Love of a Marine (The Wounded Warriors Series Book 2) Read online

  Simi Valley Hospital

  Marla looked as if she’d slogged through a long mission behind enemy lines, but her face glowed with contentment. She opened her arms as Amber walked with tentative steps to her bedside.

  “Give me a hug before I conk out. Did you see Declan?” She patted the bed next to her. “Come up here.”

  Amber boosted onto the bed and draped herself across Marla. “Not yet. I wanted to see you first, Mom. Are you tired? Did it hurt?”

  Cluny and Dwayne watched from the foot of the bed. The huge grin on Dwayne’s face matched his own.

  Marla rubbed Amber’s back. “I’m exhausted but so happy. Did Daddy tell you Declan looks like you did the day you were born?”

  “I saw his picture, but I have brown hair and light brown eyes.” She sat up and asked, “When can you come home?”

  “In the morning. We’ll all be home tomorrow.”

  Dwayne leaned close to Cluny’s ear and rested a hand on his shoulder. “I’d like Marla and me to have a few hours at home alone tomorrow. Do you mind picking Amber up in the morning?”

  “Not at all. I’ll take her to the beach for the day.” He’d look for Santos and Graciella again.

  “Thanks, bud.” He rounded the end of the bed and lifted Amber into his arms. “What say we give Mom a rest? You and Uncle Cluny can go to the nursery and see Declan.” He tipped her over the bed so she could kiss Marla goodnight.

  Marla brushed a hand over Amber’s cheek. “I’ll see you tomorrow, sweetie. I can’t keep my eyes open a minute longer.”

  “Goodnight, Mom. I’m so glad Daddy married you.” Dwayne set her on her feet and she took Cluny’s hand. “Let’s go see the baby.” She shook a schoolteacher-ish finger. “And I don’t want you teaching him any bad words.”

  Cluny winked at Dwayne and Marla. “I won’t, on my honor as a Marine. Although that’s where I perfected most of them. What say you stay over at my house tonight and we’ll take Queen to the beach tomorrow? I’ll bring you home in time for supper.”

  “We’re going to the beach? Can I, Mom? Dad?”

  Dwayne said, “You notice who she asked first? Go and have a good time, squirt. Mom and I will be all rested up when you get home.”

  Amber cocked her head at Dwayne. “Why do you have to rest? She did all the work.”

  “Good question. Try and answer that one, Gunny.”

  Dwayne laughed. “We’ll see you at suppertime tomorrow.”

  “Don’t cook. I’ll grab Chinese on the way to your place.” He pointed at his pal. “I know you need your rest.” Chuckling, he took Amber’s hand and left the room. “Let’s take a look at this amazing new Dempsey. Nursery’s that way.”

  Amber stared in the nursery window. “Did I look all red and rill mashed up like that when I was borned?” She wrinkled her nose.

  Cluny ruffled her hair. “Yes you did, but take my word for it, by tomorrow he’ll look like an ad for baby food. All he needs is a chance to get used to this world. It’s a big change from where he’s been for the last several months.”

  “He looks too big to fit in Marla.”

  “He is, and that’s why he’s here now.”

  “Why do all the babies have hats on? It looks like his blanket is too tight.”

  Cluny stopped a nurse passing by. “Ma’am? This young lady is asking me questions I’m not qualified to answer. Could you help me out?”

  The attractive young nurse smiled. “Sure.” She glanced at his left hand. A reaction he often got from women. “Your daughter?”

  Amber piped up, “He’s my uncle. He’s never been married and he’s pretty dumb about babies. Not my dad though. He raised me all by himself since I was that big.” She pointed to Declan. “Why do all the babies have hats? And why are their blankets wrapped up so tight?”

  The nurse and Amber moved closer to the window. “Hats keep them calm and help them sleep. They aren’t used to air yet. Until they’re born, they live in warm water, so air takes some getting used to. They feel safe and cozy in a tight blanket, like someone is holding them.”

  Amber frowned and glanced at Cluny. “Maybe you’d sleep better if you wore a hat, Uncle Cluny. Have you ever tried that?”

