The Marine Meets His Match

by Cathie Linz

  “I’m so sorry.” Heidi’s voice caught. “I didn’t mean for things to get out of control. And now Clay isn’t speaking to me. You have to help me.”

  “Clay?”

  Heidi nodded. “Don’t fire him. It was my fault. I told him that I was throwing a surprise party and that’s why he gave me your parents contact info. He accessed your computer files.”

  “My private address book.”

  Heidi nodded and did look truly remorseful. In fact, she looked messy, not her usual glam self at all. Tears were running down her face and her mascara was smeared.

  “Please don’t fire Clay. He really needs this job and he loves working for you.”

  “I won’t fire Clay.”

  “Thank you so much.” Heidi then burst into tears.

  “Why are you so upset?”

  “My father would be so ashamed of me.”

  “Are you afraid I’m going to tell him? Is that why you’re crying?”

  Heidi hiccuped. “My dad doesn’t care what I do. He only cares about the Marine Corps.”

  Serena handed her a tissue. “He cared enough to intervene on your behalf when you wanted Rad’s attention.”

  “He was just doing that to like placate me, you know? He doesn’t really see me.”

  Serena certainly knew firsthand how tenuous father-daughter relationships could be, filled with intricate and contradictory feelings…all intertwined together.

  “And now Clay is furious with me,” Heidi continued.

  “Why do you care?”

  “Because I like him. I really like him.” Heidi gazed at Serena as if she held the answers to the world’s deepest mysteries. “What can I do to make things up with him?”

  “You and Clay? You have to admit, you’re an unlikely pair.”

  “You mean because he’s so smart?”

  “I mean because you two don’t seem to have anything in common.”

  “He treats me, like, with so much respect.” Heidi’s voice reflected her awe and her expression was positively dreamy. “I never had anyone treat me that way before. As if what I think matters and like not just the way I look.”

  Serena couldn’t help wondering if this was some new ploy by Heidi, if the teenager had something new up her sleeve. But then she saw the pain in Heidi’s eyes and she realized that Heidi did truly have feelings for Clay.

  “You have to let him know how you feel. You have to talk to him and make him listen.”

  After Heidi had apologized again and thanked her profusely, Serena closed the door and reminded herself to take her own advice. She had to talk to Rad, to make him listen. The question was how…?

  Mondays were usually catch-up days when Serena did the million-and-one things that needed to be done since the store was closed that day. The breakfast with her parents had gone well.

  But now Serena had to concentrate on Rad.

  She’d called his cell number and gotten his voice mail. She’d been up half the night planning what to say. None of it could be said over the phone. Except for this much—

  “Rad, it’s Serena. I need you to come over to my place tonight because something critical is broken in my apartment. I’ll be waiting for you.”

  Serena jumped as the phone rang a moment later.

  “Rad?”

  “No, it’s Kalinda. I was just calling to see how you are?”

  “I’m okay.”

  “I have to tell you, after meeting your dad at that party last night, suddenly mine doesn’t look so bad anymore. I had to leave early and go home and talk to him. It went well.”

  “Actually both my parents came over to my apartment last night and we…well, we made some real breakthroughs.”

  “That’s good.”

  “Listen Kalinda, I’ve got to go. There’s someone at my door.”

  She hung up and grabbed the doorknob, checking the peephole this time as she undid the dead bolt. Clay stood there, looking incredibly nervous.

  She opened the door.

  Before she could say a word, he launched into a speech. “I’m sorry to bother you at home and all that, but this can’t wait. I probably should have just told you on the phone, but I figured I owed you a face-to-face meeting. I’m going to quit so you don’t have to fire me. I know what I did was stupid and wrong.”

  Serena nodded. “It was. But I already told Heidi I wasn’t going to fire you.”

  “When?”

  “When she came to my apartment last night.

  “I’m sorry she bothered you,” Clay said, looking miserable.

