Make Mine a Ranger (Special Ops: Homefront Book 4) (18 page)

Those in uniform in the crowd shouted
“Hoo-ah!” followed by an enthusiastic round of applause.

Still on one knee, Tyler reached for Abby,
“Is that okay with you, pumpkin? Can I marry your mom and live forever with you
guys?”

“And be my daddy,” Abby added, her eyes
glimmering with hope.

“Yes, and be your daddy.”

“Uh-huh,” Abby replied with a squeal
lunging into his arms as he picked her up, balancing her on one hip as he stood
to embrace Bess.

Their lips met, and Bess’s eyes snapped
shut, concentrating, memorizing this feeling of completeness that heated her to
her fingertips, and consumed her soul.

As their lips parted, they were swarmed
by the crowd, stolen into embraces, and showered with good wishes. And when
they climbed into his car to head back to the cozy house on the Chesapeake Bay,
they were a family.

Five years later

Boys are stupid
. Abigail Griffon shook her head as
Marcus Falcone pulled the string up from the depths of the Chesapeake Bay.

“You’re doing it too fast,” she
admonished.

“I know what I’m doing,” he retorted,
darting a stubborn look at her before focusing back on the string.

She could see the crab in the water,
clinging to the chicken neck Marcus had tied to the string. Half of her wanted
the crab to hold on so that they could catch it in their net. The other half of
her wanted it to let go, just so that she could be right.

“You’re going to lose him, Marcus.”

“He is not.” Her Aunt Lacey’s four-year-old
son, Samuel always took Marcus’s side. “He’s been crabbing off this dock longer
than you have.”

“Have not,” she argued back. “I crabbed
off here when I was two. You weren’t even alive then, Samuel. And you weren’t
even living here then,” she finished, glaring at Marcus. The only reason she
remembered it was because she had a photo on her wall back home—her
crabbing off this dock back when she and her mom lived here with Lacey and
Maeve.

That was before her mom and dad got
married, and Abby officially became “Abigail Griffon.”

Now eight years old, Abby couldn’t really
remember being called anything else. But the name still seemed special to her,
especially when she put it on the top of her schoolwork, because it reminded
her that she had a dad. A super cool dad.

He’d been away a lot over the years. Abby
remembered that time really well, because they always had a big vacation right
before he left. Disneyworld one year. Yellowstone National Park another.

But now he didn’t go to work in a uniform
anymore. Even though he worked on an Army base, he was a civilian, which to
Abby meant that she could have her dad home on the holidays.

She liked that a lot.

“Well, I’ve crabbed off here a lot more
than you have,” Marcus said.

“Have not.”

“Have to,” he bit back, just as the crab
let go of the chicken neck and disappeared back into the murky depths. “Damn.”

Abby’s jaw dropped. “Mom, Marcus said a
bad word,” she shouted, standing up and storming down the dock to Bess.

“I did not. I said, ‘darn,’” he shot
back.

“Did not. I heard it.”

Jack stomped toward his son, stopping
under the raspberry-covered arch that led to the dock. “Marcus, watch the
language or you can say goodbye to your Erector set for a week.”

“Okay,” he grumbled.

Over her shoulder, Abby smirked at the
sullen boy one last time before she plucked a pair of pink blossoms from the
dogwood tree she loved. It had grown so much since the day they had planted it
after Bess and Tyler’s wedding. Abby put one flower behind each of her ears,
proud that she had picked out such a perfect tree so long ago.

Back on the deck, she crawled onto Tyler’s
lap. She didn’t care if her friends said she was too old to sit on her parents’
laps. She liked to, anyway.

Tyler wrapped his strong arms around Abby
like a giant seat belt. “Civilian life, guys,” he was telling Jack, Mick, and
Joe. “I’m telling you. You should try it. It was so nice settling on that house
and knowing we could stay there as long as we want.” They had just moved in
last week to a little ranch house along the Magothy River about fifteen minutes
up the coast from Maeve and Jack. “Jack, Mick, you’re coming up on twenty years
soon. The DoD could use you elsewhere soon.”

“You’re preaching to the choir here,
Tyler,” Lacey said. “Mick’s already talking to some people at the Pentagon
about a civilian job after he puts in his retirement papers.”

“How about you, Jack?”