  Taken off guard by this kid who had a habit of throwing curve balls, Cluny shuffled his feet when the pretty nurse gave him a questioning look. “Maybe I’ll try it.”

  “You can’t sleep?” the young woman asked.

  “A little insomnia, that’s all.” He took Amber’s hand. “We’d better get going. Queen’s been waiting in the car long enough.” He nodded at the nurse. “Thanks.”

  “Sir?” The nurse hailed him, took a business card from her pocket and scribbled something on the back then brought it to him.

  He read the card, saw that she’d written her phone number on it, and grinned. “Thanks.”

  A few steps down the hallway, Amber whispered, “You should go back and ask her for a date. She’s pretty. She likes you.”

  “Are you sure you’re only eight?” He shook his head. “I’m not in the market right now, OK?” Finding women was a problem he’d never had. His pal Dwayne teasingly compared him to a busy honeybee, bent on pollinating every flower in the garden. Keeping a woman? That was another story.

  He’d curbed his social life dramatically the past several months since the nightmares had revved up. After his service in Iraq ten years ago, he hadn’t spent an entire night with a willing woman, couldn’t risk falling asleep. He’d had it with crawling out of a warm fragrant bed, leaving a soft, compliant woman in the middle of the night.

  Raised to be a gentleman, he’d never ask a woman to leave after sex, so he couldn’t invite one home with him. Would he ever have a normal life, a family, kids?

  “Let’s stop by your house and get what you need for our sleepover and the beach. We’ll go by Subway and pick up sandwiches to take with us, OK?”

  “OK.” She grinned and skipped next to him. “I haven’t been to the beach all summer.”

  He pushed through the lobby doors and into the parking lot. “Summer just started. Your dad and Marla will be busy with the baby for a few weeks, but I’ll take you to the beach as often as possible.”

  She grumbled, “I can help them with the baby, you know, I’m big enough.”

  “That you are. I’m sure the boss lady’s glad school is out. She’ll need your help from now until it starts again. While your dad’s taking a couple of weeks off to help her, let’s you and me have some fun.”

  “Why do you call Mom ‘the boss lady’?”

  He smiled at the memory. “Because she hired me and your dad to renovate the apartment building where Miss Emmaline lives, and she and Gunny argued every day over who was boss.”

  Cluny smiled when Amber put on her thinking face. He opened the car door, and she hopped into the passenger seat, dislodging Queen to the back. He got in on the driver’s side and started the engine.

  “Mom and Dad take turns being boss now. He’s the boss of work and she’s the boss of home. I used to be the boss of Dad before they got married.”

  “I know. A pretty big job for a girl, don’t you think? But you can keep being my boss as long as you don’t try to run my love life. Is it a deal?”

  “I did a rilly good job running Daddy’s love life, dint I? I told him I wanted Marla for my mom, and then he finally figured it out.” She cast a sly look.

  Two blocks later, Cluny was still laughing.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Saturday, Zuma Beach

  Graciella raised a hand to shield her eyes when she heard a man’s voice hailing her from the far edge of the parking lot. A brown-haired girl about Santos’s age, holding a battered foam belly board under her arm, trudged beside Cluny McPherson. He carried a blanket and a small cooler. A couple of beach towels hung around his neck. His dog followed close beside him.

  “Hi!” She waved back, happy to see the tall, quiet man again, and wondered about the slender young girl. Holding her hands cupp
ed around her mouth, she turned her head to the surf and yelled, “Santos!”

  Her son hopped over a small, receding wave and dodged through a number of teenagers playing no-net volleyball to their umbrella as Cluny and the girl reached them.

  “Macfearsome! You came back. Hi, Queen.” He dug his toe in the sand. “Hi,” he said to the girl, lowering his eyes.

  She wrinkled her freckled nose and said, “That’s not his name.”

  Cluny plopped his big hand on Santos’s head. “You know what? I kinda like it, buddy. This is my goddaughter, Amber Dempsey. Amber, this is Graciella Jefferson and her son, Santos.”

  Graciella smiled at the girl. “Won’t you join us?”

  “Are you friends with Uncle Cluny?” She plopped down. “He comes to the beach a lot because he isn’t married and doesn’t have any kids and his plumbing company is on vacation, but this is the first time I got to come all summer. My mom just had a baby yesterday. His name is Declan. I’m his big sister because we have the same dad. Not the same mother though.”

