The Gauntlet (24 page)

Chapter Fifteen

“M
oll, you look great!” Dana, who was also in a dark blue naval winter uniform, came over and hugged her. The graduation ceremony had just ended in the large auditorium on station and Molly, diploma in hand, had rejoined her friends. “Congratulations!” Dana said warmly.

“Thanks,” Molly whispered, hugging her friend. Beside Dana was her fiancé, Lieutenant Griff Turcotte, who grinned and thrust out his hand.

“Whiting’s loss was Patuxent’s gain, Molly. Graduating number two in your class isn’t bad.”

Molly thanked him. It was obvious that Dana and Griff were very much in love. On Dana’s left hand a beautiful diamond engagement ring sparkled. They had set their wedding date for Christmas Day—less than three weeks away.

The room rang with festivities all around. At least a hundred people, mostly relatives and friends of the students, had come to the graduation of the eight who had made it through the toughest school in the world. Molly tried to hide her disappointment that her father and brother weren’t among the revelers. She had sent them an official invitation, but it had remained unanswered.

“I got great video of you!” Maggie called as she threaded her way through the packed crowd. “You looked awesome in your dress uniform taking that diploma, Molly.”

As usual, Maggie’s presence turned heads, and Molly smiled, loving her red-haired friend dearly. “Thanks for doing the honors,” she said. She hugged Maggie, who had opted to show up in civilian clothes—a winter-white wool suit and green silk blouse—instead of wearing her uniform. With her red hair, Molly thought she looked like a beautiful Christmas gift. A number of single officers were eyeing Maggie, checking her out and obviously liking what they saw. Maggie, on the other hand, seemed completely oblivious to their interest and inspection.

Molly’s attention was drawn to Cam, who, unlike Maggie, moved with the quiet of a cat, disturbing and disrupting no one. In Molly’s eyes, Cam was devastatingly handsome in his dark blue dress uniform, with each brass button polished, the rows of ribbons on the left side of his chest colorful and the medals proudly displayed beneath them.

“That guy’s a hunk,” Maggie told her in a conspiratorial tone. “Is he Sinclair?”

“Yes,” Molly breathed, wondering if Cam was going to remain at arm’s length after graduation. Before, it had been necessary. Now formality, to a degree, could be dropped.

“Niiiice,” Maggie purred. “Very nice. You’ve outdone yourself, Molly.”

“Maggie! You never change, do you?”

Grinning impishly, Maggie shrugged. “Going into fighter-pilot training with an F-14 strapped to my you-know-what has only made me worse. Those jocks at Miramar are the worst caveman types I’ve ever run into. If I’m not in combat in the air with my jet, I’m in combat on the ground with them at the O club afterward. Talk about pitched battles… Whew!”

“You love it,” Molly responded with a laugh. But her eyes and her heart were centered on Cam as he approached. To her surprise, Cam knew Griff Turcotte. They shook hands, warmth and camaraderie evident between them. It was a small world in naval aviation, Molly realized and it made her happy that Dana’s husband-to-be knew Cam.

Cam shifted his attention to the women officers, shaking their hands in turn. Finally, he stood at Molly’s side and smiled down at her.

“It’s common for the family of each graduate to give them a graduation gift,” he told all of them. Cam looked around at the small, tight group of Molly’s friends. “And since your real family couldn’t be here, I thought this gift would speak for all of us who are part of your extended family.” Cam pulled a small box wrapped in gold foil and red ribbon out of his jacket pocket. He placed it in Molly’s hand. “For you, angel,” he whispered, holding her tear-filled gaze.

“Ahhh, Molly, you aren’t gonna cry, are you?” Maggie teased, digging into her pocket for a tissue.

“Of course, she is,” Dana said, already holding a tissue ready for Molly to use.

Sniffing, Molly smiled and wiped away her tears. Cam drew close, his arm around her waist, sensing that she needed his touch. “Thank you, Cam.”

“Open it,” he urged, lifting his head and smiling at the curious group. His heart pounded with nervousness and hope. Would Molly like his gift?

Opening the box, Molly discovered a pendant that had been fashioned into a small set of gold wings. At the center of it was a square-cut emerald. She looked up at Cam as she lovingly touched it with her fingertips.

“Cam,” she breathed, “this is beautiful!”

