Forget Me Not (Love in the Fleet) (15 page)

“Surely I feel sorrow for those misfortunes. But my family is healthy and strong and I can afford the finest medical care in the world should they ever fall ill.”

“Oh, it’s as easy as that, is it? Mark my words. You just wait until the first of our family falls ill or a grandchild is born with a
deformity!
”

Gio shot from his chair and slapped Jorge’s face.

“Bite your tongue!” He quickly crossed himself. “That is enough!”

Never flinching from the slap, Jorge replied low and slow. “But I’m not finished,
Papa.
I don’t suppose you’ve noticed how many subsistence farmers have stopped growing food in order to produce enough coca to satisfy you and your cohorts? The villagers have begun to
hunt
for food since no one seems to be
growing
it anymore. And now they are decimating the animal population. They’ve stopped fishing since so many of the rivers have been declared dead.”

His father waved him away, as if the cold hard facts were nothing. He settled back into his red leather chair and crossed his arms at his son’s defiance. But his eyes narrowed as his son continued to berate him. Jorge could see his father’s pulse pounding in his neck, but he was nowhere near finished stating his case.

“I read that one third of the rain forest will be gone in the next five years. Between the rate of deforestation and the poisons being poured into the land and the air, it may become impossible to ever restore our land.” Jorge’s voice took on both speed and volume as he delivered his coup de grace. “It is entirely possible this tropical paradise could end up a vast desert wasteland like Ethiopia or Somalia by the end of the century. Is that what you want for your descendants!”

Gio flew up in a rage and slammed his fists on the desk. “I’ve had enough of your bullshit! Get the hell out of my sight!”

Jorge rose calmly. “That will not be a problem. I have said my piece.” He started to leave, but then returned to his father’s desk, unsnapped his Rolex watch, and laid it in front of his papa. Jorge began to unbuckle his belt and slip off his shoes, but then stopped and re-buckled. “I will send my clothes when I get where I am going.”

“You are
going
back to the processing plant. Because you are
going
to take over this business one day!”

“No, Papa. I am
going
to join the priesthood. And may God have mercy on your soul.” Jorge turned on his heel and walked out the door.

Chapter 15

The knobs on the kitchen cabinets dug into the back of Daisy’s thighs as she processed what Brian had said.

“You what?”

“I can’t make love to you.” He leaned against a kitchen chair, arms crossed.

She shook her head in disbelief. “Talk about mixed messages. For weeks you’ve been—”

“Daisy, this is different.”

She started to laugh, but caught herself. Too incredulous. “I offer you a golden opportunity at Bachelor Pad Central and you say no?”

“Daisy, your husband
died.”

“I know that, Brian, but it happened two years ago. Trust me, I’ve had time to adjust to Jack’s death.”

“Yeah, but I haven’t. I’ve only known for two hours and I’ve got some grieving to do.”

“Brian, you didn’t even know him.”

“It doesn’t matter whether I knew him or not. He was my brother.”

“Your brother?”

“My brother-in-arms, Daisy. A fellow pilot. A fellow
helo
pilot. And I just found out. I can’t jump into bed with his widow
.
It’s wrong.”

“That’s sweet, but I still can’t believe you’re turning me down. Especially after this…” She waved her hands between them. “After practically igniting here in the kitchen.”

“I’m sorry about that. I lost control because I want you so much.” He rubbed at his face. “Oh, God. You don’t know how much I want you, but I’m just not ready.”

“You’re not ready.” Maybe if she repeated it enough, she’d understand. “He’s not ready,” she said to Daisy Mae who peeked around the corner and hissed at her. Daisy flipped the eggs into the sink and began to wash the pan. Then she looked back at him. “But you’ll let me know when you are? Ready, that is?”

A lazy smile slid from one side of his face to the other. “Absolutely. Trust me, darlin’. You’ll be the first to know.”

Daisy reached for the egg carton, cracked four new eggs into the pan, and wondered if she’d ever understand how Brian’s brain worked. Then it hit her that Brian and brain were the same word. Just a little mixed-up, like him. She turned to him.
“You’re serious, aren’t you? After looking at me like I was dinner for the past—what was it? Seventeen days? Now you won’t make love with me?”

“Not tonight. And tomorrow isn’t looking real good either.”

Daisy flipped the eggs over and muttered under her breath, “He’s not
ready
. Not tonight. And tomorrow isn’t looking real good either.”

Brian crowded her at the stove. “Look, Daisy, I just discovered the guy I’ve been calling names for the past two weeks didn’t break your heart and leave town. He
died,
Daisy. And not only did he die, but he died in the line of duty. In frigging
combat.
And he died while flying a
helicopter.
Actually I’d grown kind of fond of the guy for leaving you—fool that he was—because it left you available to
me.
Now I’m not only fond of him, I freaking revere him. He’s my brother. And I just discovered my brother died. So no. I can’t make love to you. Yet.”

