Forget Me Not (Love in the Fleet) (25 page)

“I don’t know, now that you mention it. He wasn’t at happy hour. You want to go check his room? Maybe he took a nap or something.”

Sky kissed her quickly and turned down the hall toward George’s room. But before he could knock, the door opened. He was surprised to find a gathering of people inside.

“Can I help you?” a clean-cut man with salt and pepper hair asked.

The guy didn’t look like he worked at Portside in his golf shirt and khaki pants. So why was he in George’s room. Sky glanced at the door number to ensure he had the right room. “Uh, yeah, is this still Captain Duncan’s room?”

The man extended his hand to Sky. “I’m Joe Duncan, George’s son. Were you a friend of my dad’s?”

Something shifted in Sky’s chest.
“Is George okay? Is he in the hospital or something?”

The man smiled hesitantly, his brow furrowed. “I’m sorry to be the one to tell you. My dad passed away on Monday.”

Sky reached for the doorjamb to steady himself. “Oh, my God. But I just saw him...I took him out for Veterans’...”

“His heart gave out in his sleep. He never even woke up. We believe he went peacefully.”

George was dead?
Sky could feel the tears forming. He blinked and sniffed, yet almost didn’t care if they came. George was dead. Sky huffed out a breath of disbelief.

Joe glanced down at Sky’s name patch and recognition dawned on his face. “You must be Sky?”

“Yes, sir. I’m sorry. Sky Crawford.” He stuck out his hand to shake, while doing his damndest to keep from bursting into tears. He took a couple of deep breaths, but he found it difficult to breathe.

Joe put his arm around Sky and led him into the room. “Hey, everybody, this is Sky Crawford. You know, the pilot Grandpa kept telling us about.”

Joe introduced Sky to the group, men and women from their twenties into their fifties. George’s children and grandchildren. His legacy. The names were all a blur. George was dead?

God rest his soul.

“I was coming to... He usually eats dinner with us on Wednesdays. Oh, God, wait ‘til Daisy hears this. That’s my girlfriend. Oh, man, she loves your—
loved
—your dad.”

“Do you have a minute, son?” Joe asked. He led Sky out into the hall and pulled the door closed behind them.

“Sure...yeah... God, it seems... I can’t believe this.”

“It’s hard for us too. Listen, I wanted to thank you, Sky.”

“Me? For what?”

“Dad talked a lot about you recently. Thanks for spending time with him. He loved talking with you about flying and other things. If I’m not mistaken, you helped him figure some stuff out. He struggled with some issues for a lot of years, but he said you helped him work through some of it. Said he’d found peace. Finally. I gotta tell you, though.” He shook his head to clear it. “I assumed you were a lot older. He made you sound like a wise old man, but you’re just a kid. Anyway, thanks.”

“
Me?
I helped
him
? No, sir,
he
helped
me
. God, he taught me so much about...
life.”
That was all Sky could say. The tears were beginning to flow. And he wasn’t certain he’d be able to make them stop. He flashed to that night in the parking lot when he couldn’t stop crying. “If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have Daisy.”

“Well, we appreciate you spending time with him. He said he really enjoyed looking at old pictures with you and just talking. It was very nice of you to do that.”

Sky thumbed away the tears, took a deep breath, and cleared his throat. “No problem, sir. It was a pleasure spending time with him. Can I ask you something?”

“Sure. Anything.”

“He told me about Joe, but he didn’t tell me that’s what he named his son. Is it safe to assume you’re named after his friend, his co-pilot, Joe?

Joe smiled warmly. “I was named after my father.”

Sky’s head snapped up. “But Joe was…”

“Yes, Joe was my father. But George was my dad. I never knew my father. He died when I was a baby. George married my mom when I was three.”

Sky stood there, slack jawed. “He married your…?
She’s
the woman he loved for the rest of his life?”

“My parents had a love affair for forty-three years. They were two amazing people and I’m sure my father was too. They talked about him a lot to me. I mean, they moved on after his death, but my real father was always a member of the family. I’m not sure if they did that for me or for them, but I’m glad they did. Some people don’t even get one good father. I had two. I like to think that they’ve all been reunited.” He paused, looked wistful for a moment. “So thanks again, Sky, for helping my dad out with whatever was still troubling him.”

