by Diana Palmer
Gwen laughed. “Impressive.”
“Thanks. I love animals. I wish I could afford to keep a cat, but I can’t. This is the next best thing.”
Gwen noted several pill bottles on the end table by the elderly lady’s recliner.
“By the time I pay for all those out of my social security check,” she told Gwen, “there’s not much left over for bills and food.”
Gwen winced. “That’s not right.”
The woman sighed. “The economy is terrible. I expect something awful will have to happen to finally set things right.” She looked at Gwen over her glasses. “I don’t expect to still be around then. But if aliens exist, and they want somebody to experiment on…” She raised her hand. “I’m ready to go. To some nice, green planet with lots of meadows and trees and no greedy humans destroying it all for a quick profit.”
“You and I would get along,” Gwen said with a smile.
The woman nodded. “Now, back to my neighbor. I do keep a watch on the apartment complex, mostly to try to protect myself. I can’t fight off an intruder and I don’t own a gun. So I make sure I know who belongs here and who doesn’t.” Her eyes narrowed. “There was a grimy young man with greasy hair who kept coming to see the college girl. She was trying to be nice, you could tell from her expression, but she never let him inside. Once, the last time he came, the police went to her apartment and stayed for several minutes.”
Gwen’s heart jumped. If there had been police presence, there would be a report, with details of the conversation. She jotted that down on her phone app, making virtual notes.
“That thing is neat,” the elderly lady said. “One of my cat-owning friends has one. He can surf the net on it, buy groceries, books, all sorts of things. I never realized we had such things in the modern world. I suppose I live in the past.”
Gwen made a mental note to make sure this nice lady got a phone and several phone cards for Christmas, from an anonymous source. It would revolutionize her life.
“Yes, they are quite nice,” Gwen said. She smiled. “Thanks for talking to me. You’ve been a very big help.”
“It was my pleasure. I know you young folks don’t have much free time, but if you’re ever at a loose end, you can come and see me and I’ll tell you about the FBI in the seventies.”
Gwen stared at her.
“I was a federal agent,” the woman told her. “One of the first women in the bureau.”
“I would love to hear some stories about those days,” Gwen told her. “And I’ll make time.”
The wrinkled face lit up. “Thank you!”
“No, thank you. I’m fond of pioneers,” she replied.
She told Rick about the elderly woman.
“Yes, Evelyn Dorsey.” He nodded, smiling. “She’s something of a legend over at the FBI field office. Garon Grier goes to see her from time to time.” He was the SAC, the special agent in charge, at the San Antonio Field Office now. “She shot it out with a gang of would-be kidnappers right over on the 410 Loop. Hit two of them before they shot her, almost fatally, and escaped. But she had a description of the car, right down to the license plate number, and she managed to get it out on the radio before she passed out. They nabbed the perps ten miles away. Back in those days, the radio was in the car, not on a belt. It was harder to be in law enforcement.”
“I expect so. Ms. Dorsey was very helpful on our college freshman case, by the way. We did have a patrol unit respond to the freshman’s call. I’m tracking down the officer who filed the report now.”
“I hope we can catch the guy,” he replied.
“The cold case unit wants him very badly. They think he’s connected to the old case they’re working on,” she said. “One of those detectives was related to the victim in it.”
“Sad.”
“Yes.” She moved closer to the desk. “You doing okay?”
He grimaced. “No,” he said, with a faint smile.
“Why don’t you come over and watch the Twilight movies with me tonight? We can order a pizza.”
He cocked his head and the smile grew. “You know, that sounds like a very good idea.”
She grinned. “Glad you think so. I like mushrooms and cheese and pepperoni.”
His eyebrows lifted. “Have you been checking out my profile?”
“No. Why?”
“That’s my favorite.”
She beamed. “Another thing in common.”
“We’ll find more, I think.”
“Yes.”
Rick wasn’t comfortable with so-called chick flicks, but he was drawn into the movie almost at once. He barely noticed when the pizza delivery girl showed up, and only lifted his hand for the plate and coffee cup without taking his eyes off the screen.
Gwen was delighted. It was her favorite film. She kicked off her shoes and curled up beside him on the sofa to watch it again, sipping coffee and munching pizza in a contented silence. It was amazing, she thought, how comfortable they were with each other, even at this early stage of their relationship.
He glanced at her while the vampire was showing off his skills to the heroine on the screen. “You’re right. This is very good.”
“So are the books. I love all of them.”
“I guess I’ll have to buy them. It isn’t often you find so many likable people in a story chain.”
She sipped coffee. “You know, I hadn’t thought of it that way, but you’re right. Even the vampires are likable.”
“Odd, isn’t it? Likable monsters.”
“But they aren’t really monsters. They’re just misunderstood living-challenged people.”
He burst out laughing.
“More pizza?” she asked.
“I think I could hold one more slice.”
“Me, too.” She jumped up and went to get it.
After they finished eating, she curled up against him through the heroine’s introduction to her boyfriend’s family, the baseball game in the rain, the arrival of the more dangerous vampires, the heroine’s brush with death and, finally, her appearance at the prom in a cast with her boyfriend.
