by Radclyffe
Finally, Reese shifted her gaze back to Dan, and he nodded slightly before speaking.
“Her pressure’s high but no higher than what she tells me it’s been for the last few weeks.” He smiled, the kind of smile doctors give patients to reassure them. “But…her shift is over, so I recommend an afternoon of taking it easy. I think that will probably solve the problem.”
“Well, that’s what we’ll do then.” Reese forced a smile of her own. “Let’s go home, love.”
“Aren’t you working now?” Tory protested.
“It’s no problem. I’ll split the shift and go back in later.” Reese’s tone left no room for argument.
*
Fifteen minutes later, they were home.
“Do you want to lie down upstairs?” Reese asked once they were inside.
“No,” Tory replied quietly. “I’m not really tired. I’ll just sit out on the deck.”
“How about lunch?”
“Just something to drink would be fine.”
“There’s some lemonade left. Okay?”
Smiling, Tory kissed Reese on the cheek. “Sounds wonderful.”
Reese filled the glasses with ice and homemade lemonade and carried them outside on a tray with crackers and cheese. Tory was stretched out in a lounge chair, her eyes closed. Reese set the small lunch down on the table between the chairs, then turned to slip away quietly.
“I’m awake,” Tory murmured.
“Are you sure you don’t want to take a nap?”
Tory stretched out her hand and Reese took it. “I’m really fine. Every now and then, I think my body rebels because I can’t drink caffeine. That’s all it was.”
“Well, it won’t be that long before you can drink coffee again.”
“That will depend on how the breast-feeding goes,” Tory said, smiling faintly as she closed her eyes.
“Oh yeah, I forgot about that.” Reese sat beside her on the chaise and stroked Tory’s hair. “I guess you’re going to have to get used to being decaffeinated for quite a while.”
“Mmm. Apparently.”
”Will you be all right? I’ll be back in a bit. I’m going to make a phone call.”
“You don’t usually announce something like that.” Tory opened her eyes and searched Reese’s face. “Who are you calling?”
Reese hesitated. “My father.”
“To tell him about the baby?” Tory pushed herself upright on the chair with some effort.
Reese nodded.
“Why now?”
“Because it’s going to be soon,” Reese said. “And it’s time I stopped protecting him from who I am.”
“Sweetheart, you don’t have to do this for me.”
“I know.”
“Call him from out here, then,” Tory said softly.
“Why don’t you just rest, okay? I’ll only—”
“Sweetheart,” Tory interrupted, “this is about us, and I want to be with you.”
After a few seconds, Reese nodded. “All right.”
She carried a portable phone out to the deck and sat back down on the end of Tory’s lounge chair. Without hesitating, she punched in the number and waited wordlessly.
“Lieutenant Colonel Conlon for the general.” Reese assumed a military demeanor just saying her name. Then, straightening perceptibly, she continued, “Hello, sir. How are you, sir?…Fine, sir…Yes, sir. The reason I’m calling is of a personal nature, sir…A family matter. No sir, I wouldn’t expect you to understand. If I may, sir…My partner, Tory King, and I are expecting a child at the beginning of September.”
Intently, Tory watched her lover’s face, trying to gauge Reese’s father’s response from her expression. A muscle along the edge of Reese’s jaw jumped, and her fingers tightened on the phone. Automatically, Tory laid her palm gently against the center of Reese’s back and traced tiny circles with her fingertips.
“No, sir. I didn’t call you to make an official statement, sir. I called you…because you’re my father, and I wanted you to know about this.” Reese’s blue eyes glinted, brilliant as chips of glass in the sunlight. “If you feel it’s necessary to do that, sir, that’s certainly your prerogative…No, sir, I will not, under any circumstances.”
Abruptly, Reese stood and walked to the edge of the deck. She rested the phone carefully on the top railing. When a few minutes had passed and she neither spoke nor turned in Tory’s direction, Tory got to her feet and went to her side.
