“You’re trying to Fantasize,” I said. “It’s not the same thing.” I stared at the photo Gwen had sent me. She was in front of her cafe, doing a mock body-building pose with flexed biceps and a cheesy smile.
“Hey, Santiago,” Elijah called out from the other bunk.
“Hey what?”
“We were both right.”
“About what?” I asked.
“My girl is the hottest; and it’s not a competition.”
I touched the photo of Gwen, enlarged it so I could better see her smile and I smiled back.
Epilogue
Gwen
A lot can happen in ten months. And in the ten months my Marines were away from me, that’s exactly what happened: a lot!
First, I decided I wasn’t going to mope around feeling sad, missing my men. I was proactive. I felt the best way to stave off any eventual frustrations or anxieties was to stay busy. So I took my new-found energy and poured it into my business, doing regular promotional events, both at the cafe and even venturing into catering exterior events. This ended up paying huge dividends—and quite quickly, too.
The timing couldn’t have been better because after a few months of increased business I was able to take on more staff, which meant I could take a much-needed break…
… to deliver my baby!
My Marines had asked me for news in their letters, and boy were they going to get some.
For their arrival, I closed the cafe to outside customers and invited their friends and mine for a welcome back party at the cafe. The party was going to be a surprise, but it wouldn’t be the biggest one of the evening!
I paced back and forth outside the cafe, continuously glancing at my watch then up the street at the passing traffic. Holly stood behind me encouraging me, less and less convincingly so, to relax, that they’d be here, that there was no need to keep staring at my watch.
“You’ve waited ten months,” said Holly. “I’d think you should be able to wait a few more minutes.”
“A few more minutes!” I protested. “It’s exactly sixteen past six. Ten months of waiting I can do, but sixteen minutes is too late.”
Holly put her hand on my shoulder and tried to guide me back into the cafe. “Let’s go inside, take your mind off their arrival. We can check on the tables and worry about if we’ve prepared enough food or not.”
I looked at her with wide eyes. “Why? Do you think there might not be enough?” I started for the door. “You’re right. I should have made more tabbouleh.” I stopped at the threshold and turned to Holly. She had her hand over her mouth, but I could still see her grin.
“Ha, ha,” I said. “You’re making fun of me.”
She laughed. “Of course I’m not.” She put an arm around me and led me inside. “I’m just having fun. After all, it’s a celebration.”
I looked over my shoulder—still no SUV pulling up—then I let Holly lead me inside.
Alexa must have seen the worry on my face, because she came straight up to me. “Gwen, these cookies are amazing! You don’t mind if I ask you like forty questions about baking, do you?”
I chuckled. Fair play on her. If there was one way to keep me distracted—and there was more than one way—it was to get me talking about baking.
“I’ve got a better idea,” I said. “Why don’t you and I go back into the kitchen? We’ll make up a fresh batch. No better way to learn than by doing.”
“Really? OK I’d like that. Thanks. If it’s not too much of a bother.”
“No bother at all,” I said. “Plus, that will help get my mind off the fact that your brother and the squad are”—I glanced at my watch—“nineteen minutes late. But who’s counting?”
“They’ve probably come into some traffic,” she said. “Let’s go bake some cookies.”
As luck would have it, as soon as we put the cookies in the oven, the Marines arrived. I had to laugh to myself at the symmetry of it. They’d put ‘one in the oven’ and left; and then I put one in the oven, and they came back.
We came out of the kitchen just as the Marines entered the cafe to a chorus of cheers. Axel greeted his sister with a big hug while Santiago took me in his arms, gave me a big kiss, spun me around then dropped me into Nolan’s arms. I tried to say ‘Welcome back’, but Nolan interrupted my greeting with a kiss then he lifted me high in the air, kissed my belly—for a moment, there, I thought he had already got wind of the big surprise—then he handed me to Elijah who gave me a greeting no less enthusiastic.
I was dizzy with delight, spinning in the arms of a hunky Marine then being kissed by another then held by another still. And with a trio of identical triplets in the mix, my disorientation was euphoric.