Secrets of War: A Military Romance (4 page)

CHAPTER SIX

S
uzy was placing an order in her back office the next afternoon when her cell phone rang. It was her sister.

“Hey Jade, what’s up?” she asked her distracted by the website she was trying to place her order on.

“Well, nothing! Until I went to leave practice to go to my babysitting job in this hooptie you make me drive around town and it won’t start,” she replied with attitude.

Suzy had given Jade a range Rover when she was sixteen years old to get back and forth to school when they were living in LA. She still couldn’t figure out why she’d thought that would work out. Caught up in the excess of her environment, she supposed now. Within two months of having her car, Jade had crashed into a tree after smoking pot at a park with some friends. Suzy had never been so afraid in her life when the trooper had called her from the side of the road. She’d delivered his baby the month before, so he’d done her a favor and called her to come and pick Jade up and left the fact she’d been high out of his report.

Even if Jade hadn’t learned her lesson, Suzy had and she vowed to never just hand her sister the lap of luxury again. From that day on, Geraldine had driven Jade to school and all her activities. Then once they moved here, she felt more comfortable with her having a car of her own again. So, she’d bought her a two-thousand five Honda Elantra and a AAA membership. “Did you call triple A?”

“Yes and he can’t get over here for an hour. I mean really, why does it have to take that long? We live in Maybury for God sakes.”

“Well, I’m sure it won’t take that long. I bet he was just giving you a worst case scenario. When he gets there, ask Petey to give me a call about the repairs.”

Brightwood had exactly two gas stations and they were both owned by the Peterson family. Who’d been here for more than three generations. In fact, Suzy and Petey, the IV had gone to high school together.

“Well, I am supposed to be at the Merrick ranch in thirty minutes to watch that little boy, and from what some of the other girls were telling me, tonight is a really important night. So, I
have
to be there on time.”

“Well, where is grandma?” Suzy was starting to get the uneasy feeling she was going to have to take her out to the Merrick ranch and return to pick her up.

“Grandma has physical therapy today, remember? And her knee has really been bothering her lately”

SHIT!
She’d forgotten all about that. Sitting back in her chair, she rubbed her temples with the tip of her fingers, trying to think of something that would get her out of this but to no avail. Jade having a piece of crap car had come back to bite her in the ass…Hard.

“SUZY!” Jade yelled into the phone.

“WHAT? Okay, okay. I’m on my way. Call Petey when we hang up and get everything squared away with your car, so that you can hop in and we can head out to the ranch as soon as I get to the school.”

“Okay, whatever,” Jade replied hanging up.

Izzy couldn’t come into the store to help her today. So, she was going to have to close the store early to pick up her sister. She wondered why Jamie and his wife didn’t just have a nanny. Or why his son’s grandparents weren’t babysitting for them? She supposed she wouldn’t want to leave a baby alone with Sally either. She was sure Sally would eat her young.

Suzy drove to the high school, picked up Jade and got everything set up to get her car repaired. Then they headed out to the ranch.

Suzy had a rain forest full of butterflies in her stomach as they drove to Jamie’s. For one thing, she knew she was going to have to apologize to him for literally jumping out of his car and for making assumptions. The other horrid thing was she was going to have to actually see him with his family, something she’d thought at one point in her life, she would have
with
him.

“HOLY SHIT! I mean CRAP!” Jade exclaimed as they drove onto the property thirty minutes later.

The Merrick property was more than three hundred acres. One of the largest in the country. There were barns, cattle houses and living quarters for the ranch hands on the front part of the property. If you followed the super long driveway to the right and around to the back of the property, you came upon Jamie’s piece of land and the magnificent home he had built.

When they pulled up to the front porch, Jade was out of the car before Suzy could get a chance to say goodbye or find out what time she needed her to come back. Turning off the car, she reluctantly climbed out and followed her onto the porch.

“Come in!” they heard from the house before she got a chance to knock on the door. They looked at each other, a little reluctant to just walk into someone else’s home, and stepped in. What Suzy saw took her breath away. Jamie had built the exact house they’d talked about having; late at night lying on top of his car up at the Point looking at the stars.

Upon entering the foyer you could see the dining room, complete with a butler’s pantry to your left and an open staircase to your right. Through the vaulted living room, with custom fireplace, you were greeted by the view beyond the covered porch. Open to the family dining area and the family room the gourmet kitchen looked to be the heart of the home. Boasting a six burner stove, double ovens, a prep island with a sink and an oversized walk-in pantry there was plenty of room to gather with family and friends.

“Good Afternoon Miss…” Jamie’s voice fell away as he came out of the kitchen. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw who was standing in his foyer.

