“Cooperation is the most important element of successful therapy, and you’re cooperating.”
“I’m trying.”
“The redhead doesn’t seem to be worried about it.”
“She’s the one who got me here. She thought post traumatic stress was the real problem and…” He spread his hands. “Here I am.”
“All of that doesn’t explain why you don’t make your relationship permanent. Stability and support help tremendously with PTS, you can use all of it you can get.”
Kelly made an expansive gesture.
“It’s complicated. She has this wealthy, sophisticated family. They already think I’m a screwball loser for punching Amanda’s ex lover and then landing in this treatment center.”
“And she listens to them?”
Kelly grinned hugely. “No.”
“I didn’t think so, from what I’ve seen. Then why are YOU listening to them?”
“It will bother her eventually if she hooks up with me and they cut her off completely.”
“Financially?”
“Every way. That’s why I’m waiting to ask her until I get my job back. Otherwise they can say I’m a worthless loafer who’s grifting on her money, taking advantage of her.”
“Yeah, well, maybe I should educate them about post traumatic stress. People like that have no idea what you boys are going through in Iraq and Afghanistan while they’re sipping cocktails at their dinner parties.”
Kelly made a dismissive gesture. “I probably made it sound worse than it is. Her father is all right. He’s fair. Her mother’s a pip, thinks I’m…unreliable, violent, and…” He smiled again. “Poor.”
“Violent? Is the mother worried you’ll hurt Amanda?”
“I’d end the relationship myself if I thought there was a chance of that.”
Sepansky stopped typing and watched Kelly’s expression change.
“I scared her once when I had a bad nightmare right after I got out of jail, and that’s what convinced me to get help,” Kelly said, staring at the floor.
“What happened?” Sepansky said, as quietly as he could.
“I was out of it for a few seconds when I first woke up from the dream and I grabbed her. Hard. I could tell she was afraid of me.”
“How did that make you feel?”
Kelly closed his eyes. He couldn’t answer.
“Go on,” Sepansky prompted, very softly.
Kelly shook his head slowly. “I’d rather talk to fifty psychiatrists a day than lose her. I told her that night I would go for counseling, and she already had the VA card for a PTS evaluation in her wallet. Her friend had given it to her. She was just waiting for me to face the fact that I had the problem.”
“Still have the nightmares?”
“Yeah.”
“Often?”
Kelly nodded. “But usually not as bad as that one was.”
“How did Amanda handle it the night you had the dream that scared her?”
Kelly hesitated. “Sexual healing,” he finally said directly.
“That works,” Sepansky said. “As long as you don’t use it to avoid dealing with the real issue. Promiscuity is often the result then.”
Kelly didn’t reply, aware that his behavior before he met Amanda was the perfect illustration of the doctor’s statement.
“I’m dealing with it now,” he finally said. “I just wish her family would see that.”
“The hell with them. Are you happy with Amanda?”
“Yeah.”
“Is she happy with you?”
“She’s sticking around, Dr. Sepansky. In the beginning I waited every day for her to call it quits. I was afraid the physical thing, as strong as it is, couldn’t keep her when the problems became too much. I took me a while to relax and believe she was really with me, but now I know she is.”
“Then go for it, kiddo.”
Kelly looked at the psychiatrist closely. “You’re telling me I should marry her when she has a trust fund and I’m as good as unemployed?”
“You’re not as good as unemployed. You’ll be back in your old job shortly and you’re collecting a salary still. They won’t fire you now, Brendan, this recovery and treatment plan was a compromise to keep you. Your boss, this Lieutenant what’s his name…?” Sepansky looked down at his computer screen.
“Manning.”
“Lieutenant Manning and the other police brass set this up to help you, to justify keeping you on the force. Don’t you get that?” He made another note on his laptop. “When I send this to Dr. Mitchell I’ll see if we can get your timetable moved up a little. Once you get your shield back you’ll be golden, excuse the pun.”
Kelly shook his head. “I doubt her mother will see it that way.”
“Who cares what she thinks? The situation obviously doesn’t bother your girl.”
“Oh, well, she’s not like them. She’s…different.”
“And that’s the only thing that should concern you. Ask her to marry you, I’m sure she’s waiting for you to do just that. What she says is what matters. The family will adjust to it, especially if you turn your life around and become what Amanda knows you can be.”
Kelly was silent, listening.
“Don’t let her get away, Brendan. That’s all I’m saying.” The doctor tapped the younger man on the shoulder and got up, closing his laptop and walking back into the conference room to reassemble his group.
Kelly looked after him thoughtfully, then tossed his empty cup into a wastebasket and followed the doctor inside slowly.
EPILOGUE 2
And four years after that….
