by J. M. Madden
He slipped out of the truck and headed toward the door, determination strengthening his steps. The pain in his right leg from the gunshot wound disappeared and he forgot about his worries as he focused on Julie. She was the most important part of his day, his life, his world, and he needed to honor her somehow .
That was all well and good until he walked into the huge store. Colors, smells, and bright lights bombarded his senses and he had to pause inside the automatic doors. Then, conscious of people coming in behind him, he stepped to the side of the door. Even with the sunglasses still shading his eyes, he felt under attack. Sensory overload was a very real thing. Moving instinctively, he headed toward a less populated area of the store and started wandering the aisles .
Gabe considered himself a worldly man, but he saw so many items in this store that he had no idea what they were for or how anyone would use them, that he almost felt like his brain would explode. Julie loved going shopping at Jo-Ann’s, he knew that, he’d seen the bags in the recycling tub. But what she bought here was a complete mystery to him— hmph, some investigator he was .
“Can I help you ?”
Gabe looked down at the little woman that had appeared at his side and cursed to himself. What a great SEAL he was, being snuck up on by a little grandma type. His only excuse was that he was too wrapped up in being overwhelmed. “I, uh, don’t know. I’m looking for a Christmas present, but I’m not sure what I should get .”
The woman, Kate her name tag read, nodded as if she’d heard the words before and pushed her glasses up on her nose. “Is this for your wife or girlfriend ?”
He almost said wife, then wondered why he didn’t. “Wife .”
“You’re in the flower arranging section. Is that what she likes to do ?”
He glanced around at the strange green foam pieces and spools of wire. So that’s what this stuff was for. “No. She likes to quilt .”
The woman smiled at him. “Ah, perfect! Follow me .”
Gabe followed her through the brightly lit store, dodging people and carts and yelling kids. He kept telling himself that this was for Julie. She needed to know how special she was to him. He needed to show her how special. He tried to tell her as much as he could, but even that got lost in translation sometimes. And their schedules didn’t help either. Half the time they were on opposite schedules, passing in the hallway or maybe having a meal together, usually breakfast .
The woman led him to rows upon rows of fabrics, then a row beyond to more strange looking items .
“I need to ask you a few things. Is she a beginning quilter or has she been doing this a while ?”
Gabe frowned. “Well, she said she learned it from her grandmother but she’s just taken it up again recently since we moved here .”
“Does she do everything by hand or does she use a machine ?”
The woman held a hand out to an oddly shaped white machine .
“We don’t have one of those in the apartment, I know that much .”
Finally , something he was sure about .
“Well, these are a little pricey but if you’re looking for something amazing this would be a very nice gift. Once she puts the pieces of fabric together to make the quilt top, they have to be quilted onto batting and the backing. This machine can handle all of that .”
Gabe leaned down to look at the machine, and the little display .
The woman pointed out several buttons and levers. “She can do all of her piecing on this machine and do the quilting, too, as long as the quilt isn’t too large. Many times, quilters have to send their quilts out to be quilted, but she wouldn’t have to do that with this machine .”
Gabe looked at the price tag, and it was a little expensive—about the cost of a nice Glock… or two—but Julie was worth it. “I’ll take that. Definitely. What else can I get her ?”
The woman smiled and walked him along the aisle, pointing things out. Gabe thought Julie might have a rotary cutting tool, it looked vaguely familiar, but he got her another one anyway. As well as pins with colorful heads; wide, see through rulers, and special mats that she could cut things on. Kate assured him that even if she had these items already, they’d be welcome gifts because they were all extremely useful for a quilter. The saleswoman disappeared at one point to go get him a cart, and Gabe was amazed at the amount of stuff that they piled into it. He looked at the gray-haired woman. “Thank you for helping me. I had no idea what to get her .”
She rested a hand on the edge of the cart and gave him a smile. “Yeah, you had that look about you. We have a lot of military guys come in here looking for something special, but they have no idea what .”
Gabe chuckled, for the first time feeling like he was kind of normal. “How did you know I was military ?”
Kate gave him a look over the top of her glasses, her laughter gone. “You have the look of a man hurting and lost, even with the dark glasses on. I saw you when you came in the store and knew I needed to talk to you,” she smiled softly. “You remind me of my son Charles. He was a Marine and loved his wife like there was no tomorrow, but he had the same kind of look to him for a long time. It wasn’t until my grandbaby was hit riding her bicycle that he came around and started being there for them. Little Dahlia recovered and after that he was so much more… present in every way. He’d been a walking ghost for a couple of years when he came back from the war, but Dahlia’s accident woke him up finally .”
Gabe swallowed, struck by the ghost analogy. Yeah, that’s what he’d felt like for a long time, since he’d come out to Colorado. He felt ephemeral and insignificant. Unless he was with Julie. Maybe it was because she’d been there for so long, through all of his transitions, shifts and transformations from one life to another. She had been his one guiding star, his true North .
He held a hand out to Kate. “I can’t thank you enough for everything that you’ve done. I’m very glad that your son came back to his family .”
The woman smiled again and nodded her head. “He just needed a little direction .”
