Letters Home (4 page)

When I originally enrolled at law school, my friends and family had thought me crazy. They were concerned that I didn’t have it in me to attack someone during a cross-examination. Like most people they assumed a lot about lawyers based on the stereotypes, and while my job did require me to go to court, my specialty was in family law. Adoptions and custody hearings were how I wanted to spend my days, but if I had to deal with a divorce every once in a while…well, it was a part of the job.

Since they retired last year, they’d spent a ton of time on the road. Their jobs had left them very little time for traveling—Mom had been a nurse and Dad a cop— and so they were trying to make up for it now.

Last time I’d talked to them, they were on their way to Williamsburg. Dad always dreamed of seeing the colonial city. That was only last week, and they’d promised to come home next weekend so that they could see the new apartment.

Mom answered on the second ring. “Hey, baby girl, how are you doing?”

“Hi, Mom. I just called to tell you I got the job!”

“That’s fantastic, honey! I’m so proud of you.”

“Thanks, I’m so excited.”

“Sean,” she called out. “Danielle got the job at the law firm.” I could hear my dad talking in the background, but it was hard to understand what he was saying. “You father says good job, and he knew you could do it.”

“Tell him I said thanks for the vote of confidence.”

“I will. Tell me about the job.”

“Well, I get my own office. It’s small, but the plus side is that I don’t have to share it with anyone.”

“Wow! Your own office. What about the cases? Are you strictly going to be family law?”

“Yep. They said I may have to handle a divorce every once in a while if they get overwhelmed, but the bulk of the family cases will be handled by me and one of the partners.”

“What about the pay?”

“That’s the best part—it’s more than I expected.”

“Oh, honey, I’m so happy everything is working out for you. How’s the apartment?”

“Moving was exhausting, but the apartment is exactly what we were looking for and the fact that Nate is allowed to live off base with me makes it pretty perfect. The only thing that would make it better would be if we were officially taking the next step.”

“I know, but give him time. When he’s ready, he’ll let you know.”

“You’re right. He just means so much to me. I can’t imagine my life without him.”

“I’m sure he’s just waiting for the right moment. Nate loves you, honey, don’t ever doubt that.”

“As much as I love him. You’re right I just need to be patient. Are you guys still coming next weekend?”

“We’ll be there. It’ll be nice to stay home for a bit. I love traveling, but for a few weeks I just want to sleep in my own bed.”

“Alright, Mom. I’m going get some more stuff done around the apartment. I’ll see you next weekend.”

“Love you.”

“Love you too, Mom.”

After hanging up, I spent time organizing the kitchen. It was a great feeling to look around and know that this space was mine and Nate’s—something we shared together. With the volume on my iPod docking station up nice and loud it was easy to get into a rhythm, and I was surprised to hear my phone beep over the music. I put the bowls down and saw that it was Nate calling.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Cleaning again?” he chuckled.

“Yeah, hold on.” I moved over to the iPod and hit pause. “Sorry about that.”

“I’m so proud of you. I knew you’d get the job.”

“I’m so excited, and I start on Monday.”

“You’re going to be amazing. Look, I have some bad news.” Whenever Nate said that, I got an empty feeling in the pit of my stomach. Part of his job meant we were always waiting for news that he was being deployed again.

“Okay.”

“Relax, Dani, I know what you’re thinking and I’m not shipping out. I just have to work late so we’ll have to celebrate another night.”

“It’s okay. We can go out this weekend instead.”

Yes, I was disappointed, but I didn’t want to let Nate know that because I knew he never stayed late unless he absolutely had to get something done. Besides, now that we were living together, I would still get to see him when he was done.

“I’m sorry. I really wanted to celebrate with you.”

“I know. Really, it’s okay. I’ll see you tonight when you get home.” I heard yelling in the background and I knew exactly whose voice that was.

“I’m coming!” Nate yelled back.

“Tell Colin, I said to back off.”

Colin was Nate’s based friend. They’d met in boot camp and were fortunate enough to be assigned to the same Ranger unit once they’d finished their training. I liked Colin, but it was also fun to mess with him—the same way he did to me.

“All right.” The voices on the other end got softer as Nate pulled the phone away from his mouth so that he wasn’t yelling in my ear. Even so I heard a muffled, “Dani says to back off,” before there was what sounded like a tussle over the phone and I was no longer talking to Nate.

“Hey, beautiful, you want me to back off?”

“If you’re going to keep interrupting my conversation then, yes.”

“Aww, come on. You know you love talking to me.”

“I doubt that,” I laughed.

“Haha. Well, I only stole the phone to say congratulations on the new job!”

“Thanks, Colin.”

“You’re welcome. I’ll give the baby back the…
umpf
…phone.” He squeaked the last word.

“Hey, baby,” Nate said.

“Did you punch him?”

“Yep, right in the stomach. All right, Dani, I gotta get back, but I see you when I get home. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

With nothing to do for the night, I decided to take Marissa up on her rain check, so I sent her a quick text to see if she still was up for having dinner. While I was waiting for her to reply I hit play on my iPod. A few minutes later she texted back that she was in, and after a bit of back and forth, I let her pick the restaurant and we decided that she would pick me up at seven. She had wanted to see the new apartment anyway.

