by Robert Boren
“Getting?” Brendan asked, turning her to face him. She avoided eye contact.
“Let’s finish looking the place over,” she said, escaping from his arms. “Bedroom and bathroom.”
Brendan watched her walk into the bedroom and look around. He followed her at more of a distance.
“Hannah, I’m sorry,” Brendan said. “I shouldn’t push you. I’ll try not to do that anymore.”
She turned towards him, making eye contact and looking away. “It’s not you. It’s me. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“If you don’t want to live together, I’m sure they’ll give you your own unit, at least until you decide what you want to do. I’ll understand.”
She looked at him, tears in her eyes. “I don’t want that.”
“What do you want?”
She sighed and sat on the bed facing him. “I don’t think I can talk about it right now.”
“Okay, I can wait until you’re ready,” he said, sitting on the bed, keeping a little distance between them. “I won’t push you.”
They were silent for a few minutes, Brendan uncomfortable with it. He broke it.
“What do you think? Is this the place?”
“I like it,” she said. “Do you?”
“Yes,” he said. “I think it’s perfect.”
“Hope it’s far enough away,” Hannah said.
“Maybe it doesn’t matter now,” he said.
She looked into his eyes. “What do you mean by that? You think I don’t want you anymore?”
“Kinda seems that way,” he said. “It’s okay. I know we were thrown together. I know everything went too fast. Sorry I took advantage.”
A soft smile came over her face. “You’re picking up the wrong vibe from me.”
“I am?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Help me out here,” Brendan said, feeling himself tremble.
“It’s not that I don’t want to be with you,” she said softly. “I’m afraid you’ll be ripped away from me.”
Brendan was silent for a few minutes, thinking.
“What do you want?” Hannah asked.
“You,” he said, glancing at her face, then looking away.
“Oh, you’re crying,” she said, moving closer to him. “Sorry I’m being so difficult. This should be a happy time.”
“Maybe we should talk this out now,” Brendan said. “Can you?”
She looked at him and nodded yes.
“This isn’t casual for me,” Brendan said. “I’ve never felt this way about a woman before. I’m sorry we aren’t quite in sync.”
She looked in his eyes. “I’m so much in love with you,” she said softly.
“I thought so,” Brendan said, “but you’re resisting it.”
“You have to fight,” she said. “You might get killed. I don’t think I could take that. I’m scared to death of it.”
He petted her cheek, then turned her head to him. “This is war. There’s nothing we can do about that. All we can do is get as much of each other as we can, and hope that we both come through it okay.”
“Live happily ever after?” she asked, soft smile on her face.
“Do you want that?”
She nodded yes. “Do you?”
He was silent for a moment, looking at her pretty face.
“Maybe you don’t love me yet,” she said.
“Now you’re getting the wrong vibe,” he said. “I just told you I wanted you.”
“I know,” she said.
“Okay, I’ll cut to the chase. I love you more than anything. More than life itself. I want you to be my wife. I want to have children with you. I want us to grow old together with our family gathered around us.”
She looked at his face, touching his cheek, coming in for a slow kiss, light but trembling and passionate. Then she giggled. “Geez, I can’t believe this.”
“Can’t believe what?” Brendan said.
“What I’m thinking right now. God, I’m embarrassed. The girls would have a field day with this.”
“What?” Brendan asked, caressing her back as she leaned into him.
She shook her head no. “You’ll tell them.”
“No I won’t. Trust me.”
She shook her head. “No, it’s stupid. Kiss me again.”
He took her head in his hands and kissed her passionately, from her neck up past her chin, his mouth slipping onto hers as she moaned. His hands roamed all over her as she trembled in his arms, pushing back against him wantonly, breath and heartbeat racing.
“Oh, geez,” she said, breaking the kiss. “Maybe we ought to lock the door. You know where this is gonna lead.”
Brendan nodded and stumbled out to the front door, locking it. When he came back she was already naked on the bed. He undressed and climbed over her, caressing her face as he kissed her again, their naked bodies touching, passion building fast.
“Don’t wait,” she whispered, pulling him into position. “I want you now.”
She cried out as he took her, urgently pushing back on him, her eyes rolling back in her head.
“I love you so,” Brendan said as he sped up. She was beside her self now, louder than before, egging him on. Then he stopped.
“No!” she cried.
“I know,” Brendan said softly, watching her twitch beneath him.
“What?” she asked. “C’mon. I need you.”
He moved a little and then stopped again.
“Brendan!” she cried, trying to get him going.
“I know what you were thinking. We’re gonna do it. Today.”
“Brendan,” she said. “You don’t…”
He moved a few times again and she wailed. Then he stopped again.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked.
“You want to be my wife, don’t you?” he whispered to her.
“Don’t ask me that now,” she said, her breath coming in a rush, her eyes wide as he looked at her.
“Answer the question,” he said.
“Yes, dammit,” she said. “Yes.”
“We’ll do it today, when we go to the courthouse with the others,” he said.
She froze, staring into his eyes. “No, we couldn’t do that.”
“We’re going to do that,” he said, starting again. “You’ll be mine and everybody will know it.”
