Marry Me, Marine by Rogenna Brewer

Author:Rogenna Brewer
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2011-01-19T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

A FEW WEEKS LATER Hatch was standing in the Sweetwater County Airport with Ryder, knowing he was going to have to answer that question in person. The military had flown her from Afghanistan to LAX. The rest of the trip was on her time and her dime.

Hatch had offered to meet her at a larger municipal airport, Denver or even Jackson Hole, to try and save her a little bit of both. But she’d insisted on coming to them.

Knowing her parents had been killed in a plane crash, and that she’d chosen to fly rather than take some other form of transportation, told him how anxious she was to get here. To her son.

They were hanging out in baggage claim when he spotted her in her desert digital uniform, newer camouflage patterns created using modern pixels.

The Marines claimed a patent for the first design, but the rest of the services had borrowed the concept.

She’d dropped weight, to be expected in 120 degree heat, and from a distance looked like a little girl dressed up in her daddy’s uniform. But up close no one would mistake her for a little girl anymore.

Nudging Ryder, Hatch pointed out Angela, thinking the boy would run to his mother. Instead, the four-year-old let the welcome home sign they’d made slip between their seats, and stared at her.

The eager anticipation of the past few days turned into a full-blown pout as he crossed his arms and turned away from his mother. Angela’s approach was cautious. Hatch stood and they exchanged one of their trademark awkward hugs.

Then she knelt to Ryder’s level. “Hi, honey. Mommy missed you.”

The boy made a big show of keeping his back to her. Then he spun around and would have punched her if Hatch hadn’t stopped him. “Hey.”

He crouched down behind Ryder and turned the boy to face him. “We speak with our words. Not with our fists.”

“It’s okay.” Angela instantly defended her son. “He’s mad that I left him.”

“It’s not okay.” Hatch stared her down, then her kid. “Do your feelings hurt?” Hatch asked, and the boy nodded. “Are you sad? And maybe a little confused? Your mom’s changed. She even looks a little different, doesn’t she?”

Ryder nodded again, and again.

“You look a little different to her, too.” He had hold of the boy’s arms and gave them a rub. “But you’re happy she’s home?”

He nodded with watery eyes this time. The boy wasn’t the only one near tears. Angela was holding back her own.

“All those feelings add up to being angry only if you let them.” Hatch was speaking from personal experience, but trying to put it into words a four-year-old would understand. “Are you ready to give your mom a hug and tell her you missed her?”

He nodded in encouragement and the boy turned and threw his arms around his mother.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.