Alice laughed. “Ruth you are incorrigible.”
Ruth had a cheesy grin on her face when she replied, “Again, thank you for the compliment.”
Laughing, Alice swatted at Ruth, just as Joyce walked in.
Joyce removed her surgical cap from her head, and held it in both her hands, as she stopped, and looked over at them. Alice grabbed her sister’s hand, and Ruth wrapped her arm across her shoulder, bracing her for whatever news Joyce had come to deliver.
***
“How are we going to play it?” asked Jerry.
“I’m going to bluff my way through,” Aidan replied, as she mashed down on the clutch, and shifted into drive.
“Wait.” Jerry reached down into his backpack, and pulled out two cigars. “I was saving this for when we got back to Iraq, but I think now would be more appropriate.”
Aidan grinned, “You’re a genius, Jerry.”
“Nah, I just remembered how gutsy you are when you bluff, Sarge.”
In too much of a hurry to savor the lighting of the cigar ritual, Aidan puffed on it a couple of times, and passed the lighter to Jerry.
“Well let’s hope I haven’t lost my touch. Okay, listen up. We’re going to ram the checkpoint, and won’t be stopping until we’re in Iraq. Vicky, make sure the baby and Sam are strapped in tight. Jerry,” Aidan reached for the handgun tucked in her jeans, “here’s the pistol, as a last resort. There’s no way we could take all of them out at once, but hopefully, it won’t come to that. Any questions?”
“No question, but I think a quick prayer is in order,” said Vicky, already clasping her hands together.
“Make it a damn quick one.”
Vicky closed her eyes, and tilted her head towards the heavens, “God, our butts are in your hands, please don’t drop us now. Amen!”
“Good prayer, Vick. Ready everybody? Here we go!” Aidan drove at a regular speed, careful not to attract attention unnecessarily. The closer they got, the more confident Aidan was that they hadn’t recognize them yet. She knew there would have been a flurry of activity if they had, and she’d have no option but to stop or risk being shot at. So, less than a block away, when they were close enough to see that only one car was waiting to be inspected, she clinched the cigar between her teeth, stomped down on the clutch, and shifted into over drive. She could see them waving her down, screaming and finally, raising their weapons to fire. “Everybody get down!” But before the soldiers could shoot, they had to dive out of the way, as Aidan drove at breakneck speed, around the waiting car in front of her, and straight for the guards.
The Iraqi border check point, was only a couple of blocks past the Syrian check point, and Aidan had to pump the brakes repeatedly, to slow the truck down in time to keep from ramming their blockade as well. She fought back her panic when she saw the Iraqi border guards pointing rifles at them. There weren’t many of them, and Aidan thought she could speed past them too, if needed. But quickly she realized, they weren’t aiming at the her, they were trained on the Syrian border guards. She exhaled gratefully, and pulled behind the guardhouse, out of eyesight of the Syrian guards.
Relieved when the standoff had dissipated, Aidan was uncharacteristically ecstatic to see Fred, their contact from Baghdad, walking towards them. Stamping out her cigar, she pumped his hand, “Fred!” she said, a little too eagerly, “Fancy meeting you here.”
He smiled, which was also completely out of character for him, “I thought you might need help, getting through customs. I see you found what you were looking for.” He nodded towards Samantha.
Aidan grinned, “Yes, and then some.”
“Here’s her military ID, she’ll need that, for the trip back.”
“Excellent, thank you.”
Vicky spoke up, “We need to get to a hospital, Fred, as soon as possible, and we need one that knows how to take care of premature babies.”
Fred looked puzzled, but answered, “I’m afraid the closest one available, is in Baghdad.”
“So far away?” Disappointed and fearful, Vicky didn’t know if the baby could make it that long, and Samantha was in as poor a state as her baby. Turning to Samantha, she said, “Time to feed the baby again. Jerry, would you help her, please?” Vicky knew Samantha didn’t have enough milk to satisfy the baby’s needs, but it was important that the mother and baby bond as soon, and as often, as possible. “Oh, and Jerry, be mindful of your stitches.”
