A Soldier for Christmas (8 page)

“Well, not yet. The test is tomorrow.”

“But now I’ve nailed every practice test question the prof handed out. I couldn’t do one of them before you came today.”

“Ah, you could too. You were just getting psyched out about it. I didn’t do much.”

“It’s a lot to me.”

“I’m glad I could help.” Mitch rewarded her with his charming, lopsided grin, the one that made her spirit light up.

She couldn’t remember a nicer thing, simply walking like this at his side. Maybe it’s the gorgeous night, she reasoned, the hush of their footsteps on the sidewalk in perfect synchronicity and the quarter-moon peering over the city so that they walked in its platinum glow.

Or, maybe it was the man—wait, correct that—
friend
at her side.

Companionable silence mantled them as they walked down quiet streets. The bright lights of some of the college dorm windows were visible through the trees lining the sidewalk, and, as they turned the corner and crossed the road, the curtained windows of homes stretched for blocks.

Mitch broke the stillness. “I’ve got only two more weekends left before they drag me back to my base.”

“Two more?” She’d known that, of course, but to hear the words out loud hit like a punch.

“Dad and I are going up into the national park next Friday to spend the night. I want to do that before I head out. With this thing going on in the Middle East, I’m gonna be hard-core, and I don’t know…I might not make it back until I’m discharged eighteen months from now.”

She’d known that, so why did it feel as if she were choking on disappointment?

“It’ll mean a lot to Dad, and to me, too. But I’ve got Sunday afternoon free. You’re gonna need to take a study break, right?”

She cleared the emotion from her throat, but her voice sounded thick anyway. “Are you kidding? Finals start in a week. I’ll be half-comatose. I’ll need a serious study break.”

“Something fun.”

“What does a guy who hangs off of mountains for a living do for
fun?
”

“There’s hang gliding.”

“Are you serious? I can’t do heights.”

“How about BASE jumping?”

“
What?
I’d have to be insane, and I’m not there yet.”

“Ice-climbing is out?”

“Don’t go there, I’m warning you.” Although she sounded almost stern, the hint of a dimple at the corners of her mouth showed, even when she was doing her best to keep from grinning.

“All right. How about this: if you get an A on your test, I pick. You get a B or less, then you can pick what we do.”

“I’m only agreeing to this because I don’t think there’s any way that I’ll actually pull an A. The only problem is that I have a babysitting gig at six.”

Mitch realized they’d stopped in the shadow of her building. There was his Jeep parked a few car lengths up the curb. Disappointment set in. He didn’t like the idea of having to leave her. “We’ll have you to your babysitting thing on time.”

“How about I’ll meet you at the city park around noon, and I’ll bring my graded test. We’ll take it from there.”

“The west entrance.” He jammed his hand into his jeans pocket and pulled out his keys. Sorting through the ring gave him something to focus on when he really wanted to do nothing more than brush his lips with hers, gently kiss her soft, rosebud mouth so she would know how he felt.

But she wasn’t ready for that. She wasn’t ready for more.

Yet.

He didn’t blame her. He could relate. This was a scary, unknown path. Especially to a marine who was trained to be swift, silent and deadly, but when it came to
this
—matters of the heart—he wasn’t so capable.

He walked backward so he could keep her in his sight. “Thanks for a good evening.”

“I should be thanking you. Safe journeys, Mitch.”

“Night.” He could walk away, but he couldn’t stop his tenderness for her that burned like a rocket’s glare in the dead of night.

He didn’t know where this was leading. He only knew that God was leading him.

He would trust in that.

“A
re you having fun yet?”

Fun? Kelly studied Mitch over the rim of the giant inner tube she held on to for dear life, although the cool lapping eddy of the river’s edge only came to her knees. Fun? That settled it, he was definitely certifiable.

The trouble was, he looked anything but. In running shorts and a military-green tank top, he radiated complete ease and self-assurance as he waded ahead of her into the deeper pull of the current.