“That was a roller coaster ride,” he remarked. “Are there more?”
“Two more. Want to watch the next one?”
He turned toward her, his dark eyes on her radiant face. He pursed his lips. “Yes, I would. But not right now.” He pulled her across his lap. “I’m suffering from affection deprivation. Do you think you could assist me?”
“Could I!” she whispered as his mouth came down on hers.
Each kiss became harder, more urgent. As they grew accustomed to the feel and taste of each other, the pleasure grew and it became more difficult to pull back.
He actually groaned when he found himself lying over her with half their clothes out of the way, just like before. He buried his face in her warm, frantically pulsing throat.
“I’m dying,” he ground out.
“Me, too,” she whispered back, shivering.
He lifted his head. His eyes were tormented. “How do you feel about marriage?”
She blinked.
He realized that he, the most non-impulsive man on earth, was doing something totally out of character. But he was already crazy about Gwen and the lieutenant was lurking. Even Machado had been giving her long looks. He didn’t want her to end up with some other man while he was waiting for the right moment to do something. And besides, he was traditional, so was she, and there was this incredible, almost unbelievable physical compatibility.
He sighed. “Look, we get along very well. We’re incredibly suited physically. We have similar jobs, outlooks on life, philosophies, and we’re on the same social level. Why don’t we drive over the border and get married? Right now. Afterward,” he added with a speaking glance, “we can do what we’re both dying to do without lingering feelings of guilt.”
Her lips parted. She should have challenged that social level comparison immediately, but her body was on fire and all she could think of was relief. She love
d him. He was at least fond of her. They both wanted kids. It would work. She would make it work.
“Yes,” she blurted out.
He forced himself to get up and he pulled out his cell phone, scrolled down a list of names and punched in a button. “Yes. Ramirez? Sorry to call so late. Can you get me a direct line to the general? I need his help on a—” he glanced at Gwen “—personal matter.”
Ramirez sighed. “All right. But you owe me one.”
“Yes, I do.”
There was a pause, another pause. Rick motioned Gwen for a pencil and paper. He wrote down a number. “Thanks!” he told Ramirez, and hung up. He dialed the number.
“Yes, it’s your—” he hesitated “—your son. How do you feel about giving away the bride at a Mexican wedding? Oh, in about thirty minutes.”
There was a burst of Spanish from the other end of the line. Rick replied in the same language, protesting that he wasn’t up to anything immoral, he was trying to make sure everything was done properly and that meant a proper wedding. The general seemed to calm down. Another hesitation. Rick grinned.
“Thanks,” he said, and hung up. He turned to Gwen and pursed his lips. “Do you have a white dress?”
“Do I have a white dress!” she exclaimed, and ran into the next room to put it on.
She left her hair long. The dress was close-fitting, with puffy sleeves and a draped beaded shawl. She looked young and very innocent. And most incredibly sexy.
Rick’s body reacted to her visibly. He cleared his throat. “Don’t notice that,” he said curtly.
“Oh. Okay.” She giggled as she joined him and looked up into his dark eyes. “Are you sure?” she asked hesitantly.
He framed her face in his hands and kissed her with breathless tenderness. “I don’t know why, but I’ve never been so sure of anything. No cold feet?”
She shook her head. Her eyes were full of dreams. “Oh, no. Not at all.”
He smiled. “Same here. We can share ammunition, too, so it will be cost effective to get married.”
She burst out laughing. “I’ll be sure to tell my father that when I explain why I didn’t invite him to the ceremony.”
He grimaced. “I’ll have to do the same for my mother. But we don’t have time to get them all together. We’re eloping.”
“Your father will have to be the audience,” she said.
“My father.” He smiled. “Let’s go.”
The general was waiting for them at the border. They followed him down a long dusty road to a small village and stopped in front of a mission church with a shiny new bell.
“I donated the bell,” the general informed them proudly. “They are good people here, and the priest is a nice young man, from the United States.” He hesitated, glancing from one to the other. “I did not think to ask which religious denomination…?”
“Catholic.” They both spoke at once, stared at each other, and then burst out laughing.
“We hadn’t discussed it before,” Rick said.
“Well, it will be good,” the general said with a big smile. “Come, the priest is waiting. You two, you’re sure about this?”
Gwen looked at Rick with her heart in her eyes. “Very.”
“Very, very,” Rick added, his dark eyes shining.
“Then we shall proceed.”
The general took Gwen down the aisle of the church on his arm. The whole village came to watch, including a number of small children who seemed to find the blonde lady’s hair fascinating.
The priest smiled benevolently, read the marriage service. Then they came to the part about a ring.
Rick turned white. “Oh, no.”
The general punched him. “Here. I remember everything.” He handed him a small circle of gold that looked just right for Gwen’s hand. “Something old. It belonged to my abuela,” he added, “my grandmother.” He smiled. “She would want it to stay in the family.”
“It’s beautiful,” Gwen whispered. “Thank you.”
The general nodded. Rick took the small circle of gold and slid it gently onto Gwen’s finger, where it was a perfect fit. The priest pronounced them man and wife, and Rick bent to kiss her. And they were married.
