by Susan Stoker
“But she doesn’t know you,” Jessie said, clearly not understanding.
“But I know her,” Wolf returned. “I’ve always protected her. Always. And I’m not about to stop now.”
Jessie leaned over and brushed her lips against his wrinkled cheek. “I hope I can someday find a man who is as devoted to me as you are to your wife.”
“Me too, Jessie. Me too.”
They smiled at each other for a moment before Wolf said, “Thanks for the cake.”
“You’re welcome. I’m just glad you could share your anniversary cake with your wife.”
“She liked it didn’t she?” Wolf asked, a tender look on his face as he recalled the look of enjoyment on his wife’s face as she ate their anniversary cake.
“She did. But your friends are going to wonder why there are two pieces missing from the cake.”
Wolf shook his head. “No they won’t.” And they wouldn’t either. Abe, Cookie, Mozart, Dude, Benny, and Tex would absolutely understand. They’d been as devastated as Wolf had been when Caroline had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
The disease had slowly taken over her mind, leaving her lost in the past and not knowing who her husband was, or even the women who’d been her friends for too many years to count. But they still came to visit. All the time. They’d pretend to be strangers and they’d sit with Caroline letting her reminisce about her “husband and friends,” never letting on that she was talking with one of those good friends.
Before she’d completely lost her memory, Caroline had tried to get him to promise to move on with his life when she no longer remembered him, and he’d finally relented and told her he would. But he’d lied. He could no more move on with his life without her than he could breathe underwater.
Every now and then she’d say or do something that was so bittersweet it almost brought him to his knees…like today when she’d told him she used to stand by the sea and pray for his safe return from missions.
When she’d gotten ill, he’d researched long and hard, with Tex’s help, and they’d decided on The Establishment. It had a great reputation, and more importantly, it was by the ocean since she loved it so much. He’d had her pendant fitted with a tracking device and had made himself her protector. All day, every day, he’d watch over his wife. Making sure she ate, slept, and didn’t wander off and get lost. It was a condition of her being able to live at The Establishment. It wasn’t a dementia or Alzheimer’s specialized home. But they’d let him and Caroline in. In part because of his service to his country, the owner was also a Veteran, but mostly because he’d vowed to take responsibility of his wife’s well-being and safety should she wander off.
Caroline’s private room had one picture of him in it. It was from their twenty-fifth anniversary when they’d renewed their vows. Wolf was pleased as he could be that she’d remembered it so clearly today, of all days. It had been a wonderful anniversary present, even if she didn’t know she’d given it to him. The picture on a shelf in her room was of the two of them standing by the ocean just as she’d described it to him earlier. She was in her pink dress, he was in jeans and a navy blue shirt. The sun was setting behind them and they were in each others’ arms. She’d thrown her head back to laugh at something he’d said, he couldn’t remember now what it was, and the photographer had caught the moment on film.
In the picture, Wolf was looking down at his wife, smiling huge, the love easy to see in his dark eyes. It was his all time favorite picture of the two of them and he was glad she still had that memory, even if she didn’t have any others from the last seven years or so.
They’d lived a long full life, and he was grateful.
“I’ll make sure someone is watching over her so you can go and change. We’ll meet you in the common room downstairs.”
Wolf nodded at Jessie. He and Caroline might never’ve had children, but all of his teammates’ kids had adopted them as unofficial parents. It felt nice. And today most of them were coming to celebrate his anniversary and to visit.
Abe and Alabama’s kids, Brinique, Davisa, Tommy, and Kate. Mozart and Summer’s children, April and Sam Junior. Benny and Jessyka’s brood, John, Sara, Callie, James, Matthew, and Jessie. Dude and Cheyenne’s daughter, Taylor. And of course Tex and Melody’s daughters, Akilah and Hope.
Wolf was sure they’d all bring some of their own children too. It was going to be a huge, insane party which would probably disturb most of the other residents of the home. But Wolf didn’t care. He and Caroline had made it fifty years together. Against all odds, they’d made it.
Wolf stood up and kissed the top of Jessie’s head as he did. “Thanks for being so great with my wife.”
“I love her,” was Jessie’s quick response. “You guys might not be my grandparents by blood, but I love you just the same.”
The pesky tears sprang into Wolf’s eyes again but he blinked them back. Dang he hated getting old, especially because it seemed like he couldn’t hold his emotions back as he once could. Even though he was closing in on ninety, he would always be the alpha badass he once was.
“Whatever. Go. I want to say good-bye to my wife.”
“Okay. Later,” Jessie said, then kissed his cheek again, and headed out of the library to make sure all was ready for the huge party that was going to commence in an hour.
Wolf limped back around the corner to gaze down at his wife.