“Oh God,” she said, going out of control.
“You’ll do it?” he asked as she came down.
“Yes,” she said. “I can’t believe I’m saying this.”
Their passion burst over them and they were gone, inside each other with total abandon. Nothing else in their world mattered. They lay next to each other afterwards.
“What did we just decide?” Hannah asked, turning toward him. “I’m never gonna live this down. Especially after messing with Madison.”
“You’ll just have to deal with that,” Brendan said. “Remember how those two are. They’re liable to be thinking the same thing.”
“You really think so?”
“Juan Carlos worships the ground she walks on. Never seen him like that with anybody.”
Hannah sighed. “I know, same with Madison. She wants him bad. When those two lock eyes you can feel it across the room.”
“We’ve been putting out the same vibe,” Brendan said.
She nodded silently. “Sorry I resisted.”
“We just packed a long courtship into a few days,” Brendan said. “Both of us resisted as it started to sweep us up.”
“When did you know?”
“The morning we left Port Isabel,” Brendan said.
She giggled. “Me too. How much time we have left?”
“Until what?”
“Until we have to meet the others,” she said.
“Hour and a half,” he said.
“Good,” she said, rolling onto him. “Let’s not tell them until we get there, okay?”
Brendan chuckled. “I like it.”
Cha
pter 19 – Web Meeting
“It’s happening?” Curt asked as he saw Eric walk towards him.
“Yeah,” Eric said. “Be another half hour, though. Want to help me set up the audio-visual?”
“Sure, what the hell,” he said. “I’m antsy. I need something to do. All I can think about is getting back to my shop. I’ve got gimbals to make, and guns to mount.”
“I know,” Eric said.
They walked to the house and went into the living room. Kim was working on wiring behind the TV set. She smiled when Eric came in.
“Hey, sweetie,” she said. “Got most of it done. How we gonna do the call? Do we have to use a phone?”
“Probably,” Eric said. “We aren’t set up very well for this.”
“I might be able to run it through the laptop, if it’s got good enough speakers,” Curt said. “Gonna have to gather around it pretty close, though, in order for the microphone to pick up.”
“I was thinking we put the laptop on a table in front of the TV, down low,” Eric said, “and run the video to the TV screen for people who aren’t close enough. We’ll have to move up to speak, of course. It’ll be a pain, but doable.”
“How about the folks at Fort Stockton?” Kim asked.
“They’ll have an easier time,” Curt said. “They’ve got a pretty good set up in the clubhouse there. They can tie things into the PA system, and they’ve got real microphones.”
Don walked in with Chance, Dirk, and Francis. “Know where the girls are?” Don asked.
“I think they’re in the front bedroom,” Kim said. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, just nervous, that’s all. I don’t want them running around the countryside.”
“Need any help?” Francis asked.
“We got it,” Eric said. “It’ll be a little crude.”
“I got some powered speakers in my trailer,” Dirk said. “You want them? They’ll plug into the headphone jack of the laptop.”
“Yeah, that’d be good,” Eric said.
“I’ll go get them,” Dirk said. He left the room, Chance following him out the door.
“You invite the Merchant girls?” Don asked.
Eric turned to him and smiled. “Yeah. I think Sydney likes you.”
“Don’t say that too loud,” Don said quietly. “Don’t want to worry my daughter. And besides, probably nothing will happen.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Eric said. “Then this happened.” He nodded at Kim. She noticed.
“Hey, I’m a this now?” she said. “Brother.”
Eric pulled her into his arms and kissed her. “I guess you’re a little more than that.”
She melted into him. “Don’t get me started.”
“Knock it off, you two,” Curt said.
Eric laughed. “Yeah, I’ll remember you said that when Amanda hog-ties you.”
“Never happen, pencil neck,” Curt said.
Kim looked at Eric and snickered. “He has no idea, does he?”
“No idea about what?” Curt asked.
“No idea about life during wartime,” Eric said. “You’ll end up with something like this.” He nodded to Kim, and she punched him in the arm.
“Stop it with that,” she said.
“I’m just messing with you,” Eric said.
“Winning him over was like pulling teeth,” Kim said. “Don’t make it that hard on Amanda.”
Curt shook his head. “You women think you got it all figured out, don’t you?”
“Yeah, as a matter of fact.” Kim giggled. “Deny it all you want. It’s futile.”
“I’m going to check on the girls,” Don said. He went to the bedroom and knocked.
“Who is it?” Alyssa asked.
“Dad,” he said.
“Come in,” Alyssa said. Don slipped through the door.
“Sydney’s gonna go after him,” Eric whispered to Kim.
“Really?”
“Yeah, you should have seen the sparks fly.”
“How do you feel about that?” Kim asked.
“I think it would be great for both of them, but let’s not tease him, okay?”
“Agreed,” Kim said. “Because of Alyssa, right?”
“And because of Chloe too,” Eric said. “They need to feel safe and stable. We don’t want to stir the pot.”
Dirk and Chance walked in with the speakers and cable.
“Here you go,” Dirk said, setting them next to the laptop on the table. “Has a sub-woofer but I took it off. All the bass will just cause a hum.”
