He nodded then stepped backward too. He took one more step back, lifting his hand in good-bye, she smiled tightly, then he turned and left the way he’d come.
Chapter Thirteen
For some reason the thought of going home to Paris did not seem so bad to Léonie once Ty was gone. She’d expected to leave him behind. Know that he was still there. But now, without him there, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to stay anyway. She would miss her work but she would find other important work to be done—with MSF or with another hospital in need of a hard working doctor.
All of the current staff was being moved, either home or to another facility depending on their involvement in the explosions. Those, like Léonie, who had been in the brunt of the violence, were required to take time away for psychological evaluation and rest, something Léonie would normally have resented. Now, out of the blue, she thought it might be nice to take a hot bath in her aunt’s home.
Léonie had an attic room that she’d picked out as her own when she’d moved in with her aunt. Her aunt owned a small Parisian duplex that Léonie had always loved since she was a child. It never changed. Her aunt worked too hard and too long to think about anything like decorating, and so the duplex kept the Moroccan rug that Marceline had picked up in Marrakesh on a medical aid trip. She still had the paintings of rotund women dancing around a feasting table that a girlfriend from college had made for her. There was the familiar smell of lavender in every closet and drawer, a pungent wind of brandy in the living room. The chimney still smoked no matter how many times Marceline had it cleaned and Léonie loved it all.
She would take a hot bath in the tub where the water took a good ten minutes to warm up. She would eat the pastries and baguette her aunt bought fresh from the boulangerie every day on her way to or from the hospital, depending on which shift she was working. Léonie would curl up in the small bed at the top of six stories, built in the early 1870’s.
The first leg of her flight was only four hours. She stepped out into the Istanbul airport and felt, for the first time in months, the inadequacy of her clothing. They’d been washed by hand over and over again and now they looked bleak and ill used in the unforgiving airport light. She checked her ticket for her next gate then slowly walked the busy walkways in the right direction. People marched along with a purpose that Léonie wished she felt. They were dressed in nice, clean clothes, tough nylon bags wheeling purposefully behind them.
The further she walked the more lost she felt. There was fast food, yogurt, coffee, sandwiches. Anything she wanted she could have. She stepped into a store where she spritzed on a dab of Chanel and savored the familiar smell.
In front of the mirror she hardly recognized herself. The lighting in her compartments in Afghanistan had been much gentler then the bright bulbs that illuminated her face in the Istanbul airport. She let her fingers glide along her skin and her fingers touched her hair that she’d been cutting herself for months on end.
Walking back out into the terminal she found her gate and moved around a large group to make it to a seat. As she slid through legs and luggage she was about to put her large canvas bag down when a woman’s hand shot out.
“This is saved,” The woman’s voice was smoky, like a New Yorker’s, which immediately made Léonie think of Ty. She bristled.
“Then you should have put something on it,” Léonie snapped at the woman who pulled her hand back automatically. Léonie could feel eyes turning to her as she stood unmoving from the spot.
“Oh,” The woman’s attention shifted and Léonie looked at the TV the woman was watching. There, talking to a BBC reporter, was Léonie herself. Léonie Fournier, Children’s Specialist, Doctor’s Without Borders, the title showed up beneath Léonie’s face.
“You were in that explosion?” The raspy voice asked and Léonie turned to see the woman staring at her.
Léonie nodded slowly, unable to deny what stood only a few feet from them. Embarrassingly enough, she was even wearing the same outfit.
“Sit down,” The woman patted the chair that she had been reserving for someone else. “My husband can find another seat. He hasn’t been in any explosions.” The woman shot a look across the other patrons to a man carrying a bag of food. The woman motioned to him and he scowled. Léonie couldn’t help but smile a little.
“I’m sorry for snapping at you,” Léonie said quietly as she sat into the chair.
“Are you kidding? I had friends in 9-11, you don’t have to apologize to me. I know what you’ve been through.” The shook her head, “That kind of stress would have me barking at everyone who crossed my path too, believe me.”
Léonie tugged at her shirt, “Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s the explosion that’s made me snappy. I’m just always like this.”
The woman turned to Léonie and looked over her face, then the woman smiled, and cupped her large cool hand over Léonie’s, patting it gently.
Chapter Fourteen
After twenty-four hours of travel, Ty did not feel like going to a fancy dinner even if it was meant as an honor to him.
When he arrived at BWI he learned that he would not, after all, have to go right to the dinner and ceremony. What had not been explained to him before leaving the base was that he was rushing to leave Afghanistan only to wait for two days in the states. Ty went straight home to his apartment where Dan, his roommate, actually screamed when Ty walked in the door. Tired as he was Ty was still able to laugh at Dan’s embarrassment before heading up to his bed, laying down and sleeping for thirteen hours straight.
When he walked down stairs the next afternoon, shirtless, with sleep in his eyes, and nothing in his stomach, Ty was stopped mid step. Sitting on his living room couch, watching the world news with Dan, was Rachel.
Dan and Rachel turned at the same time. Rachel stood slowly from her seat and walked a few steps toward him.
“How did you know I was here?” It was the only question or thought that would come to Ty’s head. His mind was caught in a sludgy fog and his thinking and speech processes were working on a mediocre level at best.
