Mary lived in New York. “Mary’s return address envelope says Seattle.”
Jo Marie’s smile reached her eyes. It’d been some time since I’d seen her light up the way she did when she next spoke. “Mary lives in Seattle now.” As she spoke, Jo Marie reached for the envelope and ripped it open. She read the few lines and then glanced at me, looking more than pleased.
“Mary and George are inviting me to dinner to celebrate the fact that Mary is one year cancer-free. She says dinner is plus-one and she hopes I’ll bring a man.”
“Will you go?” I asked, knowing how preoccupied she was with caring for Mark.
“I wouldn’t dream of missing this,” she said as she set the invitation aside. “The real question is who I’ll bring with me: Mark or Greg?”
That really was the question, and I knew it was one that Jo Marie was going to have a hard time answering.
It seemed every time I opened my eyes Jo Marie was at my bedside. Seeing her beautiful face was what had kept me alive. In the worst of it my entire focus, my will, my determination was set on making it back to her. Jo Marie had been with me in my fevered fantasy. Her voice came to me as clearly and loudly as if she were speaking through a microphone. One time I was convinced I’d heard her threaten me. She’d cried out that if I died she’d never forgive me. Just thinking about that made me smile.
“What’s so funny?” she asked.
I opened my eyes and there she was again. I pulled my hand free of the sheet, stretched it out toward her. She gripped it with her own, curling her fingers around mine.
“Good morning,” she whispered and, leaning over, kissed my forehead.
“Morning.” I longed for the day when I could properly kiss her. I’d dreamed about that, too, kissing and loving her. I had big plans for this woman, plans for the two of us that would last the remainder of our lives.
“Have you been here all night?” I asked.
“No. I arrived a few minutes ago.”
I glanced at the clock in the room and noticed it was barely six.
Her gaze followed mine. “I wanted to be here when you woke,” she explained.
This woman. I don’t know what I’d ever done to warrant her loving me. I couldn’t stop looking at her. Even now I found it unreal that she was actually at my side. She must have left the inn around five, battling the heavy commuter traffic. Often she didn’t leave the hospital until nearly ten at night.
“When I arrived you were asleep and you had this sexy smile. You want to tell me what that dream was about?”
I could feel my smile return. “You, naturally.”
“Really?” She sounded skeptical.
“Yeah. I remember you talking to me while I was struggling to get out of Iraq. Actually, you were shouting at me, mad as a wet hen. The memory was as vivid as if you were standing over me while I struggled with the desert heat.”
“What was I saying?”
Even now I could hear her voice echoing in my ear. “You were threatening me.”
“Threatening you?” She looked amused, her eyebrows cocked with suspicion. “Are you sure that was me?”
“Oh yes, it was definitely you.”
“What did I say?”
I grinned again. “You claimed there’d be consequences if I died on you.”
Pulling up a chair close to my bed, she sat down and reached for my hand. “Guilty.”
“That was real, then?”
“Yup. It was the first day I learned you were at Madigan. The only reason I was told you were in the States was because no one expected you to last more than another few hours that day.”
“Guess I fooled them,” I joked. This wasn’t the first time I’d cheated death. I wasn’t looking for another opportunity. All I wanted out of life now was to marry this beautiful woman and raise a passel of kids. The thought filled me with happy anticipation. Still, there were complications. I’d been sent into Iraq with a mission above and beyond finding Ibrahim but had been unable to see it through. What that meant for the future, I didn’t know.
“You feeling good enough to talk?” Her amusement faded and her eyes grew dark and serious.
“What’s on your mind?” I asked.
“I’d like some answers.” She continued to rub her thumb over the top of my hand and lowered her gaze.
I dreaded this discussion. Now was as good a time as any to get it over