by Cathie Linz
“Look, I’m here to make things up with Prudence. But you guys are getting in the way.”
“We don’t want you hurting her again,” Keishon said, standing firm.
How could a Marine like him not admire their loyalty?
“I’m not here to hurt her,” he assured them. “I’m here to sweep her off her feet.”
“Like you did getting us into that helicopter that rescued us?”
“Well, I am here to rescue Prudence.” Rescue her from his own stupidity and make things up to her. He had to get into that classroom before she saw him out here and did something rash, like call security on him. “Look, I’m here to ask her to marry me.”
“You’re not even wearing your dress blues,” Rosa noted with disapproval. “You looked better in your dress blues.”
“Green is my favorite color,” Keishon said in his defense. “That’s the outfit he was wearing when he first met Ms. Martin at the base,” she added.
“It’s a uniform, not an outfit,” Sinatra corrected her. “Marines don’t wear outfits, right sir?”
“That’s right, Sinatra. Now I could use your help in this operation.”
Five pairs of curious kids’ eyes focused on him. Funny that now he could think of them as the kids they truly were.
“Think the five of you are up to it?”
“Not if you’re going to get us into trouble,” the practical Gem replied.
“All you have to do is step away from the door and not do anything while I sweep your teacher off her feet.”
Joe was hoping he could do that sweeping by talking to Prudence but the minute he saw her face, he knew that wouldn’t work.
First her brown eyes widened with surprise, then they heated up with fury.
“Get out of my classroom!” Prudence growled, advancing on him with unmistakable warning. “You’ve got three seconds and I’m calling in security.”
No, she definitely wasn’t in the mood to listen to any explanations from him, let alone a declaration of love. Desperate action was clearly required. And fast.
“A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed later,” he told her before tugging her closer and efficiently executing a fireman’s lift that had her dangling over his shoulder. She was not a happy camper, pounding on his back with her clenched fists and squirming like a beached fish.
He clamped his hand over her bottom, noting as he did so that she was wearing that black skirt he’d liked so much the last time he’d visited the school. Her sandals slid off her feet and she threatened him with all kinds of bodily harm as he strode out of the school with her.
“It’s okay, Ms. Martin,” Rosa called out reassuringly. “He’s just sweeping you off your feet so he can propose.”
She froze. He took advantage of her temporary impassivity to put her into his Jeep, which he’d left running. A second later they’d left the school behind, with Rosa, Gem, Keishon, Pete and Sinatra shouting encouragement like the bridal party in a wedding. All they were missing was the rice.
“How could you lie to those children?” Prudence demanded, staring back at them.
“I wasn’t lying.”
“I’m giving you one last chance to stop this Jeep.”
“Can’t do that.”
“My father is going to have you court-martialed for this.”
“I don’t care.”
His words stunned her.
“Where are you taking me?”
“You’ll see.” He took her to the deserted parking lot of the bungee-jumping tower. The place was closed on Mondays so they were the only ones there.
Opening the door for her, he motioned her over to the stand of palmetto palms where they’d had their last confrontation. “Why did you bring me here? The last time I saw you, you ordered me to stop bothering you.”
“That would be impossible,” he said huskily, practically eating her up with his blue eyes. “You’ve bothered me from the moment I saw you at the base. You’ve gotten to me in a way no other woman ever has.”
Prudence couldn’t believe him, as much as she wanted to. He’d hurt her too badly. She had to hang on to her anger, had to wrap it around her like an armored blanket to protect her from his charming ways. “You think you can storm back into my life and sweep me off my feet and sweet-talk me? Well, Sergeant, it’s not going to work. You told me to go away and I went. Now I’m telling you to go away.”
“I’m not going anyplace. I’m so sorry,” Joe whispered, cupping her face with his hand. “I’m so sorry I hurt you.”
She blinked away the tears. Marines hardly ever apologized. And she’d certainly never had a man look at her the way he was looking at her now. “Why are you doing this?” she whispered back. “I was trying so hard to get over you.”
“Please don’t,” her proud warrior begged. “Because I’ll never get over you.”
“Then why were you kissing that woman in the bar?” she asked, desperately trying to hang on to her composure.
“Because I didn’t think I was worthy of your love and I was trying to send you away for your own good. I was trying to be noble. But you were right. The guilt was eating me up. I ended up calling my dad and we talked. About Danny. It was hard, but it was the right thing to do. We worked some things out, reached some sort of closure on things.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” she said in a polite voice, keeping her gaze fixed over his right shoulder.
“I still may not be worthy of you, but I love you. You take my breath away with your heart and your passion. You never gave up on me. Don’t give up on me now.”
“You hurt me,” she told him fiercely.
His stricken eyes met hers. “And I regret that more than I can say, Princess Pug. I’ll never do it again, I swear. Marry me and I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you.”
Hanging on to her composure was a losing battle when he was standing so close to her, his voice filled with husky tenderness, his caressing fingers brushing over her face with trembling warmth.
“What about my father?” she said brokenly, trying to step away from him. “I told him not to interfere but I can’t guarantee what he’ll do. I don’t want him to ruin your career. I know how much the Marine Corps means to you.”
“Yes, but do you know how much you mean to me?” Joe asked, brushing his thumb over her lips.
Shaking her head, she stepped away from him. “I’m not going to be the reason you get tossed out of the Marines. You might want to marry me now, but you’d end up resenting me.”
“What if I told you that your father wants me to marry you?” Joe told her about his conversation with her dad. “Where are you going?” he demanded, reaching out to take her hand.