  “I think she really cares about you, Clay. I think she made a big mistake and that she regrets it.”

  “She used me to get what she wanted, which was to throw that party. I had no idea that you guys didn’t want it to happen. She acted like it was all a special plan and everyone would be cool with it. She handled everything. All I had to do was get the information from your personal address book on your hard drive. She picked who was invited. I’m not good at social stuff like that.”

  “Heidi took all the blame when she spoke to me. She also told me that she thinks you’re pretty special.”

  “Yeah, when I can get her info she wants,” Clay noted morosely. “She’s left me a bunch of messages, but I didn’t listen to any of them.”

  “At least listen to what she has to say. People make mistakes. That’s life. It doesn’t mean you give up.”

  Serena reminded herself of that fact as she waited the rest of the day for Rad to appear.

  “Thank you for meeting me for lunch today,” Wanda told Rad as they sat down at a fast-food place near the base.

  “You weren’t taking no for an answer.”

  Wanda nodded her agreement with his observation and took the salad he handed her. “Ellie let me borrow her minivan to come here today.”

  “So what is so important?”

  “You are.”

  “What about me?”

  “There’s a Polish proverb that goes something like this—love enters a man through his eyes, a woman through her ears.”

  “Which means what?” Rad couldn’t help being impatient. He’d hadn’t gotten much sleep last night.

  “That you have to tell Serena how you feel.”

  “I already told her that she’s free.” The only contact he’d had with her since then had been a voice-mail message asking him to come fix something at her apartment.

  “Why did you do that?”

  It was time he came clean. “Because I forced her into this engagement. It wasn’t real.”

  “Of course it was real.”

  “No, it wasn’t, Busha. Trust me.”

  “Trust me when I tell you that I know real from not real.”

  “I had her sign a contract saying she’d pretend to be my fiancée. That’s why I didn’t tell anyone in my family about the engagement. I did it as a convenient way of…look, it doesn’t matter why I did it.” He shoved aside his burger. “The bottom line is that I’ve set things right now.”

  “By doing what?”

  “By telling Serena that she doesn’t have to pretend to be my fiancée any longer.”

  “She was not pretending.”

  “Of course she was—”

  Wanda held up her hand. “Radoslaw, she was not pretending. And neither were you. You may have started out doing this foolish thing to get away from Heidi…”

  “How did you know that?”

  She patted his arm. “Your Busha knows everything. I could tell right away that something was up, that the engagement was not what it appeared to be. But I could also tell that there was magic between you and Serena. So I went along with your plan until you both came to your senses and recognized the truth.”

  “Which is?”

  “That this is love. I know this is not what you had hoped for, what you planned on. Not after Liza. But you must not run away from this.”

  “Marines don’t run away from anything.”

  “Hah!” she scoffed. “T
hey run from emotion faster than a prairie fire with a tailwind.”

  “Picked that up from Striker, did you?”

  Wanda smiled but refused to be distracted. “Don’t let this girl get away, Rad. You may finally have found someone who can be as radical as you are. You’ve met your match. Grab hold of her and don’t let her go.”

  Rad didn’t bother arguing with her, believing as he did that Serena didn’t want anyone grabbing hold of her…least of all him.

  Serena couldn’t believe how the minutes dragged by as she waited for Rad. She had everything ready. She just needed him.

  She worried that her outfit might be too much, or too little. A knock at the door threw that thought out of her mind. A check through the peephole confirmed that it was Rad. He’d changed from his uniform into jeans and a T-shirt. And he was wearing that sexy tool belt of his, the one that hung low on his lean hips.

  Serena greeted him at the door wearing only a towel.

  The sight of her made Rad long to take her in his arms, but he restrained himself. He was a Marine. He was Rad the Bad. Icy self-discipline ran in his veins. “You called to say something’s broken. What is it?”

  “My heart.”

  Her words stunned him for a moment. Then realization hit. The ice melted. “It’s your father, isn’t it? He said or did something….”