I’d have to be crazy to follow him.

She took another step along the rocky river bottom—putting her sanity in serious question.

She squinted through the blinding sunlight bouncing off the wide river’s surface at the intrepid man who obviously had no common sense. “This
can’t
be your idea of fun.”

“You’d better believe it.” He stopped waist-deep in the mountain-fed river and took hold of her inner tube. “That’s some death grip you got there. Relax. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“Promises, promises.” She cast her gaze down river, contemplating all the ways she could drown.

“Don’t tell me you’re afraid of water, too.”

“Okay, I won’t tell you.” She bit her bottom lip to keep in the squeak of fear that erupted the moment he gave an effortless jerk on her inner tube and kept pulling. Her feet lifted off the rocky riverbed as he drew her through the eddies and directly into the teeth of the current. The force of it seemed to bite like a dog, held on and tried to drag her away. Not the best sensation.

Help? She couldn’t seem to make that word come out of her terror-struck mouth. She wasn’t aware how it happened, but he was at her side and his steely arm drew her toward him.

Their inner tubes bumped together and she jostled to a stop against him. There she was, in the shelter of his arms, up to her chin in water, protected from the river’s tenacious current and shaded from the blinding sun. Safe at his side, her fear trickled away into nothing at all.

Her feet found a firm purchase on the rocks below and a different fear coursed through her as he casually drew her closer still. Somehow she found enough air to breathe in order to speak. “I thought we were going wading or something.”

“That’ll teach you to jump to conclusions.”

“No, it was more like wishful thinking. Clinging to false hopes.”

“You do know how to swim, right?” Mitch could feel the way she trembled. Tenderness flowed through him with a force that was greater than the river, greater than anything he’d ever known before.

The emotion sharpened until it ached in his throat. She was so little and fragile and dainty in his arms, and that well of tenderness just kept on brimming. He wished he could hold her close and protect her. Forever.

The question was, would she let him?

He tugged her a little closer, but she seemed to resist. That was his answer, apparently. Okay, he’d work with that.

“I know enough to dog paddle basically.” There was that cute furrow again between her eyes. The one he wanted to kiss until her worry went away. He doubted that would make her calmer right now. In time, he thought, although it was tough not being able to take this up a level.

Was it his imagination, or did she cling to him more tightly? His care for her was like nothing he’d ever known before. He longed to be with her in the way mountaintops needed snow, rivers needed the sea. The way night needed the dawn. To feel whole. With a perfect purpose.

Ever since he’d left for boot camp, he’d found a great purpose to his life. One he felt qualified and called to do. But right now, being with Kelly, his whole heart crumpled and fell, changing him forever.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be right with you,” he promised. “I’m qualified in water stuff.”

“Water stuff? That makes me feel so much better.
Not.
”

“It should. I’m trained in all sorts of amphibious things. You’re in good hands. Ready?”

No, she was
so
not ready. Kelly gave a squeak of fear as she was whisked up onto the seemingly enormous inner tube, which he held safely for her. As aggressively as the current tried, it could not tear her away from Mitch’s grip.

This was a very bad idea. Panic roared through her with a quaking iciness, stealing the hot burn from the sun on her face and arms, and drowning out the rush of the river. It wasn’t the river that was scaring her now.
That
fear, as great as it was, was nothing compared to the panic threatening to take her over. It was Mitch. Her feelings for him were so strong.

He made it all worse with the gentle brush of heat as he leaned to whisper in her ear. “No worries. I’ll keep you safe. Count on me.”

It would be so totally tempting to care for him in a way that went beyond friendship, Kelly thought as she clutched the side of the rubber inner tube. Mitch looked like everything trustworthy in the world—he was strong of character and spirit. As a friend, he made her laugh, but he did more than that. He lit up her world.

