“Does she mind the hours you spend with your first wife, the air force?”
Johanna had always accused him of considering her his second wife—that the air force got the majority of his attention whether he was on or off base. “No, I don’t think she sees my job in the same light you did.”
“I’m glad, Mac. Really glad—for both of you.”
“Thanks.”
“Listen, I have to run. I have a nine o’clock appointment and I don’t want to be late. Can I keep in touch?”
“Sure.”
“I’ll send you my new address and phone number.”
Mac smiled. “I’m glad things are working out for you, Johanna. You deserve the happiness.”
“And so do you, Mac. I loved you. You know that.”
“Yes.” His throat tightened.
“I hope your life is as happy as mine is. I’ll stay in touch a little more often, okay?”
“Okay, Tiger.” That had been the pet name he’d given her when they’d first met.
Johanna laughed softly. “Take good care of yourself, Major Stanford.”
“I will. Goodbye….”
Mac sat there on the edge of the bed, his hands clasped between his thighs. He heard the birds singing gaily outside the bedroom window he’d left open to allow in the cool desert breeze. With a shake of his head, he smiled. It had been less than two days since Ellie’s journey, and, true to her prediction, Johanna had called…right on schedule. Coincidence? Perhaps. But Mac didn’t really think so….
He made his way into the bathroom, his heart filled with a lot of old emotions and his head with memories. As he glanced at himself in the mirror, rubbing the growth of beard on his face, he saw his eyes. For some reason, they looked clearer—somehow cleaner. How could that be? Did his soul recovery that Ellie performed change a person not only emotionally, but physically? He made a mental note to ask her.
As he took a hot, almost scalding shower—part of his normal morning routine—he was deluged by memories of his marriage to Johanna. The old hurts just kept bubbling up as he scrubbed and washed his hair, and just as miraculously they seemed to lift and then dissolve. It was an odd sensation, something he’d never experienced before.
Hurrying through his shaving and grabbing a flight suit, Mac decided to detour to Ellie’s home before heading for Luke. He had to share this wonderful event with her, despite the early hour. He hurried through a quick breakfast of toast and strawberry jam, grabbed his briefcase and cap and was out the door.
Ellie was sitting on a bench in the middle of her garden, a cup of coffee in hand, when she heard a car pull up in front of the house. It was only six-thirty in the morning. Who could it be? She heard the car door open and shut. Before she could get to her feet, Mac appeared at the side of the house.
“Mac!”
He grinned and held up his hand. “I know this is impromptu. Got a few minutes?” Ellie was dressed in jeans and a fuchsia-colored T-shirt; she was barefoot, as she’d been the first time they’d met. Her hair was loose and spilling across her shoulders, long and beautiful—like her. He’d never been so happy to see anyone in his life. She looked so right here in her garden, as if she was a natural part of the colorful flowers and plentiful vegetables that surrounded her.
Ellie saw the gleam in Mac’s eyes. He was freshly showered and shaved. His walk was almost a bounce, with his shoulders thrown proudly back, and a devilish grin hovered around that wonderfully shaped mouth of his. It made him look even more handsome than usual.
“You look ecstatic,” she observed as he reached her.
“I am. Actually,” Mac said as he sat down next to her on the redwood bench, “I wanted to share the fact that my ex-wife, Johanna, called me out of the blue this morning. You were right, Ellie.”
She smiled and held her cup in her lap. “That’s wonderful. It must have been a very good phone call—you’re so happy.”
“I’m beginning to appreciate your ability to observe.”
Flushing, Ellie avoided his direct, hungry stare. “I think the more a person moves into his right brain, his intuitive, knowing side, the more he will sense about another. You’re smiling, so it’s pretty safe to assume you’re happy.”
He chuckled. “If nothing else, Ellie, you’re humble about your talents.” He proceeded to tell her about Johanna’s call.
Ellie knew from the journey she’d taken the other day that there had still been a lot of unresolved feelings between Mac and his ex-wife. But she didn’t mind hearing about it. She was content to sit there with him, absorbing the pleasure of having him near for a few, precious moments.