This man standing in front of him,
Joe’s
son
, believed that Sky had something to do with the solace George had found. No way. George had helped
him.
For starters, Sky’s nightmares had tapered off since Veteran’s Day when he and George talked in Little Girl’s cockpit. Plus he’d given Sky the secret to long-term relationships. Now Sky didn’t even care about the tears streaming down his face. He’d find Daisy and they’d leave. He wasn’t going to worry about a few tears. He had grown to love the old man. And now he was gone. Peacefully.

“There’s a service at his church on Saturday afternoon. I hope you can join us,” Joe said.

“That’s Daisy’s church too. We wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Joe put out his hand to shake Sky’s. “It would have meant a lot to him. It means a lot to us.”

He pushed open the door and indicated his brothers and sisters and their children, George’s contribution to the world. They came forward and thanked him again for befriending “Grandpa,” for sharing his stories, and for helping him find peace.

Wait a second. They were thanking
him
for imparting words of wisdom to an already wise man? This wise old man who hadn’t even felt the need to share with Sky that he’d actually gone and done it? Married his dead co-pilot’s wife. And raised his son as his own.

And lived happily ever after.

All George had told him was: “When you fall in love with someone, you make a decision to love her forever. And then you do just that.” And he’d made that decision about his
dead co-pilot’s wife.
And it had worked. Well, for the most part. He’d obviously continued to beat himself up for not saving Joe or he wouldn’t have suffered from nightmares all those years. But there was no question he was in love with his wife until the day he died. Sky could see it in his blind eyes every time he talked about her.

And George’s descendants were giving Sky credit for helping the old man. When he had the secret to survivor guilt all along: You’ve been given a second chance at life. Make the world a better place. Like marrying a woman you might not have loved in the beginning, but came to love a great deal. Raise her fatherless child as if it were your own and then bring four more children into the world, raise them right, and send them out to make the world a better place.

Sky guessed George had the secret all along. He just didn’t know it. And if Sky was able to bring it to his attention, that was a fair trade for the secret to relationships and fewer bad dreams. Sky bade George’s children and grandchildren farewell and promised he’d see them at the memorial service. He’d wear his dress blue uniform. George would have liked that, Sky thought as he headed down the hall to find Daisy and share the news.

Chapter 24

“That was an amazing story about how George lost his co-pilot, then married the widow, wasn’t it?” Daisy asked as she added dressing and tossed the salad. “And when his son stood up and gave the eulogy, I had goose bumps. It was so lovely to hear Joe sing his praises.”

“Yeah. How do you want your steak?” Sky replied from the patio.

“The usual. Make sure it’s still a little pink on the inside.” Daisy carried the salad bowl to the table. “Don’t you think that was a beautiful love story? How George survived the accident, married Joe’s wife, and they lived happily ever after?”

A bead of sweat trickled down Sky’s back.
If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
Maybe the grill was too hot. That was it. But what if you’re already outside? And it’s November? “Yeah, it’s a nice story, Daisy. Dinner in five,” he called through the open sliding glass door.

He didn’t want to talk about George any more. Just the thought of him brought on the tears. Sky had no idea how he’d held it together at the service. Well, actually, he hadn’t held it together. He barely made it through the service and then lost it in the men’s room. Had to hide in a stall
while he sobbed. Christ, what was wrong with him? It was like he had no control over his emotions anymore. And the whole taking care of the dead pilot’s wife hit a little too close to home for Sky. Thank God he had Daisy Mae on board the few times Daniel had threatened to return to his dreams.

After dinner, they watched a movie and prepared to turn in early.

“Hey,” Daisy said as she wrapped her arms around Sky’s neck and hugged him. “Thanks for today.”

“What? What did I do?”

“You went to George’s service with me. And you wore your dress blues, which make you look even more handsome than usual.” She kissed him lightly and continued. “I know George was smiling down on us when you showed up in your dress uniform. And I wanted to thank you again for being such a special friend to him. It’s not always easy to be around old people. Thank you.”