“No way. Now that I’m a department head,
I’m sticking it out at the Academy till they start talking about moving me
elsewhere. Then, we’ll talk. After twenty, all bets are off.”

“Admiral?” Tyler asked.

Even now that Tyler had separated from
the Army, Abby noticed her dad still called her Uncle Joe by his proper title. She
had asked him once why he did, and he had just laughed and said he’d probably
call him Admiral forever.

“Doubt I can convince you there’s life
after the military, though,” Tyler added.

Joe towered behind his wife’s chair,
massaging her shoulders as he talked. “Doubt you’d need to. We just put a bid
on a vineyard in Northern Virginia. If it goes through, I’m putting in my
retirement papers the next day.”

The crowd seemed to suck in a giant gulp
of air, and Abby couldn’t figure out why everyone’s jaws had dropped two inches
each.

Maeve turned to Lacey. “Did you know
about this?” she asked.

Bouncing her fidgety two-year-old on her
knee, Lacey smiled. “I wrote up the offer myself.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell us,” Edith
scolded.

Vi crossed her arms. “Hey, let up on her.
I didn’t want to tell anyone till the deal went through.” Glancing upward at
her husband, she shot him a look. “Thanks for letting the cat out of the bag,
honey. I’m going to have your clearance revoked for that one.”

Joe laughed. “Sorry I blew it.”

A cry was heard over the baby monitor.
Naptime’s
over.
Abby rolled her eyes. “Babies cry too much.”

“You cried just as much as your little
sister when you were her age,” Bess reminded her as she got up to pull
Charlotte out of the playpen inside the living room.

“Don’t,” Tyler said, lifting Abby off his
lap and setting her down on an empty chair. “I’ll get her. You keep your feet
up for a change.”

Abby frowned. She loved her little
sister, but it was kind of hard sharing her parents sometimes. Preferring a lap
to a hard chair, Abby climbed onto Edith’s lap.

“Oh, Abby, if you grow any more, I’m
going to need a bigger lap,” her Grandma Edie said with a laugh as Abby wrapped
her arms around the old woman’s neck and gave her a kiss on her cheek.

Tyler called from the doorway. “Can I get
anyone anything while I’m inside? Another drink? Edith, your glass is empty. More
orange juice?”

“With a little rum in it again, yes,
Tyler, dear,” she responded with a wink. “Especially since you promised to
drive me home,” she reminded him.

“Consider me your designated driver,” he answered.
“And you’re going to need one considering the rum cake Bess whipped up for your
birthday. She made a separate cake for the kids, if you know what I mean.”

Abby gave Edith a squeeze at the reminder
of her birthday. “Wait till you see what I made you this year,” she said
proudly, firing a look at Marcus as he approached with Samuel in tow. The painting
Abby did for Edith in art class would definitely eclipse anything Marcus had
made, Abby thought. The little girl was nothing if not competitive.

“Well, actually, I think I have a bit of a
surprise for you children,” Edith said cryptically as Marcus and Samuel sat on
the stair near them. “Is Kayla still on the phone with her friend?”

Marcus groaned. “She’s
always
on
the phone with her friends.”

Since Kayla had become a teenager, she was
constantly talking on the phone or texting her friends. She never wants to play
freeze tag anymore, Abby thought glumly.

“Well, bring her outside. I have a little
announcement I’d like to made.”

Jack went inside and hollered, “Kayla,
off the phone now. Your Grandma Edie has something she’d like to say.”

A short round of bickering ensued till
the reluctant teen finally emerged, followed by Tyler, holding Charlotte on his
hip.

“Well, I’ve been having a few talks with
Lacey these days,” Edith began. “I’ve been looking at those waterfront condos
they just built north of downtown. They have an indoor and outdoor swimming
pool, tennis courts, even a motorized boatlift. And, after much thought, I just
bought myself a three-bedroom penthouse. We settle tomorrow.”

A silence fell upon the crowd, and Abby
pictured herself swimming in an indoor pool in the middle of winter. How great
would that be?

Bess spoke first. “Does this mean you’re
selling your house?”

Edith gave a nod. “Lacey just listed it
today.”

“Edith, are you sure?” Vi asked.

