Always Faithful

by Caitlyn Willows

  “How are our patients?” Phillip’s whisper tickled her ear.

  “Sound asleep, resting comfortably and on the mend. Mom and Ian can go home on Monday. Zach will need to stay at least until the end of the week. His fever needs to come down and the doctors are monitoring him for infection from the gunshot or the broken leg. I spoke to one of his brothers and let him know what happened. He’s on his way here, even though I told him Zach was going to be fine. I also called Claudia. She’s worried sick.”

  He patted her knee. “I’ll call her when we get home. It’s been a long night, but it was worth it to get this over with. We should be getting some rest ourselves.”

  Resting his hand at the small of her back, Phillip led her to the van. Rowan watched for some indication that Laura was right—or wrong, for that matter. Phillip drove them to her house in silence. It was just as well. Rowan didn’t feel like talking things out. She didn’t want to hash out the demise of a relationship that shouldn’t exist, to be the catalyst that took away what fleeting moments of pleasure remained between them.

  They walked into the house arm in arm. Phillip flicked on the light and tossed the keys to the kitchen counter.

  “Sure is quiet here without Ian and Oscar.”

  Rowan wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him tight. He covered her lips with a deep kiss then set her back.

  “I need to shower. Join me?”

  Smiling, she slipped her hand in his and led him up the stairs. They took their time massaging tense muscles under mountains of soapsuds and rediscovering all those sensual places she’d memorized years ago. They loved until she ached then loved some more. Wrapped in each other’s arms, the bedroom drapes open to the dawn, she watched the sunrise over the horizon with Phillip and another precious day of togetherness begin.

  Rowan forced away all logic and the need to rationalize every action. Hope for a future? She didn’t care. This was now and now was damn good. If it were destined that she only had him for brief moments of time, she’d take it.

  With a sigh, she curled her body next to his and fell asleep, only to wake when he nudged her to get ready for visiting hours at the hospital. Their day ended as it had begun, together. Then Monday morning arrived and with it, old doubts returned to nag.

  They dressed in their respective uniforms—the captain and the staff sergeant—and drove to the office in separate vehicles—the attorney and the client. Knowing looks, sweet smiles, gentle touches, even so much as that tender hand against her back as he opened the door for her lay hidden away. Rowan hated the deception and the rules that made it imperative.

  They sat in the courtroom, side by side—prim, proper, model Marines. The wait was agonizing as Colonel Scott gathered his troops.

  He’d always had a flair for the dramatic. This time, Rowan didn’t care. If he wanted to drag the entire office into the courtroom to announce her charges were dismissed, that was fine with her. Anything to get this over with.

  Until she heard the words, she feared it might not be true. Then that little phrase she’d been waiting for came.

  “The charges against Staff Sergeant Rowan A. McKinley are hereby dismissed.”

  Rowan sagged with relief. A cheer erupted with the announcement. Ellen reached from behind and hugged her tightly.

  “Good work, Captain.” The colonel shook Phillip’s hand and turned to Jess, Laura, Mike and Rowan. “All of you.”

  He personally congratulated each one in turn until he came to Rowan, then clutched her by the upper arms before hugging her.

  “You’ve been through quite a lot. You take the rest of the week off. Make sure that boy of yours and your mother are up and running.”

  “Thank you, sir. And thank you for standing by me.”

  He held her at arm’s length. “That’s what we do for our Marines.”

  His business look fell into place, but his regard for her still twinkled in his eyes as he addressed Phillip, Mike, Jess and Laura. “I’m going to see that each of you is given a letter of commendation. Now…everyone back to work.”

  Her coworkers rushed up, full of congratulations and demands for a party to celebrate her return.

  “Why does it always have to be at my house? Okay, I give up,” she said, laughing. “This Friday night. But I’m not forking over the money for this, and you bring your own booze, as well as help clean up.”

  Everyone filtered down the hall from the courtroom back to their offices until Rowan was standing outside alone with Phillip. Separate once more—still.

