True Honor (36 page)

“Gabriel said he would arrange a flight back to Virginia.”

She slid her hand under his arm as they walked. “I’m going back long enough to rescue my new guppy and say good-bye to my favorite bomb dog, then I’m heading to North Dakota.”

“It’s a good plan, Darcy.”

“What about you?”

Sam tugged an official piece of paper from his pocket, signed by his boss. “Hawaii. SEAL Team Nine is heading for some shore duty stateside. And Wolf is using that location to smooth things over with Jill for having gotten hurt.”

She paused, thinking about that. “I need to work on my tan.”

“It’s going to be snowing soon in North Dakota,” Sam pointed out.

She laughed. “I like snow.”

“I don’t. Come, Dar. I’ll show you paradise. I can convince you to love the water as much as you do the snow. It will be a vacation you won’t regret.”

“Will you buy me the perfect pineapple ice slush?”

“I’ll even make it for you.”

SEPTEMBER 2

Monday, 10:00 a.m.

Honolulu, Hawaii

What Darcy knew about Hawaii before flying into the islands wasn’t much more than what was in the tourist guide she had skimmed. The islands were full of flowing lava fields from active volcanoes, lush tropical areas, pristine beaches, rich coral reefs, and numerous world-class hotels to visit. Having just come from the Caribbean it looked very familiar, with the exception that now she could step out of her hotel in Honolulu without worrying about who might be targeting her.

She had a room at one of those hotels, compliments of Sam, and seven days without a single commitment on her calendar. Staying longer than that didn’t feel right, not when Amy hadn’t seen her in months and there were loose ends that Gabriel had to deal with alone.

She loved the sun. It baked into her bones and quickly became a cocoon of warmth around her, taking any desire to move away and leaving her relaxed to the point of slumber. She turned over on her beach towel and rubbed on more sunscreen.

She narrowed her eyes against the glare and spotted Sam. He rode a surfboard in the swelling waves and disappeared from sight as the wave toppled over and crashed into the sand. Tom was windsurfing farther out, trying to steer and balance it with one good arm, the other strapped to his chest. He and Sam were partners. Where one was at, the other was likely close by.

Tom’s wife, Jill, was here somewhere nearby with Joe’s wife, Kelly. The two SEALs were doing their best to make up for a year of constant deployments with the best vacation they could put together for their wives. Sam had good friends; it was nice to be considered part of the group. Darcy closed her eyes and let herself drift.

Drops of water landing on her arm roused her from a light doze. Sam sat on the beach towel beside her, drying his hair. “Hi, handsome.”

“Hey, there.” Sam held his hand up to shade the sun from her eyes. Darcy smiled her thanks. “You’ve been sleeping the last hour,” he mentioned.

“Probably. It’s what a warm sunny day is for.”

“One of the things,” he agreed, dropping his towel and picking up a bottle of water. “Looking at my beautiful woman in a bathing suit isn’t half bad either.”

She pushed him, about knocking him over.

He laughed. “Careful, honey. I might retaliate with a dunking in the sea.” He set down the water bottle. “I think my goddaughter wants to move here.”

Darcy glanced to her left. Bethany was covered with sand, scooping and throwing it with glee as the waves rolled in and water crept up the sand, tickling her toes. “She thinks this entire sandbox was created just for her.” Joe was building the trench for a huge castle. “Don’t SEALs ever do anything in half measures?”

“Not Bear, which is why he’s the boss.” Sam dangled the key on his wristband over her face. “Let’s go up to the hotel. I owe you a swimming lesson, and since everyone appears to be at the beach, we’ll have the pool to ourselves.”

“I’m enjoying a chance to relax.”

“Four days is relaxing; five you are stalling; and six you’re chicken. We’re a few hours from day six.”

She snapped the wristband. “What do you say I learn to swim when Bethany does?”

He planted his hands on either side of her head, trapping her and smiling down. “I do a lot of swimming, Dar. It’s kind of important you at least know how. I won’t let your head come even close to going underwater if that’s what you want. You’ll notice I’m not asking you to jump out of an airplane. I do a lot of that too.”

“How long is this lesson going to last?”

“I can teach you to swim in ten minutes if you trust me. It will take five if you don’t.”