“I heard that there was going to be a dinner in your honor so I just figured…” She looked at the floor. She was beautiful. Long limbs in tailored clothing. Her fingernails a perfect mauve, her hair bouncing happily around her face.
“Let me,” Ty pointed back towards his room and turned. When he came back down he was fully clothed and had splashed his face with water to help wake him up. He felt slightly better then he had a few minutes before but he still wasn’t functioning properly.
This time, Rachel was in the kitchen cooking breakfast and making coffee. She poured a mug full and put three scoops of sugar in it before he could stop her.
“Actually, I drink it black now. I’ve been trying to cut out sugar.” Ty took a sip of the coffee anyway. It was good but almost too sweet for the taste buds that had abstained for so long.
“When was that?” She smiled and cocked her head as she flipped an omelet in the skillet.
“I read this book about how sugar is basically Satan—maybe two years ago. Then I just cut it out of my coffee for good.” He placed his mug back on the counter in front of him. Rachel gave an unidentifiable look then took the mug from him. She poured the coffee out and refilled it before setting it down in front of Ty.
“It isn’t Satan, I swear it won’t kill you.” She winked. Ty gave a half smile and drank his strong black coffee just the way he liked it. After all that he didn’t have it in him to tell Rachel that he only ate his eggs with hot sauce these days, so he just went without.
Rachel poured a cup of coffee for herself then sat down at the counter next to Ty.
“I hope you don’t mind that I invited myself over,” She gave him a shy look that Ty didn’t believe. She wasn’t shy person and no look would make him think she was.
“I don’t know, we just talked the other day and… I said I would think about things, nothing more.” Ty took a bite of his omelet. “So your showing
up here—it’s kind of weird.”
“I guess I just realized that life is really short.” Rachel turned to face into the kitchen and took a sip of her coffee. Ty nodded serenely at this then took another bite of his eggs.
“I also,” Rachel turned her head away a bit more and blushed. “I picked up your phone. Please don’t kill me. It was your mother and I hadn’t talked to her in so long so I just…anyway she was invited to the dinner and Mattie too—she was just calling to say that she’d be there tomorrow night. Apparently one of the organizers wanted to know if you wanted to bring anyone else.” Rachel bit her lip and hopped off her chair as she headed back around the counter to the kitchen area.
She’d lived in this house for three years—they’d found it together a year after they’d been dating. She knew where everything was and she was showing it.
“That was nice of them. I’m glad Mattie is going.” Ty tried to ignore the loaded questions flowing off of Rachel. Rachel walked in front of him and stopped.
“Ty,” She looked him in the eyes, her chest heaving with excitement. “Will you take me as your date? You have no idea…no idea, what it would mean to me to see the president. I know you aren’t sure about me, but this could just be a sort of friendly date, you know?” Her face was so earnest he had a hard time not joining in her enthusiasm.
Ty threw his napkin on the table, “Sure. Why not.”
“Really?” Rachel clapped her hands and smiled a huge smile, “You truly are a hero.”
She put her hands back on the counter and looked around herself without really seeing.
“Well, I guess you’d better get out of here,” Ty said as he watched her.
She looked up, “What do you mean?”
“I know you’re dying to go dress shopping.”
Her smile crept up slowly this time. “But, I can’t just leave you with all these dishes.” She looked at the small mess she’d made of the kitchen.
“Don’t worry about it—it will give me something to do.”
“Really?” She did the clapping thing again.
“Just get out of here. Meet me here whenever we have to leave.” He assumed correctly that Rachel knew more details about the evening’s events then Ty did. A cloud passed over Rachel’s face and Ty reviewed his words to make sure he hadn’t said anything crass.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” He asked after he was sure he hadn’t inadvertently insulted her somehow.
“It’s just…I thought you might pick me up?” She opened her eyes wide.
“What’s up with you? You are a ball-breaking lawyer, what’s with all the puppy dog eyes? This is not a date remember, this is a favor so you can meet the president and we can hang out… as whatever.”
Rachel considered his words then decided that she would take them. She nodded and turned, “Ok then. I’ll see you here, tomorrow night.”
Ty gave a wave that she couldn’t see because she was already headed for the door.
Mattie came to DC early with Ty’s mother who was beside herself over everything that had happened in the last week. Mattie had not been told by her mother that Ty’s life had been in danger but apparently she’d heard about the explosions from some friends. Unlike a normal kid who would be scared out of their minds over that sort of thing, Mattie thought it was awesome.
“Too many movies,” Ty’s mother kept saying every time Mattie asked about the explosions.
Ty’s mom took Mattie shopping for a dress for the dinner. Ty was loathe to leave the warm comforts of home for anything—and so he didn’t. He ordered food in for everyone, beer for himself, and his mother had to make do with a glass of Dan’s boxed wine.
The little quartet watched Night at the Museum, which oddly hit Ty and Dan’s funny bone more then Mattie’s or Ty’s mother, whose suggestion it had been.
