Corpsman and the Nerd (24 page)

Someone had put up decorations, but no
one felt particularly festive. Instead, most seemed to feel the
loss of their families and decided, like her, that work was the
answer to their loneliness.

“
KC, you have a visitor,”
Monique announced as she poked her head around the
corner.

“
Oh?” KC searched her brain,
trying to imagine who on earth could be visiting her
today.

“
Yeah. And he’s hot. Someone
said he’s a Navy SEAL. The hottest brother I’ve seen in a long
time.” Monique smacked her lips.

Ben
. With a surge of happiness for having family on base, KC
jumped to her feet. “Where is he?” she asked, hurrying for the
door.

“
Heading toward the
Admiral’s office. How do you know such hot men?”

“
He’s Max’s cousin,
Ben.”

“
How is that?”

“
Ben’s adopted, but don’t
let that fool you. He’s a Morrison through and through.”

“
Oh.” KC thought that’s what
the nurse said, but she was already through the door and running
toward the Admiral’s office. The door swooshed open as she came
abreast of it, and then she was in Ben’s arms.

He swung her around and she laughed.
He wasn’t Max, but they still were so much alike. And who better,
if not Max, than his best cousin? The two men weren’t that far
apart in age, and they and Lainy had been bosom buddies growing up.
The three were still close.

“
Ben!” she cried with joy
and clung, happy to see him.

“
You two get in here,”
Admiral O’Riley barked and they both complied. He had been a SEAL
too, and it was no secret he favored them. Not that the Corpsmen
were treated poorly, because that wasn’t the case at all. He
regularly moved mountains or bureaucrats to get them what they
needed.

Both she and Ben saluted and he
returned the gesture before waving a hand at the seats before his
desk. He grinned at Ben.

“
What’s General Emma up
to?”

Ben laughed. “What’s she
usually up to? The Bent Rock Foundation is currently the biggest
event, and they’re planning to auction the puppies off this coming
week. They’re finally old enough to be weaned. A few have said it’s
too early but she
wanted
to do this before the holiday. The puppies didn’t
listen. A rare occurrence for the general.”

KC laughed along with the admiral.
That was so true. General Emma expected everyone and everything to
fall into her plans, and generally they did. The puppies not
complying wouldn’t go over well with her, but even Emma couldn’t
rush nature.

“
That woman,” Admiral
O’Riley said and shook his head. Fondly, KC thought. Hhmmm. Max
hadn’t informed her of what was happening on Emma’s end. KC thought
about emailing Lainy, instead. Being male, Max would miss the
obvious signs of interest. Provided General Emma exhibited
them.

“
She’s scarier than any high
ranking military personage, or otherwise, I’ve met up with,” Ben
admitted. “Even our SEAL trainers weren’t as terrifying as our
general in full bellow.”

“
Emma’s so tiny, most people
look right over her, and then they get knocked over and realize a
little too late...” KC said with a grin.

“
Yeah, when they notice
everyone else heading for the hills, and realize they’re not gonna
make it, and now they’ll be doing her bidding until they can
escape.” Ben exchanged a grin with KC who recognized the huff in
his voice.

“
Haven’t run for the hills
soon enough, son?” Admiral O’Riley sported a knowing look in his
eyes.

Ben snorted, which made KC laugh
again. She was so happy to see him, and very grateful he somehow
managed to pull off his visit on Christmas. If she couldn’t be with
Max and Ryan, Ben was a wonderful substitute. She thought of Ben as
a brother.

They chatted with the admiral for a
while before she and Ben were excused. They saluted, KC with fond
feelings for their leader, and figured Ben, being a SEAL, probably
entertained similar thoughts.

The older man was always fair, usually
compassionate, and more skilled than most knew, he could quietly
get in and out where others feared to tread. Rich O’Riley was a
Navy legend, if the stories were to be believed, and most did, upon
meeting him. He was fierce, intelligent, savvy, and sympathetic as
needed. This was probably why he sat in the admiral’s seat, KC
decided wryly.

“
He doesn’t change,” Ben
said quietly as they meandered their way to the mess
hall.

“
No. We’re awfully glad to
have him. And I’m awfully glad you could be here today.”

Ben slanted a speaking glance at her,
and KC grinned. “Had to move a few obstacles in your path there,
General Emma? I mean, Ben?”

He threw back his head and laughed
before playfully cuffing her. KC danced away, so reminded of Max,
her heart hurt again.

“
Maybe,” was all he’d commit
to, but KC was grateful regardless.

“
Okay. I won’t
push.”

They entered the eating tent and each
picked up some coffee. There were cookies on a plate beside the
coffee maker, and KC and Ben exchanged incredulous looks before
helping themselves.

“
Max and Ryan made cookies
at his folk’s house last evening. Mitch and Lainy must have been
there too, because the boys had a flour fight. Max said Mitch is
getting much better with the food/water fight bit.”

Ben shook his head. “It’s sad, a
trained Marine, and he can’t even keep up in a Morrison family food
or water battle.” They settled in at a nearby table.

“
Max said he’s
improving.”

“
That’s good. You’d expect
that of a Marine.”

“
I suppose,” she answered on
a gurgle. “
We
wouldn’t need the learning curve, right?”

He looked offended. “Of course not.
We’d have known what to do right from the start.”

“
Of course.” She laughed
with him. Each branch of the military had their opinions. She was
grateful to share hers with an elite member of her
branch.

“
So they made cookies at
Aunt Monica’s house last evening?” Ben asked, and KC heard some of
her homesickness in his voice.

“
Yes. Apparently they had a
good time. Monica made Max promise he and Ryan would have oatmeal
for breakfast this morning.”

Ben made a face so like Max’s she
stared.

“
Yuck,” he said
succinctly.

