Semper Fi Pt. 04

"We need to go back," he replied, "no matter how lousy that sounds. I think we can find it soon enough."

"I'll have to get my boots. They're in the trunk of my car."

"OK, meet me at my car in five."

It was a long drive back to Palomar and Barbara started asking 60s television trivia of Frank.

"What three shows in the mid-60s were crossovers?" she asked, laughing.

"You know, I wasn't even alive then... Uh... let's see. There was Batman... no, that was two episodes a week... hmmm... I got it: Andy Griffith, Gomer Pyle and Mayberry, RFD. Ha, got you!"

"That's pretty good. I didn't even think of them."

"Well, what were you thinking?"

"Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres and Petticoat Junction."

"I didn't take you for a Hillbillies fan."

"Ah, well..." he said, thinking of Ellie May.

"Man, this sucks! It looks completely different in the daytime."

"Calm down, Barbara. Jesus." Frank adjusted his hat, put the metal detector over his shoulder and followed her into the small arroyo.

They walked up the dry creek bed, following the hillsides looking for the abandoned campsites they had seen two nights before. Forty minutes later, they were still walking through the gray-green brush and the smell of the chaparral was heavy in the air. All around them, the drone of insects became louder and louder as they continued moving.

"This SUCKS!!!" she yelled. "DAMN IT!!! These pants cost me $80!" She brushed at a long scratch on the side of her denims.

Frank stared at Barbara. What was causing her to act like this? he asked himself. Lately, she had been short-tempered.

She clomped through the deep brush. "Look, there's that stupid stove." Standing by the stove, she turned to the hillside, looked up and began to carefully find her way up the steep ground, watching for rattlesnakes.

A few minutes later, she was standing in the small cave where the kidnapped girl had been kept, trying to find the slug that had killed the boy.

"I've got something," she said, bringing the detector closer as the sound grew louder in her ears. "Ah, it's just a knife... kinda old, though." She reached down and put it into her pocket.

She walked further into the cave, waving the it along the walls. "Gotcha," she said, reaching out to the sandstone. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out the old knife and used it to pry the slug away from the rock. Holding it up between her forefinger and thumb, she carried it out into the sunshine and put it into a ziploc.

"Wish I had super vision like Supergirl," she laughed. "Here we go." She took a drink from her water bottle and wiped her mouth with her sleeve.

"Time to go," he declared and turned to head back down the canyon.

**********

"You're right. This slug, even banged up as it is, is a match for that killing two months ago. Now, we just have to get that lieutenant in here."

**********

"What do you mean, he's shipped out? Get him back," Barbara demanded.

"He's halfway to Afghanistan, by now. Besides, you're working on a false premise. Even if you speak to him, what will you prove? That he used a rifle that was maybe used to kill someone, possibly, two months, you say, ago? And, where's the rifle? It's gone somewhere, too. You're wasting your time, Agent."

Barbara looked at the colonel, disbelieving her ears, realizing he was right. To have come so close and come away with nothing was unbelievable. The colonel all but admitted he knew what was going on and there was nothing they could do about it.

The problem of cheating wives was out in the open... was well known... was being attended to as only angry men could.

"Well... that sucked," she said, as they drove back to San Diego. "I don't know what to do, now."

"He's right. There's no proof of anything and that rifle's probably destroyed, now, probably sitting on the bottom of the ocean. All we can do is write the report and send it up the line. All we have is a bunch of loving wives getting harsh justice."

She got up and holding her hand to her mouth, rushed to the restroom.

**********

That night, Frank and Caitlyn were at 'Tonio's, having pizza. He cut away another piece and gave it to her and then sipped some more Chianti.

"I still find it hard to believe that he can get away with it," said Caitlyn. "All those women dead..."

"Well, you've got to remember the motto of the Marine Corps. Semper Fi... Always Faithful. And, those women weren't." He picked up another piece. "To make matters worse, they were doing it while their husbands were half a world away fighting this stupid war."

She was amazed. This was the first time he had ever said anything about the war. "I thought..."

"It's been a waste, sweetheart, a total waste. Except for getting those Taliban assholes, what have we accomplished? Not a hell of a lot, our people and the money have been wasted and they hate us even more now than before, if that's even possible. Change has to come from the inside, especially over there."

She talked about girls finally getting an education and he countered with the number of them killed, maimed or blinded by the radical fundamentalists.

"So... you're saying they should still live in the stone age," she declared.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm sick of the way those people treat the women over there. It's a disgrace to be called human. If you want to be called human, you have to act human, not just have enough DNA to push you over the line from the rest of the apes."

"What about 9-11?" she asked, almost afraid of his answer.

"It proves my point. To act like that isn't human, no matter what excuse they try and use."

"But..."

"Look, I don't have a solution... I just know that I wouldn't have had a single boot on the ground as long as I had one airplane that could still fly. And, what the hell's the Marine Corps doing in the desert, anyway? That just doesn't make any sense."

Dinner was quiet, after that and they drove home in silence.

**********

Barbara threw her coat onto her desk. "Hey, guess what?"

"What?"

