“Will I see you tomorrow?” Treeny whispered to him later that evening.
“Definitely. I’m across the street tonight, but depending on Janine, I could end up over here. I’ll see you at church and we can decide what to do after that.” Ben stared down at her, loving the way her eyes shone in the moonlight.
The light gilded her curls to a silvery moonlit color. Combined with the blue-gray of her eyes, she looked mysterious and otherworldly. But the fey effect was destroyed when she smiled. The tilt of her lips was classic Treeny. He loved the joy shining on her face. A joy he’d placed there.
“Okay.” She moved closer. “I don’t want to go home.” Her words were a protest.
A rumble of amusement escaped. “Yeah. You’ll have to work free of me before you can leave anyway.” He truly didn’t know if he could let her go. Now that he had her, opening his arms to release her seemed like an insurmountable task.
“In that case, I’m not going home,” she stated firmly and her slender arms tightened around his waist.
He laughed and rested his chin on her head. “Okay. We can just stand here and stare at the stars all night. I’m fine with that.”
She giggled and snuggled closer.
“Hmm?” Her clean feminine scent washed over him.
“Nothing. I don’t care what we stare at, so long as we’re together,” she said.
He bent his head so his lips brushed over her hair. Wow, what had he done to win this woman?
“You’re so agreeable, what happened?” he teased.
And as he suspected, she tried to tickle him. He avoided her scrabbling fingers easily, and holding her off, ducked and claimed her lips.
Treeny melted against him. He loved her warmth and softness against him.
“Your sister is going to send the posse out after me if you don’t go home.”
“Who’s the posse?” She didn’t sound in the least bit concerned.
“Will, Ed, Tom...”
“Max,” another voice interrupted.
Ben groaned again before he turned to face his cousin. He didn’t let go of Treeny. “Let me guess, Rachel got worried and sent you?”
“Yep,” Max said cheerfully. “Put her in the car and wave goodbye, big boy.” He broke them apart, stuffed Treeny into her car and slammed the door shut. He offered a cheeky wave. Ben resisted the urge to swat him – into the next county. “See how easy that was?”
Ben shook his head at his cousin. “You’re a pain in the neck.”
“I know.” Max nodded and waved again as Treeny fired up her car. She waved back, and Ben was gratified to see she couldn’t seem to take her eyes off him.
She blew him a kiss before she pulled out onto the street and her tail lights vanished down the street.
“I can’t imagine sending her off to war the way you did with KC.” Ben’s heart ached at the very thought.
“Feel fortunate you don’t have to. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. But you know, Treeny’s going to go through it.”
Ben turned to stare at Max as his heart turned over. “Go through what?”
“You’re a Navy SEAL, so you’re probably going off to war. Treeny will be the one left behind, wondering if you’ll return alive.”
Max’s eyes were shadowed, but Ben understood. Treeny would be the one to wait for his safe return, while he went off to do his job. She’d be the one fretting, the one left behind to worry over his homecoming.
He hadn’t thought about how their relationship would work, but she would be the one left tending the home fires as it were. Fortunately, she had a job she loved, so she’d have something to occupy her time. Was that enough? Would the time she spent at work be enough to keep her from going insane while she waited for him? Was she even willing to wait for him? She’d done so for eleven years already. How could he ask her to keep doing so?
Ben hated the path his thinking took, but should he ask her? Would what they shared be enough for her? Because he knew she’d spend some time alone in this relationship. And he couldn’t do anything about her alone time. He really loved his job. Could he give up the military? Did he want to?
“How did you stand the waiting?” Ben heard the intensity in his voice.
“There were two reasons why I waited,” Max said slowly, and Ben watched him intently. He couldn’t imagine what Max had endured as he saw KC off to war. KC had been swamped with too many wounded men and not enough personnel, and less than stellar living conditions. Max and KC had communicated via email, mostly. Apparently the cell phones Lainy had built for them couldn’t be used much because of some delicate equipment there.
“Why?”
“KC was worth waiting for,” Max said, and Ben saw the conviction in his face. Would Treeny feel he was worth waiting for? How he hoped and prayed.
“And the other reason?”
Max turned and looked him in the eye. “I knew KC would only be gone for eight months. Anything is bearable if you know there’s an end.”
Ben swallowed. KC had been deployed for eight months. He was deployed for as long as the job took. Then he came home. Then he’d leave again when the next job came up. His heart sank. He had no way of knowing how long he might be gone or when he could come home. No way of knowing how long he might have at home.
He could hardly even schedule a vacation. Well, he could, but if he was needed, the U.S. Navy had no qualms about trumping his plans.
“You knew KC would be gone for only eight months.”
Max squeezed his shoulder. “Yeah, I knew I counted down the hours, days, and months. But you know, I nearly went crazy in those months.”
Ben stared at him. He saw the toll that forced separation had taken on his cousin, even now, over a year later.
“But you got through,” Ben pointed out.
“Sure. So will Treeny, if she loves you.”
He nodded. That made sense. The problem was, did she love him? She liked him, he knew that, but did she love him? It was too soon in their relationship to even ask that question.
“True. But we’re so new into the relationship,” Ben said, a protest welling at having to say that out loud.
“You and Treeny have what KC and I didn’t.”
“What’s that?” Intrigued, he wondered what Max was talking about.
“While you don’t know when you’re going and how long you’ll be gone, you do get home. Without multiple months in between.”
Ben paused as he thought about his leave time. He would get home before several months went by. Yes. He’d be able to hold Treeny and spend time with her between assignments.
“Still, you knew after eight months, KC would be home.”
“Different circumstances. You pop in all the time. Which means you and Treeny can see each other on a semi-regular basis. I think you have to weigh your options. If you want each other enough, you’ll make the relationship work under whatever circumstances you have.”
“That’s pretty deep, Max,” he teased.
“Yeah, it is. But unfortunately for you, it’s true. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a wife to bug.”
Ben heard the satisfaction in Max’s voice. The wait had been worth it for Max. He’d even heard Max say that if KC hadn’t been called up, she might have never realized they were meant to be together. Ben had heard KC say the same thing. It had taken the separation from Max before she realized how much he meant to her.
But he and Treeny had been separated for years. And you’re together now, because neither of you could stop thinking of the other, a little voice sounding remarkably like his mother said in the back of his head. What if something came between them though?
He watched Max look both ways before crossing the street. Max paused on the other side and turned back to him. “One other thing,” he said.
“What?”
“I didn’t have KC, but I had Ryan for those eight months. Without him, I’m sure I would have gone crazy. But at least I had the little guy.”
Ben nodded. “I can see where that would help. But Treeny doesn’t have a kid.”
“No, she doesn’t. I pointed that out to show you how different our situations are. We might end up in the same boat, yes, but reaching that boat is a far different experience for everyone.”
Ben shook his head. “How in the world did you get so smart, Max?”
“I think KC might have something to say about the smart bit.” Ben could hear the grin in Max’s voice. He couldn’t help but respond.
“Right, but what does she know?”
“I’m sure she’d be happy to tell you. But for now, I’ll be told off if I don’t get a move on. Trying to put both kids down for the night can be hard.”
“Shouldn’t they have already been in bed?”
“Sure, but Macy will be hungry, and sometimes, after a busy day like today, Ryan wakes up after an hour or so.”
“Ah, the joys of kids.”
“Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it,” Max advised.
“Right.” He thought about kids. He couldn’t imagine having children with any woman other than Treeny, if they decided to have them.
So what did that mean?