Jerry gingerly pulled the baby out of the box, and handed him to Samantha, who placed him up under her shirt.
“Aidan, we need to clean the box. Can you get me another shirt, please. And Jerry, would you please put some more water in the tray, there’s a bottle of water right beside it.” Both Aidan and Jerry did as they were told, without question.
Fred chuckled to himself, She’s like a little general. “What can I do to help, General?”
Aidan and Vicky looked around to see who he was talking to, and when they realized it was Vicky, Aidan and Jerry burst out laughing.
Still chuckling, Aidan replied, “Well, I’m not the, uh, General, but we need to gas up, is there a gas station nearby?”
Fred walked over to his truck, and came back with two gas cans. He carried the cans over to the four by four, and removed the gas cap, then began filling it up.
“Aidan…,” Samantha looked up from the suckling babe, and said pointedly, “Aidan, I will not go to a hospital, here. I don’t want to be here one minute longer. Please, just take us home. Please!”
Aidan could hear the desperation in Samantha’s voice, but she still tried to reason with her, “Sam, the baby needs special care. He might die. You might die. I think we should—”
But she was adamant to the point of hysterics, “No! I won’t go!”
Aidan nodded her head, and walked over to Fred and Vicky, “Vick, what do we need to do, to get them to the airport alive?”
She looked at Aidan incredulously, but saw the pain in her lover’s eyes. A deep pain of feeling helpless, that went straight to Vicky’s heart. Vicky turned to Fred and asked, “Can you find me a real incubator, medicines, IV’s kits, needles for preemies…, here, I’ll just make you a list. Can you call ahead, and have these things waiting for us, at the airport?”
Fred nodded, “I’m sure I can get most of that. By the way,” he turned to Aidan, “we have a plane fueled and waiting, courtesy of your President Trenton. He has a friend who has a corporate jet.”
Aidan sighed with relief. A private jet reduces travel time by a couple of hours, and she knew, was a hell of a lot more comfortable to ride in.
Vicky, finishing her list, smiled, God bless you, Mr. President!
“Cassidy, our guards will be expecting you. Just drive right up to the plane, and show them your identity, which I have here.” Fred handed back their passports and ID’s, “and they will let you on board.” Aidan nodded, grateful to have her real identity back.
“Okay, let’s get going, time’s a wasting.” Vicky barked her orders, and the others obeyed.
Aidan shook Fred’s hand again, and Vicky kissed him on the cheek. He watched them drive away, then got out his cell phone, and started making those calls.
Vicky sat up front with Aidan, and when Aidan took her hand, intertwining their fingers together, Vicky leaned her head back on the headrest and smiled, feeling safe for the first time in days.
“It’s finally over, kid, we’re going home!”
Vicky exclaimed, “Thank you, sweet Jesus!” then she became more somber, “When can I call and check on my dad?”
In the adrenalin rush, and stress of it all, Aidan had forgotten about her father’s critical illness, but for Vicky, it was foremost in her thoughts. Aidan brought Vicky’s hand to her lips, and kissed it, “Just as soon as we get into Baghdad. Just a little bit longer, okay, baby?”
Vicky couldn’t keep it to herself, any longer. The immediate emergency was over with, and she was almost on safe ground, so she had to know, “Aidan?”
; “Yeah, kid?”
“Aidan, I have to ask you something.” Vicky looked back, to see that Samantha was sleeping, and her baby was safely tucked back in the makeshift incubator. Then she looked at Aidan, and took a shallow breath before asking, “Am I still your baby? I mean…, I know it’s silly, and I’m being irrational, and it’s probably just because I’m exhausted, that I’m even asking…, but you picked her, and I always thought, I was the only one you called baby, and when you said that to Samantha, and I—”
Aidan interrupted her ramblings, “God no! First off, never think that you’re being silly in telling me how you feel, or what you need from me, kid. I depend on that honesty, okay?” Aidan took a quiet breath to gather her thoughts, she knew this conversation wasn’t really about a nickname, it was much deeper than that. She had considered that it would shock Vicky, when she picked Samantha over her, but during the standoff, she didn’t have time to analyze how deeply Vicky would be hurt by it.
