Resilient Love (Navy Love Series Book 3) (26 page)

I’m alone in the house for a couple of hours, unsure what to do with myself until the door opens and J.C. comes in, covered in sweat with a sly smile on his face.

“What’s going on? Did you get everything done outside?”

“Yep, I’m uh, I’m gonna go shower.” He places a light kiss to my temple as he passes me. “Oh, there was a car pulling up when I came in. Not sure if it was someone who was meant to be here or not,” he adds before walking away to the shower.

I’m left standing there confused by the exchange. Perhaps I’m losing my mind with everything that’s going on; maybe I’m the one who’s making things seem odd.

A knock on the door startles me and I realize that I’ve been in the exact same spot for ten minutes.

Maybe I am losing my mind.

Walking over, I swing the heavy door open without peering through the peephole and tears immediately flood my eyes when I see who’s on the other side.

“What are you doing here?”

“Did you really think we wouldn’t come?” Tessa is the first to speak. She pulls me into a hug.

She pulls away and I’m immediately wrapped in another set of arms, these stronger, more masculine. “You know we wouldn’t let you go through this without us, Jo,” Marsh whispers in my ear.

He’s followed by Hunter who doesn’t say anything but places a kiss to my cheek. He and Marsh lost their mom too, so both of them understand what I’m feeling right now. Hunter and I bonded quickly and have similar personalities so I don’t need words from him, there’s a nonverbal understanding of what one another needs and feels through this.

Next is Tegan. “I’m so sorry, Jo.”

Lastly is Reed. He steps up to me with his hands in his pockets and a shy smirk on his face.

“This was you, wasn’t it?”

He shakes his head no.

“I wish I could take all the credit, but no, your man,” he lifts his chin up to something behind me, “thought you might want the support. I just got everyone together and scheduled the flight, found babysitters for the kids and Chachi; the tedious parts. J.C. is the one who did this though.”

He pulls me into his arms. “I’m so sorry about your mom, Jo.”

Words escape me.

How lucky am I to have this amazing group of friends?

Reed holds me while I cry into his shoulder, overwhelmed by the amount of love from these people.

Once I finally compose myself somewhat, I turn to see all of them standing in my Mom’s living room, quietly looking over the shadow boxes, allowing me to have this moment I need to comprehend that they all took time off of work, flew across the country, left their children to come out here and support me through my mom’s death.

J.C. is standing with everyone now; at some point during my mini breakdown he emerged from the shower and dressed before joining us in the living room.

I walk away from Reed and straight into his arms where the tears fall freely again.

I’m an emotional basket case.

He peppers light kisses to my hair and forehead. “Is it okay that I got them all out here?”

Still unable to talk, I press my forehead into his chest and nod.

“I thought you might like to have the girls and Marsh here. I couldn’t just leave Reed and Hunter out,” he jokes.

I finally look up and smile through my now swollen eyes. “I’m glad you didn’t leave them out. Thank you for bringing them out here. I love you.”

“Anything for you, Jo.” He uses his thumbs to wipe away some of my tears. “I love you.” He looks deeply into my eyes and then plants a kiss to my lips.

J.C.

Sunday Evening

The service was beautiful, Pat would have loved it. All of the small yet important details were things she would have picked for herself.

When I walked into the church with my hand in Jo’s, my grip tightened when I saw that the spray of roses across her casket were white, just like what I planted in her garden months ago. I have no idea if it was intentional or not, but it made me feel like I was a part of the ceremony. I was represented in an amazing woman’s final goodbye.

Jo was dignified and so strong through it all. I gained so much more respect as I watch her through the entire process.

And our friends were amazing to come out. I wasn’t sure everyone would be able to make it, especially Hunter and Tess since they have three little ones to worry about; thankfully Hunter’s dad, Jeremy, stepped up without question and volunteered to take them, as well as Chachi, for the weekend.

We spent the afternoon hanging out around the house. Jo’s family was excited to meet her military family, and everyone got along well. We all passed around stories of Pat; if it wasn’t already known, the woman was a living legacy. We all had at least one tale of how she enhanced our lives.

Marsh told us how she prayed with him and gave him words of wisdom when she came out to Virginia to visit shortly after his and Hunter’s mom passed away.

“She told me, ‘she might be gone physically, but she’ll always be there for you, my dear.’ It really stuck with me. Everyone else offered up ‘I’m sorrys’ and all that, but for a woman I barely knew to sit and talk to me, to let me fall apart in her arms, I knew,” Marsh pauses and rubs his hand down the back of his neck, “I knew she was special. Pat’s always gonna be special to me.”

Reed’s story was similar; she provided him with advice regarding his biological mom. He didn’t go into details like Marsh, but we all know that is still a touchy subject for Reed to openly discuss. It shows the character of Pat that he was willing to talk to her about it. Or perhaps it shows her orneriness that she wouldn’t allow him to not discuss it with her.