By the time Mac had finished with the story, she was smiling broadly. “It has all worked out for both of you,” she murmured, placing her empty coffee cup down on the bricks next to the bench. She gently brushed his cheek with her fingers. It was a completely spontaneous gesture, and she was startled by her own action. So was Mac, but she saw the predatory, hunterlike intensity reappear in his eyes—that undeniable hunger for her.
“Your eyes even look clearer,” she observed.
Mac sat very still after Ellie’s work-worn fingers had grazed the flesh of his cheek. How long had he hoped she’d reach out and touch him? It was a simple, momentary gesture, but it spoke volumes. He saw high color come to her dusky cheeks, and saw the regret in her eyes. The smile he gave her was very male and very gentle.
“I noticed that myself this morning when I looked in the bathroom mirror. Does it have something to do with this soul recovery?”
Breathing a sigh of relief that Mac wasn’t going to pursue her spontaneous gesture toward him, Ellie said, “The eyes always clear first. I’ve had cases where clients have been cured of chronic conditions. The soul is a powerful thing, Mac.” She gave him a significant look.
“Makes sense to me,” he said. He shook his head. “This is all so incredible. I feel so good today.”
“Well,” Ellie whispered, “I think getting to talk to Johanna helped you a lot. It isn’t just the soul recovery. You had a lot of unfinished business with her after the divorce.”
Rubbing his chin, Mac nodded. “Now it’s complete.”
“Life is always interesting to me,” Ellie murmured. “When one cycle closes, another always opens up, presenting us with new opportunities, new leases on life.” She met his sparkling hazel gaze, which spoke of the joy he was feeling inwardly. “Not that it means everything is going to be good, it just means we’re ready to handle another level of experience.”
“I like your philosophy,” Mac said. He rose and smiled. “I’ve got to go. I don’t want to, but I’ve got a busy day ahead of me.”
Ellie stood and walked at his side. The day was turning warm already, common for a desert clime in the summer. She wanted to reach out and slip her hand into his, but knew she couldn’t. Mac was so touchable, the kind of man who constantly invited her to reach out and touch him in some small, meaningful way. He didn’t seem to react too much to the fact she’d touched his cheek earlier, and in a way, Ellie was grateful. What would she have done if he’d taken that touch as a signal to touch her back? Perhaps more intimately? A kiss? Heat went through her at that thought. She halted near the garage door.
He smiled down at her. “I don’t know how I can thank you, Ellie.”
“Don’t try. I’m just glad you and your ex-wife are on friendly terms now.”
Without thinking, Mac reached out and gently touched the crown of her head. Her hair was soft, thick and surprisingly sleek to his touch. “Thanks….”
Shaken, Ellie stood frozen beneath Mac’s touch. Her scalp tingled wildly where he’d barely grazed her hair. She saw the naked hunger in his eyes, felt it swirl powerfully around her, like an invisible, molten embrace. Her mouth dry, she nodded, unable to speak. As he walked back to his car, she stood there, cup in hand, her heart pounding erratically. It was some time before she recovered.
Mac knew there was trouble when he got out of his car and Gus Ca
lhoon met him at the hangar door. But he was in too good a mood today to let anything get him down.
“Gus?”
“Major.”
Mac headed to his office, the master sergeant on his heels. Once inside, Mac motioned for Gus to shut the door. The officer had a very unhappy look on his face.
“What’s up, Gus?”
“Somethin’ strange, Major.”
“Oh?” Mac started prepping the coffeemaker.
“Yes, sir.” Gus scratched his graying head. “At first I thought it was just a coincidence, but now I’m not so sure.”
Mac twisted to look in his direction. “What are you talking about?”
“This is gonna sound crazy, sir, but a number of my people over the last couple of days have been getting bad headaches.”
Frowning, Mac moved to his desk and sat down. “Headaches?”