What could she do about that? She’d stop feeling this way, that’s what. She’d hold on tight to her common sense, that’s what. At least her panic was in perspective. She studied the roll and hiss of the wide, fast-moving river. Whatever danger it held for her was nothing like the peril of letting herself care too much for this man.

“Just hold on, whatever happens,” he advised.

As if any force on earth could possibly be stronger than her grip! If she could lower the panic level enough to speak, she’d tell him that.

“And don’t forget to enjoy the ride.” He looked way too confident, as if there wasn’t a bit of danger.

Help, he was nuts. “I’m not sure about this, Mitch,” she choked out. Translation: Let me off.

“That’s only because you’ve never ridden rapids before.”

“There’s a reason for that.”

“Sure, but you’ll have the best time, and once you do, you’ll want to do it over and over again.”

“I seriously doubt I’ll suddenly turn that loony.”

She wanted to gaze at the shore with longing—if only she could see it. But her stubborn eyes wouldn’t look past Mitch. She couldn’t see anything but the solid granite lines of his face, the trustworthy honor that burned steadily in his hazel eyes and the unyielding strength as he held her safely against the river’s might. His chuckle shot through her like winter thunder.

Every instinct within her shrieked at her to run to higher ground, quick, before he let go, before she was dashed on the rapids that lay ahead like a hungry predator.

But it was too late. Before she could protest, he was pushing her and her inner tube more deeply into the river, toward the hungry, gurgling, dangerous current. The rocky beach floated farther away, and safety with it. The undercurrent grew ferocious, sucking at her feet, which were dangling off the end of the tube. The river’s gurgle became a menacing low-throated growl.

Okay, time to get off now.

“M-Mitch?” She couldn’t believe it. He’d released his hold on her inner tube. He was letting her go.

While the current sped her away from him, she watched him helplessly. Water sluiced off his sun-browned skin as he hopped onto his tube. He stretched out on the inflated tube with easy confidence, as if nothing rattled him, nothing troubled him, as if he could do anything.

Her feelings for him were absolutely without a doubt way too strong. She clutched the slippery sides of the tube, fighting down panic on many levels, and floated into the jet stream of the current. She sped along so fast that the world whirred by in a blur of green cottonwoods and amber wild grasses dry from the midsummer sun, the green grass of the city park and the clean pure blue of the river.

Her feelings were speeding along too, out of control, just like this inner tube she couldn’t stop if she tried—no brakes. The rapids were imminent, she could clearly see the upcoming white crests of water splashing over and around black protrusions of big river rocks. She was going to hit them.

Oh, Lord, don’t let me hit them.

God didn’t seem to answer—how could He hear her over the roar of the river? And suddenly there was a bump against the back of her inner tube. Mitch had caught up with her. He’d come to save her.

“Fun, right?” His wide, happy smile was a grin of a man who lacked all common sense. “You ain’t seen nothing yet. Hold on!”

Hold on? To what? He was nuts. Absolutely nuts.

Her fingers squeaked along the rubber tubing as she tried to get a better grip. The river bucked up like a wild bronco and then bowed back down and up again, whirling her backwards and tossing her up into the air like the worst carnival ride. Suddenly she was spinning toward a fast-approaching hunk of granite that looked very capable of breaking her bones if she rammed into it.

But at the last minute, the white-frothing water steered her to the side of the boulder and with a swoosh rolled her around another. Somewhere behind her Mitch was whooping like a kid on a fair ride, but she couldn’t see anything except the swirling water turning to bubbling foam. The rapids tossed her up and down without end, as if trying to shake her bones from her body.

With a last surge of effort, the river reared a final time, tossing her upward with such force that she soared into the hot summer air. Wow, it was like flying. The black ring of rubber shot from beneath her and out of sight and she was falling, gravity-bound, watching the swirling water rising up to meet her in a cool splash of wetness. It was like landing in happiness, then she was sinking deep.

A steely hand caught her forearm and stopped her descent. Mitch’s hand, Mitch’s touch, his protection as she whooshed to the surface, her pulse pounding with joy. Water sluiced down her face and she drew in a mouthful of air, laughing, as Mitch held her steady, treading water.

