Semper Fi (39 page)

Laura groaned. “Total disaster. The oysters haven’t arrived yet.” She shook her head. “Mother, I don’t know how you plan these parties all the time. I haven’t slept for days!”

“Years of experience, I suppose.” She tightened her hand on Cal’s arm. “Darling, you must come along. Laura, we’ll see you shortly before the speeches.”

They smiled and chatted with a dozen guests before they were able to escape into the corridor to the east wing. His mother picked up her pace and ducked into one of the day rooms, closing the door behind them.

“All right, what is this talk of a business? What don’t I know?” She frowned, clearly puzzled and possibly a little hurt.

“I honestly thought Father told you. I’m sorry.”

“Your father has been very busy with the bank, and of course I’ve had luncheons and my ladies’ clubs, not to mention running this house. Laura’s tried her best this week to lend a hand since it’s my anniversary, but it’s all very involving. So please tell me what’s going on.”

Cal leaned against the floral wallpaper with one shoulder and ran his finger around the rim of his champagne flute. “I bought half the orchard. Went into business with Jim.”

She blinked, and was silent for a few moments. “Jim? That fellow from the war?”

“Yes, Mother. My best friend, Jim Bennett.”

“But…why on Earth would you do that? What do you know about fruit?”

“I’ve learned a lot, actually, but Jim knows apples. I know business. We’re expanding. I had Milton in Philadelphia make an apple press so we can start brewing cider. It was a good business opportunity for me.”

“I didn’t know you were interested in having your own business.” She smiled uncertainly. “You never mentioned that.”

Cal shrugged. “It never came up.”

“I wish it had. I know you don’t believe it, but I’m interested in your life, Cal. I’m your mother.”

Before Cal could respond, the door opened and his father entered, wearing a perfectly pressed tuxedo that stretched across his broad shoulders. He closed the door behind him, and wore an unnervingly calm expression on his face. Cal’s mother stood up straighter.

“Our son was just telling me about his new business venture. You never mentioned it.”

“No. I didn’t.” He fixed Cal with a glare.

Cal forced a smile. “Mom, we can talk later. I’ll tell you all about it.”

“Not much to tell.” His father’s face was stony. “Not much at all.”

She raised a smooth eyebrow. “Well, your father started the bank as a business venture and look at it now.”

Cal’s father practically growled. “There’s a hell of a difference between the bank and growing a few apples. It’s a passing fancy. He’ll come to his senses any day now.”

“Will I?” Cal clenched his jaw.

“I might even take you back one more time.”

“How kind. But it won’t be necessary. I’m not coming back.”

His father went on as if he hadn’t spoken. “George Jackson was just telling me about his daughter. She’s twenty-one now. He said she was asking about you.”

His mother clapped her hands together. “She’s a lovely girl, Cal. I admit I’ve had my eye on her for a little while now. I know, I know, you want to choose your own wife. But time marches on, my dear.”

“I’m queer, Mom.”

The words were out of his mouth and fracturing the air, all sharp edges, before Cal could call them back.

She stared, her jaw scraping the plush carpet, and his father’s face went dark red.

In for a penny…
“Jim’s not only my best friend. He’s my lover. I want to make a life with him. I’m
going
to make a life with him, one way or another. I’ll never marry George Jackson’s daughter, or anyone else’s. The life I want is with Jim on our orchard.”

Tears shone in his mother’s eyes, and she peered at him as if she’d never seen him before. He supposed she hadn’t.

She shook her head. “How could you say such a thing? It sickens me.”

“It’s the truth. This is who I am.”

“No. It was that war. The
Marines
,” she spat. “If you’d joined the navy and been an officer like you were supposed to, this wouldn’t have happened. They clearly warped your mind. You’re confused.”

“I’m not confused. This is who I’ve always been.”

She laughed wildly. “You most certainly are not! Not my son. My son is not…a disgusting
perversion
.”

Cal thought he might snap the stem of his champagne glass. “It’s not disgusting to me. That’s my real life, and you need to know. I guess I need you to know it. Even if you can’t accept it.”

A discreet knock at the door was followed by the butler’s low tones. “The speeches are to commence in two minutes.”

Cal’s breath was stuck as he waited, listening to the butler’s footsteps receding. A clock ticked in the silence.

Finally his father cleared his throat. “I think it’s time for you to leave.”

Blinking furiously and dabbing at her eyes, his mother wouldn’t meet Cal’s gaze. “Yes. I think it is. We’ll make your excuses.”

Laughing hollowly, Cal nodded. “You’ve been doing it for years, so why stop now?” He raised his glass. “Here’s to you, Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham.”

After tossing back the champagne, he made his way through the east wing and out the servant’s entrance. The valet jumped up to retrieve the Cadillac, and Cal waited in the cool night, watching his breath cloud the air.

He’d actually done it. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“I really wish you’d have come inside.”

Cal shrugged as he and Jim strolled between the trees. The mid-afternoon sun beamed down, and crickets sang. He wished he could bottle the tranquillity of the orchard and bring it back to Manhattan. He didn’t miss the honks and clamor even a little.

“Nah. It was the middle of the night. I was afraid I’d wake you all on those creaky stairs. It was easier to just sleep in the car.”

“Next time wake me up, okay?”

“Sure.” Cal couldn’t resist twisting an apple off a low-hanging branch. He bit into it, savoring the sweet tang. “I tell you, they do not make apples like this in the city. Nothing like fresh off the tree.”

“Uh-huh. Are you going to tell me why you showed up here in the middle of the night in a tuxedo? I thought Sophie was seeing things this morning.”

