Corpsman and the Nerd (28 page)

I’ll keep an eye on the
situation on my end, since you’re doing so on yours. (I want
reports!)

Certainly I’ll keep you in the loop. This is actually pretty
exciting. I’ve never seen Emma act like this around a man. It’s
very intriguing.

We miss you!

Love,

Lainy and Mitch

*****

KC tugged on the DVD case, trying to
pry it from the drawer where it somehow managed to jamb between the
back and side. Gritting her teeth seemed to help, so she gritted
them extra hard and heaved. And went flying, to land ignominiously
at the foot of her cot. With a sigh, she stood and automatically
dusted off the sand.

Plucking the laptop from the desk, she
carried it to her bed and plopped down. KC arranged the computer on
her lap and placed the holiday DVD into the slot. Leaning back on
her pillow, she thought cool thoughts. It was so hot she was
surprised she hadn’t melted.

It was January. Almost February. This
was winter time. Normal winter conditions were snow and ice. Not
searing temperatures greater than one hundred degrees. Weather this
hot wasn’t right.

The DVD loaded and KC stopped thinking
about the heat. Instead, she concentrated on the images playing
across the screen. Selecting a cookie at random she identified
Max’s parent’s house. The place was hopping, as usual.

People spread across all available
surfaces, and judging by the fight she could hear in the
background, a few unavailable ones too. Wishful thoughts crept in
as she watched the familiar, beloved faces of people she would have
normally spent Christmas with. Those thoughts grew as the camera
focused on Ryan’s face. Her son. Her baby. Without her at Christmas
for the first time.

Of course, he didn’t appear to be
worried by her absence. He seemed perfectly content cavorting with
the herd. Cousins. KC had never considered that before, but
essentially, that’s who they were. Since Ryan was as much Max’s son
as hers, Ryan would therefore be related to the myriad Morrison
offspring.

As Max had said in a previous email,
one of his sisters was always pregnant. That meant many, many
cousins for Ryan to play with. KC spent a few moments trying to put
names to the children wreaking havoc with Ryan. She was impressed
she could identify nearly all of them.

She was distracted from her study when
the camera concentrated on Max. He sat with a bevy of other men,
many of whom she could also attach names to. She was delighted to
see that although he engaged easily in conversation, he kept an eye
on something off the screen. And Lainy didn’t need to show her that
something was Ryan. She just knew.

As she contemplated how much she
missed them, a cry of alarm pealed across the video. KC’s heart
skipped several beats. Even as she recognized Ryan’s distress
signal, Max was on his feet and clearing the expanse of the
room.

“
Max, that’s your kid!” one
of the men bellowed, but Max had already left the room.

The screen blanked for a moment and KC
found herself gnawing on her fingernails. Images flashed across the
screen again and blinking, she saw Tom scoop Ryan into his
arms.

Ryan wailed in protest. “I want my
dad!” He squirmed and frantically scanned the area. “Want my
daddy!” he shrieked.

Max reached out his arms and Ryan
launched into them. Her throat constricted as she watched Ryan’s
little arms trustingly encircle Max’s neck. And Max’s arms clenched
protectively around him. Max soothed Ryan with easy strokes up and
down his spine. He made all the necessary inane parental noises and
rocked Ryan, who eventually calmed under Max’s
ministrations.

She felt wet heat on her cheeks, and
reached up to touch them. Tears streaked unheeded down her face.
When had she started crying? She swallowed against the tightness in
her throat and fluttered a hand to her heart. Viewing her males
together like this and not being there to help was hard. Not the
hardest thing she’d seen on this tour, but difficult nonetheless.
She should have been there. The ache inside grew to unbearable
proportions as the heat, despair, and loneliness overcame
her.

KC paused the video as sobs wrenched
her soul.

*****

A gentle hand on her shoulder finally
roused her, and KC looked up into gentle amber eyes. Janine brushed
a strand of hair from KC’s tear stained cheeks and KC tried sending
her friend a watery smile.

“
I wondered how long you’d
last.” Janine’s soft, accented voice calmed her.

“
Last?”

“
I’ve begun to feel as you
are, and I don’t have a son and a man I left behind.” Janine
settled onto her own cot.

KC breathed in the desert heat and
wondered about that comment. She wanted Max. To feel his strong,
safe arms around her. Nothing bad would happen to her if she could
only nestle into his arms.

“
I miss them so much.
Max...” and just saying his name choked her up.

“
You need him right now,”
Janine answered.

“
Yes.” KC struggled to keep
the tears in check. She’d been doing so for too long and now that
the dam had burst, it seemed there was no stopping them
now.

“
We can’t always be strong,
you know.” Janine smoothed another strand. “This place gets to you,
regardless of how strong we are.”

“
Not you.”

She shook her head, and KC stared at
her in doubt. “I’ve never seen you break down, even after finding
Ben.”

“
You don’t shower with me.”
The amusement in Janine’s voice lifted a corner of KC’s
mouth.

“
Well, no, I guess I don’t.
That’d open us up for even more teasing.”

“
Or comments we’d rather
avoid.” Janine’s voice was as dry as the terrain.

KC did laugh then. So what if her
effort was weak?

“
Come on,” Janine commanded
as she stood and thrust a hand out to KC

She stared blankly at that familiar,
capable hand before taking it. “Where are we going?”

Janine didn’t answer, but she did snag
KC’s cell phone from Lainy off the end of her cot. With an inkling
of where they headed, KC trailed in Janine’s wake, not so curious
as to their destination. And not surprised when Janine secured a
Humvee.