“
Max didn’t sound overly
pleased with the fare, either.” She grinned at the memory of his
email. KC doctored the liquid tar their mess tent passed off as
coffee.

“
Heck, no. He hates
oatmeal.”

“
It’s amazing what you do
when you have a kid,” she said with a sad smile. Ryan was in the
very best hands, so she needed to stop worrying. Besides, she had
been trying to convince Max to eat oatmeal for ages.

Ben sent her a disgusted
look.

“
Ah-ha! Another Morrison man
who doesn’t like oatmeal,” she accused and then frowned. “You’re in
the military. How can you not like oatmeal?” She took a tentative
sip of the potent brew. With plenty of creamer it was
okay.

“
I eat eggs and whatever
meat is available. Usually I can avoid the nasty stuff.” He bit
into a cookie and she was again reminded of Max.

She remembered the day Max’s
mom and aunts had come to pack her things and given her a bag of
cookies to take into work. How they had carried on that day and Max
was so pleased with those treats, and her. Maybe someday he would
look at her like that when she didn’t have cookies. But look at her
because he wanted to taste
her
.

Swallowing, KC cut off those thoughts.
Now wasn’t a good time to be thinking such things. She wanted to
enjoy Ben’s visit. He took a sip of his non-doctored brew and she
shuddered. Ben didn’t seem fazed.

“
Missing Max and Ryan?” The
compassion in Ben’s voice yanked her back into their
conversation.

She nodded and took another sip of her
coffee.

He reached across the table and took
her hand. “Hey, it’s okay to miss them. You should.”

“
I know. I’m glad they’re
having fun and are with family, it’s just hard, because I want to
be with them so badly.” She blinked away the tears that threatened
and looked at him. “But I’m glad you’re here, Ben.”

He grinned and she saw why
Monique was so impressed with him. He was quite handsome. And
confident and sweet. He and Max had so much in common, so how had
she noticed this about Ben in the past, but missed those same
characteristics in Max? She wondered if Treeny had noticed those
characteristics in Max, but missed them in Ben. Or maybe Treeny and
Ben’s problems were different than hers and Max’s. If
problem
was the correct
term. Maybe KC just suffered from major oversight. Max had been
right there in front of her all this time and she’d missed him for
all the Morrisons.

Ben shrugged. “This is what
family is about. We can’t be with them today, but we can be
together, and that’s important. Now, I happen to be in possession
of last year’s Christmas celebration DVD. I also know Max is
especially adept at ad-libbing
The Grinch
Who Stole Christmas
.”

KC laughed. “I was there, and yes, he
is adept at that.”

And suddenly she couldn’t wait to
watch that video.

“
So, you got any Morrison
family cookies?” Ben asked slyly and KC laughed again.

“
Maybe,” she taunted. He
tormented her the entire way to her quarters to retrieve the laptop
and her cookie and brownie stash.

She refused to think about another
celebration far away, in a land where she was loved, and returned
the emotion in full.

Chapter 31

During a lull Christmas morning, Max
sat down at his laptop, which he had the foresight to bring along
to his parent’s house. He wanted to check his email to see whether
KC had written. He was pretty certain she would.

Seeing a message from her, he clicked
on it, excitement spiraling through him.

To:
[email protected]

From:
[email protected]

Subject: Ben’s
here!

Dear Max,

Happy Christmas, to you
too! I wish I could be there with you, but I got a really nice
surprise today. Ben’s here! He’s enjoying a quick nap, so I thought
I’d take the time to send you an email. (I don’t think he’s had
much sleep lately. When I suggested a nap, he jumped at the
chance.) Please let your family know he’s well and accounted for.
And missing everyone too.

Max grinned and got up from the desk.
“Hey! Anyone who’s worried about Ben, I can help.”

He quickly had family surrounding him.
“Where is he, dear?” his mom asked impatiently, and he slid an arm
around her.

“
He’s with KC.”

“
Oh,” Lainy said on a sigh.
“That’s wonderful! I’ve been feeling for her, and him. Knowing
they’re together makes things so much better.”

“
Yeah, that’s why she wrote.
And I think she’s feeling better about not being with us, since
he’s there.”

“
I’m sure,” an aunt
murmured.

Max noticed relief and another emotion
he couldn’t identify cross Treeny’s expressive face. Sunlight from
a nearby window erupted in the fiery red gold curls of her hair. He
wondered if he should report Treeny’s reaction to KC but in the
excitement, forgot.

“
You’d better call his
mother,” his mom directed.

“
I will.”

Lainy looked at him and raised an
eyebrow. He opened his arms and she stepped into them. “You’re
feeling better too, knowing she’s with family and not missing you
and Ryan so much.” It was creepy how Lainy could tap into his
feelings with seemingly little effort.

“
Yeah. I could tell she’s
pretty excited. I imagine she expected today to be a regular work
day, but with Ben there, she’ll take some time off.”

“
I’m glad they’re
together.”

Max, who had rested his chin on her
head, nodded. “Me too.”

Eventually he returned to her email.
Thankful for the gifts of his family, health, and most importantly,
Ryan and KC Gilmore.

I was so excited to see
him! We watched last year’s Christmas celebration together. You
certainly are quite skillful at ad-libbing. We replayed that part
of the video a few times. Between you, Ed, and Tom, you had us, and
everyone else who heard, rolling! (They all stopped and watched
with us.)

I imagine Lainy spent some
time with the mothers this time around? Last year she didn’t spend
much time with them, but I figure she’ll be drawn there now.
Amazing how much her life has changed in just one year. Last year
she wasn’t married, or even engaged. Now she’s married and she and
Mitch are expecting their first child. (I’m with you on worrying
they’ll end up with eight. Maybe even twelve kids!)