“You know that matchmaking usually results in trouble, sweetheart. Your heart is in the right place, but you can’t force things.”
“Which is why I wanted to talk to you first. You know that I want to continue to send packages to your team, reminding them that even though you are gone, they are still part of your family.”
“And I think you are incredible for wanting to include them.”
“That’s all I want to do with Mari, John. I want to include her, give her a chance to make a friend, and if something happens from there… so be it. If nothing occurs, I’ll step back and leave it alone.”
“If she finds out you are trying to match her up with someone, don’t you think she’ll balk at the idea before anything has a chance to take off between her and one of the soldiers?”
“I don’t know.”
“Are you wanting her to write to someone lighthearted and carefree like she is or…”
“No. I don’t think so,” Lily whispered aloud. “I’ve been thinking about it the whole way home and Mari always seems to be so bubbly, but I believe she needs something else. Someone quiet and caring, that could use the ray of sunshine she brings into your life, you know? She needs to feel like she’s making a difference.”
“You are really good at reading people, aren’t you?”
“I knew you were the man for me,” she teased, leaning up and kissing him on the chin. “I’m serious, though. A goofball like Cooper or Hody would eclipse her – and I think she needs to shine. What do you think about her writing to Parker or Tobin? You’ve told me about them and they seem nice.”
John got quiet and just held her. After several minutes, she looked up at his profile and saw him looking up at the sky, deep in thought.
“John? If you don’t like the idea…”
“She should write Watson,” he said quietly, looking at Lily. His eyes were warm with emotion as he smiled softly at her. His hand reached up, cupping her face, his thumb caressing her cheek.
“Have I told you how much I love you, Lily? Only someone with an incredible heart would be so focused on bringing joy to others, to strangers. You are my everything and I was so lucky to get your letter that day.”
“You are my miracle, John Griffin,” Lily admitted tenderly, as he leaned down to kiss her. His lips brushed hers and she felt that same sense of coming home that she’d felt the first time she’d kissed him. She thanked God every day for bringing John into her world.
Now, it was Marigold’s turn to find her special someone.
Chapter 2
May 2017
“This is ridiculous, you know,” Ben Watson bit out between gnashed teeth as he drove the convoy truck down the abnormally silent street. They’d received intel that there was to be a bombing in a building that would show the terrorists meant business.
So naturally, he was being sent in, Ben thought wryly… with a newbie. He glanced beside him to where Jamie Post sat, watching the area with hard eyes. The other soldier had put in a transfer request that would saddle him with his own bomb dog similar to Paladin. He was to receive his dog on assignment, but until then, they were to be partnered up and Ben was to teach him everything he knew.
In a month.
This was a ridiculous gesture. It took several months for him and Paladin to begin to read each other before getting transferred to the unit. The theory was that as Griffin left, he would fill in the space emptied by the beloved CPO. Problem was, he wasn’t Griffin and it was obvious. He worked with the man for several months before he left and it took years to develop that bond of loyalty with the men.
He needed their attention now.
Exiting the truck, he motioned for Post to follow him and signaled to the rest of the team to spread out and stand guard. If their intel was right, the bomb was set up in this building. If they were wrong, they could all be in the blast zone if it was a large enough explosion. Armed and hot, they swung their guns upward, and slowly moved silently into the building. As they swept the floor, Ben heard a noise above and glanced up at the ceiling before meeting Post’s eyes.
Nodding, they moved to the stairs and began their slow ascent. Stopping, Ben listened and heard shuffling from one of the doors to his right. Slowing himself even further to keep his gear from rustling, he glided silently down the hallway with Post behind him.
His carbineer took that moment to clank against his knife tucked neatly to his side with a clip. That faint ‘tink’ of metal seemed to echo in the eerily quiet hallway. Ben winced at the rookie mistake he’d made and froze.
Pocketing his gun, he grasped the doorknob of the far room that he’d heard movement from, expecting to be attacked. He had a hold on Paladin’s leash; it was designed to help contain the nervous dog and would release quickly to buy them some time, if needed. As the door opened, Paladin charged forward, yanking Ben with him.
This was weird!
The dog never surged into danger and something wasn’t right about this entire scenario. Paladin only responded like this if he knew a threat wasn’t present or someone was in danger…. someone other than himself!
Yanking his gun from his holster, Ben aimed at the man standing in the room. The tall blond man quickly tossed up his hands.
“Don’t shoot!”
“Get out of here,” Ben snarled, focusing on the dog that was sniffing the room. Blinking, he saw Post freeze and turn utterly white under his tan.
There was a woman in the room who had been sitting in a chair. Ben had focused on the man, assuming he was the threat and completely missed her. Thank God, Post had his back or he’d be a dead man!
“Lucy?”
“Jamie?”
They knew each other? Ben thought wildly, seeing the sheer panic on the other soldier’s face as Paladin suddenly began to whine. The hair on the back of Ben’s neck stood on end.
Something was very, very wrong!
“Good grief, sweetheart—you’ve got to go now,” Post uttered.
