Forgive & Forget (Love in the Fleet) (30 page)

In the meantime, Hallie would sit there keeping her demons at bay, holding his hand, and reminding him of everything: A lock of hair, a warm class ring, a fan room, terry cloth bathrobes, and yes, lavender skivvies. And a kiss in the rain, a sailboat, a cowboy hat, a red sky at night and how Sky was going to embarrass them at their wedding and the babies they would make together some day. And how much she loved him.

Hallie would whisper it all to him. Over and over again.

Until he came back to her.

Retired Navy Captain Doug “Spurs” Johnston was exhausted. He’d been traveling with his wife for close to twenty-four hours with only fits and snatches of sleep and dry sandwiches washed down with way too many cups of coffee for sustenance.

He’d been delighted to discover a car and driver from the hospital waiting for them when they arrived in Landstuhl, Germany. He was not pleased however, when the Military Policeman posted outside Philip’s door patiently explained that the Johnstons were not on the list of persons cleared to enter Philip’s room.

Just another instance where he did not miss being in the military.

“Corporal, we’ve just traveled from the States to see our wounded son who is behind that door.” He pulled out his military ID card and added, “We’re his parents for God’s sake. What could possibly be the problem with us entering that room? Why does he need a bodyguard anyway? And why is he in a VIP room? I’m sure there were other wounded brought here from the
Blanchard
. Are they all getting this treatment? What in hell is going on here, Corporal?”

The M.P.’s eyes flickered up and down the hall with uncertainty. “I’m not here to protect your son, sir. I’ve been assigned to Miss McCabe.”

“Who?” both parents said in unison.

“I’m Miss McCabe’s bodyguard. And I’m sorry, but I can’t allow you to enter.”

Mrs. Johnston stepped up to the plate. “Corporal, my son is in that room and as far as I know he’s in a coma. Now I’m going to walk through that door to be at his side. I will give you thirty seconds to get permission for me to do just that or you’re going to have to shoot me because I am going to enter.”

“Who’s Miss McCabe?” a confused Doug Johnston asked as the baby-faced M.P.’s walkie-talkie squawked with permission for them to enter. His relief was evident as he stepped aside to allow them in.

Philip’s mom strode directly to Philip’s side. His dad strode directly to Hallie. “Who are you? What are you doing here?” Hallie looked him right in the eye, but walked past him to Philip’s mother and introduced herself.

“Mrs. Johnston, I’m pleased to meet you. I’m Hallie McCabe and I’ve been watching over Philip for the past two days.”

“Hallie.” She opened her arms to her. “Philip talked of nothing but Hallie this summer. It’s so good to meet you. Thank you for being here with him.”

Doug Johnston was still confused and he couldn’t let it drop. “But how did you get here? And why do you need a bodyguard?”

Hallie glanced at him but continued to avoid his questions. Instead she updated them both on Philip’s condition. “I assume you know Philip suffered a traumatic brain injury in the explosion on Thursday. He’d not regained consciousness by the time we arrived here and they’ve kept him in an induced coma to keep the swelling down. Fortunately he’s been able to breathe on his own, although they’ve got him on oxygen as a precaution. He had surgery right after we arrived to determine the extent of the damage.” She put up her hands in surrender. “I’m sure the doctor can explain that part a lot better than I can. All I know is they repaired and cleaned out some hematomas and contusions or something.”

Philip’s mother’s hand flew to her chest. Her other hand stroked Philip’s arm.

Her husband walked to her side and put his arm around her. “It’s alright, Margaret. He’s going to be fine.” Not that he had any idea of how fine his son was going to be, but as far as Spurs Johnston was concerned it’s what a man tells his wife.

Hallie continued. “They don’t know how the TBI will affect him yet. We won’t know much until he wakes up and they can do tests. But so far all his reactions are good. Anyway, they took him off the sedative this morning so it’s possible he could wake up any time, and he will. I know he will. Talking to him is the best thing we can do. I’ve been talking non-stop.” Her eyes pooled with tears. “I’m so glad you’re here. It’s going to be so much better now that he can hear your voices.”

“Miss McCabe, I still don’t understand why you—”

“Doug, you will either conduct yourself appropriately or you will leave the room.”

Damn it, his wife was always doing that. And she was usually right.

“But Margaret, I don’t get…”

Hallie glanced over her shoulder toward Philip, then turned back to Doug and answered a little too defensively, “I flew on the Med-Evac flight with him. From the ship.”

