Danny's War (Rolling Thunder Series Book 3) (15 page)

“Hey. You okay?”

Tammy looked into Danny’s eyes. “I don’t know what you meant by ‘looking at me for a couple of weeks.’”

Danny took her hand and pulled her toward the door. Walking into the back entryway, he set his keys on the counter in the kitchen and pulled his jacket off. He hung it on a hook next to the door and turned to take Tammy’s jacket.

He leaned forward and kissed her lips softly. He pulled his phone out, swiped his thumb a few times over his phone and smiled when something came up. He turned the phone around and showed her the picture he’d taken of her while she was sleeping.

Tammy looked at the picture and swallowed. Before she knew what she thought of the picture, tears rolled down her cheeks. Danny’s brows pinched together as he watched the tears stream down her face. She turned to leave but he caught her arm.

“Hey, what’s wrong with this picture? I think you look sexy as can be. Every time I look at it I’m amazed you wanted to be with me. Can’t get over it, you’re fucking beautiful.”

Tammy swiped the tears off her cheeks and huffed out a long breath. Lifting one corner of her mouth she looked at Danny just as another tear snaked its way down her cheek.

“I guess we need to talk,” she whispered. “Do you have a computer?”

Pinching his brows together, Danny replied, “Sure.”

Tammy opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. She cleared her throat just as Danny’s phone rang.

He huffed out a breath as he looked deep into her eyes. “Hold that thought.”

Pulling his phone out of his pocket he tapped the screen to answer the call. “Hey Paul, what’s up?”

DANNY HELD TAMMY’S HAND
as they walked into the hospital, neither saying a word. It’d been a very emotional day, he was feeling exhausted and wrung out, now this.

“The elevators are over there,” Tammy stated softly, pointing to their right. Danny squeezed her hand and turned in the direction she’d pointed. They reached the elevators at the same time as another couple. Danny leaned forward and pushed the up button, looked at the couple and nodded. The doors slid open and three little kids came bursting out, one little boy around six-years-old crashed into Danny’s legs. He felt the prosthetic under Danny’s jeans and looked up at Danny with fear in his eyes. Danny smiled at him as he leaned down and grabbed the boy’s shoulders to keep him from falling.

“What’s wrong with your leg?” the little boy asked.

“Jason. That’s not nice to say. I’m telling dad.” Turning her head, Jason’s sister yelled into the elevator, “Dad.”

“Sarah, don’t yell, we’re right here.” Presumably Sarah’s mom said.

“Jason asked this guy what’s wrong with him. That’s not nice. You said we had to be nice to get ice cream.”

A harried woman with short blonde hair stepped out of the elevator, pushing a stroller. Seemingly her husband behind her, looking worn out and ready for bed followed carrying a large diaper bag, which was too small for all of the items to fit inside. Coats and sweaters were spilling out of the top. The man was fishing in his pocket and relief washed over his face as he pulled out his keys.

Danny smiled at the man and the woman and nodded. He looked down at the little boy and said, “I lost my leg in Afghanistan. So, I have a prosthetic leg.”

“Cool. Can I see it?”

Danny smirked and looked up at the little boy’s mom and dad. Dad quickly nodded at Danny, giving permission. Danny leaned down and pulled up the leg of his jeans showing the bottom portion of his prosthetic leg. As his prosthesis came into view the little boy exclaimed, “Cool. Do you have super powers? Can you jump real high?”

Danny chuckled. “No, buddy, I don’t have superpowers and I can’t jump all that high.”

Reaching forward the little guy touched the prosthetic with the tips of his fingers. He looked back at his dad and said, “Dad, look. I want one of these. Only, I want superpowers in mine.”

His Dad looked at Danny. “Sorry. Clearly he doesn’t understand.”

Danny dropped his pants leg and stood to his full height. “No worries.”

Mom began ushering the kids away. “Okay. Let’s go kids. Grab your jackets.”

Jason’s dad leaned forward and extended his hand. “Thank you for your service. It’s much appreciated.”

Danny shook his hand and swallowed the lump in his throat. It choked him up every time someone thanked him.