He smiled down into her lustrous eyes. “It’s the set of wings you deserve. The green and gold together remind me of the color of your eyes. When we’re testing or flying, we can’t wear any jewelry, but I thought they might let you get away with wearing this around your neck.”

“It’s beautiful,” Dana said. “Exquisite, just like you, Moll.”

Maggie craned her neck to get a look. “Check this out! Hey, your own set of wings, Molly. This pair’s even prettier than the ones we got at Whiting.”

Touched beyond words, Molly could only stare down at the special gift. “They look exactly like the pilot’s wings you wear,” she agreed softly.

“A smaller version,” Cam said. “But no less important.” He ached to take her into his arms and kiss her breathless. “Maybe you can wear this when we leave for the Smokies,” he suggested.

Molly caught Maggie’s flash of a knowing grin and she promptly blushed. Dana’s smile told her she approved of the idea. It felt good to have her friends’ support and understanding. Reaching out, Molly hugged each of them. “I’m just so lucky to have all of you,” she sniffed. “Thanks for coming, for being here….” Even if her family had refused to come.

* * *

A light snow was falling silently in the blue-hazed Smoky Mountains when Molly and Cam arrived at their cabin. Long, thin gray branches of thousands of trees surrounded the secluded house. A stream gurgled nearby, a thin bit of ice coating its banks. Molly got out of the car, immersed in the sights, sounds and colors that surrounded them.

Cam smiled and began to unpack the car and take their luggage into the cabin while Molly stood like a child, mesmerized by the beauty of the setting. The air was crisp, but Cam didn’t feel the chill. Instead, there was such a warmth bubbling within him that he doubted he’d be aware of much else. Darkness would fall in another hour.

Eventually Molly came and joined him inside the cabin. While he started a fire in the large stone fireplace, she busied herself with getting them dinner. A small kitchenette at the other end supplied the modern necessities for roughing it in style. The rest of the main room was furnished with antique maple and oak pieces, and huge, braided throw rugs decorated the polished cedar hardwood floor.

Sighing contentedly as she completed dinner preparations and stepped out of the kitchen area, Molly felt a peace she’d never known. Reflected firelight danced off the shiny floor. The rug in front of the hearth was a tanned sheepskin, the ivory wool beautiful against the reds and golds of the cedarwood surrounding it.

Cam came out of the bedroom. He’d changed into a pair of jeans, red chamois shirt and hiking boots. Molly stood in the center of the living room and watched him approach. There was a smoldering look in his blue eyes, a heat that made her wildly aware that she was a woman.

“You look like a woodland nymph,” Cam teased, settling his hands on her shoulders. The wool sweater she wore, a floral crewneck with a delicate scrolled design and dusty-colored roses around the yoke, gave her a decidedly feminine look. The burgundy cord slacks enhanced her slender figure. He stroked her loose blond hair, glinting like spun gold in the firelight.

“I feel different,” Molly admitted, resting her hands on his arms as he drew her against him. Their hips met and lightly touched.

“Different?”

“A good kind of different.” Molly gazed around the quiet cabin, the only sound that of wood popping and spitting in the blazing hearth. “This is such a dichotomy. For six months I’m in a pressurized military atmosphere and then, suddenly, here I am in a lovely cabin miles away from everything and surrounded with such beauty that I feel as if I’m in a dream.” She smiled and touched the pendant that rested against her throat. Since receiving the gift from Cam yesterday, Molly had refused to take it off.

“We are,” Cam whispered. “Angels only appear in dreams, didn’t you know that?” He didn’t want to hurry Molly, or assume that she wanted what he wanted. Her eyes, however, mirrored his desire to kiss her. Cam obliged.

Molly sighed as Cam pulled her close. This was what she wanted, needed—him as a man and human being. Parting her lips, she wasn’t disappointed, feeling the controlled strength and power of his mouth upon hers. It was such a tender, exploratory kiss. Molly felt the tension in Cam, and knew that he was keeping himself carefully controlled where she was concerned.

Cam had opened a bottle of champagne earlier and filled the two fluted glasses that sat on the pine coffee table near the couch. Now he led her over and handed her a glass. Touching the rim of his glass to hers, he said, “To a lady with real courage.”

Molly smiled uncertainly, sipping the champagne but not really tasting it. The banked coals of yearning in Cam’s eyes telegraphed his need of her, and she felt her body responding effortlessly. “And to the man who had the courage to help her get in touch with her own strengths and abilities.”