His brow furrowed. “What were you doing on the ship?”

“Because I’m in the Navy, sir. I’m stationed on the
Blanchard
. I was on board when the terrorists attacked.”

“Philip never mentioned you were on his ship. He never even told us you were in the Navy.”

Hallie looked down and bit her cheek, then turned to him and replied, “He didn’t know—before we left. Look, I’d rather we didn’t get into this now.”

“He didn’t know? What are you saying?”

Hallie hesitated, looked at each of Philip’s parents, inhaled deeply, and blew out her breath. Then answered proudly. “I’m a Mass Communications Specialist in the United States Navy. An MC2, sir.”

His eyebrows shot up.

“Yup, I’m an everyday, garden variety sailor.”

“You’re enlisted?” Incredulous. “Why would Philip…? And the Navy sanctions this? What the hell’s going on here?”

Hallie took two steps forward, breaking into his personal space. She lifted her chin and challenged him with her eyes. “I am in no position to give you parenting advice, Captain Johnston, but I would think that the health of your son and the idea of us working together to bring Philip back to us is a hell of a lot more important right now than who I am, why I’m here, or how I earn my living.”

Doug took it like a slap to the face. What really pissed him off was that she was right. “Well, of course Philip is the issue here, but—”

“I have worked my damndest for the past forty-eight hours to ensure that your son is surrounded with positive energy. So if you insist on focusing on negative issues, I must ask you to leave. Sir.”

How dare she speak to him that way? But his wife’s quiet clapping from Philip’s bedside confirmed that it was two against one. “Touché, Hallie. Go find us some coffee, Doug.”

He replied, “I’m going to find the CO of the hospital and get to the bottom of this is what I’m going to do.” He walked over to Philip, laid his hand on his forehead, then about-faced and headed toward the door before adding, “And yes, I’ll get coffee too, Margaret.”

Women.

Hallie turned to Philip’s mother. She was seated at his bedside, stroking his bald head, while squeezing his hand with the other. “I’m sorry about that Mrs. Johnston. I just didn’t feel his accusations were going to benefit Philip right now.”

  Margaret Johnston continued to stroke her son’s hair. “Don’t give it another thought, Hallie. Of course Philip’s more important. Doug’s been very upset since we got that call and we’ve barely slept since Friday. But forgive him, please. He’s known for speaking his mind, although he’s usually not quite so rude. I promise you his bark is worse than his bite. I think it’s just his way of dealing with not having any control over this. And it was a little confusing finding you here, but I’m glad you are here with Philip. We just didn’t know you were back in the picture.”

“Thank you, ma’am. It’s a long story and I’d prefer not to discuss it here. I believe he can hear everything we say and I want to keep the atmosphere as positive as possible.” Hallie paused, no idea why tears were forming in her eyes again. They kept doing that. “Philip always spoke so highly of you and now I can see why. I know he feels your presence.” She paused. “I’ll step outside if you’d like to have some time alone with him.”

“It’s okay, sweetie. I don’t have anything to say to my son I can’t say in front of you.”

She turned to him. “Honey, Dad and I are here. We’ve been worried about you, but now I know you’ve been in good hands the entire time. Everything is going to be all right. Just come back to us. And come back to Hallie. I know she needs you.”

Hallie sat down across from her. Each of them stroked one of Philip’s hands. Hallie held Philip’s left hand with hers. Mrs. Johnston reached across and turned it so she could better see Hallie’s ring. Her face, although etched with concern, blossomed into a tired smile. She continued her one-way conversation with her son.

“Looks like you found The One. I’m so happy for you. Even Dad’s glad. He just doesn’t know it yet. Didn’t I tell you to be patient and the right woman would come along? Well, it looks like she has. Didn’t I tell you the smart ones would be looking for someone like you?” She chuckled to herself before continuing. “And there’s no question Hallie’s smart. She had your father figured out in a New York minute.”

Chapter 33

The woman was back. The one with the beautiful brown eyes. Philip couldn’t see her but she was definitely back because he could hear her whispering in his ear again. “Come back to Hallie. She needs you.” At least he thought that was what she was saying. It was kind of hard to focus on her words because his head hurt like a son of a bitch.

Maybe she had an aspirin.