So much for staying calm, Ben thought.
Post’s tone was nearly one of panic. He grabbed the woman by the arm, lifting her out of the chair she’d been sitting in and yanking her towards the door that was now closed behind the man who’d fled the room a moment ago.
Something wasn’t right about this whole situation.
Why were two obvious American’s sitting in a room of an evacuated building? The air was tense and Paladin’s whining was starting to bother him. Whatever the dog sensed, it wasn’t easily seen. Uttering an epithet under his breath, he knelt down.
The table.
“Post! Don’t touch the door! I found it,” Watson said grimly, from beside Paladin. The large animal that had been whining and barking was now sitting still, at complete attention, as if he knew they were in danger.
“What do you have?” Post asked, releasing the woman, and immediately kneeling beside Watson.
“The IED firing circuit… trigger already set and counting down… what are your thoughts, Post?”
“Looks like Semtex but may be something else…”
“Could be. Lots of wires and some aren’t even connected to anything.”
“I see that.”
“Look for a secondary detonator. I think the secondary was on the door. Scan the rest of the room—and you might want to calm her down, too, so I can think,” Watson hissed, looking knowingly and nodding to Post.
The woman was on the edge of losing control.
If she gave into the fear and opened the door, they could all die before they had a chance to disarm the bomb. She needed to stop whimpering loudly and give him time to think.
Watson slid under the table onto his back and began to work, glancing at the couple that were now embracing. Post had pulled the woman into his arms, cradling her head against his chest.
When had this happened? Ben wondered, stunned at the raw emotions on Post’s face. The man was in love and it was obvious. He would be worthless in this moment, unable to concentrate.
&
nbsp; “It’s that bad?” the woman whispered.
Ben rolled his eyes.
It was like having a soap opera playing in the background while he was trying to focus. If the woman announced that Hector the pool boy was the father of her child, Ben might yank the hot wire deliberately just to end all the bad dialog and stop the assault on his ears.
“It’s really bad, honey. I’m not going to lie to you. Half our gear is in the hallway and we can’t open the door or the trigger will blow before we can stop the bomb.”
“Jamie, I can’t…” she protested. “I’m not ready to die.”
No kidding; me, neither! Ben interjected mentally, grabbing his pin and flashlight. He popped the flashlight between his teeth and bit down to hold it tightly into place to allow him to work.
“I’ve got you, sweetheart,” Post crooned tenderly. “Feel me, Lucy, and listen to my words. I will protect you with everything I am—and I always will. I need you to breathe, darling. That’s my brave girl.”
Paladin and the woman were both still whimpering. Ben was surrounded by emotional high-strung beings that just needed a good cry to let it all out.
“Shhh, don’t cry.”
No, let her cry, you dolt… just get her quiet, quickly! Ben thought, inserting the probe against the wire and quickly removing it. Yikes! That one was a hot wire. Sweat broke out on his forehead.
“You’re breaking my heart and I need to concentrate on what I’m doing. Can you do that? I need to focus and do my job so we can both walk out of here—okay?”
“I love you,” the woman whispered, looking up at Jamie.
That got Ben’s attention.
He glanced over in surprise. He knew Post had broken up with his girl back home, but had no idea the man was developing a relationship with someone else. Ben eavesdropped, almost envious of the tender words they were saying to each other.
“For almost forever, I think—even when you were Annabelle’s. I couldn’t help myself. I’ve always loved you.”
“I love you, too,” Post smiled and then frowned heavily. “We aren’t going to say goodbye.”
“I don’t want to, either.”
“Then don’t do it. I will fix this and I’ve decided that I’m exhausted of the sand. I want to see the snow and some green trees - maybe the ocean? Do you like dogs? When this is done – I think we should have ourselves a good stiff drink or a piece of cake and talk about our future. Together.”
“Cake is good. I like cake. Snow is nice.”
“With cream cheese frosting—and maybe sledding?”
“Chocolate with sprinkles. Sledding is fun.”
“Sprinkles just make it crunchy and don’t add anything.”
Ben rolled his eyes at the two lovebirds.
Nauseating!
Had he ever acted so stupid with Erica before she died? Listening to the two of them gush on and on flooded him with memories – memories he couldn’t afford to delve into right now.
Turning back to the timer, he winced.
Time was wasting away and he needed to move faster. His whole squad depended on him disarming this thing – and Post was not going to be much help if he couldn’t quit yammering lovey-dovey stuff to the woman he held in his arms.
God help him if he ever acted like this!
“No, but they are pretty,” Post grinned, smiling at her. “Just like you when you are brave. Now, hold tight while I get to work. I want you to hunker down in the corner with your face towards the wall in case the bomb blows. Put my jacket over…”
“NO!” she yelled angrily, causing the pin Ben was trying to insert to slip. He growled against the flashlight held in his teeth. The two lovebirds were going to get them all killed!
“You keep the jacket on, Jamie - and take care of it so we can talk about getting a dog someday.”