Danny took Tammy’s hand in his and pulled her into the elevator when the coast was clear, the other couple stepping in just behind them. Tammy looked up at Danny, a soft smile forming on her lips as she watched the emotions play across his face. Humble. He was humble. Sexy, too. She watched him swallow a few times all the while back rigid, eyes forward, looking at nothing. She squeezed his hand, which prompted him to look down at her. When their eyes met her smile grew. He winked at her and looked ahead as the doors opened.

Stepping out of the elevator, Danny saw the sign that directed them to the rooms; higher numbers to the left, lower numbers to the right. Danny pointed to the sign showing Tammy which direction they needed to turn. Walking down the corridor his spine tingled. Those hospital smells brought back all the days and nights he laid in one, pain gripping his whole body and the horror of what’d happened to him pounded his brain. Days turned into weeks and weeks into months. Three months, three weeks and two days to be exact.

“Here it is. Do you want me to wait out here?” Tammy said as she searched his face with her eyes. He’d been too quiet and she worried this was simply too much today.

“No,” he croaked out. Clearing his throat, he said, “No. I want you with me.”

He lifted her hand in his and kissed her knuckles. He smirked at her as her eyes grew large. She watched his eyes as she pulled their hands toward her and kissed his knuckles.

Taking a large breath she said, “Let’s do this.”

Danny rapped on the door twice and pushed the door slightly open as he said, “Ready for company?”

“Of course.”

They walked into the spacious hospital room to see Danny’s mom sitting in a glider rocker holding a precious little bundle in her arms, eyes wet with tears. Danny slowly walked over to his mom and kissed her forehead. Then he looked down at the baby in her arms. All he could say was, “Wow.”

Danny reached down and gently smoothed the baby’s cheek with the back of his forefinger. Janice looked up at him and said, “Isn’t he beautiful?”

“He? It’s a boy?” Danny smiled. He stood and looked over at Paul who was propped on the edge of Grace’s hospital bed. “You had a boy?”

Paul’s smile was wide reaching up to his eyes. “Can you believe it? I have a son, Danny.”

Danny dropped Tammy’s hand and walked over to Paul. They wrapped their arms around each other and hugged tightly. It seemed like minutes, but was actually just a few seconds. Watching them hug pulled at Tammy’s heart like nothing else had ever tugged. Suddenly feeling out of place Tammy nervously pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and tucked her hands in the front pockets of her jeans. Grace caught her attention and smiled as she said, “Nice to meet you, I’m Grace,” as she extended her hand to Tammy.

Tammy smiled at Grace and walked over to the bedside and shook Grace’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Grace, I’m Tammy. Congratulations.”

Danny pulled away from Paul and looked across the bed at Tammy, a broad smile stretched across his face. “Tammy, I’m an uncle. I have a nephew.”

Tears pooled in Tammy’s eyes at the awe and love in Danny’s voice. She smiled at Danny. Looking deep into his eyes she said, “You’re going to be a great uncle.”

Danny nodded quickly then leaned down to hug Grace. “Congratulations, momma. How are you?”

Grace chuckled and wiped the moisture from her eyes with the tips of her fingers. “I’m good. It’s all surreal to be honest.”

They all looked over at Janice holding her new grandson. Tammy looked back at Grace and asked, “What’s his name?”

Grace looked up at Paul, a soft smile on her lips. Paul’s gaze rested on Tammy and then he looked Danny in the eye and said, “Noah. Noah Daniel Schaefer.”

Danny’s head snapped back, his brown eyes full of so much emotion. He and Paul locked eyes for long moments while Danny gained control of his emotions. He opened his mouth to say something then promptly closed it swallowing the large knot in his throat. He opened it again and the words wouldn’t come. Instead he grabbed his brother in a bear hug and squeezed with all his might.

As they pulled away from each other Danny turned and walked over to Janice who was dividing her attention between her sons and her new grandson. 

“You want to hold him? I’m warning you, I won’t offer to hand him over very often.”

Danny smirked, “Yeah, I want to hold him. Figure I better take you up on your offer.”

Janice stood and stepped aside as Danny sat in the rocker. She laid Noah in his arms and straightened. She looked over at Tammy and smiled, which Tammy promptly returned.

Danny looked up from his bundle and locked gazes with Tammy. “Come and meet my nephew.”