KC crawled in without comment. Even if
she couldn’t feel Max’s arms around her, hearing his voice would go
a long way toward soothing her.

After bumping along the path for
several miles, Janine pulled to a stop and stretched out her legs.
She eased back in the seat and closed her eyes.

KC appreciated the surge of affection
that washed over her. She reached out and squeezed Janine’s hand.
“Thank you,” she whispered.

Janine’s lips lifted, but she didn’t
open her eyes. “You’re welcome. Now go call your man,” she ordered,
and KC obeyed.

*****

“
Hello?” Max sounded
distracted.

“
Max?” she asked
tentatively.

“
KC? Is that
you?”

“
Yes.” Hearing his voice
brought back the tears. She missed him so much.

“
Oh, baby. I’ve been
wondering how you’re doing.” His familiar, dearly beloved voice
soothed her and she swallowed.

“
Not so well
today.”

“
What happened?” His voice
sounded sharp with worry.

“
I guess you could say I
lost it.”

“
Why?”

“
I saw the Christmas video
Lainy sent. Well, the beginning, it’s still paused, I suppose. Ryan
had some trouble and wanted you. I just missed you guys so much,
and I should have been there. But I wasn’t. It got to me.” KC
thought her voice sounded like a wail.

“
And you cried?” Max always
seemed to know her moods.

“
Yeah. Sobbed, actually. I
miss you two so much. And I suppose not feeling safe, not sleeping
or eating regularly, and losing patients, on top of the heat... All
those things are taking a toll.”

“
Not feeling safe?” She
detected definite worry in his voice again.

“
I want to be in your arms.
I’m always safe there. But I can’t be in them right now, I’m here,
and I will be for three more months. So, I don’t feel safe. I’m at
war, Max.” She wanted to be anywhere but here.

“
I know. I hate that we’re
apart too. I’m glad you’re helping to make a difference, but I hate
why you’re gone.” His voice had grown soft, and intense, and she
could hear his unhappiness too. For some reason, that comforted
her. “We can do three more months, KC.” She needed his quiet
reassurance. “You’re more than halfway through your
time.”

“
I know. I just had a little
meltdown, and all I could think of was you.”

“
How were you able to call
me?”

“
Oh.” She gave an
embarrassed little laugh. Did she really want to tell him this?
“Janine came into the quarters and found me. She hauled me out into
the desert with my phone to call you.”

“
I’m thankful for
Janine
.”

“
Me too. I needed you, but
didn’t know what to do. I forgot all about the phones.”

“
Are you as busy right
now?”

“
Definitely. I doubt that
will end. We have few down days. Like today, but there’s no
guarantee we’ll not get wounded in. This could easily be a
temporary lull.”

“
Ah. Is that part of the
problem, Miss I-Must-Always-Be-In-Control?” She heard the amusement
in his voice, the bratty grin, and rolled her eyes.

“
You know, Max Michael
Morrison, I don’t like you.”

“
I know. That’s why
you
always
come
running to me when you have a problem.” He sounded smug, but still
she worried.

“
Is that a problem?” Even
she could hear how small her voice sounded.

“
KC, if you went running to
someone else—” he began firmly and she grinned in relief at his
possessiveness, so she cut him off.

“
Well, since I’m not about
to do that, me going to someone else for comfort is a moot
point.”

“
Remember that,” he growled.
KC felt almost normal. Why could Max do this for her? One moment
she was wallowing in the worst of despair, but a simple
conversation with him brought her out of those depths to feel the
warmth of the sunshine again. To enjoy the healing rays of light on
her face.

“
Max, thank you.”

“
For what?” He sounded
confused.

“
For bringing me out of
whatever funk I was in. I truly had gone about as low as I ever
remember.”

“
But you feel better
now?”

“
Yeah.”

“
Good. I’m happy I could
help, although I can’t think what I did.” He sounded happy, but
baffled.

KC smiled. “You made me smile and
laugh. And you make me feel safe, even though I’m not,
exactly.”

“
All I ask is that you come
home. I don’t care about the condition you’re in, so long as you’re
alive. We can deal with anything else.” Max’s voice held that firm
tone again. That’s why he soothed her. He was firm when she was
gelatin. He took control when she couldn’t. He complimented her
perfectly.

Startled by that thought, KC missed
his comment. “What?”

“
I said, Eliza’s crying, so
I need to go. We’re babysitting.” She heard the regret.

“
Tell Ryan I love him. I
hear Eliza, so yes, you need to go. Thanks, Max.”

“
Anytime, baby. Anytime you
need me, call. I’ll answer.”

“
Okay.”

They said goodbye then disconnected.
KC stared at the phone before she squeezed her hand around it. A
precious link to Max. She’d needed to hear his voice. Needed to
know she still mattered. And he reassured her as easily as he
usually did.

Did Max love her the way she longed
for?

Chapter 36

Eventually KC thrust to her feet and
went in search of Janine and the Humvee.

“
Did you call him?” Janine
fired up the engine while KC crawled into the passenger seat. With
ease, Janine turned the vehicle toward their field unit.

“
Yes.”

“
I can see you feel better.
That’s the way a relationship should be, you know.”

“
Can you explain that?” KC
turned in her seat and stared at Janine, who kept her eyes on the
path.

“
You needed comfort so you
went to him, and now you’ve been comforted. You need love, you go
to him, and you’re loved. You needed him to take care of your son
so you go to him, and your son is with him. And I doubt this is one
way. He knows he can come to you and find what he
needs.”

KC thought about that. “When his
father had a heart attack last year, he came straight to
me.”