  Serena shook her head. “My father and I have made peace.”

  “What?”

  Serena quickly explained what had happened with her parents last night and this morning.

  “Then why did you call me over here?”

  The moment had come for Serena to tell Rad she loved him, but she momentarily got cold feet. She was also getting goose bumps standing there wearing nothing but a towel and a pair of silk panties. “Why did you leave me that message about breaking off our engagement and setting me free?”

  “I thought that’s what you wanted.”

  “Is it what you want? Did what my father told your friends embarrass you?”

  “No.”

  “Then is it because of Liza?”

  “What? What do know about Liza?”

  “Not enough. Just that she hurt you. I’d like to learn more. Will you tell me?” She checked his expression carefully, looking for the telltale signs of his jaw hardening, or that grim chill of his eyes. Instead she saw…wariness?

  But he said nothing.

  Maybe he didn’t have to. Maybe it was obvious to anyone not looking for a stupid silver lining that Liza was the woman he loved and that Serena wasn’t. “That’s okay. If you don’t want to talk about it…”

  “No. You deserve to know.”

  Great. She’d opened this Pandora’s box. Now she was afraid of what she’d learn.

  “Liza and I were in love.”

  Serena had tried to brace herself for the words, but even so hearing them still hurt. Enormously.

  “She died of leukemia. We were high school sweethearts. We went to college together, then I reported for duty. I was deployed overseas. She didn’t tell me about her illness until it was too late. I barely made it to her side before she passed away. I vowed that there was no way I was going through that kind of pain again.”

  “I can understand that.”

  “Can you? My plan was to avoid love like the plague. Then I met you. And you blew my plans clear out of the water.”

  “I did?”

  “Oh, yeah.” He reached out to trace a path from her shoulder to her collarbone.

  “What my father said about my going to jail, it’s true. I lied and took his car without permission and he had me locked up to teach me a lesson. I thought he’d done it to show me that he didn’t love me, but it wasn’t that simple. Anyway, I can see that it might embarrass you to have a reformed juvenile delinquent as a fiancée.”

  He tilted her face up to his. “Nothing could embarrass me about the woman I…”

  Her heart stopped. “Yes? The woman you…?”

  Rad stepped away from her, as if needing to put some space between them to maintain his calm. “I don’t want to pressure you. After meeting your father, I can understand how important it is for you not to be coerced or bossed into doing something you don’t want to do.”

  “Telling me how you feel about me is not being bossy,” she quickly assured him. “Tell me.” She moved closer and put her hand on his bare arm. “Please.”

  “I love you.”

  “I’m so glad!” Serena launched herself into his arms, which were opened wide to receive her. “Because I love you, too.”

  “In that case there’s only thing to do…”

  “Yes?”

  “Serena Anderson, would you do me the great honor of becoming my wife? For real. Forever.”

  “Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, ye—” Rad cut off her joyful acceptance with a kiss.

  Six months later…

  “Have I said how much I love weddings?” Serena murmured with a dreamy sigh.

  Lucy rolled her eyes. “Only about a thousand times.”

  “I saw that.” Serena shot her a chastising look. “You’re not supposed to mock the bride on her wedding day.”

  “No? I thought that was my job as matron of honor.”

  “No, your job is to make sure I’m ready on time.”

  “I thought that was Kalinda’s job.”

  Kalinda shook her head. “No way. She’s my boss. I’m not going to be telling her what to do.”

  Serena turned away from the mirror where she’d been fastening the chandelier-style pearl earrings Rad had given her. Her hair was piled up on her head in an elaborate style that she was willing to bet Rad would take two seconds to undo once they were alone. “Okay, you two, tell me, how do I look?”

  Because of the somewhat unconventional location of their wedding, Serena had chosen a simple but elegant duchess satin sheath as her wedding dress. The halter neckline accented the scoop neck that was trimmed with pearls. The short sweep train made maneuvering easier than a longer one would have.