“Good thinking,” Curt said. They finished the setup.
“Francis? You in here?” asked Sherry.
“Yeah, honey, I’m here,” Francis said, getting up to walk to her. “What’s up?”
“Just wanted to know where you were,” she said. “When’s this meeting happening?”
“Pretty soon,” he said. “We’re almost ready.”
“We really gonna let Chloe and Alyssa in the room?”
“You don’t think we should?” Francis asked.
“I don’t want them to be scared,” she said. “It’s up to Don, though.”
“He’s in the bedroom with them now,” Francis said. “Go talk with them if you want.”
She thought about it for a moment. “No, I’ll let them have time with their dad. I don’t need to be butting in. He’ll know what to do.”
“Good. I agree,” Francis said.
Eric’s phone rang. He looked at the number. “This should be it.” He answered the phone, walking out into the kitchen for some quiet. After a moment he stuck his head out. “Who has paper and pencil? I need to jot down some codes.”
“I’ve got some in our trailer,” Sherry said. “Know right where it is. Be back in a sec.”
She rushed out, Francis following her. They were back in less than a minute.
“Thanks,” Eric said as he took them to the kitchen counter. “Go ahead.” He listened and jotted down numbers. “Okay, we’ll be on in a few minutes. Thanks.”
“Got the codes?” Kim asked as Eric walked over.
“Yep,” he said. “I’ll read them off to you. The site is already up on the browser. Just maximize it.”
“Okay,” she said, sitting in front of the laptop. Eric read the codes off and she typed them in, then hit the submit button. The progress bar showed on the screen as the node logged into the meeting.
“Bingo,” Eric said, looking over her shoulder.
“This laptop camera isn’t going to show everybody,” Kim said.
“That’s okay, it’s not important,” Dirk said.
“Turn the sound up,” Chance said. Kim nodded and dragged the bar on the sound icon. A buzz came through the speakers. Then there was a click.
“Who’s there?” a voice asked.
“You got the Fredericksburg location,” Eric said close to the microphone. “Who’s this?”
“We’re in the media room at the Governor’s Mansion in Austin,” the man said. “I’m Brian, the Governor’s secretary. The Governor, Chief Ramsey, Major General Gallagher, and Major General Landry will be on in a moment, along with some members of the Texas Legislature.”
“Great, thanks,” Eric said. “This is Eric Finley speaking.”
There was a click, and more noise came over the speaker.
“Who just joined?” Brian asked.
“Fort Stockton,” Jason’s voice said.
“Hey, brother,” Eric said.
“Oh, good, you guys are on,” Jason said. “Everything going all right there?”
“So far so good,” Eric said. “Never had an attack.”
“Hey, pencil neck,” Curt said.
A few people from Fort Stockton laughed.
“You need to come up with something new, Curt,” Kyle said.
“Seriously,” Kelly said.
Junior snickered. “Call me anything but late to dinner.”
“Oh brother,” Brenda said.
“Ho
w many people are there?” Kim asked.
“We got about forty people in the clubhouse,” Jason said.
“Here comes the video feed,” Curt said. The screen broke into three sections. The laptop video feed from the Homestead was in the upper right-hand corner, and Fort Stockton’s much clearer picture in the upper left-hand corner. The media room in Austin was sharp across the bottom half of the screen. Only Brian was visible, making adjustments to the video camera and checking settings on his PC.
“How secure is this meeting?” Curt asked.
“Extremely,” Brian said. “Don’t worry.”
Don came out of the bedroom with Chloe and Alyssa. “Mind if they sit in?”
“It might be a little scary,” Sherry said. “Can you two handle it?”
“Yeah,” Alyssa said. “Dad told us about it. We have to be grown-ups.”
Chloe nodded in agreement, and the three of them sat on some of the extra chairs that were brought in.
“Hello?” said a woman’s voice from the kitchen door.
“Probably the Merchant girls,” Eric said.
“Come on in,” Sherry said, getting up to greet them. Amanda and Sydney came in. “I’m Sherry. Francis is my husband.”
“Oh, yeah, we met him earlier. I’m Sydney. This is Amanda.”
“Good to meet you,” Amanda said.
“I’ll do a quick intro,” Sherry said. “The conference call is just starting up.”
They went into the living room.
“Everybody, this is Amanda and Sydney,” Sherry said. She went through the names of everybody, and they found seats, Amanda plopping herself right next to Curt.
“Hi there,” she said. “Mind if I sit here?”
Curt smiled at her. “Not at all.”
“Look, there’s the Governor,” Francis said, pointing to the screen.
“Yeah, and that’s Gallagher,” Curt said. “Met him once, back in the old days.”
“Chief Ramsey,” Eric said. “Notice how tired all these guys look?”
“Seriously,” Kelly said from Fort Stockton.
“Who’s that other general?” Junior asked.
“Major General Landry,” Brian said. “Head of the Texas Air National Guard.”
“Commissioner Holly and Kip Hendrix?” Curt whispered. “The opposition.”
“They’ve changed their views lately,” Eric whispered. “They’re on our side, don’t you worry.”
