It Has to be Fate Pt. 02

She stared at him, "What is this?"

"Sweetie, if you like it, it is your new car, you need a car

because we will not always be going to and from work at the same times."

"This is for me?" She looked all around the interior, "Wow! This is beautiful! I have never had a new car before, can we afford it?"

"Sure, easy, drive it and see if you like it."

"Oh! Mica I love this light blue color, automatic transmission too." She pulled away from the curb and drove towards their home off the base. "This rides so smooth, I really like this car." She had to stop at the main gate and hand the temporary pass Mica had stuck in the corner of the windshield to the Marine gate guard. She returned the guard's salute and drove through the gate.

When they got home, they carefully examined the car and he showed her all its features. She hugged him and said, "Mica, I love this car, are you sure we can afford it?"

"Hey baby, we have two pay checks coming in now, I am only asking you because we agreed that we would talk over purchases over a thousand dollars and this car is almost twice that much."

"How much are the payments?"

"Ah, well, there will only be one payment, I hate borrowing money when we have plenty in the bank. If you don't like that we can finance it ourselves."

"How do we do that?"

"We pay cash for it, then we pay ourselves fifty dollars a month until it is paid off. Come on up to the apartment and eat the lunch I fixed for us while we talk."

"Honey, I love the car, if you say we can afford it; that is all I really need to know."

"Great, I'll drive you back to the base and then go close the deal on the car. I'll meet you outside the HQ at 5 o'clock. OK?"

Mica checked in and joined his squadron. He had never flown the aircraft the Checkerboard Squadron was now flying. This was the FJ-2 "Fury" build by the makers of the famous "Sabre Jet" of Korean War fame. The FJ-2 was a navalized version of the F-86-F Sabre Jet. It was armed with 4 20 milimeter cannon instead of 6 50 caliber machine guns. It also had folding wings and a tailhook for aircraft carrier operations. Mica went through ground school to transition to the swept wing jet. Melissa helped him with his studies by questioning him on the features and procedures he had to memorize. She found that it was very hard to find anything he didn't know. She sweated out his first flight and was relieved when he called her after he was safely on the ground. She thought she has seen him land. The FJ-2s of the Marine Corps were finished in glossy bare aluminum. Those aircraft belonging to VMF-312 bore a diagonal checkerboard band from under the cockpit to the wing and a horizontal band across the tail above the large black letters WR. "Wiskey Romeo" was the squadron call sign. Mica was soon in the daily routine of flying and training. Each Marine squadron was on an 18-month training syllabus. The first 6 months were basic training in the aircraft. The second 6 months were training in how to fly and fight the FJ-2. The final 6 months were a 'combat ready' period, often spent on a carrier or deployed overseas.

Several days after Mica joined the squadron Melissa was leaving work and walking towards her new car when a hand grabbed her arm and swung her around. She was looking up into the smiling face of Colonel Vernon Butcher, "Hi, Melissa, how are things going?"

"Colonel Butcher, please let go of my arm. I am on my way home and I do not have time to talk with you now."

"You would be smart to make time for me girl. I can cause a lot of problems for you and your new husband if you are not VERY nice to me."

"Why Colonel, that sounds a lot like sexual harassment under the Universal Code of Military Justice."

"Listen LIEUTENANT, you are asking for trouble, for both you and your CAPTAIN husband."

"Colonel, Now you have gone too far. Let go of my arm this instant or you will regret it for the rest of your days. I mean NOW!"

"Listen BITCH, I am going to fuck you and if you don't put out for me I'll see that your husband is sent back to Japan."

"Colonel you have just played your cards, now I get to play mine." She opened the catch on her brief case and withdrew a glossy 8X12 photograph. She handed it to the colonel. He took the picture and saw it was a wedding picture of Melissa and Micaiah McDermott. There were two other people in the picture.

He looked at Melissa, "What is this supposed to mean to me?"

"Read the back Colonel, it explains why you had better let go of my arm and never touch me again!"

The Colonel turned the picture over. There was a printed caption on the back. It read:

Vice Admiral and Mrs. Charles McDermott, U.S.N., Commander of the Taiwan Defense Command, celebrate the wedding of their son Captain Micaiah McDermott, U.S.M.C. to Lieutenant Melissa Murphy, U.S.M.C.R., at the Taiwan Defense Command Chapel, Hualien, Taiwan, August 26, 1956.