“Hi! My name is Jade Stephenson, this is my sister Suzanne. I’m going to be watching your son tonight in Missy’s place, since she got hurt at cheer practice the other day,” Jade rattled out at the speed of light. She talked a mile a minute like most teenagers, there were days when Suzy was exhausted just listening to her.

Even in all her self-absorbed chatter, Jade noticed how Jamie and Suzanne were staring at each other like they were the only people in the world

“He knows who we are Jade,” Suzy told her as she stared at Jamie. Dammit, he looked like sex on a stick. Wearing a pair of dark blue jeans, a light blue flannel shirt, with a pair of buffed and shined to perfection black cowboy boots, he also sported an extra-large turquoise belt buckle. This sexy look was all topped off with an ivory Stetson.

“Jade, this is Jamie Merrick…Jamie, this Jade, my sister.”

“Nice to meet you,” Jamie replied without even looking her way. He continued to stare at Suzy as if he were a man who’d been walking in the desert for six months with no water and she was a waterfall.

“I just came to drop h-her off,” Suzy stammered. “I figured I should come in and apologize to you for the assumption I made yesterday when you asked me to dinner a-and to coffee. I didn’t realize you were married.”

Jamie looked between the two of them now. Confused “I’m not,” he replied simply.

“But—I thought—I mean I just assumed you were married, because you have a little boy,” she stammered.

“It sounds like you’ve been making assumptions again,” he teased winking at Jade. “I do have a son—”

“POW, POW, POW!” Tuck came barreling into the room, shooting his toy gun at the visitors.

“Tuck, what have I told you about shooting at women and guests?” Jamie yelled at his son.

“Only shoot at them if they are mommy and grandma Sally,” Tuck answered smiling and putting his gun into the holster on his hip.

They all couldn’t help but laugh.

* * * *

Tuck was a happy precarious little boy, who loved to run and play cops and robbers and cowboys and Indians. The seven-year-old had been the result of a drunken one night stand with a woman from town and she’d been an absolute pain in Jamie’s ass ever since.

While his relationship with Tuck’s mother was a challenge to say the least, there was nothing he wouldn’t do for his son. “Okay, yes that’s what I said. But you aren’t supposed to
tell
people,” Jamie said putting his son in a headlock and tickling him. “Tuck, this is Jade and Suzanne; Ladies this is Tuck—”

He was interrupted by a bark from his golden retriever that came bounding into the foyer straight to Suzanne.

“—And Sausage,” he finished pulling on his collar to get him off Suzanne who seemed to love his kisses. Which was a refreshing change for Jamie, his mother hated sausage and most of the ladies that came here hunting for a rich husband hated him too. They usually pretended not to be bothered. But he could tell from her smile that Suzy loved him.

“Hello, Sausage and Tuck. It is really nice to meet you both,” she said once Jamie was able to settle the dog down.

“Nice to meet you. Are you my babysitter?” Tuck asked her.

“No. That is Jade my sister.”

“Why can’t you be my babysitter? Are you going to babysit daddy and moan a lot like the other ladies?” Tuck asked.

“TUCK!” Jamie shouted completely embarrassed as Jade and Suzanne laughed at him. “You know what? Just go in the kitchen and get your snack.”

“Hey Tuck, what are you having for snack?” Jade asked him.

“I don’t know. Daddy likes me to eat a lot of apples,” he replied with his head down.

“Why don’t I come with you? I like apples with peanut butter and chocolate, have you had that?” Jade offered extending her hand to him.

Tuck looked up at her and his little face lit up as bright as a star. “No. That sounds yummy. Come on let’s go!” He grabbed her hand running toward the kitchen.

The atmosphere changed once Jade, Sausage and Tuck were gone. It was as if they’d been transported back to being teenagers. When they couldn’t help but to stare at each other when they were in the room together. That soon led to them not being able to keep their hands off one another.

“I just wanted to come and apologize about yesterday. I guess I will get going.”

“Well, the only way that I can accept that apology is for you to come with me tonight.”

“Come with you? What do you mean come with you?”

“I mean, I’m doing some bull riding tonight for a Marine buddy of mine and I would like you to come and see me,” he said smiling. He could see in her face she was trying to figure out how to tell him no, without offending him and still feel like she’d made amends.

“I don’t—I can’t. I really can’t just…”

“Yes, I can see the many excuses rolling around in your head that you can’t seem to get to cross your lips. But I’m not taking any of them. If you want me to believe your apology, then you will come with me.” He grinned at her.

“I’m sorry. I’m not a seventeen year old girl anymore, Jamie. I came here to apologize. I did, now I’m leaving.” Suzy looked irritated.

“Listen, I’m not trying to make you feel bad. I’m saying, I extended an invitation to dinner to an old friend. That you rudely turned down, I might add. Then you wouldn’t even have coffee with me. You say you’re sorry, then accepting this invitation would be the only friendly thing to do.”