“No problem. I liked the guy.”

“I still can’t get over that story about his co-pilot and his wife and son, though. Can you?”

Sky gently pushed her away. Raised his hands for emphasis. “Look, Daisy, would you let it go already? I liked George a lot. Apparently he did a good deed by marrying Sarah and raising her son as his own. He was a good man. He’s gone. I miss him. End of story.”

“Well, aren’t you the grumpy one tonight?”

“Look, I don’t want to talk about it, okay.” Why couldn’t she drop the whole George and Sarah and Baby Joe situation? He stripped down to his briefs and headed into the bathroom to brush his teeth.

Daisy followed him and hugged his back. “Bet I know what would make you feel better.”

Sky glanced up at the mirror. All he saw was a pair of arms embracing his chest, stroking his stomach, his... “Come on, Daisy. I’m not in the mood.” He tried to peel her hands from his body.

Daisy peeked around him into the mirror. “Stop the presses. The Skylark’s not in the mood? That doesn’t sound like the Cap’n Crawford I know.” Her eyes sparkled as she sidled around and boosted herself onto the bathroom counter, pulling him between her knees. “Come here, Romeo.” She slid her hands down and cupped him again. “Hmmm.
You
may not be in the mood, but I don’t think your Hellfire missile got the message. It sure seems to be in the mood.”

“Dammit, Daisy, leave me alone.” But he was rapidly losing the battle. There was no question that his missile was locked and loaded and a round of hot sex might be just what he needed to forget about George because...

Oh, God. First she took his hands and placed them on her breasts and he was all thumbs—which in this case was a good thing. And then she slipped his briefs down and stroked him and kissed his chest and moaned all at the same time and when he looked in the mirror, he saw nothing but pleasure on his face. All his grumpiness was a thing of the past.

Sky kicked off his briefs. Then he pulled her to her feet. Slowly, he slid her panties down before lifting her back up onto the counter. He reached down and stroked her, finding her already wet and ready. When he rubbed her with his thumb, she tipped her head back against the mirror, eyes closed, mouth open, moaning.

Okay, I’ll play your game, sweetheart.
This was like starring in his very own porn film, getting to see it all in the mirror. He’d never watched himself get it on with Daisy before—and without a doubt—Sky gave himself star billing.

He slid her bottom to the edge of the counter, then knelt and kissed her deeply, sliding his tongue over her most sensitive spot and beyond. He licked until Daisy cried out with her little-high-pitched-love-making sounds as she came. Sky grabbed a condom from the drawer, then slid himself into her as her orgasm continued to ebb and flow. Grabbing hold of her bottom, he pumped and pumped and pumped, bringing her close to the edge again. Daisy cried out, clawing at his back with her fingernails, wrapping her legs around his waist, and pulling him as tightly to her as possible. Digging her heels into his ass.

Sky watched it all through slitted eyes. Her legs disappearing around his waist. Her ass peeking out from under her T-shirt, butt muscles flexing to receive his every push. Her face buried under his chin as she kissed his neck, all the while moaning and building up to another climax. He couldn’t reach her mouth with his own, and was actually glad, because it allowed him to watch everything unfold in the mirror. As if on cue, her high-pitched squeaks came again.

And so did Daisy.

That was Sky’s cue. He was a goner when Daisy made those noises.

He scooped her off the counter so he could straighten his knees and finish the race. No longer fixated on her sweet ass, he looked up to witness what looked like agony—but what was pure ecstasy—on his face, as he came and came and came inside her.

Minutes passed where they stroked and kissed and murmured. He sat her back on the counter, bending his knees so he could find her mouth with his own, giving her kisses that he knew tasted of the sweet essence of her—with a side of Crest, since she’d accosted him in mid-brush.

“Feel better now?” she asked. “I know I do, and I wasn’t even grumpy.”

“Oh, baby, that was so good for me. You are so good for me. God, I love you, Daze.” He saw a flash of something in her eyes. Fear? Uncertainty? The need to respond,
I love you too?