“Yes, sir. Now, I didn’t want to hit the panic button on this, but I had to send two of the crew home yesterday, and that’s unusual. The funny thing is, once they left the hangar, their headaches went away. Now, how do you figure that one?”
Mac shrugged. “Could it be chemicals? Is everyone following regs on them?” A number of hazardous materials were used on base, but people were, for the most part, quite careful about handling them.
“My people follow the regs, Major. There are no open lids on any kind of haz-mat chemicals in the hangar.”
Sitting back in his chair, Mac looked out across the large, cavernous hangar. Today, both ends of the structure were open, allowing the most air possible to circulate. On windy days, when sand was in the air, the doors were slid shut and the place became more stuffy. “Are the people who are getting the headaches prone to that kind of thing?”
“No…. Funny thing, though—most of them are women.”
“Headaches can be a sign of unhappiness, Gus. Is there a situation out there I’m not aware of? Some discontent brewing?” Mac prided himself on keeping close tabs on his crews, but between the IG and the strange goings-on in the hangar, it was possible he had missed something.
“No,” Gus muttered, “we’ve got a pretty happy crew out there, Major. I don’t know. I just don’t know.”
“I want you to double-check all haz-mat materials. Let’s eradicate the physical possibilities. Give me a list of the names of all the people who have reported headaches. I don’t know what else to do.”
“I don’t know either, sir. I’ll get you that list.”
Mac tapped his fingers against his desk after the master sergeant left. Glancing at his watch, he saw that it was nearly 0830, and he had to fly at 0900. His intuition told him to call Ellie about the headaches.
Following that hunch, he dialed her number.
“Hello?”
“Ellie, it’s Mac.”
“Didn’t I just see you an hour ago?” She laughed.
“Yeah, I’m like a bad habit,” he teased. Then, he frowned. “I need to discuss something with you.”
Mac told her about the mysterious headaches suddenly cropping up in the hangar. “My gut told me to call you, but I don’t know what you can tell me about this, if anything. It would be one thing if I had a sloppy crew and chemicals were left around open or not stored properly, but that’s not the case. What do you feel about this?”
“I think we’ve got more problems with that spirit, Mac.”
A few days ago, he would have laughed. Instead, he sobered considerably. “Okay…explain what you’re saying.”
“When I asked him to promise not to hurt your people, I didn’t think he’d do it, Mac. An angry spirit with enough energy can literally attack people. Now, you said that most of the people getting headaches were women. I’ve found that women are just naturally more in tune with their psychic side—they’ve got their antennas up, if you will, more than men do. If this spirit in the corner of the hangar isn’t letting his anger out by throwing objects, he could be attacking the people working closest to the corner. I know it sounds silly, but malevolent spirits can do a lot of things that most people would never connect them with.”
“What’s it doing? How can it give a person a headache?”
“A spirit that wants to stay earthbound has to suck energy off living beings every day, Mac. The more energy it gathers, the more powerful it becomes. Chances are, that spirit is sucking a lot of energy out of the auras of everyone who works in that hangar.
“A person would feel literally drained, lose her energy and feel very tired afterward. In this case, I’ll bet the spirit is draining the energy out of these women, and that’s why they’re getting headaches.”
Rubbing his chin, Mac nodded, and through the windows, watched his people working around the two jets in the hangar. “How could I prove this, Ellie?”
“Check to see if the people who are getting the headaches work nearest to that corner. Some spirits get territorial, and don’t like to range too far from their source. In this case, the spirit is going to attack those nearest to him.”
“Okay.” He sighed. “I’ll tell you, this sounds bizarre.”
Ellie said, “I know. You’re just not used to dealing with the invisible part of our lives, that’s all. Do me a favor, will you? After you check out the situation, give me a call back and let me know?”
“Sure,” Mac said. “Right now, I’ve got to slug down a cup of hot coffee and then fly. I’ll have my master sergeant find out the information. When I get back off the flight, I’ll give you a call.”
“Fine.”