“What did he say, sweetheart?” Tory gently replaced her hand on Reese’s back. The muscles under her hand were board stiff.
Reese turned slightly until she could meet Tory’s eyes. Her voice was low and rough. “He threatened me with a court-martial if I insisted on acknowledging my relationship with you.”
Tory drew a sharp breath. “Will he do it?”
“I don’t know,” Reese replied quietly. “I don’t know anything about him, it seems.”
“Oh, sweetheart, I’m so sorry.” Tory leaned against Reese’s side and slid her arm around her waist. “I love you.”
Reese returned the embrace and pressed her face into Tory’s hair. For a few moments, she merely stood, eyes closed, allowing love to fill her senses—the smell of Tory’s shampoo, the soft strands of hair that caressed her cheek, the thud of Tory’s heart against her own chest, and most of all, the promise of life growing between them.
When she straightened, Reese’s eyes were clear and her smile was soft. “I love you, too. Both of you—more than anything in the world.”
Tory kissed her. “Let’s call Kate and Jean and invite ourselves to dinner tonight.”
“That sounds like a great idea.”
*
“Go ahead to work, Reese,” Kate said. “We’ll take Tory home in a little while. You’ll be late for your shift if you don’t leave now, and I want to talk some more about baby things with Tory.”
“Okay, if you’re sure. Tory?”
“Its fine, sweetheart. I’ll see you later at home.”
Reese frowned faintly. “Don’t wait up. It’ll be after midnight before I get back.”
“Then wake me up,” Tory murmured as she put her hand behind Reese’s neck and pulled her head down for a kiss. “Now get out of here, Sheriff.”
Kate and Tory settled in the living room of Kate and Jean’s bungalow. Jean was clearing dishes in the kitchen after their early supper.
After Reese left, Kate confided quietly, “I could just kill him for hurting her.”
“I know,” Tory agreed. “So could I. Do you think he’ll go through with it?”
“I don’t know. Somehow, I don’t think so. My gut instinct is that he’s holding the threat of court-martial over her head in the hopes that she’ll come back into the fold.”
“She hasn’t really left, you know.” Tory sighed. “She still thinks of herself as a marine, and she’s still in the reserves. I’m sure if war were to come, she would go active immediately.”
Kate shook her head. “She might have before, but if she had any choice at all, I don’t think she would now. Not with the baby coming.”
Tory was silent for so long that Kate tilted her head and raised her brows. “Is something wrong?”
“Do you and Jean have any plans to be away in the next few weeks?”
“We were going to go to Jean’s brother’s for Fourth of July weekend. He and his family live near D.C.” Kate rested her hand on Tory’s knee. “Is there some reason we should cancel?”
“I really hate to ask you,” Tory began hesitantly.
“What is it?”
“Hopefully, nothing, but I’m having just a bit of a problem with the pregnancy, and I might go…early.”
“What kind of a problem?” Kate’s blue eyes were gentle on Tory’s.
Tory explained while Kate listened calmly.
“Could this be dangerous?”
“Not likely, but the possibility of complications with the delivery does exist.” Tory smiled wryly at the ques
tion. “Reese is so much like you.”
“Thank you.” Startled, Kate blushed with pleasure.
“Kate, in case anything were to…happen to me, Reese…” Tory’s voice trailed off, and she had to wait a few seconds before she could continue. “Reese would need help for a while.”
“Listen, my sweet,” Kate said tenderly, taking both of Tory’s hands in hers. “We’re not going to let anything happen to you. You or the baby. But no matter what, I promise that Reese will be fine. This time, I’ll be there for her.”
“I know you will,” Tory said softly.
“You look tired. Let me collect my lover, and we’ll take you home.”
“Thank you, Kate. For everything.”
*
Bri raised her head and whispered, “Did you just hear a car?”
Caroline, who reclined between Bri’s legs on the sofa, murmured breathlessly, “No. Don’t stop.”
