17

Disembarking from her flight, Gina had never been so glad to see Daniel as she was at this moment, catching sight of his face and seeing only concern. “Thanks for meeting me, Daniel.”

“No problem. Glad to be of service,” he replied as he took her carry-on bag and transferred it to his shoulder. “But whatever you’re thinking of doing, you need to slow it down a bit.”

“He asked me to marry him, out of the blue, and then he flew off across the country. He knows I’m dating you,” she said, all the emotions of the long night tumbling out. The impact of it had been building ever since Mark had left for his own flight.

“I’ve got to admire the man,” Daniel said. “He had the guts to ask you cold. It’s not only a class act, it’s impressive tactics.” She began moving toward the airport’s exit, but Daniel took her elbow and turned her aside to a row of seating away from the flow of passengers coming and going. “Gina, you owe him an answer, but not one made after a sleepless night and a flight across the country. It won’t do either one of you any good if you tell him no while you’re feeling like this. One look at your face and I know you didn’t come to tell him yes.” He led her to a seat and then took the one beside her.

“Daniel—”

He put a finger across her lips. “Listen. You were oblivious to the fact Bishop was interested in you. Now you’ve just gotten your eyes opened, seeing he’s got real emotion behind his decision. You’re so confused, you’re just frustrated he put you in this position. So slow it down. I’m here to turn you around.” She blinked at the firm statement and watched while he dug a travel pack of Kleenex out of his pocket. “You can’t see him, Gina. Not now, not like this. You’ll only end up regretting it. I won’t let you make that kind of memory.”

“I came to tell him no because I can’t marry him,” she whispered.

“You came to tell him that he panicked you. And you also wanted to see how much damage it did with me when I heard the news,” Daniel corrected. “You haven’t had time to think much beyond that. For the record, you and I are fine. I don’t think you prompted this, that you were somehow leading both of us on. This has classic Bishop written all over it,” he added, sounding reluctantly impressed.

“He asked me to wait for him to get back from patrol. That’s months away, Daniel. And I was flustered enough in the moment that I agreed to it.”

His hand wrapped around hers. “I’m going to be deployed too, Gina, and it’s not like a few months’ wait is going to disrupt what else might be. You aren’t ready for me to propose—you and I both know that from Georgia. We still need some time, and this turn of events doesn’t change that. All it does is change the order in which things are going to happen. Bishop deserves a considered answer from you, a thoughtful and prayerful one. The man asked you to marry him. I respect that. Even if he is stepping hard on my toes. I’ll wait until you decide what you will do with his proposal before I’ll consider making one of my own.”

“I’m telling him no.”

“I hope you do,” Daniel said. “And I hope you leave the door open for me to make the next proposal. But I won’t let you make a mistake by rushing an answer to Bishop that you haven’t handled with the respect it deserves.”

Gina slipped her hands out of his to wipe her eyes.

“Do you love him?” Daniel asked softly.

“I’ve been on all of two official dates with him, and the second barely constituted a date. I like the guy, Daniel, but he’s miles ahead of me, proposing out of the blue like that.” She pushed away more tears.

“Was it a good proposal?” Daniel asked, using a tissue to dry her cheeks.

She remembered the words and cried even harder. “It was beautiful.”

Daniel wrapped her in a hug and rocked her. “Face it, kiddo, you’ve got two men who really, really like you.”

She half laughed at his words. The tears finally eased even if the pressure in her chest didn’t.

“You were always going to have to say no to one of us,” Daniel pointed out. “You just assumed it would be Bishop. Now maybe it is Bishop, or maybe it’s me. Trust us to be men about this, Gina, that we’ll handle it with grace. It’s not going to come back at you with more pain because you have to make a decision. We know you have to make a decision. And right now you owe Bishop an answer to his proposal that comes from your heart, not your panicked emotions. You can’t do that without giving him the time he’s asked for.”

He gently lifted her chin and looked her in the eyes. “I’m not going anywhere, Gina. All that’s changed is that the timing has shifted around, and now you need to consider Bishop first. That’s not such a bad thing from my point of view. We’re different guys, Gina. Take your time. There’s no need for this to end with regrets.

“Nevada blew a missile tube and is back early. It touched the pier four hours ago. Bishop is three days away from hand-over and command of the boat. The man will have the world on his shoulders getting the Nevada ready to go back to sea by the first of the month. Even working 24/7, gold crew is going to have its hands full making that date. Do the wise thing here, Gina. Go back to Chicago and enjoy some rest, or work on something that isn’t sonar-related. And wait. Let the decision about Bishop be made after he’s back from patrol, after you’ve had more time with him.”

She wiped her eyes again. “I can’t believe you’re saying that, Daniel. You’re sure?”

“I know it sounds crazy, but I’m trying to act in your best interests. He asked you to marry him. That’s not a simple statement, not from him, and it won’t be from me. Though I still hope you choose me, you can’t make this decision quickly. He’s too good a man. I deeply respect him, and he deserves your full consideration. Otherwise I might always wonder, and maybe you would too.”

He was calming her down and talking sense into her, and she forced herself to accept that, to take a deep breath and nod. He’d just cancelled her plans, and she was going to let him. “Thank you, Daniel.”

“You can call me anytime. I’m still planning to send you music tapes and try out jokes and be in your life until I head to sea myself in mid-November. I might even hop on a red-eye to Chicago before I ship out. Nothing’s changed with us, Gina. We’re still in the days after Georgia. As difficult as this is to sort out, Bishop and I really are different sides of the same coin. You want to get married. One of us will likely be the guy. That’s still the reality. Okay?”