“To give him a piece of my mind. I can’t believe he was matchmaking when he picked you to accompany me into the mountains. He never said a word to me.”
“You haven’t answered my question yet,” Joe reminded her. “Will you marry me?” When she hesitated, he said, “What happened to the Prudence willing to take a leap of faith? My own bungee-jumping days are over. The only thing I want to prove is my love for you.”
Looking into his eyes, she saw a difference there. Or was it only wishful thinking? “I’m afraid to believe you,” she admitted with a sob.
“And I’m afraid you’ll say no, that you want no part of a life with this Marine, that you don’t love me,” he replied, hiding nothing, exposing his soul to her, letting her see his ragged doubts and fears, letting her see his passionate love and need for her in his eyes. “But a pretty smart guy recently told me that courage isn’t the absence of fear, it’s overcoming fear.” He held out his hand to her, inviting her into his arms. “So will you overcome your fear and marry me?”
Will you? she asked herself. Will you let yourself open to that kind of pain again? Will you trust him not to hurt you again. Or will you go back into your cocoon where it’s nice and safe…and lonely. In the end it wasn’t that difficult a decision
after all. How appropriate that she make it here, where she’d taken her first leap of faith.
“Unless you don’t love me anymore?”
“Of course I love you, you idiot!” she joyously replied, throwing herself into his arms. “And yes, I’ll marry you,” she added as he folded her to him, molding her to his body in an exquisite fit.
“Thank you, ma’am,” Joe murmured against her lips before kissing her with all his heart and soul.
Epilogue
Three months later.…
“So, Wilder, I hear you’ve stopped jumping off bridges and are getting married this weekend,” Sergeant Major Martin said.
“That’s affirmative, sir.”
“Stop picking on your future son-in-law,” Ellen Martin scolded her husband. “Or I’ll tell him about the mysteriously fast recovery of a certain Sergeant Brown from a supposedly ruptured appendix.”
Joe didn’t have time to ask what that comment might mean. Besides, he wasn’t sure he really wanted to know. He just wanted everything to go right today. They were all standing around in the church foyer, waiting for the proceedings to begin. Ellen had just joined them from the top-secret bridal area to inform them that this special op otherwise known as a wedding was just about ready to commence. D-Day H-Hour rapidly approaching, in military terms.
“The church is filled with devil dog Marines,” Joe’s dad announced happily before adding, “but I’m not sure where all the short civilians came from.”
“They’re kids, Dad,” Joe replied.
“Prudence invited her sixth-grade class to the wedding,” Joe’s mom reminded her husband.
As if on cue, Keishon showed up, wearing a dress instead of her usual message-bearing T-shirt and jeans. Rosa, Sinatra, Gem and Pete were with her. “We’ve got all the birdseed packets ready.”
“Birdseed?” Joe’s dad said in confusion.
“To throw afterward instead of rice,” Keishon replied. “Uncooked rice is harmful to birds.”
“And we don’t want to harm the birds, right Keishon?” Joe noted.
“Right, sir. And you want to stop beating up on evergreen branches, too.”
“I’ll do that, Keishon,” Joe said with a grin. “You guys all better go take your seats now.”
“Time to synchronize your watches, gentlemen,” Sergeant Major Martin said. “I’ve got 1400 hours right…now.”
“Hey bro, is this the right place?” Joe’s brother Mark inquired as he strolled through the church’s front door. Taller than Joe and sharing his blue eyes, the two brothers were both wearing dress blue uniforms, as were all the Marines in attendance. “Am I late?”
“Yeah, you are,” Joe growled. “I expected better from the only commissioned officer in the family.”
“Well, I’m here now so let the festivities begin,” Mark said, straightening Joe’s collar with a teasing grin.
“Keep your mitts to yourself,” Joe said in exasperation.
“Boys, boys,” their father said with a shake of his head. “Not now.”
“Yeah, Wilder, not now,” Curt said. “I’m not standing in front of all these people as your best man while you stand out here arm wrestling your brother like you were kids. Get your rear in gear, buddy. Trust me, brides don’t like you messing up their schedule.”
“There are more participants than audience members,” Joe muttered once they reached the front of the church and turned to watch the proceedings.
First came his parents, joining his younger brother Sam waiting in the pew. His older brother Justice wasn’t able to get away from active duty but had sent his greetings and a stripper to Joe’s bachelor party last night.
Once Prudence’s mom was seated, the organist changed the music and Blue came floating down the aisle, tossing rose petals just as she had at Curt’s wedding.
“That kid’s gonna grow up to be one heck of a pitcher,” Curt whispered proudly.
Next came Jessie, her eyes meeting Curt’s with love. Then came…
“Who’s the princess?” Mark inquired from beside him.
“Her Royal Highness Vanessa Volzemburg so be on your best behavior, damn it,” Joe growled.
Then the music changed again and Joe saw Prudence. She looked like all his dreams come true. Her white dress billowed around her ankles as she walked beside her father down the aisle.
She took his breath away. He took her breath away. Prudence fixed her gaze on Joe’s face. He looked so handsome, so sexy, so…hers. All hers! She grinned at him and he grinned back.
The ceremony was a short one, but it seemed forever until the minister declared them to be husband and wife.
“Welcome to married life, ma’am,” Joe murmured against her lips before taking her in his arms and kissing her.
Honor, courage, commitment. Her Marine had now added love to that list of Corps values, and she was forever safe in his embrace.
ISBN: 978-1-4603-5291-5
STRANDED WITH THE SERGEANT
Copyright © 2001 by Cathie L. Baumgardner
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*Men of Honor
†Three Weddings and a Gift