It wasn’t until the house was dark, Dan in bed, his mother and daughter in his own bed, and him on the hard leather couch that was not made for anyone to sleep on, that Ty thought of Léonie. Falling asleep while thinking about her resulted in him waking up thinking about her. Then getting ready thinking about her.
Rachel showed up early and both Mattie and Ty’s mother went crazy over her. Ty was the odd man out but he didn’t mind. The car showed up on time, on time meaning very early, because security took so long for an event that the president was going to be at.
“The president won’t be there for the dinner portion. After the food, there will be champagne and then the president will come in. He’ll make a few remarks, and present you with your star. Got it?” The woman giving Ty the run down of events was riding in the car with them. She gave out rules and tips to each person in a very no-nonsense way that Ty found hard to find fault with.
“Do I go in on your arm?” Rachel asked with the same innocence she’d been using the day before.
“Sure, if you want to,” The woman answered without looking up from her clipboard. Rachel smiled at Ty and Ty couldn’t help but smile back.
“Can I wear your medal?” Mattie looked up at Ty who picked her up and pulled her tightly into him.
“I missed you so much,” He gave her a big kiss on the head.
“But can I wear your medal?” She said doggedly getting back to the main point.
“Sure,” Ty said as the woman looked at him with disapproval. “I mean, no. Probably not, baby. Not until you become a soldier and win a medal yourself.”
Mattie looked up at Ty with fire in her eyes, “I will too.” The fluffy pink dress should have been a miniature set of fatigues, he thought.
“I know you will, baby.” Ty ruffled her hair.
Ty found the woman’s instructions impossible to mess up. There were at least three secret service men everywhere he went and he doubted very much his ability to do anything they didn’t want him to do. All night he was being whispered to, introduced around, and corrected if he happened to step into the wrong part of the room. Rachel grabbed his arm for the beginning of the night but soon found her footing and was easily talking to senators and the sort of Army men who only smoke cigars.
It was Mattie who became Ty’s real date. He and Mattie picked out various edibles to try when no one else was looking, made fun of strange outfits or turns of phrase, and came up with names for all the secret service men that were far from secret.
After appetizers, cocktails, and chatting, everyone moved off to various pre-arranged seating and Ty felt like he was taking part in a very formal, very strict wedding.
“Do you know what you’ll say?” Rachel asked Ty as they began on their raspberry truffle tarts.
“Say?” Ty licked an extra blob of chocolate off his spoon.
“Don’t you say something when you get the award?” Rachel put her fork down.
“I don’t think so. I mean, not normally, but I guess…its possible.”
“You didn’t plan anything?”
“It’s ok Rachel, I didn’t need to plan anything. If I’m meant to say something I’ll just say thank you.” Ty took a short breath and put his own fork down.
“Ty?” Rachel was staring at him and Ty slowly turned toward her. “What I said the other day—have you thought about it?”
Ty exhaled slowly, “Why don’t we talk after all this.”
“If you know, then you should just tell me now.” Her hackles were going up and Ty could see her defenses coming out with teeth bared, ready to protect herself.
“I think we should just wa—”
“I don’t. I’d like to hear what you have to say now.” Her voice lost all of the coy, puppy energy she’d been throwing about and her normal, hard-edged lawyer voice was making its way to the bench.
Ty pushed his plate away and wiped his mouth with his napkin. He looked to make sure Mattie and his mother were adequately invested in other things then turned to Rachel.
“I appreciate everything you said the other day. I really do.” His voice was low and he looked about every now and again to make sure no one else would
pick up on their conversation. “I just—I don’t think I have the same feelings anymore.”
Rachel’s mouth dropped slightly.
“I thought I did. I used to, but…I met someone—”
“You met someone?” Rachel’s voice came out cold. “Who? When?”
“It doesn’t matter. The thing is, that we were never right for each other. I mean—that was three years ago. I…”
“Are you ready?” The woman who had prepped him, who incidentally did not give Ty her name even when asked politely, was at his ear. She didn’t wait for his answer, “Be ready in three to five minutes.”
Somehow with Rachel next to him, her questions in his ear, the unknown secret service agent who’d just left, and the president on his way to give Ty an award, all he could think about was Léonie. Ty’s breathing started to become shallow and he felt a beading of sweat break out along the base of his neck.
“Are you ok, daddy?” Mattie asked from across the table.
“Of course, honey. Daddy’s great.” Ty nervously tweaked his dress blue’s.
“You look great,” Ty’s mother added. He could hear the concern in all of their voices. It was possible that none of them had really seen him nervous before.
Ty nodded at them all then patted his forehead with his napkin. He turned back to Rachel.
“You understand?” He didn’t have to care but she’d been a big part of his life for a long time and it did feel like there was something precious about that even if it wasn’t love anymore.
Rachel put her hands together and looked at Ty, she lifted a hand and moved his tie back to its rightful position then smiled. “Of course I understand. Of all people, I understand.”
Ty nodded.
“And now, ladies and gentlemen,” The voice was flowing in, from where Ty didn’t know. “Please rise for the president of the United States.”
The assembly of people all stood and clapped as the president walked onto a small podium with a large US flag sprawled out behind him.
Romancing the SEAL: The Complete Box Set (SEAL Military Romance Series Book 4) Page 8