Or course, Tess and Jo provided many stories. She was a constant sounding board for the two of them. And one of their biggest supporters with their Navy career.

When my turn came around, so many memories swirled around, I didn’t know which to share at first. But then I realized that no one, not even Jo, knows of our conversation we had months ago when I showed up here unannounced.

“I’ll never forget when I showed up here after my deployment. I had no idea what to say or how to convince Jo to take me back, I just knew I had to try. I was instantly relieved when I found out Pat was here and Jo wasn’t.” I look over and Jo is watching me with intense interest. “She let me have it. Really, if y’all haven’t been on the receiving end of one of Pat’s rants, feel lucky. It was not fun.” Both Jo and her brothers snicker, all of them knowing how their mom was.

“Anyway, once she was finally done chewin’ my ass, she told me she loved me and that she knew you did too.” I look directly at Jo now. “I’ll never forget that conversation; she questioned me about everything regarding you. It felt like an interrogation to be honest, but one I’d go through again in a heartbeat.”

My amount of respect grew in the span of that conversation. I saw how fierce her love for Jo was, and I’d like to think she saw how fierce mine was as well.

“What do you mean she questioned everything regarding me?” Jo asks.

“I mean, do I love you, how am I gonna make up for my screw up, what about both of us being in the Navy, are we going to attempt to have more kids in the future...Everything.”

Jo’s eyes widen but she doesn’t respond for a moment. Looking around the room, I see that Miguel has started telling another of his own stories, drawing in everyone’s attention.

“What did you say?” Her voice is so quiet I almost don’t hear it.

“What do you mean? I told her I love you more than anything in this world and that I’d fight until my last breath to prove that to you. I made the decision then that I would get out of the service. It wasn’t a lifelong career for me anyway.”

She ponders my answer for a moment before asking the one question I know she wants to hear the answer to.

“What about kids?”

I run my thumb along her jawline and skirt it across her bottom lip.

“Darlin’, the minute you want to try for another baby, all you gotta do is say the word and I’m on board. If I had my way, I’d already have a baby in your belly.”

She nods her head and then gets up from the couch and walks away to the kitchen.

Unsure if my response somehow upset her, I follow.

“Jo,” I say, stepping into the room. “What’s going on?”

She doesn’t answer and continues rummaging through a medium sized box. When she finally finds whatever she’s looking for, she turns with the item wrapped up in her arms and immediately goes to her duffel bag to collect something else. Finally, she comes to stand in front of me with water-filled eyes.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, it's just a lot to hear, you know? Not that it's a bad thing; it's just a lot to take in on top of everything else. My emotions are just all over the place this week.”

“You sure?”

She pushes her hair out of her face and smiles at me.

“Yeah, just needed a minute alone to kind of collect my thoughts.” She looks around at all of the food people brought to the house with their condolences. “Figured I could at least be productive while I process everything.”

“Okay.” I kiss her cheek and step out of the kitchen, where I'm met by Tessa.

“She okay?” she immediately asks.

“I think so. You may wanna go help her with all of the food in there though.”

She smiles and gives one firm nod before heading in the way I just exited.

There was laughter, smiles, sadness, and the occasional tears throughout the afternoon and evening, and every single moment of it was amazing. We celebrated Pat’s life which is exactly what she would have wanted.

It was a long and bumpy road to get to this point, and God knows none of us wanted to lose Pat along the way, but her loss brought all of us closer together. Through her guidance this past year, I reunited with the love of my life, made amends with my father, I’m following my dreams towards a career I want, and I’ve started my own family. Pat is to thank for a lot of that.

I place a kiss to Jo’s temple and send up a silent thank you to Pat.

J.C.

Two Months Later

Last weekend, Jo and I traveled back to California for a short trip. It was the first time we’ve been out there since Pat’s funeral. Our weekend was filled with family time and we visited Pat’s grave.

It was beautiful and heartbreaking. We took fresh white roses and replaced the ones that Miguel had brought a week ago. He and Joseph are very good about keeping fresh ones here for her.

Back at the house, we sorted through a lot of Pat’s stuff and Jo filled a medium sized box to bring back home with us. I haven’t asked what is in there; I figure she’ll tell me if and when she wants to. Those things are personal between Jo and Pat and I don’t want to intrude.

Later that night, I walk into our room to see Jo sitting on the bed with something bundled up in her hands.

“You okay, darlin’?”

She doesn’t answer, just climbs off the bed and rummages through her nightstand and then finally comes to stand in front of me with water-filled eyes.

“What’s wrong?”

Again, she ignores my question.

“Mom left these for you, well us.”

She places a bundle of crochet, off-white material in my hand.