  Graciella smiled at her son’s drop-jawed expression. “Why don’t you and your uncle spread your blanket next to us?”

  “He’s not rilly my uncle. I just call him that. He’s my daddy’s best friend from when they went to school and the Marines, and he’s my godfather, but not the bad kind.”

  “Yes, Cluny McPherson is a new friend of ours, right Santos?”

  The boy nodded, glanced briefly at Amber, and said, “He let me pet his dog.”

  Cluny removed Queen’s vest. “Want to play, Queen?”

  Amber jumped to her feet and grabbed her belly board. “Queen likes to chase me when I’m skimming. Want to go?”

  Graciella’s heart squeezed when a brief flash of fear sparked in her son’s eyes. “Santos doesn’t know how to skim, Amber. Why don’t you teach him?”

  “It’s easy. Come on.” She and Queen raced for the water.

  Santos hesitated, his brown face flushed. “OK.” He trotted after them.

  Cluny shouted, “It’s fun, Santos. Give it a try!” He sat next to Graciella. “Is he afraid of the water? I noticed before that he never goes out past his ankles.”

  “Yes. He’s dying to go deeper, but so far he hasn’t worked up the courage. Maybe now that he’s got competition from a girl he’ll overcome his fear.” She watched the two children. “Will you get in trouble for letting Queen run on the beach without her leash?”

  “If somebody complains, I’ll put the service vest back on her. Why is Santos afraid?” Cluny’s sunglasses were propped on the bill of his baseball cap today, and she noticed the contrast between the startling blue color of his eyes and his heavy black eyebrows. Not handsome in the classical sense, his angular face was masculine and quite attractive. She wondered why he wasn’t married.

  “When he was about three he got knocked over by a wave and dragged under in the rip current. I ran and pulled him out. He screamed when he got the water coughed up, and has been extremely cautious ever since.”

  “Was he hurt?”

  “No, just scared. I made light of it, but he was more frightened than I thought at the time.”

  “He’ll get past it. Maybe playing with Amber and Queen will do the trick.” He pulled his baseball cap lower releasing a fringe of black curls at the back of his neck. “Look at that dog.” He laughed and pointed when Queen bounded into the surf.

  “She swims like a seal.”

  “Didn’t I tell you she’s a retired Navy SEAL? She loves the water.”

  “Yes, I remember. What a beautiful animal. Santos would so love to have a pet.” She shook her head regretfully, watching her son hop and laugh with a mixture of excitement and fear.

  “Look, Graciella. I’m glad the kids are playing. I wanted to talk to you about something important.”

  What could this man want to talk about? They barely knew each other. Cluny shifted, raised his knees, rested on his forearms, and dangled his hands, much like she’d observed the past two weeks when he sat alone by the Point Dume rocks. “I may have met your husband in Iraq, Marv. Marvin, right?” His gaze locked on hers.

  Shocked, she said, “You knew him?” Either this was a great coincidence, or Mr. McPherson had come up with a new and clever line. One in very poor taste. As attractive as he was, she wasn’t interested in any kind of a man-woman relationship. She had her hands full with Santos and her business. Putting food on the table and getting him educated were her top priorities.

  Cluny stared at the ocean horizon beyond the water. “Yes, I think so.” Lips sucked against his teeth, he gazed at the surf, watching the kids. He raised a finger and traced it diagonally across his left eyebrow. “Did he have a thin scar here?”

  Graciella stopped breathing. The pulse in her throat thudded so strong she felt and heard the swoosh and hiss of blood pumping in her ears. The photo Santos had shown Cluny was taken far enough away that Marvin’s scar wasn’t visible. She hadn’t noticed the scar herself the first time they’d met.

  “Yes, he did. It was barely noticeable.”

  “If he hadn’t been leaning right in my face, I’d never have noticed it.” Cluny sighed and shook his head.

  She saw what she thought was a flash of regret in his expression. Hand on her chest, she asked, “What was he doing?”

  “Shaking me. Slapping and yelling, trying to determine if I was still alive.”

