Gail was talking to her son, the groom. After all this time, Jake was going to make an honest woman out of Emily. She’d just finished fiddling with his lapel (again) when Jake saw Major Beck and Captain Dunne enter. Beck was in (vintage) dress uniform; Dunne was in a dress.

“What are they doing here?” Jake asked, nodding minutely in their ( Read more... )

Heather sat snuggled up against Edward. The Scrabble game had been short-lived; after a week of no more than discreetly holding hands the prospect of curling up together was irresistable. They had made idle chit chat before falling silent a few minutes ago.

Then a thought struck Heather.

“How did you end up with a name like Edward Beck, anyway ( Read more... )

Beck was sitting in his office, doing paperwork. About the only thing that I’m allowed to do right now.  He sighed yet again. He hated limited duty. Among other things.

“Hey there!” Heather, of course, being insufferably cheerful.

“Well, hello there. We’re awfully chipper this morning.”

“It’s Wednesday. And you know what that means.”

“You ( Read more... )

Gail smiled to herself as she came into Beck’s hospital room. Heather was here, of course. She usually was here at least once a day, although there was always a pretext like ‘delivering some memos’ or ‘getting his signature on a couple of things’. But today was a little different. Today was Wednesday, and Heather had showed up with her scrabble ( Read more... )

Edward felt a delicate hand grasp his. It seemed to be the only clear thing in the haze of his mind. He squeezed back, not wanting to lose that contact. He heard a voice, but it was distant and indistinct. Then he felt other sensations, though they too seemed far away. But then a familiar voice cut through the fog.

“How’s it look?”

Heather.

( Read more... )

“Here, hang on a sec and I’ll get a cup of hot tea for you, then you can be on your way. It should give you enough to get home.” She puttered around in the kitchen for a bit; fortunately, her little water boiler was simple enough to have survived the EMP and produced a quick cup of hot water. She put a second cup in for herself. “Here you go, Ed ( Read more... )

“Where’s the major?”

“He went for a walk. Thataway.” Captain Karin Dunne gestured “Said he needed to think, clear his head.”

“In the woods? Alone? Is that even safe?”

“It’s really not that dangerous. It’s a fairly small area, between the camp and the town. And on the other side of the hill, you can almost forget you’re next to an army camp. ( Read more... )

It was a quiet walk home. Major Beck was morose; Heather found that the events of the day had taken a toll on her as well. When word came in that New Bern had taken out an entire squad with a bomb, Beck turned on his heel and slammed his office door shut. He’d sat in his shuttered office for a good 15 minutes. Nobody, even Heather, had dared ( Read more... )

As they lay there, resting, Heather remembered something.

“Eddy, what does caliente mean?”

“Hot.”

“And te amo?”

“I love you.”

Heather couldn’t help but feel a surge of affection for him.

“Does it bother you when I speak Spanish?”

“God, no. I find it muy caliente.” She remembered the other time he’d spoken Spanish to her. “Do you save it ( Read more... )

Heather was a little high-strung on the way home. This was their first date scrabble game since they had decided to pursue this. As much as she wanted to grab him once inside the door, she had the impression that he wanted to court her first. How he was going to do that under these circumstances, she had no idea.

She looked at him sideways. He ( Read more... )