Had she just propositioned this player and he’d turned her down? On the one hand she felt forward, and a bit rejected. But, on the other hand she was touched beyond belief that this man—this
gentleman
—lived by a code so strong that he was unwilling to sleep with a fallen comrade’s widow. Yet.
  

Daisy slid the pan off the burner and turned to him.

“Then can I ask you a favor?”

“Anything.”

She put her arms around him and laid her head against his shoulder. “Will you come home with me and hold me tonight?”

Brian pulled her close and kissed her temple. “Darlin’, as Mick Jagger would say, ‘Wild horses couldn’t drag me away.’”

Wild horses couldn’t drag him away?

No, but badass nightmares sure could. Sky mentally kicked himself, as he lay propped up on Daisy’s guest room bed, his arm around her, her head on his shoulder. Finally he’d gotten to see her hair down. It went just below her shoulders, but he was afraid to touch it. Afraid he’d lose himself in it. He pulled a lap blanket up to her chin and kissed the top of her head. No way was he getting under any covers.

He double-checked himself. Jeans zipped, belt buckled, shirt buttoned and tucked in. He’d even kept his boat shoes on. What the hell had he been thinking? That he could handle lying here with Daisy in his arms and not want to,
need
to
,
make love to her? Oh, well, as his buddy, Mick, would say, “You can’t always get what you want.”

Dammit all, he wished he’d engaged his brain and thought this through first. It was going to be a long night.

“Are you okay, sweetheart?”

“Yes, it feels so good to lie here in your arms.” Daisy curled deeper into his embrace. Her cheek on his chest. “Thanks again for understanding about the pictures in the living room.”

“Not a problem. I needed to see him. You know. If I’m going to honor the guy, I need to know a little about him. Thanks for filling me in on his flight training. That majorly helps.”

The pictures had surprised Sky a little. Jack had been ruggedly handsome. Chiseled. Yeah, that was the word. Tall, dark, a little rangy, but movie star handsome, at least next to bulky linebacker Sky Crawford with his little boy crew cut and that damn space between his two front teeth. He felt like a casting call reject next to Jack’s pictures. Like Chesty, the Marine Corps’ bulldog, next to the Marine Corps’ poster boy
:
Jack, “The Man. The Proud. The Marine.”

And The Man had been intense. No doubt. All gung-ho jarhead. Not the kind of guy Sky would have figured Daisy would fall for. Interestingly,
she’d
been the one grinning in the photos. Well, except for the ones of Jack with his equally buff grunt buddies in the desert. What a beefcake shot that was. Shirts off, muscles flexed, fingers at the ready on their M-16’s. Sky loved seeing her so happy in the other photos though, except for why
she was happy. Because she was with the love of her life.

Shit.

He’d noticed the pictures the minute he’d walked into her house. And it
was
a house
.
A real house. The kind grown-ups lived in. With coordinating furniture and real paintings on the walls and curtains and stuff. Not some Goodwill-parent-hand-me-down-collection-site like his apartment. She probably had the makings of balanced meals in her refrigerator. She probably had dishes that matched. She probably had dishes
.
He’d felt a little creeped out to be in her grown-up married house. But she’d alleviated his anxieties by telling him Jack had never lived there, reminding him that she’d moved home to Jacksonville after he’d died.
Yeah, but they’d probably made out on that sofa and the remote probably still had his fingerprints on it.

Daisy had walked to the fireplace and begun to remove the photographs. Sky was proud of himself for stopping her. If he was going to grieve, he needed to see the guy. And, duh, of course he wanted to compare himself to
Jack
. Damn. He wished he hadn’t. Jack had definitely been a pulled-together guy. He had Type-A, Oo-Rah
Marine written all over his face. And Sky would bet his next month’s paycheck Jack had never once in his life shot off his mouth without loading his brain first. Now he wondered if Daisy had been laughing with him or had she been laughing at
him?

They’d talked for a while in the living room and then the awkward bedtime moment had arrived. He’d drawn the line at holding her in their
bed. Daisy suggested they sleep in the guest room. Until he was ready
.
Hell, he’d been ready since he first laid eyes on her. But he knew he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he made love to Jack, The Man’s, widow tonight. Especially in Jack, The Man’s, bed.

And then he had a thought that stabbed him right in the chest. “Daisy, please tell me Jack wasn’t a Naval Academy grad.”

“No, we met at Penn.”

He exhaled a sigh of relief. “Good, because I might never be ready
if that was the case.”

“I was at the vet school and he was Navy ROTC. He’d wanted to fly since he was a kid.”

“Know the feeling.”