She bit at her lip and went quiet for a couple of minutes. “Okay, fine. I will come over to the rodeo, but I can’t, wearing this.”

“All right, meet me at the old rodeo building in an hour. Deal?” Jamie asked extending his hand to her.

Suzy took his hand while looking troubled. “Okay…Deal.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

“I
don’t think I’ve been this excited since prom. Suzy and Jamie back together again!” Izzy exclaimed excitedly.

She’d called Izzy after showering, dressing and drying her hair. She’d decided to dress in jeans with a vine of pink roses embroidered down the leg and a white t-shirt with pink roses embroidered on the back. Impulsively, she’d pulled her long black hair into braided pigtails.

With a soft complexion and radiantly smooth skin, she had no need for makeup. But she still liked to wear it to accent her features. “We are
not
back together again, Izzy!” she argued pulling on her pink cowboy boots. “I told him I would go to see him ride tonight to apologize for jumping to conclusions. That is all, we are not a couple and we will not
be
a couple.”

Izzy sighed. “Tell me something, what are you wearing?”

Suzy described her outfit to Izzy’s fits of background laughter. “What?” she asked frustrated.

“That is almost the exact outfit you wore the first time Jamie asked you out,” she replied still laughing.

“No it’s…” Her voice fell away when she thought about their first date and saw herself in her mind’s eye. “OH! It is!” She sat on the bed and put her head in her palm.

“Girl, you are a hot ass mess.”

“Oh! Shut up! Why did I call you in the first place? Goodbye, I will talk to you tomorrow, you pain in the ass.”

“I love you too, schnookums!” Izzy replied sarcastically.

Grabbing her keys and purse after checking her hair one last time, Suzy headed out the door thinking.

I may need to find a new best friend.

* * * *

The place where the rodeo was held every time it came to town five times a years was The Sale Barn, which was owned by the Merrick family.

As usual, it was full of people hooting, hollering and having a
good ole boy
good time.

Suzy walked through the thongs of town’s people, stopping to field a few brief hello’s and welcome backs on the way. She was watching one of the prancing pony performances when she felt a warm breath on her ear whispering, “Deep thoughts, Tidbit?” Jamie teased grinning at her with his perfect white teeth.

“I was thinking how handsome you are,” she blurted out then flushed and laughed nervously. “I’m sorry, my mouth and my brain are disconnected.”

He didn’t smile. He never really did. His eyes always told her how he felt and now, they showed heat. His black eyes slid over her face and back to the crowd. “You aren’t bad yourself, kid.”

“Is that Leroy?” Suzy asked him to change the sexual tenseness in the air while staring at a man who’d just came out of the gate on his horse making his rounds in the ring.

“Sure is,” Jamie answered irritably. Jamie and Leroy Gibbs were known competitors in…well…everything from high school on

Leroy had worked at Merrick oil range in high school. Jason had always liked him and liked working with him. Leroy’s brother, Tony had signed up and shipped off to the Marines.

Jamie shook his head. “Wow, Leroy sure has aged well,” Suzy said getting his attention.

Jamie gave her a cool appraisal…His black eyes slid over her body and he clenched his fists. “I’m gonna be up next. Come on, I will take you to your seat.”

“Okay.” She slapped her hand in his.

The only seats left were against a wall, directly next to the release and stage area for the bull riders and she didn’t mind. She would be sure to get a good look at Jamie on his ride. She’d already noted he was in his full working cowboy gear, complete with spurred boots, batwing chaps and chambray shirt.

As he winked at her and went off to ride his bull, she was transported back to her high school years as Jamie Merrick’s girlfriend. She’d loved being at these rodeos with him it was one of the more pleasant memories. Tagging along with him and learning the rodeo and cattle business. Though she was pretty, Suzy had always been standoffish with boys, even cold but she adored Jamie, and it showed.

She watched Jamie ride the toughest bull of the rodeo for more than three minutes which was a Texas record, with a knot in her stomach. When he was thrown to the ground, it had taken everything in her, not to run to him and check him over.

The crowd loved every moment and as he stood in the center of the ring after the bull had been wrangled with his hands raised above his head in victory. The announcer shared with the crowd that as of three days before, Jamie was now the owner of the Hang’em high rodeo lock, stock and Santa Gerdis Bull, which invoked monstrous cheers from the crowd.

She wasn’t sure if it was a good idea, but decided to wait around to congratulate him on his purchase and to say goodbye.

“You hungry?” he asked coming up behind her placing his Stetson on her head.

She laughed attempting to peer up at him as the hat settled down, covering half her face. “Are you kidding? You know me I could eat a horse. I just wanted to say that was a great ride and congratulations.”

“Why are you talking like you’re leaving?” he asked staring down at her.

She laughed handing him back his hat as she straightened her hair. “Because I am.”