  His voice was low, gentle. “I’m going to follow Laura back to Camp Pendleton, but I’ll be back Friday after work. Do you need any help with Ian before I leave?”

  Avoiding his gaze, Rowan shook her head. “Jess will be watching Mom. Ian will be fine. He’s really a pathetic little sweetie when he’s not feeling well, not any trouble at all.”

  Phillip glanced at his watch. “I’ve got time to pick up Oscar from the vet before I go.”

  “I’ll take care of it. He can stay with us until you come back up. Ian will like it and Oscar will give him some company while he recovers. Besides, it’ll give you a little more riding room.”

  How much longer are we going to stand here talking like polite strangers?

  “You don’t know how hard it is to stand here and not kiss you good-bye.” His voice was the barest of whispers, meant for her alone. “I love you, Rowan. I’ll find a way to work things out. Trust me.”

  Then he caught her elbow and guided her back to his office, where he shut the door and kissed her hard. All Rowan wanted to do was cry. It was nine years ago all over again. Rowan didn’t think she could take it a second time. Yet, she hadn’t trusted him that first time and look how things turned out. The power, it seemed, was in her hands. He was offering her hope, a chance to be together, if only behind closed doors.

  Fleeting moments of pleasure. She’d take them and deal with the pain, if it was to come, later. Trust him? Yes, this time she would.

  Rowan forced a smile. “I’ll see you Friday night then. Drive carefully.”

  Walking away was one of the hardest things Phillip had ever had to do. With each step, he forced his gaze forward. Nothing could jeopardize his plans. Not now. Not when they were so close to realization.

  Propped against her car, Laura waited for him in the parking lot, her foot resting on the bumper of his Mustang. A month ago, that sight would have been enough to set his teeth grinding. Now he just stepped over her leg and opened the door.

  “You’re going to resign, aren’t you?” she asked.

  “I’ve already talked to our colonel. Faxed my resignation to him this morning. He’s calling Headquarters Marine Corps personally to see if it can be expedited. Colonel Scott is backing him up.”

  “Did you tell her?”

  Phillip shook his head. “I didn’t want to get her hopes up—or mine, either, for that matter. They may not release me from my commitment.”

  “That’s a mighty big risk to take without talking to her. How do you know she even wants you in her life permanently?”

  Phillip stared ahead. “I don’t, but it’s a chance I’m willing to take. This time, I’m not letting her go.”

  He slipped behind the wheel and started the engine. “Last one home’s a rotten egg.”

  Smiling, she jumped into her car.

  It was the longest drive of his life, followed by the loneliest night. Anxiety roosted in his stomach. Work the next morning was impossible to concentrate on. By noon, he got the official word. Still it took four more agonizingly long days before the approval for his resignation was in his hands. He stared at it, then with a smile, he pulled a last cigar from his desk drawer and went to the back step. The door behind him opened the minute he lit up.

  “I’m glad someone around here can celebrate,” Laura told him. “Have you heard who received new orders? Zach Taylor is being reassigned to Twentynine Palms.”

  Eyes dancing with mischief, Phillip glanced
at her over his shoulder. “Oh, he’s going to love that. I can’t wait to get back up there and be the first to tell him.”

  “It’s always about you, isn’t it?”

  Phillip laughed. “Not so much anymore.”

  “I’ve got orders there, too.”

  “Somehow, I don’t think you’ll mind so much.” Grinning, he gave her a wink.

  Laura blushed and slugged him.

  “I’ve got a lot to do, but I’ll be heading up to Twentynine Palms tonight. I still have to clean out my office and load everything from my house, so I’ll be coming back Sunday night if you want to tag along.”

  “No, thanks. Mike’s coming down here for the weekend.” Laura leaned forward and brushed a brief kiss across his cheek. “You’re doing the right thing, Phillip. Now put out that stinky cigar and get moving. You do have a lot to get done.”

