn the next morning, Friday. “You interrupt my life, interfere with my plans as if you have a right to do so. I appreciate that you are protecting me and my family, but I am an intelligent human being and I know how to handle any information you give me. What was that business last night all about?”

He thought he heard her snicker. If he had been certain of it, he would have headed for her office that minute and let her have a good piece of his mind.

“You’ve been patient, Colonel. Remarkably so, I’d say. Last night, we caught the ringleader of that group attempting to break into Dr. Powers’s house, evidently to hide there until she got back home. He tried to bargain his way out of trouble by trading information, including what he called a tip that a bomb had been placed in Dr. Powers’s house. Of course, none of us believed him, because we had secured the place. Still, we had to check it out.”

“Where does that put us?”

“We are reassigning your security. There is no longer any danger to you, your family or Dr. Powers.”

“You’re certain of that?”

“As I am of my name. We knew who he was, but we needed a reason to arrest him. Last night, he gave us one.”

He exhaled a long breath. “Thanks. You and your staff did a great job.”

“No problem. That’s why we’re here.”

He hung up and called Audrey. “What do you say we take that vacation this weekend?” he asked her after letting her know that they no longer needed security.

“What do I need to bring with me?”

“You’ll go? Really?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Let’s go to Willow’s Cove. It’s a tiny place on the Chesapeake Bay off the beaten path, and we can be alone or with a crowd. You’ll need a bathing suit and the most casual clothing you own. Or would you prefer another spot?”

“I haven’t been there, but if you want to go, I’m game.”

“Then I’ll be at your place at four this afternoon. Can you make that?”

She told him she could, and he hung up, fully aware that he had turned a corner and that he couldn’t backtrack, nor did he want to.

* * *

Audrey didn’t entertain the illusion that Nelson planned a weekend of romantic love, moonlight and shadows. Some of that, perhaps, but she knew he wanted to clean the slate, to rid their relationship of the rocks and boulders that could separate them later on and cause him pain and regret. He wanted to find out once and for all whether he should break all ties with her.

She was taking a big chance, gambling on his being a decent man, on his caring enough for her that he wouldn’t want to make her uncomfortable and wouldn’t pressure her into baring her soul. She couldn’t do that, not even to Winifred and Pam. Yet she loved him and could hardly wait for the moment when they could be free with each other.

Thus, she was both disappointed and relieved when Nelson called her about an hour later to say he had to attend an emergency meeting the next morning, Saturday, at the Commandant’s office. And since he didn’t know how long it would last, he thought it best to cancel their weekend plans.

“I’ll call you at home as soon as the meeting is over. If you’re not there, I’ll call you on your cell phone. You can’t begin to imagine how disappointed I am.”

“Me, too, Nelson. Me, too. If I leave home tomorrow morning, I’ll have my cell phone with me. Uh, what are you doing this evening?” She hated letting him know that she was anxious to be with him, but she’d been taught that if you didn’t ask, you didn’t get.

“I’ll be at home, preparing for the meeting, and I have quite a bit of material to review. I’ll call but not till I write my brief.” His chuckle relieved the gloom she felt. “You and my work don’t mix well, babe,” he went on. “You take over completely.”

“It’s no more than you deserve, mister. You make a mess of my work when you start fooling around in my head.”

“Yeah? At least I have the grace to limit my meddling to your head.”

“Oops! I’m not going there.”

“Chicken. Maybe we can get together Sunday.”

She told him good-bye and walked with lead feet to the receptionist’s desk for her next patient’s file folder.

“Hello, Miss Frank, I’m Dr. Powers,” she said, donning her professional persona and stuffing her pain and disappointment where no one could see it. “Right this way.”

She prescribed therapy for whiplash that the young woman had received when she fell down a flight of stairs.

“Did you fall or were you pushed?” she asked, deciding that the description of the accident didn’t make sense.

“Doc, if I thought that ugly little man pushed me down those stairs, you believe me, when I got through with him, he wouldn’t be able to sit down for months. No, ma’am, I fell. Ain’t no man pushing me around. If he tried it once, he better not get in the bed with me and go to sleep.”

That’ll teach me to ask questions like that one.
“Doesn’t matter. I want you to do these exercises.” She gave her a pamphlet. “Go down the hall to Room 10-C and an assistant will give you the treatment. Please also do them at home and come back to see me in two weeks.”

“Yes, ma’am, and thanks a lot. If this thing don’t stop hurting, his behind gon’ be in trouble.”

Just as Audrey had thought: boyfriend pushed or knocked her down the stairs, and her basic reaction was to hide it and protect him. She handed the woman a prescription. “Stop at the pharmacy and get this soft collar. Wear it day and night, and avoid vacuuming, cutting wood, scrubbing the floor while on your knees and working at the computer for lengthy, unbroken periods.”

When the woman headed down the hall, she breathed a sigh of relief. That was her last appointment, and if she left right then, she could avoid walk-ins. She took off her white coat, got her briefcase and headed for home. But as she drove up Georgia Avenue, she changed her mind and called her sister Pam.

“You busy, Pam?”

“Not too busy for you. Coming over?”

She told her older sister that she’d stop by for a few minutes on her way home. Somehow, the thought of being alone didn’t sit well with her. Too much time to think, and she didn’t want to do that. She didn’t want to start second-guessing Nelson, and her mind had already headed in that direction. Maybe he didn’t want to make such a strong commitment as an out-of-town idyll with her implied. He wasn’t a junior officer, so how could he be jerked around like...

I guess everybody in the armed services has to take orders,
she said to herself,
but such a shift from one hour to the next... It behooves me to be careful. I don’t need to learn the same lesson twice.

She flipped on the tape deck, leaned back, and pressed the accelerator. Dizzy Gillespie’s “Salt Peanuts” cleaned every sensible thought from her mind. She didn’t much like bebop, but it certainly prevented serious thinking, and that was what she used it for.