Colonel Butcher released Melissa's arm and said, "This is Mica's father?"

"Yes Colonel Butcher, his father takes over as COMLANT in about a month. Can you figure out what I can do to you if I tell Mica what you just tried to do? If I ever hear of you trying this with any other woman I will show you how far in the boonies you can be sent after your Court Martial. Do you understand me, Sir?"

"I was only playing around, I wasn't serious about that, I would never try to force anyone to have sex."

"Colonel, I am only kidding too! I am only teasing when I say I think you might enjoy a couple of tours in charge of the Embassy Marine Guard in Bagdad or Timbuktu. I believe in Iraq the punishment for rape or adultery is castration."

Melissa turned on her heel, walked calmly to her car and left the Colonel staring after her as she drove off.

Melisa noticed Mica was behind her in his convertible when she slowed to park in front of their garage. She was waiting when he stepped out of his car. Her greeting was a long slow open mouthed kiss. She held him tightly to her body.

Mica pulled back a little and grinned at his wife, "Did you miss me a little?"

"Mica, Honey, I don't know how long I can do this. I can see every airplane that takes off when I am setting at my desk. I see the checkerboard markings and I wonder if it is you. I have trouble getting anything done wondering if you are OK."

"Yeah! I can see that it would be a worry. Can we buy a Venetian Blind and put it in your window? Would that help?"

I don't know, Honey, I would trade offices but we only have two private offices for the whole Personnel Department and they both have windows with the same view."

They were taking off their uniforms in the master bedroom when she turned to Mica and said, "Mica, I need to tell you something and I want you to promise you will hear the whole thing before you reach a decision. Promise?"

"OK. I will be as cool as a cucumber until you are finished." Melissa told him of the incident with Colonel Butcher in an even, flat, unemotional voice. She told the story in detail in as factual a manner as possible. Mica thought she sounded like a witness in a courtroom.

When she was through he asked, "Honey, may I please go kill the son-of-a-bitch now?"

"NO! You may certainly do no such thing! The situation has been handled! I think it would be appropriate for you to advise him that I told you everything and that it is only ay my request that you are going to let it pass this time. I think you should tell him there will be serious consequences if he initiates any contact with me that is not strictly in the line of duty. And Sweetie, please wait until you are no longer angry before you talk to him. He is not worth getting into trouble over."

"OK, Babe, I will wait a day or two, but I am really worried about him. He has to be out of his mind to try something like that. I guess I should have you tell him that Dad has his orders and will be in Norfolk, Virginia in a couple of weeks. They are going to stop for a while with my brother in California and visit my sister and her husband in New Mexico. We will see them after they get to Norfolk."

"Wonderful. We will be in the big house by then and they can stay here. My mom and dad can come down again while they are here."

She finished undressing and he grabbed her and pulled her toward the bed. She pulled gently away and said, "Not tonight Dearest, I started my period today."

"Shit, I was hoping you would miss it."

"Me too, Sweetie, I was praying that it wouldn't start but it is right on time. I guess we just need more practice. How about I get dinner ready early and we can start a fire in the fireplace, cuddle and watch TV, I think 'Uncle Miltie' is on tonight and after today I can use a laugh or two."

"Yeah, Milton Berle is always good for a laugh or two on 'The Texaco Hour' so it must be Tuesday."

"Right Honey, I get tired of seeing him dressed up in women's clothes. I was kind of hoping 'The Hit Parade' might be on tonight, or even 'The Colgate Comedy Hour' I like Bob Hope or Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin once in a while."

"I agree, Jack Benny and that George Gobel guy are funny too!"

"Right, I missed the television when we were in Japan. They had a lot of our shows on but they were real old and most of them had Japanese dubbed in over the sound. It was kind of funny to watch Jimmy Durante speak or Perry Como sing in Japanese."

After dinner they watched Television and cuddled before the fire on the couch. Melissa pulled a quilt over them and remarked how warm and content she was snuggling with him. He looked quickly at her when he felt her hand at the zipper of his pants. She smiled up at him, "You don't mind do you, I need to get my hands warm."

"Mmmmmm! They feel pretty warm to me, but I do think they could be warmer."

"Me too! Oh! Your balls are very warm. Do you like me to play with them like that?"

"Hell yes , girl, I have to tell you that if you keep that up and stroking of my cock like you are doing you are going to have a mess on your hands."