He tried to get his bearings, but he couldn’t get a fix on things. He was out of the water for sure. He felt like he’d been swimming for days on end. Maybe that’s why he was so tired. But he was definitely out of it because the water had been bathtub warm and it was sort of chilly here. He could only see fog, but not wispy fog like when he first met the woman

No, this was different. This was like coming to in the morning with a bad hangover. Afraid to even open his eyes. Wondering just what in hell he’d done the night before.

“Come back to us. Come back to Hallie,” the woman whispered again in his ear.

Wait a second.
Come
back to Hallie? Not
go
back to Hallie? Come back to us? Who was us? What was going on here?

And suddenly Philip recognized this woman’s voice as his mother’s, not the woman with the soulful brown eyes – not that his mother didn’t have soulful brown eyes. No, this wasn’t the woman who’d been in the water with him. This was his mom talking now. What was his mom doing on the ship?

Did she have an aspirin?

And then he realized his eyes were closed. No wonder he hadn’t been able to figure anything out. It suddenly dawned on him that his eyes had been closed through this whole weird journey. If he could just open them, he’d be able to figure out what was going on.

And where the hell he was.

He peeked out from under his eyelids just enough to know that it definitely was his mom talking to him, because she was sitting beside his bed. His bed? Why was he in bed and why was his mom there? He sensed, more than saw, that there was someone else there, but he couldn’t make it out. He tried to turn his head to get a better look, what with his eyes only opening to slits and his glasses gone—where were his glasses?—but his head hurt too much to turn it.

And then the woman was leaving. Yup, as she passed the end of the bed he knew for sure it was his mom. What was his mom doing here? He wanted to call out, “Hey, Mom, you got any aspirin?” but his mouth wasn’t working quite yet. Well, beyond knowing he was mighty thirsty.

And can I get some water with it? 

Moving only his eyeballs under the heavy lids—damn, what was holding his eyelids down?—Philip was able to take in a foot-board of some kind, some machines, and a lot of wires and tubes. One appeared to be snaking out of his nose. No wonder it itched so much. Now he understood what all the mechanical beeping had been about. This was some kind of hospital room. Sick Bay on the
Blanchard
? But it was definitely a hospital-type place and he was in some kind of bed so he must be sick or hurt or something.

And then he remembered some kind of explosion.

Whatever had happened, he realized he was gazing at a beautiful sight.

His feet. Both of them seemed to be there. He wiggled his toes under the sheet just to be sure. And then flexed his fingers. Yup. Two hands reporting as ordered, sir. All extremities present and accounted for. That was always a good sign. So maybe he’d just hit his head or something, because it hurt like…Wait a minute. Good. If he was in a hospital, it meant he hadn’t gotten drunk last night and done something stupid. Whew.

And then he heard another familiar voice in the room—or wherever he was. It was definitely his dad. Uh oh. If his dad was on the ship, he’d probably tell them how to run it.

And then his dad said something that connected all the dots.

“…nut job in CDC…”

Oh, shit. OS2 Davis in CDC had a gun to Petty Officer McCabe’s head.

Philip’s heart kicked into high gear. His body screamed for him to get to Combat and save Hallie, but he couldn’t seem to move a muscle. He had to tell his dad to go save her. But his mouth wouldn’t work.

“He told me everything,” his dad continued. “Margaret, you can’t believe what this young lady did.”

“Sir, I only…”

Hallie?

What was Hallie doing in Sick Bay? Everyone on the ship would know about them if Hallie was here with him. But wait. If she was here, then she was okay.

Relief flooded his body. He summoned all his strength and managed to turn his head ever so slightly and…there she was.

Hallie.

His Hallie.

Hallie was alive
.

Relief pumped from his bloodstream into his soul.

He could only see her back as his dad hugged her. Wait,
his dad was hugging Hallie
? And thanking her. Thanking her for saving his son. This show was way too good to miss and Philip willed his eyes to open wider. Yup, there was his mom, watching them and smiling. And now hugging both of them.

“I apologize for being rude to you, Hallie. Please forgive me. I was tired and frustrated and I didn’t understand why you were here, but that’s no excuse. Why didn’t you tell me what you’d done to save the ship? You could have shut me up but fast.”

“Because Philip is more important, sir.”

Captain Johnston sighed and turned to his wife. “Isn’t she something, Margaret? Honey, we missed it all while we were traveling.” His dad stood back and whipped out a newspaper to show his mom. “The CO of the hospital gave me the
Stars and Stripes
. Look at this story that just broke this morning…”