Danny's War (Rolling Thunder Series Book 3)

by Pj Fiala

  Pulling his phone out of his pocket he tapped the screen to answer the call. “Hey Paul, what’s up?”

  CHAPTER 23

  DANNY HELD TAMMY’S HAND as they walked into the hospital, neither saying a word. It’d been a very emotional day, he was feeling exhausted and wrung out, now this.

  “The elevators are over there,” Tammy stated softly, pointing to their right. Danny squeezed her hand and turned in the direction she’d pointed. They reached the elevators at the same time as another couple. Danny leaned forward and pushed the up button, looked at the couple and nodded. The doors slid open and three little kids came bursting out, one little boy around six-years-old crashed into Danny’s legs. He felt the prosthetic under Danny’s jeans and looked up at Danny with fear in his eyes. Danny smiled at him as he leaned down and grabbed the boy’s shoulders to keep him from falling.

  “What’s wrong with your leg?” the little boy asked.

  “Jason. That’s not nice to say. I’m telling dad.” Turning her head, Jason’s sister yelled into the elevator, “Dad.”

  “Sarah, don’t yell, we’re right here.” Presumably Sarah’s mom said.

  “Jason asked this guy what’s wrong with him. That’s not nice. You said we had to be nice to get ice cream.”

  A harried woman with short blonde hair stepped out of the elevator, pushing a stroller. Seemingly her husband behind her, looking worn out and ready for bed followed carrying a large diaper bag, which was too small for all of the items to fit inside. Coats and sweaters were spilling out of the top. The man was fishing in his pocket and relief washed over his face as he pulled out his keys.

  Danny smiled at the man and the woman and nodded. He looked down at the little boy and said, “I lost my leg in Afghanistan. So, I have a prosthetic leg.”

  “Cool. Can I see it?”

  Danny smirked and looked up at the little boy’s mom and dad. Dad quickly nodded at Danny, giving permission. Danny leaned down and pulled up the leg of his jeans showing the bottom portion of his prosthetic leg. As his prosthesis came into view the little boy exclaimed, “Cool. Do you have super powers? Can you jump real high?”

  Danny chuckled. “No, buddy, I don’t have superpowers and I can’t jump all that high.”

  Reaching forward the little guy touched the prosthetic with the tips of his fingers. He looked back at his dad and said, “Dad, look. I want one of these. Only, I want superpowers in mine.”

  His Dad looked at Danny. “Sorry. Clearly he doesn’t understand.”

  Danny dropped his pants leg and stood to his full height. “No worries.”

  Mom began ushering the kids away. “Okay. Let’s go kids. Grab your jackets.”

  Jason’s dad leaned forward and extended his hand. “Thank you for your service. It’s much appreciated.”

  Danny shook his hand and swallowed the lump in his throat. It choked him up every time someone thanked him.

  Danny took Tammy’s hand in his and pulled her into the elevator when the coast was clear, the other couple stepping in just behind them. Tammy looked up at Danny, a soft smile forming on her lips as she watched the emotions play across his face. Humble. He was humble. Sexy, too. She watched him swallow a few times all the while back rigid, eyes forward, looking at nothing. She squeezed his hand, which prompted him to look down at her. When their eyes met her smile grew. He winked at her and looked ahead as the doors opened.

  Stepping out of the elevator, Danny saw the sign that directed them to the rooms; higher numbers to the left, lower numbers to the right. Danny pointed to the sign showing Tammy which direction they needed to turn. Walking down the corridor his spine tingled. Those hospital smells brought back all the days and nights he laid in one, pain gripping his whole body and the horror of what’d happened to him pounded his brain. Days turned into weeks and weeks into months. Three months, three weeks and two days to be exact.

  “Here it is. Do you want me to wait out here?” Tammy said as she searched his face with her eyes. He’d been too quiet and she worried this was simply too much today.

  “No,” he croaked out. Clearing his throat, he said, “No. I want you with me.”

  He lifted her hand in his and kissed her knuckles. He smirked at her as her eyes grew large. She watched his eyes as she pulled their hands toward her and kissed his knuckles.