“He was younger than me; still an undergrad when I was in graduate school. God knows how we managed to date through those years, especially once he graduated and left for Quantico and then flight school. But we married right after my graduation from the Veterinary College.” She hesitated and then spoke low, as if thinking out loud. “When I graduated, I was so proud of what I’d accomplished, I didn’t want to change my name.” She lifted her head and looked up at him. “Do you think that’s what happened? That I didn’t love him enough to take his name?”

He wrapped his arms around her. “No, Daisy. You, Daisy Schneider, earned your degree and you had every right to keep your maiden name as a professional name. I know you loved him with your whole heart. Because I know you, Daisy. There isn’t a selfish bone in your body. You care about people and animals, sometimes even more than yourself.” He paused, thinking it over. “So you were a Marine wife. Cherry Point? Pendleton? The whole nine yards?”

“Yes.”

“Geez, Daze, I never would have thought that of you. I mean you’re just Dr. Daisy to me, small town girl and vet extraordinaire. No way could I see you doing that officers’ wives’ stuff.”

“Don’t worry. I rarely did. I practiced on the base at Cherry Point, though.”

“So you’re fluent in Marine Corps-ese? Like “grunt” and “high and tight,” right down to the
“
Oo-Rahs?”

“Ol’
Semper Fi.
That’s me. Fortunately, I was in a profession where I could work wherever they sent us. Well, obviously I couldn’t own my own practice, but I could work anywhere, even overseas.” She paused, looking pensive for a moment. “Funny, I’d wanted my own practice since forever. And now I have it, but it’s not the same. I hadn’t planned on being a military wife. I wasn’t crazy about it. But I was crazy about Jack. And we’d promised to love each other forever. So there you have it. I’m sorry. You don’t want to talk about Jack, especially…” she indicated the bed.

“Actually, I do. I think if I can kind of get to know him, I can process this better. But only if you’re cool telling me about him.”

“Are you kidding? I haven’t been able to talk to anyone about him. I mean, there’s his parents, but they’re in Montana. We talk on the phone and I see them once a year, but it’s not the same. And his sister, but she’s married with young children. She has a busy life. There’s my parents, but they just worry about me moving on, so…” She yawned. “So thanks for letting me talk about him and thanks for listening.”

“We can talk more tomorrow. I better let you get to sleep, baby.”

“Brian, please.”

“No. Relax. Tonight? You’re my baby.” He kissed her temple.

Daisy snuggled closer. “So we’re just going to…?”

“Yeah.”

“Sleep?”

“Yup.”

“And you’re certain I can’t talk you into…?”

“Nope. You can’t.”

“This is really important to you, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. It is, Daisy. That could have been me. And I wouldn’t want some joker in a flight suit slipping into my wife’s bed if I was killed in action, even though I doubt I’ll ever have a wife.”

“Why not?” she asked, tipping her face up toward him, which made Sky want to devour her luscious lips.

“For this exact reason. Because a guy can get killed in this business. And I’m not about to leave some poor woman alone like that. And the ones who leave kids behind...God.” He brushed his hand through his hair. “I’d have to think long and hard about it.”

He settled for kissing her on the cheek. “Anyway, when I make love to you it’s going to be just you and me. No Jack in the mix. And I gotta tell you, finding out he was shot down is all I can think about right now.”

“I can respect that.” She smiled up at him. Those ocean-colored eyes crinkling at the corners. “I’ll try not to tempt you.”

Yeah. Like that was going to happen.

She stretched up and kissed him lightly on the lips. “Good night, Brian. Thanks for staying.”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world. Night, honey.” He switched off the light. “Sweet dreams.” And damn if he didn’t mean that
.
For both of them. Sky slid down onto the pillows and nestled her head on his shoulder. He, personally, wasn’t planning to sleep. He couldn’t risk any kind of dreams tonight and, besides, there was too much to think about.

No wonder she’d come across as an ice queen. No wonder she kept pushing him and his freaking flight suit away. No wonder she never took time for herself, always losing herself in work and do-gooder projects.

Her husband had died
.
His AH-1W Cobra attack helicopter
shot down by a rocket propelled grenade in combat. Damn if Sky didn’t want to know every single detail about
that
firefight. But, give him a little credit, he hadn’t asked. Nor would he. Who knows? Perhaps she’d tell him all about it some day, but no way would he ask. At least he wouldn’t ask her. Maybe he’d call a few Academy buddies who’d gone Marine Corps. Or Google Jack—he didn’t even know The Man, The Proud, The Marine’s
last name.

Thinking of the Naval Academy triggered something in his head. If Jack had been so gung-ho to be a Marine Corps officer, why hadn’t he attended the Naval Academy instead of going ROTC? Or had he not been accepted at the Academy? Sky experienced a nanosecond of
in your movie star face, Jack, The Man, The Proud, The Marine.
But the guy had died. Let it go.