  “Deus!” Why would Marvin do that?

  “He shot the Iraqi who nearly killed us in Fallujah. The first bastard’s RPG hit our Bradley and took off part of my buddy’s leg. I got off a lucky shot and killed that one, but when the second one raised the launcher, I was in shock from my head wound and temporarily deaf. If it wasn’t for Marv, we’d all be dead.” He sighed. “Amber’s dad was the Marine who got his leg shot off.”

  She took a breath, touched his arm and blinked back threatening tears. “I don’t know what to say.”

  Cluny hung his head and remained silent.

  “When was that? That fire-fight where Marvin saved you?”

  “Operation Phantom Fury, November, 2004.” He stared at the horizon. “I heard Marv got killed shortly after in an ambush on his sniper position atop a bombed-out building. Graciella, I’m really sorry.” He turned away, but not before she saw his trembling lip.

  Sitting next to her on a warm summer day at the beach in Malibu was a man who wouldn’t be alive today but for her husband. The little girl playing in the water with her son might never have been born but for her husband. What a strange and unlikely series of events had brought her and Cluny McPherson together.

  “I…I don’t…” Words wouldn’t come. She reached for a beach towel and pressed it to her face. His strong, callused hand rested lightly on her shoulder.

  “I’m sorry, Graciella. I felt I owed it to Marv to tell you how grateful I am. It was a one in a million chance that you and I would ever meet. I don’t know why we met except for this. My goddaughter wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for Marvin Jefferson.”

  She rubbed her face with the towel and cleared her throat. “I’m glad you told me. I want Santos to know your story. He’s desperate for details about the father he never knew.”

  He moved his hand from her shoulder. “I’d like to tell him, but not when Amber is around. Dwayne doesn’t talk specifics about the war with her.”

  “Perhaps you could come to our apartment for dinner one evening. Where do you live?”

  “Spring Grove. My business is in Simi Valley.”

  “That’s not far. We live in Chatsworth, just the other side of the mountain pass.” She raised her arm. “Oh, look.”

  Santos bobbed in water up to his waist, jumping and splashing with Amber who was showing him how to catch a wave and flop in the board to ride it in. Queen paddled next to them, barking encouragement.

  “I’ll be damned. I bet he manages to catch one.”

  As they watched, Amber gestured and shoved the board to Santos. He flopped on top w
ith a terror-stricken face and hung on for dear life. Screaming with excitement, he caught the small wave and rode it until the board jammed to a stop in the wet sand. Queen flopped down next to him.

  The kids laughed, rolled in the shallow water, got to their feet, and raced toward the picnic blankets. Queen shook herself and bounded after them.

  “Mom! Mama, did you see me?” Santos shouted, stumbled and fell face down on the blanket, then came up exuberant.

  Amber dropped the board and sat. “He did it, Uncle Cluny. I taught him how to do it.”

  Cluny handed her a towel at the same time Graciella tossed one to Santos.

  “Yes, you did. It looks like so much fun,” she said.

  Her boy scrubbed his face with the towel and grinned at her with his father’s winning smile. Her heart overflowed with love at the happiness on his face.

  “I wasn’t scared either. I was brave, like my dad.”

  “Yes, you were.”

  Santos faced Amber. “You wanna see a picture of my Dad?”

  “Show her later, son. I bet you kids are hungry by now.”

  Amber said, “I’m starved. Where are the sandwiches? Queen must be thirsty and hungry too.”

  * * *

  Cluny dragged the cooler closer and reached for the sandwiches. “We’ll remedy that situation right now.” He held up two sandwiches. “Who likes pastrami with Swiss?” Three hands went up. Cluny laughed and handed over those two sandwiches to Amber and Graciella, and took the last one out of the cooler and handed it to Santos.

  “I brought my world-famous bauru,” Gabriella said. “It’s a good thing, too, or you’d be going hungry.” His cooler contained only soft drinks and water now.

  Cluny raised his eyebrows. “You read my mind and brought my favorite thing?”

  The grin on her lovely golden bronze face and feisty sparkle in her chocolate brown eyes as she lifted the hefty wrapped package from her basket sent an unexpected hum of desire and longing through him.