often unsung, whether as artists, inventors, scientists . . . ”
“Sounds like you had a pretty educational relationship with her,” Cari noted.
“I did. Hannah didn’t give an inch on her expecting me to treat her as an equal. She was, by the way, our best sniper in the Corps to date. She was good at her job. Even the Marine sniper school agrees that women make better snipers.”
“Why did you break up?”
“Our jobs as snipers. We never had a chance to have backwater weeks to truly enjoy and do things together as a couple. We were both too good at what we did, so we were in constant demand.”
“What about now?” Cari asked quietly.
“Hannah was killed in combat,” he offered sadly, shaking his head. “I remember finding out about a month after my own mission in south Afghanistan was completed. We maintain radio silence with our base when we’re out on an op. You know nothing about anything until you’re coming in off that mission, Cari.”
“That had to be a terrible jolt to you.”
“It was,” he admitted. “I really loved her and she loved me, but it was like putting two mismatched pieces together in a war-torn country where our lives were always on the line.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Thanks,” he said, sitting back, studying her. “But let’s get back to us. It was patriarchal men that turned you off?”
“Yes, totally. Women are taking back their power, Chase. We’re not cute, cuddly sex toys for the boys anymore. We’re intelligent, we’re creative, we have a sense of ourselves, and we’re assertive and going after what we want as in no other time.”
“You are all of that,” he agreed. “In some ways, you remind me of Hannah, but a softer version of her. She was in your face in a heartbeat.” He smiled in remembrance. “She took no prisoners. You, on the other hand, seem very tolerant of the men around the ranch here.”
“I think that’s because of you, Chase.”
“How do you mean?”
Opening her hands, she said, “I’m sure your father had a lot to do with how you saw yourself as a man, but your mother, Mary, sure sounds a lot like Hannah. She doesn’t tolerate fools or the patriarchy, either.”
He chuckled. “No, she never did. And it was my mother who did more to change my attitude toward women than my father. He still had patriarchy in his veins. Fortunately, he was smart enough to realize Mary was a self-made, confident, full-steam-ahead kind of woman and he made sure he didn’t get in her way.” Mouth quirking, he slid her a glance. “With you? I try to stay out of your way. And to be honest, a lot of what Hannah taught me when I was young and stupid, I use with you.”
“That explains to me, at least, why half your wrangling crew consists of women.”
“Right,” he agreed. “I find women often pay more attention to details than men. It doesn’t mean men can’t learn that. They can. It’s just that they have to work at it a long time to reach that bar that women so easily leap over. That’s why Hannah was a superstar in the Marine Corps as a sniper. She paid attention to the details.”
“How did she die, if you don’t mind telling me?”
“A B-52 bomber dropped its load of bombs in the area where she was hiding to take out a HVT, high value target.”
“Oh, no!” she whispered. Her hands pressed to her lips. “Oh, how awful!”
“Hannah was a friendly-fire casualty. It sickened me when I got back to base and was informed of her death. Everyone at the base was in shock over it.”
“I can’t imagine how you felt,” she whispered, giving him a sympathetic look.
“Totally destroyed,” he admitted. “Her body had already been flown stateside and she was buried with honors at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C. I drove to her parents’ home in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, and they asked me to stay and I did. We spent a week together and I think what I shared about her and myself, helped them. Our missions are top secret, so we can never talk about them to anyone, Cari. I was able to give her grieving, devastated parents a side of Hannah they could know. Going there to see them was healing for all of us, especially me.”
“I wish I’d known her,” Cari said. “We women can use role models like Hannah who are staunchly matriarchal. She could have taught us so much