“You’re right. That was fun.” She swiped a wet hank of hair out of her eyes to see him more clearly.

Maybe for the first time. His short dark hair was plastered to his head and seemed to accent the strong high blades of his cheekbones, his straight nose and granite jaw.

But as he gathered her in his arms and helped her ashore, where her inner tube drifted, trapped against the bank, it was his touch that affected her. The shadows within her faded, and there was only light.

“How about another run?” Mitch asked, humor glinting in his hazel eyes because he already knew the answer.

Okay, so he’d been right. “I’ll beat you there.” She hooked her inner tube and started running along the grassy shore.

Hours later, Mitch took another bite of his hand-dipped ice-cream cone. Walking through the grassy public park with Kelly was pretty nice. “This has to be one of the best things on earth.”

“This? An ice-cream cone?” The lowering slant of the sunlight brushed her with bronze. She tipped her head back, scattering the long, damp locks of golden hair. “It
is
good, but it’s just an ice-cream cone.”

“Are you kidding? This chocolate crust is real dark chocolate. The cone is bakery quality, it doesn’t come out of a box. You can’t get this just anywhere.”

“It’s good, sure.” She ate her cone by peeling off the thick chocolate layer first, eating it piece by piece. “But there are probably thousands of places that sell something like this or better.”

“See, you take it for granted.” He resisted the urge to touch the wayward locks whipping in the wind across her face, to feel the silken strands against his palm. “That’s because you can pick up an ice-cream cone all the time. When I’m deployed, I don’t get things like this.”

“And that makes it one of the best things on earth?” Kelly picked another curve of chocolate off the top of her cone. She was smirking, as if he greatly amused her.

“It’s probably not one of the
very
best things, but it goes on my list anyway.”

“What list?”

“The one I keep in my head. For nights when I’m with my team and we’re hunkered down on some remote mountain in a blizzard, wet to the skin and half-frozen. There’s no fire because we don’t want the smoke and the flames. No tent, no dry clothes, nothing but a meal in a can. That’s when I haul out my list and try to remember all the good things, so it doesn’t seem as bad.”

“Remembering ice cream is going to make you feel better in a blizzard?”

“Okay, right. I’ll save that for the desert list. When it’s 123 degrees in the shade, except there is no shade, then I’ll remember this afternoon. How the river was cooling—not too cold, just right. The way you laughed when I pulled you up after the rapids. How this feels right now, eating ice cream and walking with you.”

“It’s the ice cream you’ll remember. Not me.” She blushed prettily.

Yep, he was hooked. Something more powerful than tenderness filled him up until it felt impossible to breathe. “Oh, I think there’s a fair-to-middling chance I’ll remember you.”

Like he could ever forget.

He caught a dripping edge of his ice cream, but the rich crunchy outside and the melting chocolate center wasn’t what filled his senses. “You could write to me, when I’m away. Right?”

“Write to you? Well, I suppose I
could
be persuaded.”

“Okay, what’ll it take? How about a burger with the works at that stand over there?”

“We just ate ice cream.”

“But it’s nearly five o’clock. I believe in eating dessert first.”

“I believe in eating dessert any time you can.” Kelly managed to keep her tone light, although her heart wasn’t—not at all. She didn’t want to think of him leaving.

“I’m going to miss—” She couldn’t quite say the words.

“Yeah, me too.” Without words, he understood.

Without words, they walked together, side by side. When he took her hand in his, it was all she could do to hold closed the locks on her already adoring heart.

Could it be true? Was the baby finally asleep?

With the infant snuggled in her arms, Kelly eased the rocking chair to a stop and studied Shannon’s sweet cherub’s face. Her eyes were closed, her rosebud mouth relaxed, lost in dreams. Her warm weight felt utterly limp as she breathed in a slow, sweet rhythm.