  Indeed, he did, and there really seemed like no time better than now to get started. One more victory puff and he ground out the cigar. He hardly knew where to begin. Anticipation made him as giddy as a teenager on his first date.

  Packing up his house was first on the list, but it would be hours before he could leave. He didn’t think he could stand to wait around in the nearly empty cottage filled with boxes that long. Without Rowan, Ian and Oscar, it was worse than a tomb, lonely and depressing, no longer a home.

  A smile curved his lips. Home was where Rowan and Ian were. And tonight, he was going home. There was one more piece of business he had to finish.

  He’d spent the better part of the week trying to decide if he should even attempt to talk to Sally Kemp. A check of the psychiatric ward showed her grief had put her over the edge. Her children remained in foster care. She was beyond reason.

  Phillip tried to tell himself that it wasn’t his place to interfere with the woman’s life or her treatment, but the thought of those children in a foster home tore at his conscience. They had lost their father and now their mother. He’d never be able to live with himself if he didn’t at least try to see the woman. Her doctor agreed it wouldn’t hurt.

  She was waiting by the barred window when Phillip arrived. Her face was red and swollen from tears. According to her doctor, she spent the better part of each day crying. Her hospital gown engulfed her. Hard to believe that a person could go so far downhill so quickly.

  “Mrs. Kemp?”

  She forced her head in his direction. “Do I know you?”

  “I’m Phillip Stuart.” He extended his hand. Sally never saw it.

  He pulled up a chair and sat across from her. “I know things are difficult for you, but I thought you would like to know that we caught the man who killed your husband. He’ll be going to jail for a long, long time.”

  “The man? Rowan McKinley killed my husband.”

  Her voice was bitter, angry. Where grief shadowed her face before, rage now existed.

  Phillip covered her hands with his. “No, Sally. She didn’t.”

  In detail, he explained it all. With each word, the tears returned in a constant flow down her cheeks. Afterward, her lips formed the words ‘thank you’ but no sound came out.

  “I loved him so much,” she finally managed to say.

  “I know. I understand. But now you have to pull yourself together for the children that love gave to you.”

  Sally pulled in a breath and gave a single nod.

  * * * *

  Phillip forced the lid closed on his fourth suitcase. All that remained were his uniforms. Zach could have those. Phillip knew he’d never need them again.

  A car pulled up outside. It was probably his landlord coming by to drop off his rental closure papers. He opened the door to set his suitcase outside. It wasn’t his landlord.

  Phillip pulled himself to his full height and stared at his father. It took more nerve than he could imagine for the man to show up now. His very presence screamed interference and intrusion.

  “What do you want, Donald?” As if he couldn’t guess.

  His father stalked toward him, nostrils of his hawk-like nose flaring. “I thought it necessary to pay you a personal visit.” His calm tone belied the squall on his face.

  Phillip tensed. “And I thought I made myself clear when we spoke the last time. I have no desire to see you—ever.”

  His father waved the words away as if they were inconsequential. For him they were because they were not what he wanted to hear. “I put that down to the heat of the moment, forgotten by now.”

  Phillip snorted. “You have a convenient memory when it suits you. What do you want? I’m a little busy.”

  “You could at least extend me the courtesy of inviting me in.”

  “Courtesy is the last thing I owe you. Now…you claim your visit has a purpose?”

  Donald propped himself against a porch post and studied his nails. “Associates of mine indicate you’re thinking of resigning your commission.”

  “Correction. I have resigned my commission.”

  “It can be easily reversed.” He looked up. “I’ll admit I was against you joining the Marine Corps, but when I saw the political advantages it gave you—”

  Phillip tossed out a laugh. “You’re the one with political aspirations, not me. But since no one seems to want to elect you, even for the position of dog catcher, you seem to be ill-suited for politics.”

  “Why close the door on a great opportunity?”

  “For who? You?” The man is priceless. In Donald Stuart’s eyes, life was supposed to revolve around him.

  Phillip picked up his bags and walked to his car. His father followed.