"Silly boy, that is what I want to do."

"I love it but this is not fair to you."

"Mica! You are wrong about that, I would rather have you inside me but I love doing this for you. I get so much pleasure from this that I cum too! Please tell me when you are about to cum so I can save it and not waste it."

Mica chuckled, "How are you going to save it?"

"I will just hold it in my mouth for a while and savor the taste of your cum, then I will swallow every speck of it. I love it and I love you."

"You won't share it with me tonight?"

"No, Dear, tonight it is all mine. It will satisfy my longing for you and let me relax."

"Sweetie, if you keep stroking me that hard and fast you better get ready, you have me right on the edge."

"Good, I'm hungry for your cum. Slurp! Slurp! Mmmmmmm! Tha' tas'e soooo gooood!"

Several months later Melissa stood with a paintbrush in her hand surveying the freshly painted living room of the main house. She blew a stray strand of auburn hair from in front of her face and turned to Mica. "I think this is going to be just beautiful with the new furniture, don't you?"

"Honey, it will be perfect, you and Dawn have been working on a final color for this room for weeks. I think it looks great with the carpets and the drapes, it was very clever of you to have just dyed the drapes instead of buying new ones. The room looks much warmer and less formal than it was."

"I know, that is what we were shooting for. This is a country home, not a city dwelling. The new furniture should emphasize that even more. I can't wait until it gets here."

"That should be tomorrow morning. We were lucky to get the dining and bedroom stuff last week. I love our new bedroom."

"Oh Mica! I love it too. The room and the closets are so big that there is plenty of room for all of our stuff. The den is nice too and with all the gun cases and fishing rod racks it is definitely a man's room. I am glad we put the television in there. It is so cozy with the leather furniture and the fireplace. I feel safe and warm in there."

Mica took the paintbrush from her hand and dropped it in a bucket. He slipped his hands around her waist and pulled her to him. His finger brushed the stray tendril of dark hair from in front of her face before he pressed his lips to hers. Her arms went up and around his neck while her warm tongue played with his.

"HEY, ARE YOU GUYS HOME?" yelled Dawn's familiar voice. They jumped apart and laughed at each other.

"YEAH! WE ARE IN THE LIVINGROOM." Mica answered. Dawn and Billy entered the room. Dawn kissed Melissa and turned to Mica,

She looked up at his face and grinned. "Look Billy, they were at it again. Melissa's lipstick is all over his mouth. Damned newlyweds can't keep their hands off of each other. In two more minutes they would have been naked on the floor."

"DAWN!" yelped Melissa. Then she giggled, "I guess you are right, why don't you come back in about an hour?"

Mica laughed, "Make it two hours!"

"Why, do you need an hour and fifty minutes to recover?"

"Dawn, damn it, now you have ruined everything, I had Mica convinced you were a sweet innocent little housewife, then you come in and spoil it."

"Well 'Lissa you were right, I declare, the two of you looked so sweet smooching, dear. But you really should tell Mica that carrying that four cell flashlight in his pocket is pushing the front his pants all out of shape." Both Mica and Melissa looked at the front of Mica's pants. There was only a slight bulge there.

Melissa looked at Dawn and shook her head, "Mica grab the old bitch and I'll get the paintbrush and the brown paint and we will see what she looked like before she bleached her hair."

Dawn dodged behind Billy and yelped, "Hey! I was only teasing, put the paint down. Help me Billy!"

"Hell no! I don't want to get painted too!" and he twisted away from in front of Dawn and Mica was on her in a flash. He grabbed her firmly by the arms and held her in place. Melissa approached slowly with the paintbrush in one hand and the pail in the other. She stopped and lifted the brush and looked into Dawn's eyes. She placed the pail on the floor and put the brush in it. She stood and placed a hand on each side of Dawn's face, then quickly kissed her lips and stepped back, "I could never do anything to hurt you, girl, never."

Mica grinned and turned Dawn to face him, "I was ready to pull you away but I was sure she could never do it. I was right." He stepped aside and moved to kiss Melissa.

Dawn giggled and threw her hands in the air, "See! They are at it again, they can't keep their hands off of each other."

Billy laughed, "I remember when we were that way, a few years ago."

"Yeah Billy! That's why we have three kids."

"Hey, we only have two kids.---- Oh nooo!"