  Taking a large breath she said, “Let’s do this.”

  Danny rapped on the door twice and pushed the door slightly open as he said, “Ready for company?”

  “Of course.”

  They walked into the spacious hospital room to see Danny’s mom sitting in a glider rocker holding a precious little bundle in her arms, eyes wet with tears. Danny slowly walked over to his mom and kissed her forehead. Then he looked down at the baby in her arms. All he could say was, “Wow.”

  Danny reached down and gently smoothed the baby’s cheek with the back of his forefinger. Janice looked up at him and said, “Isn’t he beautiful?”

  “He? It’s a boy?” Danny smiled. He stood and looked over at Paul who was propped on the edge of Grace’s hospital bed. “You had a boy?”

  Paul’s smile was wide reaching up to his eyes. “Can you believe it? I have a son, Danny.”

  Danny dropped Tammy’s hand and walked over to Paul. They wrapped their arms around each other and hugged tightly. It seemed like minutes, but was actually just a few seconds. Watching them hug pulled at Tammy’s heart like nothing else had ever tugged. Suddenly feeling out of place Tammy nervously pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and tucked her hands in the front pockets of her jeans. Grace caught her attention and smiled as she said, “Nice to meet you, I’m Grace,” as she extended her hand to Tammy.

  Tammy smiled at Grace and walked over to the bedside and shook Grace’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Grace, I’m Tammy. Congratulations.”

  Danny pulled away from Paul and looked across the bed at Tammy, a broad smile stretched across his face. “Tammy, I’m an uncle. I have a nephew.”

  Tears pooled in Tammy’s eyes at the awe and love in Danny’s voice. She smiled at Danny. Looking deep into his eyes she said, “You’re going to be a great uncle.”

  Danny nodded quickly then leaned down to hug Grace. “Congratulations, momma. How are you?”

  Grace chuckled and wiped the moisture from her eyes with the tips of her fingers. “I’m good. It’s all surreal to be honest.”

  They all looked over at Janice holding her new grandson. Tammy looked back at Grace and asked, “What’s his name?”

  Grace looked up at Paul, a soft smile on her lips. Paul’s gaze rested on Tammy and then he looked Danny in the eye and said, “Noah. Noah Daniel Schaefer.”

  Danny’s head snapped back, his brown eyes full of so much emotion. He and Paul locked eyes for long moments while Danny gained control of his emotions. He opened his mouth to say something then promptly closed it swallowing the large knot in his throat. He opened it again and the words wouldn’t come. Instead he grabbed his brother in a bear hug and squeezed with all his might.

  As they pulled away from each other Danny turned and walked over to Janice who was dividing her attention between her sons and her new grandson.

  “You want to hold him? I’m warning you, I won’t offer to hand him over very often.”

  Danny smirked, “Yeah, I want to hold him. Figure I better take you up on your offer.”

  Janice stood and stepped aside as Danny sat in the rocker. She laid Noah in his arms and straightened. She looked over at Tammy and smiled, which Tammy promptly returned.

  Danny looked up from his bundle and locked gazes with Tammy. “Come and meet my nephew.”

  Tammy walked over and knelt in front of Danny and Noah. She reached up and pulled the blanket back from his face and admired the beautiful baby. It wasn’t lost on her how perfect Danny looked holding a baby. His babies would be perfect. She was now almost regretful that she wasn’t pregnant from their first time and the forgotten condom. Her period had started a coup
le days later.

  She breathed in the smell of fresh clean baby and Danny. Perfect.

  CHAPTER 24

  WALKING HAND-IN-HAND into Stateside, Tammy led Danny through the front entrance and down the hall to her office. The nurses and aides as well as many of the veterans were out and about and she introduced him to everyone they met. Entering the suite that housed her office, Sally’s office and the accounting department, Tammy stopped at her door and reached in to flip on the lights. Stepping in, she looked at Danny and said, “Welcome to my world. My other world.”

  He stepped into her office and looked around. She had a picture of her and Molly at some Festival, each with a drink in their hand, both smiling beautifully. There were pictures of her family and on a credenza were various pictures of soldiers lined up along with the family pictures.