Caroline was sound asleep, her mouth slightly open, her breathing deep and even. He gazed up at the framed certificate and medal above her head on the wall. This alcove was Caroline’s spot. The other residents knew it, and never sat there. Wolf had brought her favorite chair from their home as well as some other small touches from a life she no longer remembered. He wanted her to be as comfortable as possible in her new home.
He gazed at the Secretary of Defense Medal for Valor she’d been given thirty years ago. It was the highest civilian award for valor and was created after the horrific September 11th attacks so long ago. It was Dude’s daughter, Taylor, who’d asked one day if she could nominate Caroline for the honor based on her actions on the day she’d alerted Wolf and his teammates to the terrorist plot to drug the ice on the plane they’d been on. That had led to a whole lot of other horrible stuff happening to his wife, but ultimately, the terrorists had been thwarted.
Wolf had given his blessing, and with Taylor’s determination, and the help of Wolf’s former commander, Patrick Hurt, Caroline had been invited to come to Washington DC to be honored. The medal recognized private citizens who performed an act of heroism with voluntary risk to their personal safety in the face of danger.
Caroline had been embarrassed about all the hoopla, and had convinced Fiona, Cookie’s wife, to travel to Washington with them so they could go shopping afterwards.
But Wolf would never forget that day and what she’d done. After all, it was the day he first laid eyes on the woman who he loved more than life itself. He’d had her medal and certificate framed and placed on the wall in her special alcove. Caroline had never asked about it, never even acted like she knew it was there, but Wolf knew. And the kids and grandkids of his teammates would ensure it always stayed on the wall and her actions that day would never be forgotten.
Caroline shifted in the chair and Wolf picked up her favorite fuzzy blanket draped over a rack nearby and covered up his wife’s legs. He didn’t want her to take a chill.
She was still so beautiful. Yes, they were old and wrinkled now, but Wolf could still see his wife’s understated beauty shining out from her as if a light in the darkness. He leaned over and gently kissed her forehead, leaving his lips on her skin for a long moment.
He missed her. Missed his Ice. The only times he got to touch her was when he played a part, as he had today, of a concerned stranger. And even then they were only fleeting touches. But she was alive. And every day he got to take care of her. Protect her. Look at her. It was more than a lot of couples got and he wouldn’t change one minute of their time togeth
er.
“I love you, Ice,” he said softly. “Happy Anniversary. I’ll find you tomorrow by the ocean and we’ll reminisce about our twenty-fifth anniversary. We’ll hum the melody to “Come with Me” together. We’ll talk about your friends and the children who you loved as your own. Then we’ll do it all again the next day. And the next. Until the day I die, I’ll be here by your side.”
Caroline’s eyes opened without warning, and Wolf pulled back, not wanting to frighten her. And waking up with a stranger hovering over her would scare her.
“Matthew?” she asked softly.
And the pesky tears he’d managed to beat back sprung right back into his eyes at her whispered word. His wife hadn’t said his name in over two years. Two years.
“Yeah, Ice, it’s me.”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
A small sweet smile spread across her lips and her eyes closed.
“Sleep well, my love,” Wolf told her, openly crying now, not even trying to check the tears which ran down his wrinkled face.
“I always sleep well knowing you’re watching over me,” she whispered. Then moments later her chest was moving up and down in the rhythmic motions of sleep.
The tears wouldn’t stop. He’d just witnessed a miracle. The doctors had said she’d most likely never recognize him again. She was lost in her memories.
He sat up and wiped his face with his hands and finally smiled. His wife had just given him the best present she’d ever gifted him with. On their anniversary no less.
Brushing his hand over her hair gently, tucking a stray lock behind her ear, he said softly, “I’ll always watch over you, Caroline. Until tomorrow.”
Then the old man kissed two fingers, gently touched them to the woman’s mouth, and walked out of the alcove. He moved with ease, as if he wasn’t suffering with arthritis. As if he wasn’t eighty-six, but instead a man decades younger.
Later his old Navy SEAL buddies would reminisce about that night and say that their friend looked happier and lighter than they’d seen him in years.
Years later when the alcove was redesigned and a large couch was put in the area so residents could sit and enjoy the sounds and sights of the ocean, people would look up at the medal in the frame on the wall and remember the devotion of the retired Navy SEAL who spent his last years on this planet watching over his wife.
The library was re-named the Caroline Steel Ocean Room.
And every year the people who’d witnessed Matthew “Wolf” Steel’s devotion to his wife came together and celebrated the couple’s life.
It’s said late at night, when the moon is full, that residents who live at The Establishment will sometimes look out the windows overlooking the boardwalk and see an elderly couple sitting on a bench, holding hands, laughing, as they watched the waves wash up on the beach. But when the residents turn to get a camera, or tell a friend, and look back, the couple has disappeared.
If you want to read more about Caroline and Wolf, start with Protecting Caroline. You’ll see both throughout the SEAL of Protection series…including the last book, Protecting Dakota where once again Caroline helps save the day.