She nodded.

He gently kissed her. “We’re good. Now let’s get you on a flight back to Chicago.”

Bishop saw Daniel Field waiting on the pier side of the Nevada walkway. He pushed his notes into his pocket, left the Nevada deck, and headed across to meet him.

“Can the tube be repaired?” Daniel called.

“No. It took out the venting stack when it failed. Tube four is now the red-line item for the coming refit. If we’re lucky the repressure coils are intact, but we won’t know until the missile is out. Blue crew wants the last days before hand-over to solve what failed. I’d want to know the same. Irish is moving the boat to the explosive wharf within the hour to start getting some answers.”

Bishop knew Daniel wasn’t here for news about the Nevada. He would have heard by now, either from Jeff or from Gina herself. And whatever Daniel wanted to say, Bishop was braced to accept it. He was well aware of how this whole thing looked.

“Gina was here,” Daniel told him, his voice lowered as the two drew closer together. “I convinced her to take the afternoon flight back to Chicago. You might want to have some flowers or something waiting for her when she gets home.”

Bishop felt his heart stop. “She flew—”

“She was here to tell you no. And I don’t want her no to you to be some spur-of-the-moment panic.”

“Security was with her? She’s okay getting home?”

“Yes. We had a long conversation. I got her calmed down before she left. She’ll be fine. And she’s not going to want you to know she was here. You pushed too hard, Mark. She had a night to think about it, and she panicked.”

Bishop struggled to get his mind around the news. “Thank you, Daniel.”

“I still want to be the one who wins the girl,” Daniel said, “but I can play it fair.” He met Bishop’s gaze. “I find it interesting she called me to meet her at the airport, not Jeff.”

“You matter to her. We both know that.”

Daniel offered his hand. “No hard feelings, whatever comes?”

Bishop felt like he was getting a break he didn’t deserve. He took the handshake. “Never let it be said we couldn’t handle matters with some class and honor.”

“I’ll settle for not having fists thrown when she chooses me.”

Bishop had to laugh in spite of the difficult subject.

“Kittens, Bishop?” Daniel shook his head. “You really are playing hardball, sir. She said she left them for a temporary 24 hours back with your sister. Gina likes your sister, by the way. The kittens are now named Pocket and Pages. I hope you like cats. I was a dog guy, so this is going to take some recalibration.”

Bishop heard the warning and winced. “So was I.”

Daniel laughed. “I’ll pray you get through refit in one piece. I don’t envy you the next three weeks. Or the 90-day patrol coming after that. If for some reason I don’t see you again before Nevada departs, good sailing, Commander.”

“Same to you and the Nebraska, Daniel.”

Gina had been back at her Chicago home less than an hour, trying to settle the kittens and unpack her carry-on bag, when the doorbell rang and she reversed course to answer it. She opened the door to a deliveryman.

“Miss Gray?”

“Yes.”

“These are for you.” He carefully handed over a bouquet of roses and a gift-wrapped package.

“Thank you.”

“I’d say someone likes you,” he replied with a smile before turning back toward his van.

She carried the flowers into the dining room, gently set the vase on the table. A dozen roses in all different colors, beautifully displayed. She searched but found no card, leaving her to wonder if they were from Daniel or Mark. She opened the package. A book about kitten care, with an envelope on top. She opened the envelope and slipped out a page. It was the printout of an email from Mark.

Gina, I mentioned I was a letter writer. Technology has let me get this one to you in faster fashion than with a stamp.

I thought it might be easier for you to read these words than answer the phone and hear my voice for our first conversation after I shook up your life. I meant what I said. I would love to be your husband. I would love for you to be my wife.

Refit is going to be time-stressed. And unfortunately, phone reception within a sub is poor. Phone before five a.m. or after midnight and I’ll probably be at the house and able to catch the call. I have no expectations that you’ll call, no expectations you might come to Bangor before I depart, as I know you need time to think. I just wanted to say I’m ready to listen, and I look forward to the day I’m back with you. I already miss you, Gina.

God’s honest truth, with all the emotion and decisions of the heart and mind and will these words mean, I love you. Give me a chance to show you I can be the husband you deserve and need.

Yours, Mark

She carefully folded the note and slid it back into the envelope. Her heart felt like it was breaking. She didn’t love him. She had to tell him no. But the man was holding his heart out to her.

She wiped at tears. The last 24 hours felt like someone had picked her up and shaken everything she knew about herself. “I’m such a fool, God,” she whispered. “Thank you for having Daniel intercept me and turn me around. He saved me from a very bad fumble in how I handled this.”

She’d been ready to go over a cliff, and she knew God had used Daniel to stop her. She felt ashamed now, replaying mentally the words she’d rehearsed during the flight west. She had gone from being stunned he’d proposed to wishing Mark hadn’t asked her, not when she was seeing Daniel, not when Mark was leaving for patrol, to being upset that he’d proposed. Her words would have carried the emotion of saying no, as well as the added edge of frustration that he’d put her in this position. It would have been wrong on so many levels to reply to his proposal in such an emotional state. And she would have never forgiven herself once she had calmed down and realized what she’d done.

The first marriage proposal she had ever received, from a man who meant the words I love you, and her heart didn’t know what to feel. She curled up on the couch with the two kittens in her lap, and she let herself cry the tears still held in her heart.