“I think Reese is home,” Bri insisted, sitting up a little. “Besides, if we keep making out like this, I’m going to have some kind of serious nerve damage. I’m walking around permanently hard.”
“Poor baby,” Caroline teased. “You’re the one who wanted to watch TV here instead of going out, and you know what happens when we lie down together.”
“Yeah. I know.” Bri nuzzled Caroline’s ear. In a throaty voice, she murmured, “Why do you think I suggested it?”
Caroline slid her hand under Bri’s T-shirt and let her fingers drift just below the waistband of Bri’s jeans. She smiled at Bri’s swift intake of breath and the rapid tensing of the abdominal muscles. “Then it’s your own fault if you’re suffering. I could fix that, but you keep saying no.”
Bri was about to protest when the front door opened and closed quietly. “Hey,” she said as Reese walked toward them.
“Hi, you two.” Reese put her hat and keys on the breakfast counter. “Tory asleep?”
“It was all quiet when we got here about ten o’clock,” Bri announced.
“Good.” Reese headed for the stairs. “I’ll see you in the morn—”
The phone rang and, turning back quickly, Reese grabbed for it.
“Conlon.” She listened without expression for a few moments, and then said, “Maybe we should talk now. Where are you?”
Bri sat up completely, swinging her legs to the floor so that Caroline could move beside her. Intently, she watched Reese’s face, some instinct resonating to her training officer’s sudden tension.
“You are actually closer to me here than the sheriff’s office. Come to the house.” Reese recited the directions and hung up the phone, then turned to Bri. “That was Ashley Walker. She says she knows where Morris is.”
“Holy shit.” Suddenly Bri had an uncomfortable realization. “Is she coming here?”
“She’s just outside of Wellfleet. We’re closer, and since you and I are both here, it makes sense.”
Bri glanced to Caroline. “Maybe I should run you home real fast.”
“Why? I’ll just wait in your room if you don’t want me to hear what’s going on.”
I don’t want you to be here if Ashley is going to be…Ashley. I don’t want you to get the wrong idea. Not now, not when things are so much better between us.
“What’s going on?” Tory called from the top of the stairs.
“Nothing, love,” Reese said quickly. “Just a call from work.”
“Do you have to go back out?” Tory, wearing a loose top and baggy sweatpants, descended to the living room and made her way into the kitchen. She opened the refrigerator, drew out a carton of orange juice, then pulled a glass from the dish drainer by the sink. “Hi, Caroline. How are you?”
“I’m good. How’re you?”
“Doing fine,” Tory responded as she carried her juice around the counter and balanced one hip on the stool. “How’re things working out with Gianelli?”
“Just great.” Caroline smiled brilliantly, resting her hand on Bri’s thigh. “I’m really supposed to be there to help out, but he’s been taking me out with him in the mornings when he paints. I’ve been doing some work then, too, and he’s been great about giving me feedback.”
“That’s terrific,” Tory said with genuine enthusiasm. She watched Reese check her watch for the second time, and repeated, “What’s going on, sweetheart?”
With obvious reluctance, Reese replied, “We might have some information on the arsonist. Ashley Walker is on her way over.”
“Really.” Tory did some quick calculating. Considering the hour and Reese’s expression, it was clear that something important was happening. “Can I talk to you out on the deck?”
“Of course.”
Once outside, Tory asked, “Do you expect some kind of action soon?”
Reese hesitated.
“You can’t keep these things from me, sweetheart.”
“It depends on what Ashley has to say,” Reese conceded. “If it sounds as if she has a good lead, the sooner we apprehend him the better.”
“Will you take Bri?”
“Yes.”
“Is she ready for this kind of situation?”
“Technically, she’s still a trainee, but for all practical purposes, she’s done with her training, and in a week or so will be a full-time officer. If I don’t take her, she’s going to feel I don’t trust her.”