“You have to understand, that I was desperate to free you from that old man, so I used the only leverage I had. See, I could tell by the way the younger man was acting, that he would freak out if he thought he was going to lose his wife and child. Please believe me when I say, it was all just a ploy. I would never intentionally put you through something like that, if I didn’t think you’d understand. I love you way too much. Uh, you do understand, don’t you, Vick?”
“I understand, honey, don’t worry, I trusted you completely, it’s okay,” Vicky wasn’t lying, she did trust Aidan unconditionally. But that did not resolve the doubt that was beginning to settle in over the emotional hurt, she was feeling.
Aidan looked at her for a second, and wondered what was really going through her mind. Even though she didn’t think this conversation was about the nickname, Aidan understood now, how important that was to Vicky. “You do realize, kid, that soon you’ll have a new nickname, since I’ll be changing it.”
“Changing it, why?”
“Because you’ll be my wife. I’m thinking, maybe I’ll call you wifey, or the little woman, or maybe the old ball and chain. Which one do you like?”
Laughing, Vicky leaned back, finally able to relax. “Wife will do just fine, thank you very much.”
Even though there were no suspicious incidents, or perhaps because there were none, the time it took to get back to Baghdad seem to drag by excruciatingly slowly. None of the group wanted to stop any longer than they had to, but the baby needed to be fed, and it’s diaper changed, often. After Samantha nursed the baby, Vicky would then offer her milk, to make sure the child was satisfied. In-between stops, Samantha managed to sleep most of the way, while Jerry kept his arm draped over the incubator, to keep the box from moving. Vicky and Aidan held hands, but only spoke once in a while, when one of them saw something in the desert, worth mentioning.
They finally made it to the airport, and true to his word, Fred had arranged for the supplies Vicky needed. He had a self-contained isolette waiting on the tarmac, and Vicky quickly transferred the baby, from the makeshift box, to the isolette, and with the help of the guards, carried the baby onto the plane.
The airplane was large, with cushy bucket seats that could reclined flat, a pillow covered couch, with a cocktail bar across from it, and a dining area toward the back. There was plenty of room for the incubator to sit level in a bucket seat that also reclined, so Vicky had the guards set the incubator on a seat, and then she strapped it in with the seatbelt.
The guards also helped Jerry and Samantha up the steps, and into a seat. Samantha fell asleep almost immediately, in the comfortable leather chair, and Aidan put a blanket over her.
Meanwhile, Vicky carefully inserted, a much needed IV drip, into the babies hand, and cooed at him, when he cried. “Oh, I’m so sorry, little man, but this will make you feel much better, I promise. There, see, all done.” She picked up the baby, cradled him in her arms, and began to quietly sing to him, as she softly rocked him back and forth.
Observing Vicky with the baby, Aidan stood back, and watched in wonder. How she wished Vicky could be holding her own baby right now. Letting it drink from her own life giving milk. What must she be feeling, holding someone else’s baby, instead of her own.
Whether it was exhaustion, or loss, or overwhelming love, Aidan let the tears spill over.
Vicky glanced over at Aidan, and her smile turned to concerned. She placed the now sleeping baby back in the incubator, and closed the lid. Then she walked over to her lover, and without a word, softly wiped away her tears, and pulled her into an embrace. The kind of embrace that filled the heart, and warmed the soul. She didn’t say anything, she didn’t have to. She willed Aidan to take from her, what she needed most. The warmth she provided, and love she exuded, delivered all that Aidan wanted.
Aidan kissed her, gently at first. Then harder and more deeply. She took the camera from around Vicky’s neck, opened it up, and retrieved the diamond engagement ring from inside it. She slipped the ring over Vicky’s finger, and aligned it just so, then brought it up to her lips, and kissed it softly. “You’re my angel, sent from heaven, Vicky.”
Vicky held the ring to her heart, and smiled up at Aidan, her own eyes filling with tears. It was finally over, and she could dream again of the time that she would walk down that aisle, and marry her beloved.
“This calls for a celebration!” Aidan proclaimed.