Precinct picnic, July 4
Penn’s Landing
Philadelphia
Danny sidled up to his father and tugged at his jeans clad leg.
“Dad?” he muttered.
Kelly looked down at his son and said, “What is it, Danny?”
“I don’t want this bisketti.”
Kelly glanced at the little boy’s plate and said, “What’s wrong with it?”
“It’s sticky and squiggly and this stuff looks like blood.” He pointed to a pool of the sauce.
“How about a hot dog?” Kelly asked. He glanced at Amanda, who was listening.
The child brightened.
“Okay, give your mother that dish and let’s go get one.”
Danny handed the plate to Mandy happily and took his father’s hand. When they returned a few minutes later Kelly leaned into Mandy and said, sotto voce, “Did you hear that? He told me the spaghetti sauce looked like blood.” He gazed at her in mock alarm.
“Don’t look at me, Brendan. That’s not my DNA. You and your sister are always yammering about pookahs and dullaghans and things that go bump in the night. Do you wonder that he has a vivid imagination?”
“I hope nobody put ketchup on the hot dog,” Kelly said, grinning at her.
Mandy started to laugh as he pulled her toward him and kissed her on the forehead.
“Break it up, you two, or get a room. The honeymoon’s over,” Lieutenant Manning said behind them. “How’s number two doing?”
Kelly patted Mandy’s growing belly. “Just fine. It’s a girl.”
“I trust you will name her Theodora,” Ted Manning said gravely.
“New baby coming,” Danny said confidentially to Manning.
“Yes, I know. Are you excited?”
“It’s a girl,” Danny said shortly, repeating the bulletin and making the same face his father used to indicate distaste.
“Oh, dear. As the father of four daughters, I know how you feel. Well come with me, young man, and we will get some ice cream. My wife wants to see you anyway.” Manning looked at Mandy, who nodded, and then walked off with the little boy, who was still holding the hot dog clutched in his fist.
“So much for lunch,” Mandy said to Kelly. “Last night Danny had three cheerios and a pudding cup for dinner. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
“He’s no
t starving, Red.”
“He’s feeding the dog his vitamins,” Mandy said archly. “ I saw him do it. Did you know that?”
“I did not, but the better question is, Why is Sadie eating them?”
“They’re those chewy ones, you’ve seen him with them. They look like fruit snacks. They taste good so the kids will eat them.”
“Well, in that case the dog is getting good nutrition.” Kelly popped a potato chip into his mouth.
“How is the house renovation coming, Mrs. Kelly?” Frank Wancek asked, appearing from behind Kelly with a tray of cold drinks in his hands.
Kelly and Mandy looked at one another. Neither replied, but their smiles were mischievous.
“What’s up?” Frank asked, looking from one to the other.
“Kelly and his brother put a back deck on the house last week, and the other night, about four in the morning, it collapsed,” Mandy told him. “I thought we were under attack.”
“Did I ever say that I was a home improvement expert?” Kelly asked innocently.
“It sounded like Mount Vesuvius erupting,” Mandy said.
“The problem with fixer uppers is that the ‘up’ sometimes comes down,” Frank said.
“The noise woke Danny and Sadie jumped into our bed and ran under the covers. She’s such a coward.”
“She was protecting you,” Kelly said, grinning at Frank.
“She was hiding, Brendan,” Mandy said.
“She’s a great guard dog.”
“You are such a liar,” Mandy said, giggling. “She licks the shoes of any stranger who comes to the door but she barks incessantly at my mother.”
“That’s why she’s a great guard dog,” Kelly said, and all three of them laughed.
“What kind of a dog is it?” Frank asked.
“Mutt,” Kelly said. “Long nose, she looks like an anteater.”
“She’s very cute. She does have a long nose, we think she is part dachshund. Kelly had a case downtown and found her wandering the docks when she was a pup. So of course she wound up in my house.” Mandy rolled her eyes.
“Where Danny worships her,” Kelly said pointedly.
“And you indulge her,” Mandy said to her husband.
“Why do you say that? Just because she chews my sneakers and drinks your iced tea? Small price to pay for such an excellent home security system.”
Pat Harris walked over from the barbecue grill and handed Mandy a spare rib coated in sauce on a paper plate. “For you, little mama. Eat at your peril. Welcome to the world of heartburn.”
“Please don’t give me any food. I’m expanding exponentially, like the universe. I feel like a moose.”
“More for me,” Pat said, and took a large bite.
“Want a beer, Kelly?” Frank asked, holding up a can.
“No, thanks. Got any soda?”
“Yup.” Frank handed him a can of cola.
Ted Manning returned with Danny, who was now wearing a baseball hat imprinted with the marine insignia.
“Semper fi, buddy,” his father said, and picked him up to carry him.
“Let’s go see the horses, Dad,” Danny said eagerly.
