Gooseberry Island (3 page)

“Oh,” David said. “I’m sorry.”

“He keeps telling me it was a mistake, but…”

“I guess there are some people who could make those kind of mistakes,” David interrupted, “but I could never do that to someone I love.” He shook his head. “Never.”

She searched his eyes.
He’s not saying it to be cruel,
she thought.
He’s just being honest.

“Sorry,” he said. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

“Yeah, you should have.” She squeezed his hand. “What about life after Afghanistan? What are your plans then?”

“I’ve been in for a while, so after this deployment I can either get out or re-enlist.”

“And which way are you leaning?”

He leaned toward her.

She laughed.

“I’m not sure,” he said, straightening up. “I love the Army. I do. But being a ranger hasn’t left much time for anything else.” He paused. “It’s not really a job, you know. It’s more like a way of life.” He looked into her eyes, where he stayed for a long moment. “And I think I want more from life…much more.”

She smiled.

“We’ll see,” he said.

“Yes, we will,” she said under her breath.

They sat on that hard bench, talking and laughing until the sun popped its head up in the east.

It’s strange how you can meet someone and feel like you’ve known them your entire life…or maybe even before that
, Lindsey thought. She pointed toward the horizon and smiled. “Sorry, but it looks like I’ve cost you a full night’s sleep.”

He turned to face her and locked onto her eyes. “Don’t you dare be sorry, Lindsey. This was the best night of my life!”

She searched his eyes for the truth again but didn’t need to look far. She was an avid reader, and he was an open book that seemed to be written just for her.

“Besides,” he added, with a dimpled grin, “I’ll get my sleep on the plane.” He grabbed her and pulled her to him. “I promised myself I’d be a gentleman,” he whispered, “but I don’t know if I can stop myself from kissing you.”

“David, trust me, you are a gentleman.” She pointed to the sunrise. “If you’re concerned with time, then this could actually be considered our third date.”

At that moment, they both leaned in toward each other. With pursed lips, David took the final plunge. The kiss was tender and passionate and hungry and magical—all at the same time. It felt like a true first kiss, releasing butterflies that began to tickle Lindsey’s insides.

As they came up for air in each other’s arms, David said, “It figures that I met you now…my last night before shipping out for a year.” He searched her eyes again. “But I’m grateful I spent it with you.”

She grabbed his hand. “Me too,” she whispered, “but…”

“But?”

“I’m not sure I can start a new relationship right now.”

“So you think being a pen pal is a risky relationship?” he teased.

She gave him her contact information. “Here’s my email address. If you write me, I’ll write back.”

“I’ll write you,” he promised.

She smiled. “You’d better.”

As he escorted her back to her car, she said, “Whatever you do, David McClain, you come back to Gooseberry Island, okay?”

“I will, Lindsey Wood,” he said. “I’ll meet you right back here on the bench before you know it. I promise.”

With his heart engulfed in the flames of hope, David hurried home to see his mother and father. When he got there, he found his mother in her flowered housecoat sitting at the kitchen table—already crying—and that the old man had left early for work. “He couldn’t even wait to say goodbye to me,” David complained under his breath.

“Your father left you this,” his mother said, wiping her eyes. Betty McClain was a blonde, with tight curls and a figure that time had punished. Pretty and smart, her sad blue eyes spoke volumes so she didn’t have to. Though their family lived on final notices from the utility companies, she was forbidden to work. His dad wouldn’t have had it any other way. Most days, she never bothered to change out of her pajamas. There wasn’t a good enough reason to get dressed.

She picked up a note from the table and handed it to him.

It read,
Keep your head down –Dad.

“Well, isn’t that profound,” David commented, sarcastically.

“He loves you, ya know,” his mother said, “and he’s very proud of you.”

“Sure, Ma. I can tell from the note.”

She shook her head. “Did you go see your Aunt Jeanne?”

He nodded. “I did, before the party.” David’s beloved Aunt Jeanne was his father’s sister but the polar opposite of the man. She was a caring, compassionate soul who let everyone know just how much she cared about them.