  “Who are these men you have in such a prominent place in your office?”

  Tammy smiled as she walked forward. She picked up the first picture, which was an older photograph and lovingly looked down at it for just a moment. She turned the picture around and handed it to Danny.

  “Meet my grandfather, Duncan Davis, my father’s father. He was a radio technician in the Army. He lived here in this home until he died about nine years ago. I used to come here and visit him as a little girl. He’s the reason I wanted to work here so badly. I saw a place that normally older people dread living in and he thrived here. He had friends, they did activities, they played cards but mostly, they had their service to our country, and many times war, in common.”

  “Nice to meet you, Mr. Davis.” Danny looked at the old photograph a bit longer and set it back in its place. Tammy picked up the next picture and smirked as she handed it to Danny.

  “Guess who this is.”

  Danny looked down at the soldier, clearly a Boot Camp photograph, the day the Army has recruits all lined up for hours in their uniforms to snap their “first photo”. It was easy to recognize Steven Davis. Though he was much younger in this picture, he looked very much the same.

  “Your dad hasn’t changed much. Other than the stiff uncomfortable look in this picture, that is.”

  Tammy giggled as she looked at the next picture.

  “This is my grandfather, Jeb Sanders, my mom’s father. He served in the Army as well and actually, Grandpa Sanders was Grandpa Duncan’s superior in the Army. They served together. That’s how my parents met, at a reunion with some of the men they served with and their families. Mom was seventeen and dad eighteen, just before he went into the Army. They connected and then, obviously, stayed in touch while dad was serving. When dad came home, they married.”

  “Wow. That’s amazing.”

  “Yeah. I love their story. When I was younger and getting ready for bed, I would ask mom to tell me their story to relax me. It always worked.”

  Turning to face Danny, she looked into his eyes. “Are you ready to go meet the guys?” Inhaling his scent and feeling his hands seek hers between them made her mind go to places not suited for this environment.

  “Yeah, I’m ready. I’m a bit nervous, but I’m ready.”

  “Nothing to be nervous about.” Holding his hand in hers, Tammy led Danny to the door and out towards the meeting room. “You just talk to them. They’ll probably want to ask you all kinds of questions about this war and what you did and you ask them. You’re just talking to them.”

  Walking into the meeting room, the first thing Danny noticed was the smell of coffee and the chatter. The men were sitting around a couple of big tables, about twenty of them, chatting away and drinking coffee. There was laughter and joking, not the depressed, down-trodden group Danny expected. As the first of the men noticed them a couple of the men smiled brightly at Tammy.

  “Hello, Tammy, nice to see you on a Sunday. Come on in and introduce us. As you can see we have a record crowd today.”

  Tammy’s smile spread across her face. “I’d like you all to meet Danny Schaefer. Despite being here to talk to you all, Danny’s also my boyfriend.” Her cheeks bloomed a pretty pink.

  Some chuckles and snorts were heard, but then again, they were in a room full of men. Tammy started making introductions when Gerry spoke up. “Tammy, we can do the introductions if you don’t mind. He isn’t going to remember us all this way. We like to give our names as we tell a story, it helps to associate the story and the name.”

  “That’s right. Okay, then I’ll leave you all to it. Be gentle on him, guys.”

  She turned and looked into Danny’s eyes. He gazed deeply into hers and then lightly kissed her lips. He stood back and smirked at her as he watched the color rise up her cheeks and ears. Leaning in he whispered, “Go on now before you catch fire. I’ll come back to your office when we’re finished here.”

  Tammy nodded and, braving the looks of the men in the room, she turned to them and waved once while adding, “Have fun.” She promptly turned and walked out.

  ***

  “Hey, sexy.”

  Tammy looked up from her computer screen and into the eyes of the sexiest man in the world to her.

  “Hey, how did it go?”

  Danny all but bounced into her office and walked around the desk. Leaning his butt on the desktop, he watched as she pushed away and faced him.

  “It was fantastic. It’s exactly what you thought it would be; we just talked. You have some great men here.”

  Laughing Tammy said, “We do. We have a few women here as well, but only about fifteen of them. They usually don’t sit in the groups with the guys. Are you coming back?”