Dawn smiled, "I'm not positive but I think we have another one on the way. These two newlyweds have been a bad influence on you Billy. All they think about is sex."

Mica said, "Wrong! We talked about fishing for a couple of minutes two weeks ago."

Dawn grinned, "So how was the fishing?"

Melissa giggled, "Who knows? We went to bed instead."

Billy laughed, "You kids need to just keep doing what ever you have been doing. It works for you and I have never seen a happier couple. Mica are you ready for your supersonic flight on Monday?"

"Sure, Skipper, I can hardly wait to become a 'Mach Buster'."

Melissa looked at Mica, "What is that?"

"Well, North American Aviation, the people who build our planes, have a club called "the Mach Busters Club". Anyone who flies one of their planes faster than the speed of sound becomes a member."

"You are going to break the sound barrier on Monday?" Melissa asked, her eyes wide.

Mica smiled, "Yeah! I am next on the schedule for a supersonic flight. We all use the same plane, with out external fuel tanks, because the plane will not go that fast with external fuel tanks on. It is a simple flight, you take off and climb to 38,000 feet. Then you go to full power, push over into a vertical dive, when you go past Mach 1 you pop the speed brakes (Panels that swing out perpendicular to the side of the aircraft and cause it to rapidly lose speed.) and yank the throttle to idle and pull out of the dive and head for home. Simple, right?"

'Lissa stared at him, a tear ran from one eye, then one dropped from the other. She jumped up and ran from the room and down the hall to their bedroom. Mica leaped to his feet and followed her. She was on the bed, her face buried in a pillow sobbing her heart out. Mica moved beside her and gently lifted her into his arms and rubbed her back, "Don't cry Honey, what is wrong?"

She looked up at him, "Sniff, I'm scared for you to do that, I don't know why, I am just scared something will go wrong." She pushed her face against his shoulder and sobbed again and again. Mica tried to comfort her but she just cried harder. He looked up and saw Dawn and Billy watching from the door. Dawn sat beside Melissa on the bed.

She gently turned Melissa's face towards hers. "Sweetie, it's me, Dawn! Listen to me Baby, Mica is a fine pilot, probably the best in the squadron. Billy has made that flight four times. He loves it. Mica will be fine. Right, Billy?"

Billy looked at Melissa and then at Mica, "Honey, I love this guy of yours like a brother, he is my best friend. If I had the slightest doubt about his safety I would ground him in a second. For him to not make this fight would be devastating to his confidence in his own abilities, I cannot do that to him."

Melissa sat up abruptly, "No! I am not afraid Mica can't handle it, he is the best pilot I have ever flown with. Much better than any instructor I ever had teaching me. He is much more careful and safety conscious than anybody I know. He never does anything he has not thought through carefully before he does it. I just have a feeling, a bad feeling about Monday's flight. I don't know why."

Mica looked at her thoughtfully, "Honey I have the greatest respect for your intuitions. To the best of my knowledge you have never felt this way about any other thing I have done. If there is any way to do so, I will postpone the flight, with Billy's approval of course. I see no reason I should needlessly upset you." Mica looked at Billy.

Billy smiled, "Hey, I think you need to firm up the dates for each pilot's Escape and Evasion training at the Air Force E&E School and publish it as soon as possible. I want you to work on that all day Monday, understand?"

"Right Skipper, I'll get it done Monday, it will give the guys a long time to plan on being away from home for a week well in advance."

The men both smiled at Melissa. She wiped her eyes and looked from one to the other, "I hope I am not being silly about this. It is just such a strong gut feeling I have about it that it scares me. Mica is the most important thing in my whole life and I felt like I was going to lose him. That feeling is gone now."

Mica smiled at her, "Sweetheart, if postponing the flight makes you feel better it was the right thing to do. You told me that the first time you met me you had a strong feeling that I was going to be the man you married. I have to believe in that intuition on this too."

Dawn and Billy helped Melissa and Mica clean up the living room and get it ready for the delivery of the furniture the next day.

Monday Mica called Melissa at her office and invited her to meet him at the 'O' Club for lunch. She was delighted and readily accepted. Mica was seated at a table when he saw her enter. A smile grew on his face as she spotted him and walked towards him. The brightness of her smile when she saw him thrilled him to his toes. He stood, they kissed briefly, and then he pulled out her chair and seated her. He sat next to her and took her hand, "I love you, my sweet wife, and your smile when you see me lights up my whole life."