him. After a thoughtful pause and a frown, he stared into her eyes. “Do you believe we should get to know each other better?”
She was feeling too much already and realized she should be smart. “If you’re going into the service, is there any point?”
Moving closer to her then—just a step, yet it seemed to cover a mile—he enveloped her hands with his. “It would be nice to have someone to write to, someone who mattered.”
“You don’t have anyone who matters?”
“I have my parents, sister and brothers. But family is one thing—a pretty girl with a flower in her hair another.”
Laura had nosy neighbors. An older couple sat on a porch a few doors down, and who knew how many other neighbors had noticed them.
Pulling one hand from Brady’s, she took a key from her pocket. Still holding his hand, she tugged him up the steps onto the porch and to the door. Then she unlocked the door and pushed it open.
The living room was unremarkable, and Brady would probably consider it plain. The low-pile carpet and flowered upholstered furniture were ordinary.
But Brady didn’t seem to care. He put his arms around her and drew her toward him. “Do you believe in free love?”
The heat and hunger in his eyes sparked a like response in her. But she wasn’t going to be foolish. “Love isn’t free.”
Her conclusion made his brows raise. “You’ve learned that already?”
She nodded. “I have a friend who sleeps with every guy who asks her out. She’s not happy. I have another friend who’s saving herself for marriage. And she’s not happy, either. Neither is her boyfriend.”
A slow smile slipped across Brady’s lips. “So what’s your philosophy?”
“I don’t have one. I just know I have to be careful, I have to be cautious and I have to be sure that whatever I do is right for me.”
“Of all the girls I could have found at the demonstration, I had to choose one with common sense.”
Although she smiled, she asked, “Is that why you were there? To find a date?”
His expression sobered. “No. I’m not sure why I was there. I guess I had to get a feel for both sides. I wanted to know that going to fight over there was the right thing for me to do.”
“Is it?”
“Yes. My dad said he has a friend who could pull strings so I don’t get sent to Nam. That’s what my mother wants. But I can’t let him do that. I have a classmate who came back without his leg. I have to help finish what the guys before us started.” His sober expression changed. “But in the meantime—”
He was waiting for some sign from her that they should take whatever was happening between them further, that she wouldn’t back away.
She pictured him in uniform, imagined him leaving, thought about him fighting in a war he felt he had a duty to fight. In spite of the warning voice in her head, she let her fingers follow her heart. She lifted her hand and traced a line down the side of Brady’s face. She felt his jaw tense and his body go taut.
Her caress was obviously the sign he’d wanted. He kissed her until she was dizzy.
Eventually he murmured, “I’d better go. When can I see you again? I’m going back to school tomorrow night, but I can pick you up after church and you can meet my family.”
“Won’t they mind if I barge in?”
“They won’t mind. You can stay for dinner. Mom cooks enough for an army.”
“Oh, Brady, I don’t know. You’re just going to take me home—?”
“Yeah, I am, unless you’d rather not meet everyone.”
All day this man had projected confidence and self-assurance, but now he seemed uncertain. “Unless you’d rather I just go back to college and forget today ever happened.”
“No! I want to see you again. And I’d like to meet your family. But I don’t want to feel like an intruder.”
“You won’t.” He removed the daisy from her hair. “I think you might need to replace this tomorrow. This one looks as though it’s had a long day.”
She laughed and it felt so good.
He laughed, too, hugged her and then kissed her again.
With effort, Brady opened his eyes and became aware of his surroundings in CICU. Laura was stroking his hair. She loved to touch. She’d always loved to touch.
Laura.
She’d stood by him through everything. And now she’d probably saved his life. More that he owed her.
An oxygen tube was at his nose. He moistened his dry lips. “What happens next?”
“Brady. I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have pushed you—”
Pushed him to tell the kids. To tell Kat, whom he’d never had a problem loving. But most of all to explain to Sean. Laura had loved their son from the moment he’d been settled in her arms by the caseworker. His own lack of response to his adopted son had made her especially protective of the child she’d loved instantly.
“It’s okay,” he managed to say hoarsely. His mouth was so dry. “Did you do CPR? I thought I heard a medic say you did.”
“Sean and I did.”
“I guess I might not make that Orioles game,” he said, trying to joke. She’d gotten him tickets for the Orioles third home game for their anniversary.
“Maybe not that game. But another one soon.”
Laura’s forced optimism wasn’t going to do either of them much good if he didn’t pull through this. “You were right,” he murmured.
“About what?”
Right about driving himself too hard, working too much, caring little about his health as long as he’d gotten everything done in a day that he’d planned. “I should have signed up for that gym membership you suggested.” He attempted to give her a smile but didn’t quite pull it off.
She looked surprised, as if that wasn’t what she’d expected.
Keep it on the surface, he warned himself. Don’t make matters worse. “What happens next?” he asked again.
“You have a catheterization in the morning. Till then, you need to rest. Don’t think about anything you shouldn’t.”
Like reporters in their front yard? Like the condemnation he’d surely see in Sean’s eyes after his son read the article?
Don’t think about it. Bury it. Like the past.
As Brady floated in a fuzzy haze, he knew he wasn’t going to dig everything