“Oh, more than sure. That house has been
too big for me for a long time, and those stairs get harder every year on my
knees. The only reason I kept it is because the extra space came in handy for
the mids I was sponsoring. But I’m at the point in my life when I just want to
spend more time with my grandchildren. And now with another one the way,” she
gave a little nod to Lacey’s growing belly, “I can picture all of you coming
over and making use of those nice pools. It’s just a better lifestyle for me at
my age. Maybe we’ll get some tennis lessons for Kayla if she’d like.”

Kayla, who had been glowering from the
doorway till that moment, actually managed a smile. “Thanks, Grandma Edie. Can
I get one of those short tennis skirts?”

Jack frowned. “Not too short.”

Edith smiled. “You’ll have to work that
one out with your dad.”

Vi glanced at Lacey. “That property is
spectacular. The commission Lacey will make off that place will put her kids through
Ivy League one day.”

Edith chuckled. “Well, Lacey
has
been waiting a long time to sell my house. Even if the way she tried to get the
listing was a little… unconventional. It all certainly worked out in the end,
didn’t it?” She sent Lacey a grin. “And seeing as I’ve got the best real estate
agent in the state working for me, I’m pretty confident I’ll walk away with an
impressive profit.”

Edith cocked her head to the side, a hint
of concern in her eyes. “But what worries me most is that I’ll get bored,” she
admitted. “I’m not exactly the type of woman to gather dust. So I was thinking
I’d love to start a new project with the money from my house. Open a business. Kind
of like a living legacy—a place that will carry on for a long, long
time.”

Bess sat on the chair alongside Edith and
took her hand. “Don’t even talk that way, Edith. We’re all counting on
you
carrying on for a long, long time.”

“Oh, Bess, I’ve got years left on me. Don’t
you worry. But I was thinking how much I’d love to open a restaurant. Right
downtown. Maybe call it ‘Mrs. B’s.’ Lacey and I even found a place I’m considering
putting an offer on. But before I do, I wanted to find out if I knew anyone
willing to run the place.”

Abby’s face lit. “You should ask Mama. She
went to culinary school, you know. And back in Savannah, she worked in one of
the best restaurants as a sous chef before we moved.” Abby stressed the words
“sous chef” proudly, knowing that Marcus wouldn’t have a clue what a sous chef
even was. “And she makes really good food. She’s always wanted to open a
restaurant.”

Edith looked at Bess. “That thought had
occurred to me. Bess, are you interested?”

Bess blinked back tears. “Really? Edith,
are you sure? You could find someone with so much more experience than me.”

“I doubt that. Besides, it’s talent I
need to make this work. Without it, it will never succeed in this town.”

“Finally. Annapolis needs another good
place to eat,” Lacey said, moving toward Bess and touching her shoulder.

Maeve reached for Bess’s hand. “Not good.
It will be great. Best restaurant in town.”

“What do you think?” Edith asked, her
eyes shimmering with delight. “You’ll have complete control over everything,
including the menu. I trust your judgment, and I’m too old and busy with
grandchildren to stick more than a toe into these waters. All I ask is that we
offer a good military discount so that mids can afford to eat a decent meal
there.”

A tear dripped off Bess’s cheek onto her
t-shirt. “Oh, yes. Yes, I’d love that. Thank you, Edith.”

Tyler leaned over to give Edith a gentle squeeze
around her shoulders. “Thanks, Mrs. B.” He gave her a quick peck on the cheek
and Abby was almost sure she heard his voice crack a little.

Edith waved her hands dismissively. “You’ll
be doing me the favor. It was time for me to try something new.”

Heaving a bored sigh, Kayla interrupted. “Can
someone drive me and Isabella to the Naval Academy for dinner?”

Jack looked at her. “Who’s Isabella?”

Kayla’s eyes widened. “Geez, Dad. Only my
best friend in the world.”

“
This
week,” Marcus added, making
Abby laugh in response.

Joe’s brow creased. “Why would you want
to go to the Academy for dinner, Kayla? Don’t kids your age want to hang out at
the mall?”

Vi angled her head at her husband. “Joe,
wake up. She’s a teenager.”

“It’s the uniforms, Joe,” Maeve clarified.
“The place is crawling with guys in uniforms. I hung out there any chance I
could when I was a teen. But not till I was at least sixteen,” she finished,
narrowing her gaze on her daughter.