Authors: Mary Wine
“Well, I still have a few friends out there. But there’s one thing you might consider before trying to stop it from happening,” Brice warned.
“And that would be?”
“There is no one else you can pull that will take her safety quite so seriously.”
Jacobs led the group to a secure wing of residential quarters. Access was restricted, so there was no reason for their escort to remain. Jacobs caught Grace as she passed him and snapped the silver bracelet onto her wrist. She looked up to find Jacobs waiting for her reaction. Grace simply shrugged her shoulders and followed Beth into the room.
Beth sat down on the double bed and slowly began to take her boots off. Grace stood just inside the doorway with her duffel bag still on her shoulder.
The room was stifling in Grace’s opinion. She had forgotten how much she disliked base housing. Especially secured housing. With a groan of frustration, she placed her bag on the floor by the bed. It was close to midnight. Sleep, she imagined, would elude her, but she would make the pretense of it for Beth’s sake.
The high-pitched chirping sound of Beth’s bracelet interrupted the silence in the room. Beth looked at the device that was strapped to her arm like it was a spider.
“Jacobs is adjusting the distance,” Grace explained. “My guess would be that they are sleeping on the other side of the building.”
Beth looked at the silver bracelet that was adorning Grace’s wrist.
“So we’re tagged and locked in under guard. What’s next? The camera in the corner?”
“No. Jacobs would have just bunked in here with us instead,” Grace informed her companion.
“Isn’t that against base policy?” Beth asked as she stretched out on the bed.
“In case it has escaped your notice, we’re not covered by the policy book.”
“At least not the published one,” Beth declared.
Grace lay down next to Beth with her mind full of tomorrow’s meeting and its importance to her future.
She intended to give General Slynn no option but to accept her terms.
Cold blue eyes raked over Grace for the hundredth time. She refused to flinch. General Slynn had been making his best effort to get a reaction out of her.
“Are you still maintaining that you had no knowledge of Turvel’s intentions?” Slynn leaned across his desk. “He ran your unit for an entire year.”
“I remember that very well.”
The general slapped a hand on the desktop. “Exactly. You two had plenty of time to get cozy.”
Disappointment was rapidly trying to destroy her composure. What else had she expected? That a high-level officer was going to actually give her some say in her life? That had been a lot to hope for.
But she did have hopes. Along with dreams and longings that sat inside her heart crumbling at the callous disregard this man aimed at her. She closed her hand into a fist and the ring made itself known.
Brice’s ring.
Actually, her ring.
“I think we’re finished with this topic,” she stated firmly.
“You are finished when I say so, lady.”
A slow smile crept across her face. One thing was going to change today. She wasn’t a lady. Grace was going to have the satisfaction of telling this man to go to hell.
“Take your orders and be damned,” Grace said.
“I’ll see you eat those words.”
Grace raked her gaze over the man’s face, which was currently etched with rage.
Too bad.
She was finished holding her tongue. She refused to become his tool. If the only other option was to become a thorn in his backside, then she would adapt.
“Really? Just what did you have in mind? A life of servitude without a single return?”
“You get first-class protection in return, girlie.”
“You seem to be rather short of psychics. If you want my efficiency rate to remain where it is, I suggest you adjust your attitude,” she informed him in a frozen tone. “I no longer work for the same compensation as a bloodhound.”
“You’re flirting with insubordination.”
“It’s better than being run on a leash,” she countered. “Did I know Turvel was an ass? Yes. Not that you ever took a moment to ask me my opinions. Somehow, I’m guessing Susan got the same from you.”
“This is the Army.”
“But we never signed any enlistment papers.”
“I’d be happy to show you some that would hold up in court,” the general said.
“Fine.”
She’d surprised him and his eyes narrowed.
“Because along with those papers would go a basic level of rights. Something Fredricks made sure I had little of. He made damn sure I couldn’t report it to anyone and you never checked up on him, just on my performance numbers.” She stripped her glove off and held up her hand. “I’m getting married. Another basic right.”
“Not unless I say you are.”
“Am I under age?” Grace leaned over the desk. “This is your opportunity to redefine how you treat your psychic operatives. I’d like to think you’re only guilty of trusting the men under your command. That’s forgivable.”
The general slowly sat back. His chair groaned before he began to chuckle. It was a low, crusty sound of appreciation.
“You’re quite the bitch. I wish I could take credit for training you.” The general extended his hand across the desk.
Grace regarded his hand for a time. No commanding officer other than Jacobs had ever willingly touched her. He kept his hand extended as she watched him. Grace stuck her hand out and clasped his. The man didn’t flinch but returned her grasp with his own firm one.
“Well now, it seems we do have some things to discuss,” Slynn said. “Because you’re right.”
Grace couldn’t have agreed more.
It was well after four in the afternoon when Grace finally finished her meeting with General Slynn. She was actually beginning to like the man. Just a bit. The day was running very long now and Grace wanted nothing more than to get outside of the walls that enclosed her at the moment.
Fall was quickly approaching. It was being carried on the afternoon breeze. Grace decided that it must have been a beautiful day in Benton. The blacktop stretched out in front of her and she surveyed it dispassionately. She wanted to walk, but not here. Grace had spent endless hours walking the confines of the base in the past. At the moment, the gated area reminded her of a large dog pen.