The Other Side of the Story
by Susan Stoker
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.
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Copyright © 2017 by Susan Stoker
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No part of this work may be used, stored, reproduced or transmitted without written permission from the publisher except for brief quotations for review purposes as permitted by law.
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This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, please purchase your own copy.
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Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
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Manufactured in the United States
Author Note
The Other Side of the Story was written as sort of a prologue to the book, Rescuing Kassie. It explains a little more about why Kassie did what she did in order to meet Hollywood. It can be read before or after Rescuing Kassie.
I just wanted to give the reader a little more insight to Kassie’s thinking and why she did what she did.
~Susan
The Other Side of the Story
Kassie pulled back her curtain and peeked out, sighing in relief when she didn’t see her boyfriend, Richard Jacks. Most of the time when he picked her up, he was late, but today was one day she hoped he didn’t show up at all.
It was time to break up with him. He’d changed drastically after he’d gotten back from his latest deployment. An IED had gone off, and while he hadn’t been visibly injured, something had to have happened to his brain.
Before deployment, he’d been attentive and fun to be around; now, he was impatient, jealous, and he got angry very easily. Not only that, but he and his best friend, Dean Jennings, had gotten…weird.
When Richard wasn’t in Austin, where she lived, he had Dean follow her around to make sure she wasn’t cheating on him. No matter how many times Kassie told Richard that she wasn’t seeing anyone but him, he still had Dean keep his eye on her.
It was frustrating, insulting, and downright creepy.
So after tonight’s party, she would be telling Richard that things weren’t working out between them. She would’ve done it before now, but they hadn’t spent a lot of time with each other recently, and Kassie didn’t think it was very cool to break up with someone over the phone.
Richard had also gone to a lot of trouble to set up the party. She didn’t want to disappoint him. He’d told her the thing tonight was a kind of Army formal get-together. It was at his apartment, so it wasn’t official by any stretch, but he’d said all the guys would be wearing their fancy uniforms and he wanted her to wear a floor-length gown as well.
Kassie didn’t know much about Army traditions—okay, she didn’t know anything—but she was willing to go along with the party tonight because it seemed to mean a lot to Richard.
Kassie jumped a foot when a knock sounded loud and harsh at her door. She gathered her shawl and purse and took a deep breath before opening the door.
“Hey, Richard. You look very nice.”
“You ready?” he asked, not returning the compliment or even thanking her.
Kassie inwardly sighed. She shouldn’t spend the evening tallying up all of Richard’s faults…but it was hard not to be disappointed that he didn’t even mention how she looked. She’d spent quite a while getting ready. She might want to break up with Richard, but she didn’t want to embarrass him in front of his friends and the other women who would certainly be there tonight by not looking her best.
“Yeah. I’m ready,” she told him, stepping out of her apartment and closing her door. She locked it and when she turned around, Richard was already halfway back to his car. Hesitating for a split second, Kassie seriously thought about unlocking her door and going back inside. Richard already seemed to be in a bad mood, and that certainly didn’t bode well for her.
Straightening her shoulders and taking a deep breath, she shook off the feeling of foreboding that sat in her stomach like a piece of undercooked bread. With every breath she took, the ball seemed to grow, millimeter by millimeter.
Kassie shook her head at her silly imagination and followed in Richard’s wake. It was a fancy party; how bad could it be?
Kassie held on to the cup of water in her hands as if her life depended on it. This was a disaster, and she should’ve listened to her inner alarm when she stood at her front door. As soon as they’d arrived, Kassie had kn
own the night was going to be Hell on Earth.
First of all, she was the only woman.
Not one of the other men had shown up with a date. If that wasn’t bad enough, they were all giving her weird looks out of the corners of their eyes. Richard had invited five others, not including him and Dean. She was outnumbered seven to one. And she wished she’d chosen another dress…maybe even a pantsuit with a high collar and long sleeves.
The navy-blue V-neck sleeveless dress was perfectly appropriate for a fancy party, especially when paired with the shawl she’d brought, but standing in Richard’s living room, with his friends eyeballing her cleavage as if they were starving lions who hadn’t eaten for months, was more than a little disconcerting.
“Shall we get on with the first Army tradition?” Richard’s voice boomed out into the room, scaring the shit out of Kassie. Water sloshed out of the cup she’d been holding and she smiled nervously as the others agreed loudly and boisterously.
“First up is the grog bowl!” Richard announced, and the other men all cheered. Kassie watched as they all gathered around an empty punch bowl. She winced when everyone began pouring the ingredients into the large bowl, which were sitting on the table.
Tomato juice, orange juice, vodka, rum, Jack Daniel’s, lemon juice, Tabasco sauce…Kassie blinked and took a sip of the water in her hands, and looked longingly at the door. Maybe she could slip out while everyone was busy.
“…will be my girlfriend.”