“Oh David,” Betty cried, and stood to embrace her son. “I wish you didn’t have to go. I’m already sick with worry.”

“Please don’t worry, Ma,” he whispered. “I’ve been trained by the best. I’ll be fine over there.”

They hugged for a few solid minutes before she surrendered him to his awaiting brother.

Craig looked like he hadn’t slept in days. “That wasn’t cool, disappearing from your own party last night. Everyone was…”

“I know. I know,” David said, unable to contain his smile. “I couldn’t help it.”

“That girl, Lindsey?”

“Yup.” David smiled. “I can’t even explain it.”

“And you’re not even going to try, are you?”

He thought for a moment and smiled wider. “We sat on a park bench all night and talked until the sun came up.”

“You only talked. Yeah right! You got thrown out trying to steal second base, didn’t you?”

He punched his brother’s arm. “Not quite, Craig.”

They laughed for a few minutes until Craig’s face turned serious and his eyes misted over. “Davey, I need you to know that…”

“I know,” David said and pulled his brother in for a strong hug. “You don’t have to say it. I already know.”

Craig pushed away and looked into his big brother’s eyes. “But I do have to say it.”

David nodded.

“I can’t tell you how proud I am to call you my brother…”

David’s eyes filled.

“And I really don’t want to lose you to some…”

“I’m coming home, Craig. You have my word on it.” David reached into his pocket, retrieved the keys to his old Mustang convertible and flipped them to his younger brother. “Take good care of her while I’m away, okay?”

His mouth agape, Craig caught the keys. “Are you serious? You’re gonna let me drive the sled?”

“Until I get back.”

They hugged again—while their mother stood off in the shadows, grieving like she’d already lost her eldest son to the Grim Reaper.

A half hour later, David emerged from his bedroom, a heavy duffel bag slung over one shoulder and a bulging rucksack hanging on the other. He looked at Craig and grinned. “Looks like I need a ride to the airport. We’re flying out of Fort Benning tonight.”

Craig pulled the Mustang’s keys from his pocket and grinned proudly. “Then let’s ride.”

After another of his mother’s tear-stained kisses, David grabbed his father’s note, slipped it into his pants cargo pocket and stepped out of the house.

Halfway across the island, Lindsey kept nodding off on her couch, awakening in the clutches of anxiety. She finally sat up, allowing herself to think about David and the tough road ahead of him.
Please keep him safe
,
God,
she silently prayed.
We only shared one night, but it feels like we’re meant for so much more.

That afternoon, at the Gooseberry Community Art Center, Lindsey beamed with joy as she showed a child how to paint with watercolors.

Her co-worker, Courtney Winters, questioned it. “Someone’s happy today. What gives?”

“I had date last night…sort of,” Lindsey said. Even through the long yawns, she couldn’t stop smiling.

“Sort of a date?” Courtney repeated, looking confused. Eager to know the details, she pulled Lindsey away from her student. “Well, who is he?” she asked. “Where did you meet him?”

“I met him on the beach,” Lindsey whispered. “Simon introduced us and it’s…it’s his eyes. It’s like they call to me. ”

Courtney shook her head, still unsold. “Linds, you’re still new to the dating scene. There are a lot of jerks out there. Just be careful.”

Lindsey shook her exhausted head. “I won’t need to,” she promised. “Not this time.” The smile never left her.

Lindsey spent the rest of the day in dreamland, alternating between smiles and fighting off heavy eyelids. When they could finally break away from the children, she and Courtney ran off and spoke in excited whispers like two grade-school girls.

“Okay, I’ve been dying to hear it,” Courtney said, “and I want details.”

Still aglow, Lindsey’s eyes grew distant. “It was the best night ever.”

“What did you guys do? Where did he take you?”

“We went down to the beach, sat on a park bench and talked all night.”

Courtney was getting frustrated. “And…”

Lindsey smiled. “And then we talked some more until the sun came up and he had to go.”

Courtney shook her head. “I don’t get it.”

Lindsey’s smile vanished, and she shook her head. “There is one problem, though.”

“And what’s that?”

“He’s flying out tonight to fight in Afghanistan.” She inhaled deeply. “And he’ll be gone for a year.”