Neither of them remembered much about the rest of the evening. Back at Gwen’s apartment, there was a feverish removal of cotton and lace, followed by an incredibly long session in bed that left them both covered in sweat, boneless with pleasure and totally exhausted.
Not that exhaustion stopped them. As soon as they were breathing normally again, they reached for each other, and started all over.
“You know, it never occurred to me that marriage would be so much fun,” Rick commented when they were finally sleepy.
Gwen, curled up against him, warm and satisfied, laughed softly. “Me, either. I always thought of it as something a little more dignified. You know, for children and…” She stopped.
He turned and looked down at her guilty face. “Hey. You want kids. I want kids. What’s the problem?”
She relaxed. “You make it seem so simple.”
“It is simple. Two people fall in love, get married and have a family.” His eyes were on fire with his feelings. “We’ll grow old together. But not right away. Maybe not at all,” he added worriedly, “when my mother realizes that I got married without even telling her.”
“My dad is going to go ballistic, too,” she replied. “But he couldn’t have come even if I’d had time to ask him. He’s tied up with military stuff right now.”
“Is he on active duty?”
“Oh, yes,” she said, and there was another worry. She still had to tell Rick who her dad was, and all about the family he’d married into. That might be a source of discord. So she wasn’t about to face it tonight.
She curled up close and wound her arms around him. “For a guy who never indulged, you’re very good.”
He laughed. “Compliment returned.” He hugged her close. “They said it comes naturally. I guess it does. Of course, there were all these books I read. For educational purposes only.”
She grinned. “I read a few of those, too.”
He bent and brushed his mouth gently over hers. “I’m glad we waited,” he said seriously, searching her eyes. “I know we’re out of step with the world. But I don’t care. This was right for us.”
“Yes, it was. Thank you for having enough restraint,” she added. “We couldn’t have counted on me for it. I was on fire!”
“So was I. But I was thinking about later, generations later, when we tell our grandchildren and great-grandchildren about how it was when we fell in love and got married.” He closed his eyes. “It’s a golden memory. Not a legalization of something that had gone on before.”
She pressed her mouth into his warm, muscular shoulder with a smile. “And the nicest thing is that you’re already my best friend.”
“You’re mine, too.” He kissed her hair. “Go to sleep. We’ll get up tomorrow and face the music.”
“What?”
“I was just thinking,” he mused, “that the lieutenant is going to foam at the mouth when we tell him.”
“What?” she exclaimed.
“Just a hunch.” He thought the lieutenant had a case on Gwen. Maybe, maybe not. But he was expecting fireworks the next day.
Chapter Nine
“Fireworks” was, if anything, an understatement.
“You’re married?” Lieutenant Hollister exclaimed.
Gwen moved a little closer to Rick. “Yes. Sorry, we would have invited you, but we didn’t want the expense of a big wedding, so we eloped,” she told him, stretching the truth.
“Eloped.” Hollister leaned back in his chair with a grumpy sigh. He glared at Marquez. “Well, it was certainly quick.”
“We knew how we felt at once,” Rick replied with a smile at his wife. “No sense having a long engagement.”
She smiled back. “Absolutely.”
“Well, congratulations,” Hollister said after a minute. He got
up, smiled and shook hands with both of them. “How did your mother take it?” he asked Rick.
Rick grimaced. “Haven’t told her.”
“Why don’t you two take the day off and call it a honeymoon,” Hollister suggested. “Gail Rogers can sub for you,” he told Rick. “I don’t want Barbara coming after me with a bazooka because she heard the news from somebody else.”
“Good idea,” Rick said. “Thanks!”
“My pleasure. A wedding present. A short one,” he added. “You have to be back on the job tomorrow. And when are we losing you?” he asked Gwen.
She wasn’t sure what he meant, and then she realized that she belonged to a federal agency. “I’m not sure. I’ll have to talk to my boss and he’ll have to discuss it with the captain here.”
Hollister nodded. “You’ve done very well. I’ll be sorry to lose you.”
She smiled. “I’ll be sorry to go. I may have to make some minor adjustments in my career path, as well,” she added with a worried glance at Rick. “I don’t really want to keep a job that sends me around the world every other week. Not now.”
Hollister pursed his lips. “We can always use another detective,” he pointed out. “You’d pick it back up in no time, and we have all sorts of workshops and training courses.”
She beamed. “You mean it?”
“Of course,” he assured her.
“Wait a minute, you’d give up working for the feds, for me?” Rick asked, as if he couldn’t quite believe it.
“I would,” she said solemnly. “I’m tired of living out of a suitcase. And I really like San Antonio.” She didn’t add that she was also very tired of the D.C. social scene and being required to hostess parties for her dad. It was never enjoyable. She didn’t like crowds or parties. To give him his due, neither did her father. But he was certainly going to be in the center of the Washington social whirl very soon. She dreaded having to tell Rick about it.
“Well,” Rick said, and couldn’t resist a charming smile.
She laughed. “And now for the really hard part. We have to break the news to your mother.”