"Garrett and I are buying a condo in your building. Unit 223."

"Wow, that's great. Think of all gas we can save, carpooling..."

"Yeah, right. You just want to sleep on the way in."

"Well... yeah..." He thought back to the love affair he had had with her, before getting back with his wife. He shook his head, driving those memories away from his heart. He did love Barbara, just not that way... anymore. He couldn't.

"Yeah," he continued, "it'll be just fine." He tried to look busy.

Thankfully, the phone rang.

**********

Chapter 23 When the Swallows Come Back

It was a warm afternoon with only a few white clouds hanging over the coastal hills and despite the breeze coming from the ocean, the courtyard was heating up. Barbara looked over the wooden railing at the guests waiting below.

Behind them were the white canopied tables at Café Mozart, even now filling with more guests. Within moments, she was going to marry Garrett and leave for a two-week honeymoon. She looked for him but could not see him and wondered where he was. A moment of panic flashed through her. What if he didn't come? What if he had changed his mind? What if this Hallmark moment was just a dream?

She folded her hands together to pray for guidance.

Barbara smoothed out her peach dress, the same one she had worn to that auspicious dinner with Garrett. "Hold still," said Caitlyn, responding to the subtle shift in her friend's mood, "I've still got three more to button up... now, it's my turn to mess with you," and then she pulled the soft pastel yellow veil forward on her friend's head.

"You're beautiful," said Caitlyn, "just beautiful. Garrett is a lucky man."

"No, I'm the lucky one. I didn't ever think I'd find someone to love me." Barbara refused to think of her affair with Frank. As wonderful as it had been, it seemed so long ago and so far away.,, another life... another her.

The two women walked down the stairway toward the waiting guests and finally stood on the reddish-brown ground tiles as Garrett approached with Frank.

She looked at Frank, wondering what he was thinking. But, he was married to Caitlyn, wasn't he? He had made his choice, she knew, because of Kelly. For a moment, just a moment, she questioned whether he would have made that choice if it wasn't for the little girl... and then felt guilty. She had Garrett, who loved her... who pledged his life to her. She turned to face the minister, holding Garrett's hand. He moved closer, increasing the pressure on her arm, drawing her closer, his stance protective, warm, loving.

"I do...

"...forsaking all others..."

Barbara felt better, flushed with excitement... it was over. Garrett was smiling back, his tanned hand over her darker one. She looked at the new ring on her finger and stretched her fingers, getting used to the feel... such a small thing with such a huge meaning.

Gingerly, she put her hand in his and lifted her eyes. As she responded to his kiss, she realized she did, indeed, love him.

Following the ceremony, they had their wedding portraits taken by the fountain, the opening yellow water lily blooms just matching her dress. Several swallows swooped down toward the fountain pond from the mission and skimmed the water, startling her for a moment.

Garrett's arm reached out and held her to him. "Easy, darling, don't want to fall into the water. No sense in getting in over your head."

***********

She felt the rush of his breath on her neck, making her want to throw her head back and allow him her sensitive neck, allowing him to explore further...

Garrett bent his head, placing his lips on the tender flesh of her neck, her answering sigh almost a shudder. He felt the firm yet soft press of her breasts against him and then moved his hands downward, pulling her hips close to his.

One hand slipped into her curls then caressed her neck as he gently massaged the tenseness between her shoulder blades.

She swayed toward him and every nuance of her body now tantalized him. She was his wife and this was their wedding night. Breathing in her alluring scent, he had to remind himself that this moment was one to savor forever, to live in his memory as long as he did. His want was hot, feverish, barely controlled and even though they had had sex, before, this time she was his.

When her hands tugged impatiently at his coat, both feelings escalated and it took only a moment to join his hands with hers, pulling off their clothing. When only one piece of cloth remained, that of her panties, he sucked in his breath. She was magnificent and she was his, the reality outshining his most vivid imagination all these years, wondering if he would ever fall in love, again.

Whatever he thought fell short of what he felt. She was his.

Barbara reached out to stroke his chest, warmth over hard steel and knew she wanted to continue. He was hers... finally.

And then, nothing was between them.

Savoring the sensation of bare flesh against bare flesh that hungered for his touch, she felt herself being picked up in the dimness of the room and carried to their wedding night bed. Somehow, she felt the press of the mattress against her back but it was overpowered by the touch of his body on hers.

And then, his hands began blotting out any rational thoughts she might have still had... each touch, each stroke of his fingers... she was overwhelmed. He was taking her to an edge she hadn't known existed before, creating a fire that burned in her soul and when his fingers skimmed her breasts, tracing a line over her rib cage, dancing across her hips, she could only quiver in response, feeling the temperature in the room rise so high it was impossible.

Unexpectedly, he turned that heat into tenderness and that was her complete undoing. He traced a line up her inner thigh until she was as soft as warm wax and his tenderness melted her to such a degree that the heat became secondary in her mind.

She saw the love in his eyes as he looked at her... there was so much emotion there she wished she could hold it forever.