  “Absolutely. Next week and every week if they want me to. They asked all kinds of questions about the Bradley and our current weapons and technology. I’m going to see if I can set up a tour for them at the base here. They’d like to see an MRAP and some other vehicles. I wish I had a Bradley here to show them.”

  Danny excitedly told her about their visit. Tammy was lost in the look on his face. As he talked about the men, his dark brown eyes glowed with happiness. His full sensual lips took on a softness as they spoke and the smiles were frequent. His hands, so strong and large, gestured with emotion as he told her the things he wanted to do with these men. And she was lost in him. In his excitement.

  CHAPTER 25

  “SO YOU HAVEN’T told him yet?” Molly asked as she swirled the wine in her glass, watching the slightly amber liquid glide down the inside of her glass.

  “No. I started to tell him, then his phone rang and we went to the hospital to meet his new nephew. When we went back to his place that night, we were both exhausted. The following day he was nervous in the morning about going into Stateside the first time and I didn’t want to say anything then. I know in my heart he’d never do anything like Scott did. But he took a picture of me while I was sleeping and it creeps me out.”

  Tammy pushed her hair over her shoulder as she leaned forward to pick up her wine glass from the coffee table. Taking a sip, she snuggled into the corner of her sofa and trained her eyes on Molly.

  “We haven’t been able to see each other that much lately, I missed you.”

  Molly’s lips formed the prettiest smile, her bright blue eyes crinkling at the corners. “I know, I missed you too. So, I have big news and I’m freaking out.”

  “Well, don’t keep me in the dark any longer. Spill.”

  “At Gunnar’s adoption party we were looking at old pictures he has from his biological dad’s wife. One thing led to another and Joci thinks Gunnar and I are brother and sister. Can you believe that shit?”

  “What?” Tammy’s brows pinched together as she let the words roll around in her head. “How can that be? I don’t understand.”

  Molly tucked her hair behind her ear and relayed the entire story to Tammy as they continued to sip their wine.

  “So, tomorrow we’re going to see mom and ask if she remembers anything.”

  “Holy crap, Mol. How do you feel about all of this?”

  “Well, it’s weird, I’ll give you that. But
, when I look at Gunnar, I see it. We have the same eyes, the same hair, the same basic features. After looking at a picture of Keith, that’s Gunnar’s and maybe my dad, we look like him.”

  Molly looked at a picture on the television stand of the two of them last summer at a concert. “I’m kind of excited, actually. I’ve never had a brother. You know?”

  “Yeah, wow. Will you call me as soon as you know?”

  “Of course. I’ve been busting about not telling you sooner, but things have been hectic and I knew you were dealing with work stuff.”

  “That should never stop you from talking to me, Molly. We tell each other everything. Right?”

  “Right. So tell me how things are going at work. What’s with this Zeke character?”

  Tammy’s lips turned down and her nose wrinkled. “I don’t know what’s up with him. He and his brother Isaiah are interested in purchasing Stateside but I don’t know why. We’re not profitable now that we’ve lost government funding. We have costly repairs that need to be completed on the building. They don’t seem to be in it for the satisfaction of helping men and women who have served our country. So, what am I missing?”

  Molly sat in thought for a moment, watching Tammy’s expression. “I don’t know, Tammy. What else could there be?”

  “I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.”

  ***

  Singing at the top of her lungs Tammy sat at a stop light in traffic. Tapping the steering wheel with her fingers and bobbing her head side-to-side, she allowed the music to wash over her. As the light turned green, traffic inched forward through the intersection. A For Sale sign caught Tammy’s attention as she drove passed the building that used to be a boutique clothing store. Craning her neck to see as she moved down the road, another For Sale sign caught her attention at the little coffee shop next to the clothing store. “When did this all happen?” she softly said.

  Her mind wandering as she walked into Stateside, Tammy didn’t see the tall dark figure watching her from the inner office where the nurses gathered. As she entered her office, switched on the light and padded her way to her desk, she was lost in thought. She pushed the button to start her computer and tucked her purse away in her bottom drawer.