Gabe walked away from her feeling more solid in his mind than he had in a long time. As he was walking toward the cash registers at the front of the store, something caught his attention. It was a plaque, about two feet by two feet square sitting on an end cap display. ‘Man, just like a compass needle, will wobble before finding his true North. You are my true North .’
The sense of rightness that settled into him was significant. He didn’t generally believe in coincidences, but between talking to Kate and seeing the sign, he felt like he was meant to be there. Grabbing the sign, he set it in the cart as well, then chose a line to check out .
Now how the hell was he going to wrap all this stuff ?
Chapter Two
J ulie didn’t know what to think when she pulled up to the apartment. Even though it was seven fifteen in the morning a couple of days after Christmas, there were new Christmas lights strung along the balcony of their apartment and down the railing of the stairway. She slowed as she realized there was even a simple wreath on her door. She had decorated the inside of the apartment, but she hadn’t done any of this .
She opened the door carefully, wondering if she needed to be on the lookout for elves. Nope, no elves, just a bangin’ hot former Navy SEAL sitting on the couch in his skivvies, scrubbing his face with his hands like he’d just woken up. Twelve hours of a thankless shift, sore back, and aching feet just faded away in a heartbeat .
“Hello,” she said softly. “This is a nice surprise .”
Gabe smiled, hopped up from the couch and crossed the room to her. Julie dropped her things to the floor and leaned up to meet his kiss. Rather than one of the little pecks he’d been giving her recently, he gave her a bone-melting, lingering kiss .
“Now that’s how it’s supposed to be done,” she smiled .
Gabe grinned at her, his dark eyes heavy-lidded with sleep. “Welcome home,” he rumbled .
Julie blinked, wondering what had brought on the c
hange. Damn, was this all because of Duncan’s little admonishment to be more engaged ?
Gabe turned and tugged her to the couch. “Have a seat. I know you have to be tired .”
She was, but not so much that she wouldn’t sit with him. “I’m surprised to see you up,” she admitted .
“Well, I was excited,” he told her, grinning sheepishly .
Uh oh …
“Why are you excited ?”
He held up his hands. “It’s our first Christmas together, and I realized that in the rush of moving out here and getting settled, we kind of lost sight of us . I need to get my head on straight and focus on what’s really important .”
Her eyes turned misty and she leaned forward to give him a short kiss. “I admit I’ve been a little distracted, too. The new job at the VA has taken some getting used to. And going from a regular office hours kind of nursing job to nights and swing shift with no seniority is hard. Christmas was a just blip on my radar .”
“Yeah, I’m in the same boat. And I have to be honest, I feel some heavy duty guilt for leaving the Teams .”
She cocked her head. “Why? You were injured. There wasn’t anything you could do about that .”
He shrugged and rubbed a hand over his bristled jaw. “I know that in my head, but in my heart I worry that someone is going to get hurt because I’m not there. I was damn good at my job .”
She smiled at him, nodding. “I know. Butter was always full of stories about you. Remember ?”
His smiled turned sad as he remembered his lost friend, but he nodded. “Yeah, I remember. I think we had just as many stories about him, though. We were a really good team .”
Leaning close, she rubbed his back, wishing that he could let go of his worries. “I love that you’re talking to me like this. You have a tendency to clam up and disappear. If I don’t watch you sometimes, you just walk away .”
Wincing, he leaned into her shoulder. “I’m sorry I do that. Sometimes I just get wrapped up in my head and I don’t think about anything else. Or something makes me feel panicky. I talked to Duncan today and he gave me some ideas about getting on track and staying focused. But I want you to know that you are my priority. I love you. I really, really do. I can’t imagine where I would be without you .”
The tears were back. “I love you, too, Gabe, and whatever you need us to do to keep straight, we’ll do .”
He gave her a rueful smile. “I have a feeling that if we’ve made it through this year we’ll make it through anything .”
Julie laughed, knowing he was exactly right .
“So,” he said, smacking his knees with his hands and pushing up from the couch to walk over to the little Christmas tree. “To that end, I got you some things. I know we had talked about waiting till this weekend, but I don’t think I can wait. I want to see your face when you open these .”
Julie laughed as he drew a laundry basket full of hand-wrapped gifts out from behind the tree. There was one big box, then several other oddly shaped— and even more oddly wrapped— packages. In spite of herself, excitement surged through her. Hopping up, she ran to the bedroom to get the purple canvas Thirty-One bag full of his presents. She tore off her dirty scrubs and pulled on a long sleep shirt, then headed back out to the living room .
Though she was tired, sharing this experience with him was much more important than sleep. And the fact that Gabe had initiated their celebration had her heart soaring .
As they alternated opening gifts, she felt that connection strengthening, reaffirming itself between them. Gabe’s lean face expressed joy and humble pride as he opened his last gift, a shadow box for the Silver Star he had received ‘for valor during intense urban fighting’ he’d been part of in Ramadi. That’s what the presidential letter said, anyway. Gabe hadn’t told her what he had done because it was still classified, but she’d seen footage on the news. It had been a devastating series of conflicts, and she was amazed he’d come home at all .