“No you’re not! You still haven’t apologized for being mean to me.” He grinned winking at her mischievously.

“Umm…wasn’t that what I was doing by coming here?”

“NO. You are having a good time coming here. I mean look around.” He waved his arm over the crowd. “Dinner with me and a heartfelt I’m sorry, is your apology.”

Suzy laughed shaking her head as she gazed up into his coal black eyes. Staring at one of the best people, she’d ever known in her life. The man she’d once thought was her future. “Why do I get the feeling this apology is never going to be over?”

Jamie draped his arm casually over her shoulder sending a shock wave up her spine. “Come on, you big meany. Let me feed you.”

They decided to take his truck, instead of her car to the restaurant. She noted he hadn’t driven his Jaguar this time but one of his company pickups. They were nice but not top of the line. Which was one of the many things that made Jamie stand out from his family. While they wouldn’t be caught dead in anything less than the best, Jamie had always been more practical, even saving where he could.

“I don’t know if I am really dressed for dinner,” she said fidgeting in her seat.

“Are you serious?” Jamie replied glancing over at her. “Woman, you would look good in a potato sack. How on earth have you managed to still look sixteen after all these years?”

“HA! It was being around all of my patient’s every day. There’s nothing like being around and healing children. I loved my job,” she added wistfully.

“So why don’t you open a practice here? Old man Davies is like one hundred years old and I’m sure he will retire soon. Maybe…” He laughed. Dr. Davies had been his father’s pediatrician. He was a great doctor but now he was scary to the kids, being that he’d lost his teeth and when he coughed, they were sure a little bit of dust came out.

Suzy tensed in her seat looking out the window. She knew everyone would want to know why she’d stopped practicing medicine. Being a doctor had been the only thing she’d ever thought or talked about being as a kid. It’d broken her heart to make the decision to no longer practice medicine. But with her diagnoses, she’d known it was the only thing she could do. The right thing no matter how heart breaking it was. “I just thought it was time to do something different, something that I also love. There are plenty of babies being made around here. But really, no specialized store for the discerning parent. That is where I come in.”

* * * *

Jamie knew there was more to it than that. But he also knew it would take time for her to trust him again. And he would make sure she did.

He drove to a nearby steak restaurant he liked. The waitress showed them to a table about the time Steve Pressman arrived with a female companion.

Steve Pressman had grown up with Suzanne and Jamie. He’d been Scottie Pippen to Jamie’s Michael Jordan all their lives. Steve also came from an impressive military background and the moment he turned 18, he’d enlisted in the Marines. He was now the managing director at the Veteran hospital. There had always been something about him, Jamie just didn’t like.

Unlike Jamie, Steve had always treated the Marines more like a business than a way of life. He guessed that was why he’d managed to serve three tours of duty and come back without a scratch or the mental scars. Even now on a casual evening, he was dressed to the nine’s in a designer suit and highly polished new boots.

“Suzanne? Is that you?” he said stopping at their table. “Welcome home baby girl, it is so good to see you.”

Suzy scooted out of the booth she and Jamie had been seated at to give him the hug his arms were wide open for. “Hi Steve! It’s good to see you too. I’ve been meaning to stop by your office over at the VA and say hi. Things have just been so crazy,” she said taking her seat.

“Yet, you still find time to volunteer to help others,” he said tugging at her pigtails. “Still the same old sweet Suzy.”

Steve hadn’t even addressed Jamie as he kept his undivided attention on Suzy which had Jamie’s blood boiling.

“I’m loving the pigtails. I don’t suppose you would go out with a broken down old Marine, would you?” Steve asked her.

“She’s out with one at the moment, in case you hadn’t noticed,” Jamie retorted angrily.

Acting as if he hadn’t even spoke, Steve went on, “I’d love to take you over to Carol’s and show you how nicely I can do a Texas two-step.” He grinned at her.

“Jamie,” Suzy warned softly when Jamie tensed like he was about to stand up. She didn’t fancy a brawl in here this evening, and she knew Jamie was at a low boiling point. “You know Steve, when things are a little more settled for me. I will definitely think about it.”

Steve started to try and convince her but he stopped, as Jamie was now glaring at him and with eyes even colder than the ones he’d shown him when he’d asked Suzy to prom seventeen years ago.

“Okay, well I’ll give you some time. But I won’t give up,” Steve said winking at her before he walked away.

“Well, that was awkward,” she said to Jamie.

“You know how much I hate him,” he replied.

“Yeah, I do. But we aren’t seventeen anymore. I’m not your girl and I won’t be. You should both grow up.”

“Well, listen to you, sounding like a mother,” Jamie replied teasing her. He looked at her smiling with his heart, never his mouth but his heart always touched her more. “And who said you won’t be my woman?”