“Do you?” Tory sensed a rare hint of uncertainty in Reese’s voice.
“Yes,” Reese said immediately, then frowned. “But, you know, when I think about it, I get tight inside. I never do that. Hell, I’ve commanded people in situations a lot tougher than this one.”
“Yes, but did you love any of them?”
“I don’t lo—” Reese sighed. “Yeah, I do.” She rested her forehead against Tory’s and closed her eyes. “But I care about them all.”
“She’s special,” Tory murmured softly. Like you.
“Yes.” Reese wrapped her arms around Tory. “We’ll be fine.”
“Will you tell me what’s happening after you talk to Ashley?”
“Will you promise to go back to bed and try to get some sleep if I do?”
“God, you’re difficult.” Tory’s voice was a mixture of frustration and tenderness. “Yes, I promise. As long as you promise to come home unscathed.”
Reese pressed her lips to Tory’s forehead and then her mouth. When she drew back, she whispered huskily, “I promise.”
“Then we have a deal.” Tory rested her cheek against Reese’s shoulder, then sighed. “I think that was the doorbell.”
*
Caroline walked out onto the deck carrying Tory’s sweatshirt. She was wearing Bri’s leather jacket. “Do you mind company while they’re talking?”
“Not at all.” Tory smiled and reached for the sweatshirt. “Thanks, sweetie.”
“Ashley Walker is a knockout,” Caroline remarked as she sat down in the lounge chair next to Tory.
“Uh-huh. She’s very attractive.”
“Bri is being real careful not to look at her.” Caroline pulled the leather jacket around her. Even though it was the end of June, it was still jacket weather in the middle of the night. “I’m not going to ask if they went out, because Bri told me she hasn’t been seeing anyone. But she has that guilty look she gets when there’s something she doesn’t want me to know about.”
Tory laughed softly. “Bri has no idea how easy she is to read.”
“Don’t tell her, okay,” Caroline said with a small smile. Then she asked shyly, “Is Reese like that?”
“Most of the time, her feelings are so clear.” Tory gave the question some thought. “She can be very good at hiding the things that bother her, though. But I can usually tell when she’s doing that, and if I ask her, she always tries to explain.”
“I should’ve done that with Bri last winter.”
Tory heard the sadness in Caroline’s voice. “Honey, you’re not responsible for the entire relationship all by yourself.”
Caroline turned
on her side and curled one arm behind her head so that she could watch Tory as she spoke. “I don’t think Bri would have ended up going home with another girl if I’d really known what was going on with her.”
“Maybe not,” Tory agreed. “I don’t know all the details, but I get the sense that whatever happened was over pretty fast. Bri has done nothing but pine for you since she’s been here. She’s head over heels in love with you.”
“She hasn’t asked me to live with her when I finish school,” Caroline said in a small voice.
“Do you want to?”
“Of course. I’ve always wanted to live with her. I love her.”
“What about your career?”
“What about it?” Caroline laughed. “Provincetown is famous for its artists. I might never be famous, but I can’t imagine why I couldn’t do what I want to do here.”
“Have you told her that?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Caroline was silent for a long moment. “I guess because…I’m still mad at her for making plans without me. For leaving me alone for the last four months.”
“Then I guess you two have more to talk about.”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“Do me a favor, okay?”
“Sure,” Caroline said with a hint of surprise.
“Don’t wait too long.” There was something almost regretful in Tory’s tone. “Time is so precious.”
“Is there something wrong?”
“No, sweetie.” Tory produced a tiny laugh, trying to chase away the persistent sense of foreboding. “Everything’s fine. I just know you two love each other, and I want to see you happy.”
The sound of the kitchen doors sliding open caught their attention, and both women looked back toward the house.
Reese stepped out onto the deck. “Bri and I are going in to work in a bit.”
Caroline got up suddenly and started toward the house.
“What is it?” Tory sat up on the lounge chair, making room for Reese next to her.