He felt her skin, now covered with a sheen that shone back to him in the almost dark of the room, already anticipating the feel of her legs wrapping around his back. Each perfect breast filled a hand and their dusky tips lured him to taste but first he wanted his fill of looking, touching, absorbing everything she was... lean, long, loving. She was his.

Barbara trailed her lips down his throat as the taste of him seeped inside her, searing itself into her memory.

His hand glided down, cupping her, finding her moist and hot between her thighs and when she arched against his hand, he reached out to taste in return, taking one perfect breast to suck. Rewarded by her sudden movements, his lips followed the path his fingers had just taken and she trembled more, finally pausing at the juncture of her thighs and then he pleasured her until she could do nothing but quiver at the touch of his tongue.

She felt herself lost as Garrett continued and she wavered between pain and pleasure and then the boundaries were destroyed as he took away his mouth, fitted their bodies together and plunged inside with strokes that made her cling to his shoulders, digging into his back with a ferocious response, reveling in his fullness as she gripped him with her body.

He couldn't believe how tight she felt... so snug... so responsive, more so than ever before. Her hips rose to meet each of his strokes, pushing them both faster, more furiously, her long legs wrapped tightly around his back as he imagined they would. It took all his will not to rush, to hold back until he was certain she'd reached another climax.

Then... her orgasm rippled around them both and he took them over the edge as he burst inside her, filling her with his life giving essence...

**********

The next morning, they left for the Playa Mujeres in Cancun.

**********

Barbara stepped out of the shower and saw her reflection in the room's mirror. She knew he loved her and wished that she had met him at least ten years earlier.

She saw Garret sitting on the balcony, watching the small waves slowly move up the beach. Barbara turned and looked around the white room and then at the king-sized bed they had spent all yesterday in. They had only rested when room service had brought food or they had sat together in the Jacuzzi, holding each other like they were afraid the other would somehow disappear if they let go.

She touched her ring finger, looking at her wedding ring resting there. She had left her engagement ring with Caitlyn. There was no way she was bringing it to Mexico.

Opening the drawer, she pulled out the small bit of material that was her honeymoon swimsuit. She had bought the suit, after looking at all the styles, some of which had her conservative mind surprised.

The dark brown simple suit had a unique cut that made it stand out from the rest. Her entire back was exposed, as the suit dipped precariously low and then hugged her curves.

Her figure dominated the diving stand. Her long dark hair was skimmed backward with a black band, accenting her face. Her head was erect, lowered only enough so that she could see the end of the board. Frank stood there, his mouth open in amazement. He knew she swam but this was something of a different order.

Her dive was a flowing cascade of effortless grace and then, surfacing, she pulled herself from the pool and walked toward the board again.

Feeling like a voyeur, Garrett watched every move, from her deceptively long legs to the generous cleavage her swimsuit revealed. Water beaded and skimmed over her chocolate skin as she slicked back her hair and his gaze dwelled on the slope of her shoulders and the sweep of her bare back.

She climbed the ladder quickly, legs that stretched from here to the moon, he thought and then executed another dive. He moved to the side of the pool, waiting for her to surface and when her head broke through the water and she reached out to the edge to pull herself up, he grasped her hand as she rose from the pool, the water sluicing off her body, accentuating every curve.

He knew she was beautiful but had thought that was in his mind, pushed there by his love and passion but now realized that she had a body that women would kill for.

He went with her back into the pool and she landed in his arms, giving her a fleeting but intense sensation of heat and muscle. She saw his teasing eyes and then a stronger, more intense emotion. She lingered in the circle of his arms and for a moment, forgot she was in a pool. The sensation of floating was so strong, she couldn't be sure if it was physical or emotional and still she didn't move. She was his.

Their eyes met again and he broke the stillness, edging toward her, his gaze focused on her mouth, his head tilted toward hers...

...and a foolish hotel guest cannon-balled into the water and ruined the moment. Garrett looked at the grinning man, wishing he had his gun with him, knowing he was willing to kill him.

"C'mon," he said, "let's get something to eat." He glared at the young man still swimming in the pool, took his wife's hand and walked away.

**********

They walked together on the white beach, their footprints leaving side-by-side marks only to be swept away by the creamy swash of the water. The distant horizon was marked by a light blue line that met the white of the huge clouds reaching to the sun.

Several hundred feet away, a line of palms met the water, joined by royal-blue chaises, some still available. "Do you want to lie down?" he inquired. "There's some chaises over there."

"No," she said. "I'd rather just walk with you. I love you." She tightened her fingers in his, running one finger over his wedding ring as if to make sure it was real. "I want to take some of this sand back. I can put it into a bag, or something. It'll be a souvenir only you and I will understand."

He stopped and reached down, picking up a handful of the white powder. "I'll find a bag when we get back to the hotel." The sand whispered through his fingers back to the beach.

Garrett led her back to the restaurant and they were given a table near the windows looking back to the beach. Dark tables, dark chairs... elegant in its own way.

He reached out to her right hand, holding it in both of his, seeing her mocha fingers disappear. "I love you," he said, softly. Simple words, yet enough.

They got up and went to get their food.

**********

To be continued...