“What’s the technique for if I don’t trust you?”

“I throw you in over your head.”

She laughed and tugged him down and kissed him. “I’ll give you an hour because I’m a lousy student, but only if you come back to North Dakota and help me move a tree.”

“Move it where?”

“It’s big and old and has to come down. Sound too hard for you?”

“Can I bring Wolf?”

“Jill too if she wants to come.”

“You’ve got a deal.” Sam got to his feet and offered a hand. “First rule of learning to swim: you have to remember how to relax. Can you remember what right now feels like?”

She let him pull her up. “Boneless?”

“You’ll get this down in no time.”

She gathered up her towel and sunscreen and headed with him up toward the hotel. It was the best kind of vacation—one spent without any schedule.

“The second rule is equally simple: you have to learn to breathe.”

“What’s wrong with how I breathe?”

Sam paused to look from her face to her toes and back up. “Not a thing from where I’m standing. Just remember to breathe deeply when you can and not to breathe when your head is underwater.”

“I think I’ve got that second part down.”

“Seriously, why haven’t you ever learned to swim?”

“I’m a coward.”

Sam blinked and then his laughter shook his chest. “Sure, Dar. I think the correct answer is you didn’t learn when you were young, and then you got too old to admit there was something you couldn’t do. I’m going to enjoy this swimming lesson.”

She snapped her towel at him. “Just because you like to make water your second home . . .” She left him at the hotel side door and went to her room to change.

* * *

Sam sat at the poolside and tossed two inflated rings into the water. “Here are your floaties. You know we could do this in the ocean where the salt water will naturally make you more buoyant.”

Darcy stuck her right foot in the pool. “At least it’s warm enough so I won’t get pneumonia. I think we’ll start counting your ten minutes.”

“Why don’t you have a seat right where you are? And remember, the first rule is to relax.”

Darcy sat on the edge of the deserted pool and reached down to slap the water, sending up a spray toward him. “The second was to breathe when my head was out of the water. I mastered that rule some time ago.”

Sam dropped into the pool, and the water came up to his shoulders; she’d struggle to touch bottom. “The third rule is also easy. Give me your foot.”

“What?”

His hand settled around her right ankle and he tickled the bottom of her foot. Laughing, she tried to pull back and only managed to come close to kicking him as he kept tickling her. “That’s the kick you need. If you get into trouble underwater and need to get to the surface to breathe, just remember what it’s like to have your feet tickled. You’ll shoot to the top.” He reluctantly released her ankle.

“A very vivid illustration. What’s rule number four?”

“Sorry, only three easy rules. After that you just jump in and swim. Give me your hand and slide into the water. I won’t let you go under.”

She hesitated.

“This won’t be like the Florida dunking where you stepped into the deep end and had to fight everything including your shoes to get back to the side,” Sam reassured.

She dropped into the water. Sam kept a firm grip on her arm until she had a good hold of the side of the pool. He pulled over the rings. “Hold on to them and just kick. I’ll race you to the other side of the pool.”

“It won’t be much of a race; you’ll just walk across.”

Sam grinned. “True. But I won’t use my hands.”

She was competitive enough to try and make it a race. He beat her to the other side and waited for her and the inflated rings to touch the side. “You’ve got a good kick. Turn around and go back without the rings. Just remember to kick hard and use your arms like you’re parting curtains at a really elegant store’s dressing room.”

“If I go down, you promise to pull me up?”

“I won’t let you drown.”

She made a face at him and then set out for the opposite side of the pool, kicking hard and working her arms back and forth to keep her head out of the water. She eventually reached the other side and gripped it hard. “Swimming is tiring.”

Sam put one hand on the side of the pool near hers and leaned over to study her face. “Relax and breathe.”

“If you said that halfway across the pool I would have sunk.”

“Take a deep breath, close your eyes, and simply relax, let yourself sink below the water. Get used to it. Use your hand on the side to pull yourself up whenever you like. There’s nothing to fear about having your head underwater.”

Darcy relaxed and went beneath the surface. Sam took a breath and dropped below the water, curious to know if she would have the courage to open her eyes underwater. She did on the third time down and started in surprise at seeing his face near hers. His hand took her arm and propelled them both to the surface, not wanting her to accidentally swallow water. “Good job.”