Tammy walked over and knelt in front of Danny and Noah. She reached up and pulled the blanket back from his face and admired the beautiful baby. It wasn’t lost on her how perfect Danny looked holding a baby. His babies would be perfect. She was now almost regretful that she wasn’t pregnant from their first time and the forgotten condom. Her period had started a couple days later.

She breathed in the smell of fresh clean baby and Danny. Perfect.

WALKING HAND-IN-HAND
into Stateside, Tammy led Danny through the front entrance and down the hall to her office. The nurses and aides as well as many of the veterans were out and about and she introduced him to everyone they met. Entering the suite that housed her office, Sally’s office and the accounting department, Tammy stopped at her door and reached in to flip on the lights. Stepping in, she looked at Danny and said, “Welcome to my world. My other world.”

He stepped into her office and looked around. She had a picture of her and Molly at some Festival, each with a drink in their hand, both smiling beautifully. There were pictures of her family and on a credenza were various pictures of soldiers lined up along with the family pictures.

“Who are these men you have in such a prominent place in your office?”

Tammy smiled as she walked forward. She picked up the first picture, which was an older photograph and lovingly looked down at it for just a moment. She turned the picture around and handed it to Danny.

“Meet my grandfather, Duncan Davis, my father’s father. He was a radio technician in the Army. He lived here in this home until he died about nine years ago. I used to come here and visit him as a little girl. He’s the reason I wanted to work here so badly. I saw a place that normally older people dread living in and he thrived here. He had friends, they did activities, they played cards but mostly, they had their service to our country, and many times war, in common.”

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Davis.” Danny looked at the old photograph a bit longer and set it back in its place. Tammy picked up the next picture and smirked as she handed it to Danny.

“Guess who this is.”

Danny looked down at the soldier, clearly a Boot Camp photograph, the day the Army has recruits all lined up for hours in their uniforms to snap their “first photo”. It was easy to recognize Steven Davis. Though he was much younger in this picture, he looked very much the same.

“Your dad hasn’t changed much. Other than the stiff uncomfortable look in this picture, that is.”

Tammy giggled as she looked at the next picture.

“This is my grandfather, Jeb Sanders, my mom’s father. He served in the Army as well and actually, Grandpa Sanders was Grandpa Duncan’s superior in the Army. They served together. That’s how my parents met, at a reunion with some of the men they served with and their families. Mom was seventeen and dad eighteen, just before he went into the Army. They connected and then, obviously, stayed in touch while dad was serving. When dad came home, they married.”

“Wow. That’s amazing.”

“Yeah. I love their story. When I was younger and getting ready for bed, I would ask mom to tell me their story to relax me. It always worked.”

Turning to face Danny, she looked into his eyes. “Are you ready to go meet the guys?” Inhaling his scent and feeling his hands seek hers between them made her mind go to places not suited for this environment.

“Yeah, I’m ready. I’m a bit nervous, but I’m ready.”

“Nothing to be nervous about.” Holding his hand in hers, Tammy led Danny to the door and out towards the meeting room. “You just talk to them. They’ll probably want to ask you all kinds of questions about this war and what you did and you ask them. You’re just talking to them.”

Walking into the meeting room, the first thing Danny noticed was the smell of coffee and the chatter. The men were sitting around a couple of big tables, about twenty of them, chatting away and drinking coffee. There was laughter and joking, not the depressed, down-trodden group Danny expected. As the first of the men noticed them a couple of the men smiled brightly at Tammy.

“Hello, Tammy, nice to see you on a Sunday. Come on in and introduce us. As you can see we have a record crowd today.”

Tammy’s smile spread across her face. “I’d like you all to meet Danny Schaefer. Despite being here to talk to you all, Danny’s also my boyfriend.” Her cheeks bloomed a pretty pink.

Some chuckles and snorts were heard, but then again, they were in a room full of men. Tammy started making introductions when Gerry spoke up. “Tammy, we can do the introductions if you don’t mind. He isn’t going to remember us all this way. We like to give our names as we tell a story, it helps to associate the story and the name.”

“That’s right. Okay, then I’ll leave you all to it. Be gentle on him, guys.”

She turned and looked into Danny’s eyes. He gazed deeply into hers and then lightly kissed her lips. He stood back and smirked at her as he watched the color rise up her cheeks and ears. Leaning in he whispered, “Go on now before you catch fire. I’ll come back to your office when we’re finished here.”