“You’re kidding me, right?”

“I wish I was,” Lindsey said and, to the surprise of both of them, her eyes filled. “I wish I was.”

Seven hours later—on a black-tarred runway in Fort Benning, Georgia—David turned to face the C-130 military aircraft and took a deep breath.
Time to go to work
, he told himself. As he got closer, he spotted a fellow soldier saying goodbye to his small daughter. The man was on both knees, trying desperately to comfort the young girl and explain things she could never understand. “I’ll be home soon, baby,” he said, his voice shaky.

“Daddy, don’t go! Please…PLEASE!” she screamed, as though he were heading off to the lethal injection room. “PLEASE…”

The man pulled her into his embrace.

“I want you to stay here with me and Mommy,” she pleaded. “It’ll be fun if you stay. PLEASE! PLEASE! I’ll miss you too much.” She began to cry uncontrollably. “And what if you
die
…” Her sobs made her entire body tremble and convulse.

The man pulled her in to him until she was flush with his heaving chest. “Oh baby,” he whispered, struggling to be strong for her. “I’ll come home. I promise.”

Tough promise to keep
, David thought, and then pictured both Lindsey’s and Craig’s worried faces. David glanced again at the soldier and his baby girl and could feel his heart start to tear from his chest. He turned away and quickly boarded the windowless plane.

As he made his way toward the canvas sling that he’d be sitting in for nearly sixteen hours, he questioned his own mettle. Then it dawned on him,
I’ll be carrying my own weight over there, but at least I don’t have to carry that.
He pictured the little girl’s tormented eyes one last time, her desperate cries still fresh in his mind.
I’m not sure I could shoulder it
, he thought before tucking it away behind a door in his mind that he had no intentions of ever opening.

One-by-one, David’s ranger team took their respective canvas seats within the belly of the giant steel beast.

Lieutenant Kevin Menker,the team’s smart, quick-witted leader, sat beside David. “You good to go, McClain?” he asked.

“Hoo-ah,” David replied.

Kevin nodded and conducted a final inventory of his own gear.

Corporal Billy Brodeur, the team’s baby, entered next. He was a Boston-based kid, who had grown up on the streets. David exchanged nods with him and smiled.
There’s tough and then there’s trained
, David thought.
When Billy was growing up, I have no doubt he was the toughest kid on his block, and then the Army was crazy enough to train him
.

Corporal Nathan Michaels filed in right behind Billy. Physically, Nate was the runt of the ranger litter. He was a quiet, unassuming guy who could have just as easily passed for a grade-school teacher—as long as his death-inspired tattoos remained concealed.
But he has a heart the size of his head
, David thought. Nate had two sons, so he had more to lose than any of them. David watched Nate take one last look at a family photo before he kissed it and tucked it back into his camouflaged cap.

Sergeant Max Essington, David’s best friend in the Army, lugged his gear onboard and grabbed the sling on the other side of David. “You ready for this, brother?” the single father asked, smiling.

David nodded. “Hoo-ah!”

“Hoo-ah,” Max repeated.

Tall and lanky, Max was a well-trained medic.

I’m glad he’s with us
, David thought.

Staff Sergeant Allen Correiro, a mountain of a man from Texas, was the last to board. He busted balls harder than any of them, but he was their weapons expert—
who will probably be faster to the trigger than any of us
, David thought.

“I hope we didn’t interrupt anything important, Big Al,” Lieutenant Menker yelled to him.

Al grinned. “Actually, it’s called
my life,
but I’ll get over it.”

Everyone laughed—before confident nods were exchanged all around. The C-130’s motors fired up and screamed out a terrifying warning. David took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
Time to go to work
, he repeated in his head. A moment later, they were speeding down the runway toward the fight in Afghanistan.

In flight, amid the loud whine of the plane’s motors, the same questions kept repeating in David’s head.
Am I ready for this?
He then remembered experiencing the same doubts on his first plane ride to Georgia. That’s when the real question arose:
Do I have it in me?

Keeping his eyes closed, the answer came to him in fragmented memories.