Sitting on the bar was a bottle of Champagne, chilling on ice. The note read: ‘You deserve this. PJT’. Aidan popped the cork, and quickly pour the libation into the glass.
Vicky pulled out her phone, and turned it on. There were several text messages, and she read the first one on top. ‘Your father is out of surgery and doing fine. He’s stable and breathing on his own. He says he’s ready to dance at your wedding. Now get your ass back here. Love Joyce.’ “Oh, thank you, Jesus!” she cried excitedly.
Aidan asked, “Is it good news about Pop?”
Vicky, eyes brimming with tears, was too emotional to speak, so she traded Aidan her phone, for the glass of bubbly.
Reading the text, Aidan shouted, “Thank Christ!” Aidan and Vicky clinched in a celebrative dance, oblivious to everyone else, even those they had woken up.
Samantha turned to Jerry, and gave him a questioning look. “What’s going on?”
He explained, “Vicky’s father was deathly ill from a heart attack, and she’s been worried sick about him ever since.”
“Since? You mean, while you all were over here?”
He nodded.
Samantha creased her forehead, trying to analyze why Vicky would do such a thing.
Aidan handed everyone a glass of Champaign, then grabbed a beer for herself. She held the bottle of beer up, and made a toast, “I’d like to declare that Operation Pink Knight was a success. Here’s to a new life, a safer, freer life with our loved ones.”
“Here-here!”
A few minutes later the flight attendant came in, to prepare for takeoff. She gathered up the drinks, put everything away, and instructed her four passengers to buckle up. Aidan and Vicky sat across from Samantha and Jerry, with the baby within arms reach, across the aisle.
Vicky looked at Aidan, as they put their seatbelts on, and playfully said, “Told you so”
Aidan grinned and played along, “Did not”
“Did too”
“Did not.”
“Did too!”
“Okay, smarty pants, what did you tell me so?”
She beamed triumphant, and said, “I told you that you would need me, over here.”
Aidan’s eyes grew big, as she agreed, “And I am so glad you did!”
By the time the plane lifted off the ground, they were both sound asleep in each other’s arms.
***
Kate, scantily dressed in a negligée, carrying a bottle of champagne in one hand, and a bra in the other, scampered down the hallway of the Marriott Hotel.
“Come back here with that, you little minx!” Ruth, wearin
g only the hotel bathrobe, one slipper on her foot, and the other in her hand, desperately tried to slip it on her foot, as she skipped after Kate. “You’re going to get us kicked out of here, you know.”
Kate stopped, turned toward Ruth, and grinned. Then she ran out the door, onto the rooftop patio and pool.
Ruth finally got her slipper on, and caught up with Kate, who was splashing about in the shallow end of the pool. The bottle of champagne sat on the ground next to Ruth’s foot, with Kate’s negligée draped over it. Kate, whose nude body seemed to dance in the ripples of the water, offered up Ruth’s bra as even more enticement.
I haven’t skinny dipped since I was a teenager. Ruth looked to make sure that no one was around, then took off her robe, and jumped in the pool with Kate.
The End
Books by Mairsile:
I Remember You
Aidan is tough, self-assured and suffering from amnesia. The only person who knows her heart, Vicky, can’t tell her that they were childhood lovers, even when Vicky is asked to hire her.
Vicky is the CEO of a multi‒million dollar health system, being targeted by terrorists hell bent on blowing up her hospital. (Book 1 of the A&V series) Buy it now!
Remember, It’s You I Love
Aidan & Vicky are on a mission called, Operation Pink Knight, where they must enter a war zone in order to rescue Aidan’s second love, and first fiancée. It comes down to a volatile standoff between them and the enemy, and Aidan must choose which woman to save. (Book 2 of the A&V series)
Generations of Women Warriors: Battle of Pea Ridge, American Civil War
First in a series chronicling the life and times of women in a family, who fought in historic battles and loved in historic times, though both could get them killed. Temi, at age 17, finds herself pregnant, in love with a girl, and staring down a cannon, in this epic tale of growing up during the Civil War. Buy it now! (Book 1 of the Warrior series)
Remember, It’s You I Love: Operation Pink Knight Page 23