“I thought that since you were retired now,” she said softly, “you wouldn’t mind displaying it. If I’m wrong, we can put it in the closet until you’re ready .”
He shook his head, eyes unfocused and lost to memories. Deliberately, she reached out to rest her hand on his thigh, and he jerked, his gaze finding hers. He blinked a couple of times, his focus sharpening. “I would… I do want to display it. Thank you, Julie .”
Gathering her in his arms, he wrapped himself tightly around her, sharing strength. Julie knew that he needed this more than she did, so she settled in, not moving until he did. “I love you, babe,” he told her finally. “I will cherish it. Never doubt it. It was hard fought but deserved. Several of us on the Team got the same award at the same time .”
Julie knew he wouldn’t say anything more about it, but she reveled in the fact that he had turned to her for comfort, rather than away .
A few seconds later he prodded her off his lap and pushed the big box to her. “Maybe not as emotional, but I hope you enjoy it .”
Julie tugged at the misaligned paper, loving that he’d taken the time to wrap everything himself. Even the silver snowflake paper was new. When she revealed the picture on the box, she gasped. Then she ripped the paper away in a frenzy. “This had better not be a box you found on the street to use for my gift .”
Gabe laughed, leaning back against the front of the couch. “It’s not, I promise. Is that a good machine ?”
Julie turned to him incredulously. “Hell, yes . I’ve been looking at these for a while but I couldn’t justify spending the money on it. I’m not good enough to use it yet .”
“Well,” he told her smiling, “now you have motivation to get better .”
Julie fell into his arms again. “I can’t believe you knew I wanted this .”
“Well,” he admitted, “I kind of didn’t. I mean, I had a vague idea. But I have a new girlfriend that works at Jo-Ann’s, and she apparently knew your type very well, though she’s never met you. Her name is Kate and she’s amazing .”
Laughing, Julie tugged him down for a kiss. “Am I going to have to fight her for you ?”
“I don’t know,” Gabe told her, frowning. “I mean, she’s every bit of sixty, sixty-five maybe, but she looks like a scrapper. Maybe you should just protect me from here .”
He sprawled across the floor, tugging her down over top of him. “Think you have one more Christmas present for me? Maybe ?”
Grinning, she leaned down to press her lips to his. “Oh, yes, as a matter of fact I do .”
Double Trouble Christmas
2016
Chapter One
“Y ou’re wondering where he is, aren’t you ?”
Small, soft hands curved over the skin of his neck, and John looked up at Shannon. There was a smile on her face, of course. Even when shit was hitting the fan, sometimes literally, she had a smile or a laugh or a joke for him. They were a team, and John was amazed every day that she had chosen him. He’d been a sour old Marine when she met him, bitter at the world and definitely not family friendly, but she’d seen some glimmer of something salvageable in him .
He looked back out the window at the blowing snow. It was Christmas Eve and winter had settled into Denver with a ferocity he hadn’t seen in a long time. “Yes, I am wondering where he is,” he admitted, knowing that she would understand .
Almost a year ago now, he had learned that his little baby brother was still alive, and watching over him. Actually, Jamie had been watching over his whole family and group of friends. It was a very strange situation with more questions than answers. The man had been posing as a homeless man to stay near them, as protection. The crazy part was, LNF was a surveillance and protection service. It was their job to be on alert and cognizant of everything around them, yet Aiden had completely worked around them. What the fuck ?
John and his brother Jaime had been separated when they were kids. Their mother had been a drug addict, and very young. At least she’d had the sense to give them up, h
e supposed. John had gone to the orphanage first. Then, he’d learned from Jaime, he’d been dropped off as well, but to a different church than John. Jaime had gone on to join the military like John, but even now he wasn’t sure what branch Jaime had been in. Something Special Forces, definitely, either SEALs or Green Berets or something. Only something that covert could leave the ghosts in Jaime’s eyes like he’d seen .
Jaime, or Aiden as Duncan had known him, showed up one day and rescued Shannon when she’d been forced off the road by a man that later tried to kill Duncan. This was all done in an effort to draw Jaime out into the open. Months earlier, Jaime had broken out of a secret testing facility, stealing classified information about the program in the process. Now the people that ran that facility were after him, and would get him back any way they could. If it meant attacking the only family he had in an effort to force Jaime’s hand, they would do it .
Reaching out, he scrubbed a clear spot in the fog on the glass, looking. Wondering if his brother wasn’t just outside. He felt very close tonight .
It had been a hectic phase in their lives, and stunning especially for John. He’d never expected to see his brother again. Fuck, he hadn’t even been sure there was a brother. It could have all been a figment of his imagination .
The altercation with LeBoutin— him shooting and trying to kill John— had caused Duncan to re-break his bad hip. But the situation had ended as well as possible. Duncan had gotten the hip replacement he’d been putting off and he’d fallen in love with the incredible Dr. Alex Hartfield. Duncan acted like a kid now, more mobile than he’d been in years. He and Alex were always on the run, even though she was almost seven months pregnant. They’d combined their households and she’d taken a job at the local VA .