  “Everything I’ve done in my life has been for your—”

  Phillip whirled around. “Don’t start with that crap. Nothing you did was for my benefit. It was for yours—your image, your goals. The great Donald Stuart. My God, when I was ten years old, you took me aside and told me not to call you Dad anymore because it didn’t look professional, not that you were much of a father before then. You never bothered with Claudia or me until you realized our possible advantage to you, then you insinuated yourself into every aspect of our lives.”

  Donald’s lips thinned. “It’s that woman talking, isn’t it?”

  “What woman? Rowan?” Phillip opened the trunk and stuffed one suitcase inside. “Leave Rowan out of this. You know very well that all of your issues are with Claudia and me, now that we’ve taken great pains to distance ourselves from you.”

  “How can I leave trash like Rowan McKinley out of this? She’s been nothing but trouble for us since the minute you met her. You don’t even know if this brat is really yours. Her type will sleep with anybody.”

  Never in his life had Phillip wanted to hit someone as much as he did now. He settled for a steady glare he hoped conveyed his contempt for the man. “I’m not going to dignify that with an answer.”

  He tossed another suitcase into the trunk.

  Donald caught the handle. “Don’t you see how she’s turned us against each other? First you, then your sister and now your mother.”

  Phillip straightened. “Mom?”

  His father adopted that haughty air of superiority. “She’s got some feminist notion in her head about striking out on her own. She actually intends to divorce me over this incident with your little friend. The woman needs psychiatric help.”

  “Personally, I think she deserves a medal for putting up with you all these years.”

  Phillip snatched the last bag from his father’s grasp and tossed it into the trunk with the others. “I’m glad to see she’s finally wised up. I’ll have to call her with congratulations when I get home. As for you”—he slammed the trunk closed—“let me make myself perfectly clear. I never want to see or hear from you again. You are to stay away from Rowan, my child and me.”

  “Aren’t you going to include your sister and mother in your cozy little group?”

  Phillip grinned. “Sounds like they’re pretty good at taking care of themselves.” His humor faded. “Stay away. If yo
u don’t, I’ll slap a restraining order on you so fast it will boggle your mind.”

  He swung into the Mustang, gunned the powerful engine then drove away, leaving Donald staring after him in a cloud of dust.

  * * * *

  Butterflies did somersaults in Rowan’s stomach. Phillip would be here any minute. She prayed for the composure to greet him with casual indifference, lest those crowded into her party see the true extent of her feelings. Yet she couldn’t keep her gaze from wandering down the road for that first glimpse of his Mustang. With its appearance, her heart raced into double-time.

  “Dad’s here!” Ian sprinted for the driveway with Oscar close behind. “And Mom, look who’s with him!”

  Phillip swooped the boy into his arms. Rowan felt a catch in her breath. What would she do on that horrible day when and if he came to tell her that he was marrying someone else? How could she hold her head high when her heart would be shattered into a thousand pieces?

  Zach crawled from the car, dragging a set of crutches. “I’m out, I’m free and I’m starved.” He gave Rowan a quick hug. “Hospital food is terrible. I still can’t believe you refused to sneak in any good food for me. What’s to eat?”

  “Hamburgers, hot dogs, steak, chicken… You name it and we’ve got it,” Rowan said with a smile.

  “Great. Then next week you can help me find a place to live. I’ve got orders to this godforsaken place.”

  “I see.” She tucked her arms over her chest. “Maybe we can enlist Claudia’s help in your quest for accommodations.”

  “Claudia?” His dumbstruck look gave the impression he didn’t have a clue who Claudia could be. Rowan knew better.

  “She’ll be here any minute to meet Ian.”

  Zach sagged under the weight of her announcement. “Ian, show me the way to the food. I need to fortify myself.”

  Ian giggled. “You know the way.”

  “I’m so faint from hunger that I can barely stand.” Zach rolled his eyes theatrically and faked a wobble.

  Laughing, Ian grabbed Zach’s arm and guided him toward the picnic table, Oscar galloping ahead of them.