“And a home,” Post amended, stepping backwards from her towards where Ben was laying on the floor staring up at the bomb, analyzing it. They had problems. Every wire he’d tested so far was hot. That either meant there was more than one detonator or his tool was defective.
“With a big backyard?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Post nodded, “It sounds perfect.”
“I love you, Jameson.”
“I’ve got you, sweetheart,” Post vowed. “Nothing’s going to hurt you.”
Watson glanced at Post as he slid under the table and looked up at the bomb, cursing softly and looking at Watson. Ben just nudged his head towards the woman, reminding the other soldier that she was listening.
“Have you ever been to Alaska, sweetheart?” Post suddenly asked, fishing out his tester from his pocket. Ben dug out cutters and swapped with Jamie. They were going to have to try something because the counter was getting perilously close to zero.
He quickly ran the pin of the tester over wires and let out his breath in relief. His tool was broken. There was only one detonator on this thing.
Thank God.
Ben shook his head as Post moved to cut it.
He wanted to doublecheck the wires. He ran Post’s tester against the leads one more time before nodding. It was the blue wire that was the only hot wire present.
“No. I heard it's lovely, though.”
“Whales, dogsleds, and stuff like that.”
“That sounds like quite a sight-seeing trip,” the woman said quietly.
“I accepted a position there and I want you to go with me.”
“You meant it when you said we needed to talk, didn’t you? Jamie, I’m very happy for you. I know you must be excited about it.”
Ben yanked the flashlight from his mouth.
Could they not hush?
“He’s definitely a talker,” Watson bit out under his breath. They needed to finish this up in case there was a second problem. Jamie moved the cutter into place and Ben jumped.
That was the wrong wire!
“Not that one. It’s not attached to the timer. That’s a dummy wire, dummy! Get your head in the game, Post—you and your girlfriend can talk later.”
“Fiancée,” Post gritted out between clenched teeth, as there was an audible click as he clipped the blue trigger wire.
There were three simultaneous gasps at the same time.
They were alive!
The two men chuckled as they sat up beside each other on the floor. Post wiped his brow and smiled proudly at the woman not ten feet from him. He was sitting there with his knees bent and forearms resting over them, watching her.
“I think fiancée sounds so much better than girlfriend.”
“I think we need to talk privately,” she whispered, shell-shocked.
“Sounds like you are getting turned down, Post.” Watson elbowed him, before hopping to his feet and extending a hand to Jamie. He gave a quick command and smiled when Paladin wagged his tail happily.
“We’re clear,” Ben announced.
Jamie Post didn’t say a thing as he got to his feet; walking over to where she was still crouched in the corner. Ben felt like quite a third wheel as the two of them gazed into each other’s eyes. Had he ever loved someone that much?
“I’ll be down in a minute, Watson,” Post said, extending a hand towards her. Ben shook his head before giving a sharp command to Paladin. The dog got in line right beside him and trailed out like nothing had ever happened.
Ben was sure there was about to be a lot of kissing, sappy words, and mushy stuff between the couple. He didn’t want to be in the room to see any of it.
That was the whole reason he’d signed up for Afghanistan… he wanted to be numb. He needed to hide from the nightmares that plagued him and the overwhelming guilt that came with it. He didn’t deserve what Post had obviously found.
Love.
Chapter 3
“You want me to what?”
Marigold was stunned as she listened to Lily’s proposal. Lily had invited her out for coffee, knowing she would not refuse the company or the small shop nearby. She was all about supporting small busin
esses as she was trying to make a go of her own.
“I want you to help me with writing to the soldiers back in Afghanistan. John and I would appreciate it tremendously, but I’d prefer that the guys don’t know we put you up to it.”
“Why not?”
“Because men are so proud and picky…”
“And women are not?”
“Oh, we are picky! We just see things for what they really are instead of having knee jerk reactions to things.”
“You think someone finding out that you’ve asked me to write will cause that knee-jerk reaction? Why? Why would they think that?”
“John and I met through our correspondence, so they might assume they are being set up if a strange woman starts writing them out of the blue.”
Marigold sat back, stunned, as she processed Lily’s words. That was exactly what was running through her own mind- that this was a set up. She was being selected to write one of the men back in Afghanistan in the hopes of what? That they would become friends? Fall in love? End up in a relationship like John and Lily had?
She was envious of the love she saw her friends shared, realizing that if she ever hoped to have anything of the sort in her own life, she might need to put herself out there.
Prince Charming hadn’t arrived yet in her life and she was extremely lonely. Her biological clock was beginning to tick as it dawned on her that she was twenty-eight with no love life in sight. She wanted a home, a life, and a lover to share her dreams and wishes with. She wanted someone to laugh, cry, and share joyous occasions with.
If Mr. Wonderful wasn’t going to drop into her lap, she would need to pursue her own chances for love by writing a mysterious soldier. The prospect of doing so was a little terrifying, but then again, so was the idea of waking up one morning and never having found her soulmate.
This might not work.
This might backfire horribly.
Remember Dreams Page 2