A slight step behind her caused her attention to shift. Grace turned to find Jacobs standing next to her. He was still wearing his game face. Rock hard. Grace simply returned it. His eyes started to twinkle as one of his lop-sided grins split his face. Grace felt an answering smile cross her own features. Jacobs leaned over to scoop her up into a hug.
“You need to learn how to hug, Gracie,” he informed her.
“Go play with someone your own size.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Her pager came sailing through the air as Jacobs turned away. She caught the unit and slipped it onto her belt with an action that was effortless from countless repetition.
“Going somewhere?”
It shouldn’t have surprised her that Brice had found her. He would search her out no matter their location. The link that bound them was stronger than any barrier that life could construct to separate them.
Grace looked in the eyes of the sheriff of Benton County. Everything that she had ever needed sat looking back at her—steady, strong and completely honest. She would never completely understand him, but she would never understand herself either.
“I might be.”
Crossing his arms over his chest, Brice kept his face set.
“If you can handle all my baggage, my answer is yes.”
His forehead creased in thought. Reaching up, Grace smoothed the skin as she searched his eyes.
“Yes, I will marry you.” She settled her fingertips over his lips to seal them shut.
“But that landing pad is going to get bigger, and I have this rather testy C.O. that will insist on hanging around. He’ll want to move right onto your property along with a host of other inconveniences.”
He twisted her hand away from his face and held it in a bone-crushing grip. Grace got a quick glimpse at his joy before he turned on his heel and used his grip on her hand to pull her along with him. The pace he set forced her to a near jog to keep up. It wasn’t until he stopped that she recovered enough breath to question his behavior.
“Brice, what are you…”
“Can I help you?”
Grace stared at the nurse who asked the question. Brice had dragged them both into the base hospital.
“We need blood tests for our marriage license.”
It was such a common request that the nurse simply motioned her two clients to follow her.
“Brice, it’s not that simple.”
Brice picked her up by her waist and set her on the table that the nurse indicated. He worked at the buttons that held her shirt closed at her wrist. Rolling her sleeve up, he locked his eyes with her emerald ones.
“Grace, I’m taking you home. We’ll figure the rest out later.”
“Home?”
Her voice betrayed the confusion that her emotions were causing to run inside that head of hers. Brice simply grinned. He was going to enjoy upsetting her world.
“Yes,
home
.”
Chapter Fourteen
Spring was in the air again. Grace felt the change in the weather. There were still a few patches of snow on the forest floor. Slowly walking along the back patio, Grace looked up at the half-finished house that was being built two hundred yards up the hill. The sounds of construction drifted on the morning air.
The home had been started the season before. Construction was forced to halt when the snow started to drift. Jacobs and Beth had spent their second winter in the back guestroom. This year, however, they would move to their own home. Brice and Jacobs were both currently working on the roof of the house. Grace watched as they secured roof tiles to the framing of the house.
Brice had dragged her to the chapel the second that nurse had finished drawing their blood. The twenty-four hours needed to complete the testing had not pleased him. Having gained the opportunity to legally bind them together, Brice had thrust through the barriers with amazing force.
Somehow he’d persuaded the chaplain to marry them despite their lack of paperwork. In fact, they were pronounced husband and wife before the sun had set.
Grace smiled. Did it truly matter? She had been bound to the man from the moment she met him. There were a few interesting moments just before their wedding had begun. The chaplain had asked for Grace’s maiden name. General Slynn had given Grace a wide avenue of freedom. She had a home. She even had a bank account now, complete with monthly pay. However, she still didn’t have a public past. Her birth family name would not be following her into her future. The man had never encountered a bride without a maiden name and a few moments had stretched out awkwardly. Jacobs had stepped forward to inform the man that she was his sister. If the man had doubts about the truth of that statement, he kept them to himself, duly noting “Jacobs” on her marriage license.
This was home now. Grace was truly amazed to discover that she had a home. She and Jacobs still worked the unit and a hangar had been added to the landing pad. Well, Grace thought, they hadn’t been working for the last five months. Grace ran a hand over her distended tummy. She had hidden the pregnancy from Jacobs for almost five months. They had been out tracking down a pair of lost hikers in California when he noticed that her flight suit didn’t quite fit any longer. It had not been a high point in their relationship.
Grace had discovered that her pregnancy was a very personal thing. The child that grew within her was something that she was very aware of. Grace could feel its presence every minute of the day. She knew when it slept and when it was awake. If something did go wrong she would ask for help. That had not happened. It was a private thing between her and Brice. He spent hours lying in front of the fireplace in their room. Brice would hold her in front of him and simply stroke her belly.
A pain crossed her body. It was another in a chain that had started before dawn. Grace took one last look to ensure that she would not have company anytime soon. Her son was ready to be born and Grace wanted privacy for the birth. Brice would have a fit, but this was a personal time for her. Her husband would have to understand.
Grace intended to birth her child where he had been conceived. A hospital was completely out of the question. If she needed help, her pager lay close at hand. Grace had never feared pain and now was no exception.
It was not quite noon when Grace came back onto the patio. The sun had chased the chill from the air. Grace contemplated her son in the bright light of day. She had bathed and dressed the child in preparation to greet his father. The baby looked up at her with her own emerald-green eyes. Grace had known that the child would have her eyes. She had felt it before his birth, and now as Grace held her son she knew that she had brought another gifted child into the world. It would be interesting to see what abilities he held.