Cam set his glass aside and gathered Molly’s hands into his. “It was there all along, Molly. You just weren’t aware of it.”

“Cam, my strength didn’t come out at Whiting.”

“That’s because I wasn’t there.”

Grinning, she leaned forward on impulse and kissed him. The words
I love you
were begging to be said to him. But did Cam really love her? Or was she simply a part of his healing journey from the past? Molly wasn’t sure at all. It made each moment spent with Cam an exquisite torture, a sweet torment.

Startled by her unexpected kiss, Cam studied her in the gathering silence. His hands tightened around her slender ones. “We’re good for each other,” he admitted hoarsely.

“I know you’re good for me,” Molly whispered. “I can’t see that I’ve done much for you except serve you some decent food.”

A reckless grin shadowed Cam’s mouth. “Guilty as charged, angel. You are a great cook—but you’re important to me in so many other ways.”

She lay back against the couch, facing him, her hands resting in his. “Tell me how, Cam, because I really don’t realize what I do for you.”

Cam looked at Molly, narrowing his eyes, then decided she meant what she said. She had slipped off her shoes and tucked her legs beneath her body in a typical Molly gesture. He held her worried gaze. Why was she anxious?

“When you first arrived at TPS, my heart started to feel again,” he told her in a low voice. “As the months went by, I became aware that I was ready to start living again instead of living in a numb cocoon of grief, Molly.” He hung his head, studying her slender fingers, thinking how delicate and yet how strong she really was. “You helped me work through that grief in your own way and helped me put the past behind me.” Lifting his head, Cam studied her compassionate features. “I’ll never forget my family. But now, I hold them in my heart as a wonderful memory. I don’t wear them like a ball and chain anymore.” He lifted her hand and kissed the back of it gently. “The past couple of months, I’ve been ready to live again.

“I was trapped, Molly. When I realized after that fight with your father that I loved you, it became a living hell to keep my real feelings to myself.” He saw her eyes widen. There was such relief in her features when he admitted his love for her. “You were on a tightrope, trying to balance your new confidence against loss of your family support. If I’d admitted it to you then, you might not have fought to carve out life the way you needed it to be—on your own terms.”

Cam managed a slight smile and gently cradled her cheek against his palm. “I had to stay in the background and let you fall, pick you up and keep on striving. Every time you fell, I ached for you. I wanted to take you into my arms and hold you, love you. I wanted to protect you….”

“If you had,” Molly said in a scratchy voice, “I wouldn’t have believed in myself.”

“That’s right, angel. It’s easy to lean on someone and let them do part of your work.”

“I’m glad you didn’t let me.”

“Molly, I love you too much to do that. But you needed to understand that I’d be there whether you were a success or a failure.” He framed her face, holding her green and gold gaze. “Honey, what you needed to understand was that as long as you gave it your best shot, you couldn’t fail. Even if you hadn’t graduated from TPS, you still wouldn’t have failed in my eyes. Do you understand that?”

She nodded. “I learned that from you, Cam. When you were there for me no matter how bad or how good it got, it sank in. I finally understood what you were trying to tell me.”

Cam drew her forward. “By standing on your own, Molly, you’ve gained confidence. Anything life throws at you from now on won’t be any easier, but you’ll have new ways of coping.” He brushed her waiting lips, a groan tearing from deep within him. Her lips were eager, hungrily kissing him in return. When Molly placed her hands on his shoulders and leaned into the circle of his arms, Cam felt complete.

“I love you,” Molly quavered, sliding her hand up across his beard-roughened cheek. “I think I did from the day I met you.”

Cam held her close, contentment flowing through him. “I know I fell head over heels for you, angel. Time’s been on our side.”

There was something wonderful about having waited, letting the anticipation build like a sweet, hot fire within her. Molly nodded. “I was so afraid you didn’t love me. I thought I might be a part of your healing process, that’s all.”

Cam shook his head, cradling her against him and threading his fingers through her beautiful gold hair. “You healed me. But I don’t love you out of gratefulness. I love you because of yourself. You.”

His words shattered the last of Molly’s fears. With a soft cry, she threw her arms around Cam’s broad shoulders. “I want to love you so badly, Cam. Please?”