  “You look gorgeous,” Lucy assured her.

  “Do you think I’m crazy to be holding a wedding on the street outside my store?” Serena asked.

  “I read in Vogue that street weddings are in this year,” Lucy replied with a grin.

  A knock on the door to her bedroom door prevented her from answering. “It’s us. Wanda, Iris and Angela. Can we come in?”

  “Sure.”

  Serena was deeply moved by how both Wanda and Angela had taken her mom under their collective wing. She was like a new woman, more confident and outgoing. Both her parents had gone in for counseling and things had improved dramatically over the past six months.

  “Oh, my. You do look stunning.” The comment came from Angela, her soon-to-be mother-in-law. Serena had felt at ease the moment she’d met her and Rad’s father Stan.

  Wanda came forward to clasp Serena’s hands in hers. “My Rad is one lucky boy.”

  “We’re the lucky ones, having you.” Serena kissed her cheek.

  Wanda blinked. “There now, you will be having me in tears soon. We came here to get things done, not to cry. Everyone knows their lines, right?”

  Serena nodded.

  “No, not you. Not for the wedding ceremony. I meant afterward, for the traditional Polish Sharing of the Bread, Salt and Wine. The parents of the couple—that is you, Angela, and Stan and you, Iris, and Frank—greet the couple with rye bread that is lightly sprinkled with salt and a goblet of wine. You mustn’t put on the salt until the ceremony begins. You remember your lines?”

  Angela and Iris nodded and spoke in unison. “The bread represents our hope that our children will never experience hunger or need, the salt is meant to remind you that life may be difficult at times and you must learn to cope together with any struggles.”

  “Excellent. Then you give them the goblet of wine and Serena and Rad both take a drink and then you say…”

  “We hope you will never thirst and that you’ll have a life of good health a
nd cheer,” Angela and Iris said.

  “Bravo. Very good.” Wanda hugged them both. “I believe we are ready now.”

  “Aren’t you forgetting something?” Angela said.

  Wanda frowned. “What?”

  “Something new, something old…” Iris prompted.

  “Of course.” The three older women turned to Serena. “You already have the something new.” Wanda pointed to the earrings Rad had given her.

  “But I hope you will accept this as something borrowed.” She reached into her large purse to pull out a blue velvet box.

  Serena opened it to find a delicate pearl necklace. “My husband Chuck gave that to me on my wedding day.”

  “It’s lovely.”

  “And here’s something blue,” Angela said, handing Serena a lovely bracelet in hammered silver and lapis lazuli.

  “And this is the something old,” Serena’s mother said. “It’s an amber ring that belonged to my great-grandmother.”

  “She was Polish, you know,” Wanda added with a big smile.

  Serena blinked away the tears. “Thank you. All of you. I don’t know what to say.”

  “Say that you are ready to go downstairs and get hitched,” Lucy said, pointing to the clock. “It’s time to get this show on the road!”

  “How the mighty have fallen,” Striker noted with a shake of his head.

  “Yeah, it’s a pitiful sight, isn’t it,” Ben agreed.

  “Affirmative,” their youngest brother Tom said.

  “You’re the baby in the family, what do you know?” Rad retorted.

  “I’m only a minute younger than Steve.” Tom pointed to his twin brother.

  “So you’re both clueless,” Rad said.

  “We’re both single,” Tom said. “The last two remaining Kozlowski bachelors.”

  “Yeah, and we aim on staying that way,” Steve added.

  Both younger brothers had the same dark hair as their older siblings, but they weren’t merely mirror copies of each other or of anyone else in the family. They were their own men.

  “Rad claimed the same thing,” Ben reminded them. “That he was never giving up his freedom.”

  “Yeah, well, I learned that freedom isn’t worth much if there’s no one to share it with.”

  “Aw, he’s gone all sentimental on us,” Steve mocked him.