“Ellie?”
“Yes?”
“I want you to know I think you’re a very special person.”
“You’re kind of special yourself, Major Stanford.”
He smiled slightly. “Special enough for you to say yes to me taking you out to dinner tonight?”
Ellie hesitated. “Yes, I’d like that.”
Relief flooded through Mac, and he grinned broadly. His boldness had paid off. “Good. I’ll give you a call later.”
Ellie was eating her lunch when the phone rang. The voice on the other end of the line was instantly recognizable.
“How was your flight, Mac?”
“Great, as always. Only one thing wrong.”
“What was that?”
“My lady was missing from the rear seat.”
Closing her eyes, she smiled to herself. “You’re more of a romantic than I gave you credit for, Major.”
His laugh was husky. “I don’t know. I found myself thinking about our dinner engagement the whole time I was romping around in the sky. Maybe there’s hope for me, after all.”
She relaxed against the doorjamb, the phone cradled between her cheek and shoulder. “What do you mean?”
“Johanna always hated the time that my flying took away from our relationship. Back then, I was doing a lot more of it, because I was training young pilots. Now I’m not.”
“I don’t begrudge your flight time, Mac. You need to fly. Eagles are never happy when they’re shackled to Mother Earth.”
“Thanks for understanding.”
“So, what did you find out about the headaches?”
“Gus took a check, and you’re right—the people working closest to that corner of the hangar are the ones getting the headaches. One crew consists of all women, and they’re the ones getting them.”
She sighed. “Looks like I’m going to have to come back to the hangar and try to get rid of that spirit once and for all. At least it isn’t throwing tools around, so that’s an improvement of sorts.”
“Let’s talk about that over dinner tonight.”
“Okay. Do you have a place in mind?”
“I have a favorite seafood restaurant that flies fresh catch in from San Diego every day. Are you a fish lady?”
“I love fish.”
“Okay, it’s a date. Wear something fancy, because this is a pretty formal place for the Southwest.”
Ellie groaned. “Mac, I don’t wear heels. I wouldn’t be caught dead in the
m.”
Laughing, Mac said, “Sweetheart, no matter what you wear, I’m sure it will be fine. You’re usually barefoot when I see you—I knew you weren’t going to put those torturous things on your feet.”
“You understand!”
He chuckled. “My women crew members informed me a long time ago about the dangers of heels. They wear boots and like it.”
“I’m not into boots, but I’ll try to come up with something acceptable.”
“Good. I’ll meet you at 1800. I mean six p.m.”
Her heart beat a little more strongly, and Ellie gripped the phone. Mac had called her sweetheart, an endearment. How could she get him to understand that there was no future for them? Her past was still too much in her present. Yet she couldn’t bring herself to tell him that. He was such a vital man, a man who loved life, grabbed it and lived it every moment. Ellie hadn’t met many people with that kind of enthusiasm, that kind of bravery. And she couldn’t bear to burst his bubble.
“I’ll see you at 1800, Mac….”
She set the phone on the hook and wrapped her arms around herself. Her sister, Diana, would laugh at her for even thinking of getting involved with a man in the military. With a shake of her head, Ellie went back to the table to finish her sandwich. But every time she pictured Mac’s strong, handsome features in her mind’s eye, her pulse accelerated. What did her body know that her head didn’t?
CHAPTER EIGHT
Ellie nervously wiped her damp hands down her pale pink cotton skirt as she saw Mac pull up in front of her house. It was exactly six p.m. He emerged from the car dressed in a charcoal gray suit, white shirt and dark blue tie. He looked like some very successful executive who owned his own business. Her heart speeded up as he walked confidently to her front door and rang the doorbell. All day she’d asked herself what she had agreed to when she’d said she’d go to dinner with Mac. Was it a commitment? What kind of commitment?
Nervously touching the long, free strands of hair near the side of her face, Ellie answered the door. She was worried she didn’t look dressed up enough, but she couldn’t be someone she wasn’t.
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