Debbie Macomber Navy Series Box Set. Debbie Macomber
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Название: Debbie Macomber Navy Series Box Set
Автор: Debbie Macomber
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Контркультура
Серия: MIRA Collections
isbn: 9781474006811
isbn:
Steve was waiting for her when she burst in the front door. “Did you learn anything more?”
He looked terribly pale, and nodded. “Lindy, sit down.”
“No!” she screamed, knotting her fists. “Tell me! Is he dead? Is he?”
Steve raked his hands through his hair. “I don’t know. Apparently an Intruder was landing and a wing caught on the arresting gear. It cartwheeled on the flight deck, spewing wreckage,” he hesitated. “They haven’t released any names yet. Five are known dead.”
“Dear God.”
Her brother placed his hands on her shoulders and his eyes revealed his own personal torment. She knew in that minute that he would have given his soul not to be the one to tell her this.
“What is it?” she asked, in a voice that was as calm and as accepting as she could make it.
“The latest information reports that part of the plane careened into the bridge.”
Lindy shut her eyes and it was the last thing she should have done. Instantly she felt her legs give out as her mind conjured up the worst possible scene of bodies being hurled through space and men screaming in agony. Fire seemed to have erupted everywhere. Lindy gasped and her hands shot out.
Steve managed to catch her, pressing her head against his shoulder. “Rush is going to be all right,” he murmured, while his hand smoothed her hair.
“No,” she said, in a whisperlike sound. “He isn’t.” If there was any action or any trouble, Rush would be there right in the middle of it.
Steve escorted Lindy to the naval base, where an information center had been set up. The first person Lindy saw was Susan. The two women looked at each other and started sobbing. Timmy and Tommy, not knowing what to make of everything, were soon crying, too. Lindy took Tommy and attempted to comfort him, but the youngster wanted his mother and squirmed in Lindy’s arms.
“Jeff?” Lindy finally managed to ask.
“I don’t know. What about Rush?”
Lindy heaved in a calming breath. “I haven’t heard.”
It seemed hours passed before any additional information was released, and then the names of the injured were read. Neither Jeff nor Rush were listed. Lindy didn’t know whether to be happy or terrified. The only choices that remained were that both men had somehow magically escaped the explosion or were among those listed as dead.
Steve was at Lindy’s side as much as possible, doing what he could. One look at her brother told Lindy he suspected the worst. As much as she could, Lindy tried to be positive. If Rush had died in the explosion, she reasoned, she would have felt it. Deep within her heart, she would have felt a part of herself die. She wouldn’t be this calm, this accepting.
People milled around everywhere. Wives, children, parents. Rather than sit and worry, Lindy mingled with the others, talking, praying and crying—sometimes all three at once.
It was when she turned to find Steve at her side that she knew word had finally come through. She looked up to the brother she had always loved, the brother who had shielded her from whatever pain he could, and Lindy smiled. She realized at the time how odd that was.
Her brother slipped his arm around her shoulder and his jaw jutted out in a gesture of grief and pain.
“Rush is listed as missing.”
“What do you mean missing?” Lindy asked. “Rush couldn’t have just disappeared.” It astonished her how calm she felt, how controlled, as though they were discussing something as mundane as the tide tables or what to fix for dinner.
“Lindy, I think you should prepare yourself for the worst.”
“That would be silly,” she said, turning back to the little boy she’d been talking to and purposely ignoring her brother. “Rush is fine. I know he is. There’s been some screwup and he’s going to be furious when he learns the way the navy has everyone so worried about him.”
“Lindy….” Steve hesitated, and his brow creased in thick folds of concern and regret. “I hope to God you’re right.”
“Of course I am.”
Steve left her then and Lindy sank into an empty chair. Her hands shook so badly that she clenched them together in her lap, her long nails cutting crescents of pain into her palms. Soon her arms were shaking, then her legs, until her whole body felt as if it were consumed by uncontrollable spasms.
Susan took the chair beside Lindy and wrapped her own sweater around Lindy’s shoulders. Susan held it there until some of the intense cold she was experiencing seeped away and a steady warmth invaded her limbs.
Lindy tried to smile, failed, and whispered one word. “Jeff?”
“He’s fine.”
Lindy nodded once. “Good.”
“They’ll find him, Lindy,” Susan said, her voice thick with conviction, although she was struggling with her own fears. “I know they will. Jeff won’t let anyone rest until they do.”
“I know.” Lindy remembered how Susan had once told her that she didn’t worry so much about Jeff at sea because she always knew Rush would be there to watch out for her husband. The truth of what Susan was telling her now was the only slender thread Lindy had to hang on to. Jeff would turn hell upside down until he learned what had happened to Rush.
Soon the other wives joined Lindy, scooting their chairs and forming a protective circle around her. No one did much talking. No one tried to build her up with false hopes. No one suggested she try to eat or get some sleep. Or leave.
That night cots were brought into the information center for those who wished to stay. Lindy insisted the other wives go back to their families, but each one in turn refused. They were special sisters, bonded together in ways that were thicker than blood.
“No one’s leaving until we find out what happened to Rush,” Susan said, speaking for them all.
The others managed to sleep that night in the cots provided. Lindy tried, but couldn’t. Every time she closed her eyes that same terrible scene flashed through her mind, and she was convinced she could hear Rush cry out in torment. As the hours slowly, methodically ticked away, Lindy sat and stared into space. In the darkest part of the night, surrounded by silence, she tried to prepare herself to accept Rush’s death, but every time she entertained the notion, such piercing pain stabbed through her that she shoved the thought from her mind. This interminable waiting was the worst nightmare of her life.
Food was brought in the following morning and the others ate, but Lindy knew it would be impossible for her to hold anything down.
Susan handed her a glass of orange juice. “You didn’t eat anything yesterday. Try this,” she said softly, insistently. “You’re СКАЧАТЬ