“How long can you hold your breathe?”

“A while.”

“Show me.”

He smiled, took a deep breath, relaxed, and sunk below the surface. He sat down on the bottom of the pool and began cleaning his fingernails. After about forty-five seconds Darcy came underwater, her eyes open, and he waved at her. She didn’t look too confident about smiling underwater and went back to the surface.

Sam began counting tiles at the bottom of the pool. The hotel had put its signature initial in every tenth tile. Darcy came back underwater as it approached two minutes, looking a bit worried. He smiled at her.

At two minutes thirty she swam toward him to touch his arm and point up. He slid his knuckles across her cheek but shook his head. She looked at him, shook her head, and pushed off the bottom to go back to the surface.

Next time she came down . . . What would she do? She was really getting worried.

He started counting. Thirty-four, thirty-five, thirty-six . . . A surge of water and Darcy came down again. She grabbed his hair and tugged; he winced and let her pull him to the surface.

He sucked in a deep breath and rubbed his head. “Did you have to do that?”

“Over three minutes and you just sit down there and let me worry about you?”

He laughed, leaned over, and kissed her outraged face. “You went underwater and hauled out a man who weighs twice as much as you. Not bad, gorgeous. I’d say you’re not only a swimmer, you are lifeguard qualified.”

She shoved his head underwater. He came up sputtering, coughing up water.

She was out of the pool and stalking toward the hotel.

“Darcy—”

“The lesson is over. And you still owe me a pineapple ice slush.”

Sam floated on his back to recover his breath. “I’ll make you two.”

* * *

“One pineapple ice slush made to perfection.” Sam offered it to Darcy as she sat on the lounge chair on the back patio of the hotel, overlooking the beach. She’d changed into a pair of shorts and a simple white shirt that showed off her tan. He moved her feet over and settled on the same chair, stretching his legs out and putting one hand across her to keep the chair from tipping.

“Thank you.”

“You’ve got freckles beginning to show from the sun. They look cute.”

She didn’t take his lead, her expression still serious. “How long can you actually hold your breath?”

“As long as I need to.”

She ran her hand along the front of his shirt. “I’m relieved to hear it.” She settled back against the chair, twirled her drink, then smiled. “It was a memorable swimming lesson. I should have grabbed your ear.”

He winced. “That would have worked too.”

She laughed.

“Let’s go take a walk on the beach. It’s a perfect day and I need to stretch my legs. Bring the drink.” He offered his hand and pulled her from the chair. They headed toward the beach.

“Will you teach me to surf today?”

“I suppose I could try.” They walked the sand past where a beach cookout was being prepared and the night’s musical entertainment would take place.

“Are we going to that tonight?”

“I think so. If Bethany stays awake she’ll love it.”

“Why don’t you offer that we babysit her tonight so Joe and Kelly can have some time alone?” Darcy asked.

“You’d like to?”

“Sure.”

“Maybe another night. I think we’ll be otherwise occupied this evening.”

She looked at him, curious. Sam decided the spot was right. The beach was gorgeous; the day was perfect. He turned her toward him and reached into his pocket. “I have something for you.”

He held his hand out palm up, the piece of velvet tied with a pink ribbon. Darcy’s hands trembled slightly as she unwrapped it. She lifted the diamond engagement ring, blinking hard. He tenderly tipped up her chin. “I love you, Darcy St. James. Would you marry me?”

Joy overwhelmed her smile. “Yes.”

He slid the ring on her finger and closed his hand around hers. “Soon.”

He nearly lost his balance as she strangled him in a hug. He laughed. He’d managed to make her nearly speechless. He would have to remember this. “I want to go to North Dakota with you and see Amy, see again the place we’ll always call our home base.” Darcy needed more than the permanence of a ring; she needed the permanence of a place. He wanted to provide her with that, and so much more.

“Okay.”

“Are you crying?”

The top of her head hit his chin. Sam smiled and picked her up to more easily kiss her. Her arms wrapped around his neck. “I like the fact you get quiet when you’re overwhelmed. I get to do all the talking. I was thinking we could go back to the hotel, find us a notebook, and make some wedding plans over dinner.”