With Nate off this weekend, I had no desire to spend it unpacking and since there were still a few hours until Marissa arrived, I decided that I was going to finish sorting through our stuff, even if it killed me.

After a few hours of blood, sweat, and tears, the apartment was unpacked. And I said blood because thanks to the pocketknife I was using to open boxes, I’d managed to sustain a nice slice to the finger. Giving a quick glance to the clock on the wall, I realized I had about an hour to get ready, which was just enough time to jump in the shower and then get dressed. Since it was summer and I wasn’t sure where we were going, I opted for a simple yellow sundress paired with brown wrap sandals. I figured the outfit would work no matter where we went.

A little past seven there was a knock at the door. It really wasn’t a surprise that Marissa was late but I was impressed that it was only by a few minutes, because that was actually quite early for her.

“Hey, honey,” Marissa said as I stepped back to let her in.

“Hey, thanks for coming over tonight,” I said as she pulled me into a hug.

“Well, it sucks that Nate has to work late, but we still have to celebrate your new job.”

“Yeah, he’s off all weekend so we’ll do our own thing then. Do you want the tour before we go?”

She rolled her eyes. “Of course I do.”

I gave her a full tour of the apartment. We had two pretty big bedrooms, an eat in kitchen, plus a small dining room. The living room was rather large compared to most of the other apartments we’d seen, and we had two full bathrooms.

“Danielle, this place is gorgeous. I love it.”

“Thanks. It seemed like it took forever to find it, but once I saw it I knew we’d found the right place.”

“All right, are you ready to go?”

“Yep, just let me grab my purse. Where are we heading anyway?”

“I called and got reservations at Paisanos.” Paisanos was an wonderful little Italian restaurant. The food was amazing and since it was a smaller establishment it was hard to get a table sometimes.

“With such short notice? How did you manage that?”

“Let’s just say I pulled some strings.”

With Marissa that usually meant that someone owed her a favor. I picked up my purse and we made our way out the door. The drive wasn’t very long and before I knew it we were sitting in the parking lot outside the restaurant. When we made it up to the hostess, Marissa gave her name and we were lead to a little seating area in the back, hidden by a wall.

When I turned the corner, I was shocked to see who was waiting for us.

“Surprise!”

That moment you’ve been waiting your entire life for.

“What are you guys doing here?”

Sitting around a rectangular table were my mom and dad, my brother, and Mr. and Mrs. Lewis.

“I thought…I thought you weren’t coming until next weekend,” I stuttered.

My mom got up from her chair to wrap her arms around me in a warm hug. “Oh, honey, we’ve been here for a week. We wouldn’t miss this celebration for the anything. My baby is now out in the world. New apartment, new job. I’m just so proud of you.”

“Whose idea was all of this?” I looked to Marissa, hoping that she would tell me, but her hands flew up in surrender.

“Don’t look at me. Nate had no idea he’d have to work tonight.”

A warm, fuzzy feeling spread through my body, making me feel lighter than air. Nate had planned this party for me. It would have been so much nicer if he’d been able to get off base, but I was going to enjoy what he’d taken the time to do. I turned back around to the table only to be enveloped in a hug by my dad.

“Hey, kiddo. I can’t believe my baby’s gonna be a lawyer. I am one proud papa right now.”

“Thanks, Dad. I’m so glad you guys were able to come. Did you miss much of Williamsburg to get back here on time?”

“Nah, we finished seeing that place a week ago. We’ve just been hiding at the house until tonight.”

“Hey, brat.” I turned to see my brother, Liam, standing there.

“Hey, loser, how ya been?”

“Actually working, unlike other people I know,” he said with a smirk that turned into a grimace when I punched him in the arm. “Ow! Damn. Gotta tell Nate to stop teaching you how to fight back,” he laughed, still rubbing his arm.

“Yeah, well next time I’m gonna have him teach me how to take you all the way down.”

My brother and I had always been close, but that didn’t stop us from loving every moment of banter. Liam wrapped his arm around my shoulders and kissed me on the head. “Nice work on the job. Oh, and now that the two of you are living less than ten minutes away, I better see much more of you after tonight.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll see so much of my pretty face you’ll get tired of me.” I laughed.

“I doubt that. Now go say ‘hi’ to everyone else. You can tell me all about your new job later.”

“Thanks, Liam.”

Finally, I made my way over to Nate’s parents where both of them wrapped me in a hug. “Congratulations, Danielle. We are so happy to be here to celebrate with you. Nate really wanted to be here,” his mom said.

“Thank you for coming, Kathleen. And you, Paul.”

“We wouldn’t miss it. How’s the apartment?” Paul asked.

“It’s perfect. I actually finished unpacking this afternoon.”

“Baby girl, you better tell me that boy of mine did a lot of the unpacking yesterday or he’s gonna hear from me for making you work so hard,” Paul said with a smile.

I giggled. Nate’s dad was always so protective of me—about as much as my own father. “He actually did a lot of it himself. He has so much more energy than I do.”

Kathleen put her arm around me. “That’s good to hear.”

Someone cleared their throat behind me and I turned to see one of the waiters. “Excuse me, if you wouldn’t mind taking your seats we can start by getting everyone’s drink orders.”

“That sounds perfect,” Marissa chimed in. Wow, she was very excited.