Manning and Kelly exchanged glances.
“Okeydoke, cowpoke,” Kelly said, and marched off with the child on his shoulders, Manning falling in behind him.
Pat and Mandy watched them walk away.
“He’ll probably come back with a pony he wants me to put in the garage,” Mandy said dryly.
“They are adorable together. Danny’s like a little clone of your husband. Kelly could never deny that child. He’s a Brendan too, isn’t he?”
“We call him Danny to distinguish him from his father. Otherwise no one could tell them apart, even though Danny is four feet shorter.”
Pat chuckled.
Mandy smiled at her and said, “We’ve come a long way from the day I arrived in my little lawyer suit to be interviewed by Detective Kelly about my stalker.”
Pat was now grinning. “I remember that as the beginning of the end.”
“The end?”
“The end of Kelly’s hot streak with the under 30 female crowd in the precinct. We had to put all of them on suicide watch when he married you.” Pat’s eyes followed the two men as they walked across the fairground toward the pony ride corral with Danny. “Kelly certainly has changed.”
Pat saw a shadow fall across Mandy’s face and said, “What is it?”
Mandy sighed. “Oh, I don’t know. He was doing so well, in his life, in his job, until I appeared and stirred things up nicely.”
Pat shook her head. “He wasn’t doing well, Amanda. He was barely coping, covering up, maintaining with a tremendous effort. We never saw his problems at the precinct because he worked triple time to keep everything swept under the rug with his competent cop/lothario act. It all had to come out sometime and I’m glad it happened with you. Look where you are now. He’s like a new person- the same guy underneath, really, but happy. You made a tremendous difference.”
“Getting his shield back made the difference. I didn’t relax until he was wearing it around his neck again. That job is his identity.”
“And how’s your thing going?”
“Pretty well. They’ve accommodated me so I don’t even have to go to the office now. They just send me the information, I see people at the house when I need to make personal contact.” She started to laugh. “I see people at the house when the deck isn’t falling off, that is.”
“I heard about that. Oh well, he never claimed to be a carpenter.”
“I don’t know who’s worse, Brendan or his brother. They were bickering over who was doing what wrong like an old married couple. I had to stay out of sight because when they saw me laughing at them they would get even huffier and start banging the hammers louder. The din was awful. Danny asked me if he could wear earmuffs in the house. It was 82 degrees at the time.”
“Look at the bright side. Physical activity is an antidote to stress.”
Mandy nodded.
Pat hesitated and then added, “Is Kelly still involved with that PTS group?”
Mandy sighed. “Dr. Sepansky wanted him to do community outreach, speaking to groups about what PTS is and does in order to raise awareness about it, but he wouldn’t do that.”
“Of course not,” Pat said dryly. “Too public, too high profile. Too much freakin’ talkin’.”
“Right. So now he does intake on a one-to-one basis, meeting with the new arrivals and getting them to feel comfortable and open up enough to get help.”
“The new arrivals who are where he was several years ago.”
“Yes.”
“And is he good at that?”
“Very. I’m proud of him.”
The women continued to talk and serve the food until Mandy looked up and saw her husband and son making their way back toward her over the open ground.
She put down the plates she was carrying and went across the lawn to meet them.
THE END
* * * * * * * *
NEW DIGITAL RELEASE
FEBRUARY 2012
MEN OF INTRIGUE: A TRILOGY
MEN OF INTRIGUE is a collection of three previously published contemporary romances available in print only prior to this digital release. The trilogy includes:
MONTEGA’S MISTRESS
A sheltered heiress finds fulfillment and adventure with a Central American revolutionary when she aids an injured stranger whose mission transforms her life
DANGER ZONE
A mercenary rescues a political hostage and can’t forget the woman he saved as their love spans the globe, binding them in an unforgettable passion
DEVIL’S DECEPTION
A Federal agent goes undercover as a bodyguard for a mobster’s niece and finds romance and betrayal when he falls for his charge
* * * * * * * *
ALSO NEW FROM
DOREEN OWENS MALEK
COMING LATER IN 2012 ON AMAZON
> ABRA’S ARRANGED MARRIAGE
(Contemporary Romance)
A law student marries her estranged stepbrother to keep him out of jail, then discovers a new life of sensuality and commitment with the last man on earth she would have chosen
THE HIGHWAYMAN RETURNS
(Elizabethan Historical Romance)
Sequel to the immensely popular THE HIGHWAYMAN, downloaded 17,000 times in its first three days of digital release
OTHER WORKS
BY
DOREEN OWENS MALEK
CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FOR
DIGITAL DOWNLOAD AND/OR IN PRINT AT
www.doreenowensmalek.com or www.amazon.com
Amanda's Blue Marine Page 33