“Yeah, I’ll tell you.” The thought of his mother’s reaction sat in his gut like an unexploded mortar. “Just not right now, all right?”

“All right.”

“Good thing I still have a few duds here.” Cal fiddled with one of the buttons of his plaid shirt.

“Yeah.” Jim stopped by the cider house. “About that…” He licked his lips.

Desire like a rocket shot up Cal’s spine. God, he wanted to kiss those lips. Wanted to pull Jim to the ground and lose himself in him.

“I’ve been thinking about it.”

“About my clothes?” Cal half smiled, butterflies swirling in his stomach. “I am a dapper dresser, whether it’s for evening or apple harvesting.”

Jim laughed. “No. About…everything. Our situation.”

“Right.” Cal’s heart thumped.
Please say you want me, no matter what.

He took a deep breath. “Cal, I—”

The low rumble of an approaching vehicle reached them, and Jim glanced toward the laneway. Cal followed his gaze, and a moment later a truck came around the bend. Jim made a noise of surprise, blinking as if he couldn’t believe his eyes.

Cal peered at the pickup. “Who is it?”

A tall man with light brown hair stepped out, wearing the same kind of casual jeans and work shirt Cal and Jim did. He raised his hand in a tentative wave.

“Eddie.”

“Aw, come on, Husky. You finally found an excuse to go home, huh?” Cal said, clearly putting on a smile.

Slipping in the mud, Jim rushed over to join Cal as he walked alongside the stretcher. “Take care of yourself, buddy,” Jim added. “You’ll be fine.”

Ashen and somehow smaller than Jim had ever seen him, Husky smiled weakly. “I sure will, Johnny. Finally going home. Tell Sully he’d better keep his scrawny ass out of trouble. Same with you, Hollywood.”

“Since when is my ass scrawny?” Cal feigned offense as he patted his rear end with both hands. “This is one hundred percent prime beef right here.”

Then the corpsmen were loading Husky into the transport, and he was gone, the truck rattling over the uneven road. Jim rubbed his face. He felt as if he hadn’t slept in days. “Think he’ll make it?”

“Fifty-fifty, I’d say.” Cal’s smile and jocular tone had vanished.

“At least it’s over for him now. One way or the other.”

They watched the truck go.

When Sully found out Husky was hit and already evacuated, he disappeared into his foxhole by the gun pit and curled in on himself. The rest of the squad sat on a cluster of rocks and ate cold K rations. The canned beef loaf was gelatinous and mercifully tasteless as Jim forced it down. They were off the line for the night, at least.

After dinner, Cal left to get briefed by one of the new replacement lieutenants. Along with the enlisted men, officers were getting killed left and right. Captain Brown had gotten nailed a week before, and there seemed to be a new officer every other day. Jim watched as Cal and the other NCOs nodded, their faces grim.

“That doesn’t look so good.” Gambler jerked his chin toward the huddle.

“No.”

As the rain began again, Gambler pulled his field jacket tighter around him. “God, I wish the rain would quit.”

Jim resisted the urge to snap that they’d lived through the rainy season twice already, and that this was nothing. But the rain had indeed been getting heavier and more frequent, so instead he just chewed on a biscuit that crumbled like dust on his tongue.

After a minute of silence, Gambler suddenly shook with a sob.

Jim perched on the rock next to him and patted his back. “It’s all right. You’ll be okay.”

“No I won’t, Johnny!” Gambler shook his head, trembling. “I’m so scared. Marines aren’t supposed to be scared.”

“We’re all afraid. Every last one of us.”

“Look at them.” He nodded to Cal and the other NCOs. “The brass is sending us back in. All these weeks it’s just non-stop. Even when we’re off the line, it still doesn’t ever stop.”

“I know.” It was quieter in their camp, but in the distance the rumble of battle continued unabated. Army and Marine divisions made painfully slow progress against the Japs, who true to form were not giving up the island without a brutal fight. Even off the line they had to constantly be on guard for flanking Jap attacks or paratroopers plummeting from above.

Resting now at the edge of a small forest, they were all worn down—thin, hollow, and battered. Two of their squad’s replacements were dead, and now Gambler and the others knew for themselves the hell of battle.

Gambler sniffed quietly. “I’m never going home, Johnny. I’ll never see my folks or my little sister again.”

“We all feel like that.” Jim had to tamp down a swell of emotion as Sophie’s little face filled his mind. “All we can do is keep our heads down and pray we’re one of the lucky ones.” He didn’t feel very lucky at the moment.

Gambler swiped at his red eyes. His shorn blond hair was splattered with mud. “There’s a girl. Prettiest girl in all of Rhode Island. I was going to ask her to marry me.”

“What’s her name?”

“Louisa. Hair like coal and big green eyes like a cat’s almost. All the boys were after her in high school, and senior year she picked me. Said I made her laugh. She writes me letters, and says she’s waiting for me to come home. She’ll be some other fella’s wife. Won’t even remember me.”

“Of course she will. Besides, you’ll be there. You’ll make it.” Jim put his arm about Gambler’s shivering shoulders.

When Cal returned, he roused Sully and sent him and one of the new boys on patrol. Jim offered Cal the candy bar from his ration, grateful their supplies had been refreshed at least. “You look like you could use this.”

Cal sat next to Jim on the rocks. “Thanks.” He unwrapped the chocolate and snapped it in two, handing half back to Jim. Nodding to Gambler’s foxhole, where the boy had settled into a fitful, sniffling sleep, he asked, “He all right?”

“As he can be.” Jim sighed. “Are we making a push?”