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Navy Christmas
Geri Krotow
Home is where the love is. Especially at Christmas! Commander Jonas Scott got through a tough deployment by thinking about his family home on Whidbey Island. The same home his deceased stepmother, Dottie, had promised him. His Navy homecoming turns sour when he discovers that Dottie left his house to a stranger named Serena Delgado….Serena, an Army widow with a young son, is fixing up her house. But as Christmas approaches and she gets to know Jonas, Dottie's plan becomes clear. It wasn't about fixing up the house, it was about fixing up Serena and Jonas!
Home is where the love is. Especially at Christmas!
Commander Jonas Scott got through a tough deployment by thinking about his family home on Whidbey Island. The same home his deceased stepmother, Dottie, had promised him. His Navy homecoming turns sour when he discovers that Dottie left his house to a stranger named Serena Delgado….
Serena, an Army widow with a young son, is fixing up her house. But as Christmas approaches and she gets to know Jonas, Dottie’s plan becomes clear. It wasn’t about fixing up the house, it was about fixing up Serena and Jonas!
This was the woman Dottie had given his house to.
Serena had ruined his homecoming—and his Christmas. Jonas couldn’t forget that. But he didn’t like the tired lines under her eyes. He disliked even more that he cared about her exhaustion at all.
Best stick to the basics. “ID?”
She handed over her military ID card and her son’s.
Jonas’s fingers flew over the keyboard as he automatically typed in the last name, the active-duty sponsor’s social security number—
His hands stilled.
Delgado, Philip. Gunnery Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps. Deceased.
He knew Serena was a war widow. That she had a son. But to read it, in black and white, made him wish he could have been there and been the one to save her husband. Anything to take the sorrow from her eyes.
He glanced over at her. Her gaze was intent on her son, and Jonas waited for her to look back at him. When she did, he saw the cold edge of distrust on her face.
His mind kept going over his last conversation with Dottie.
“You’ll love Serena. It’s as though she’s always been here.”
Dear Reader (#ulink_acc56a0d-19f5-5898-bc9d-96fdb9c82e7e),
I was delighted when Mills & Boon Superromance asked me to include another World War II subplot for Navy Christmas, much as I did with my very first book, A Rendezvous to Remember. In Navy Christmas, we meet Dottie Forsyth’s parents and find out how her family settled on Whidbey Island over a century ago. Dottie isn’t even in the contemporary story—she’s already passed on. But as the story between her stepson, Jonas, and niece, Serena, progresses, it becomes certain that Dottie had a hunch they’d make a good pair. Because of reservations on both their parts, it takes them a while to acknowledge their romantic feelings for each other. Serena is a war widow and not looking for a new father for her six-year-old son. Jonas is fresh back from deployment and still smarting over Dottie’s amendment to her will—leaving Serena the family house instead of Jonas, as she’d once promised.
Serena discovers, along with the reader, the history of Dottie’s parents, which includes her father’s service as a Flying Tiger in World War II.
When the opportunity arose to donate to a fundraiser for the National League of POW/MIA Families (www.pow-miafamilies.org (http://www.pow-miafamilies.org)), my editor suggested I donate a character’s name for Navy Christmas. The successful event found Dawn Dempsey as the winner. Dawn graciously gave the name of her grandfather, Charles G. Dempsey, for a World War II sailor. Charles served in the navy during WWII and in the Pacific theater. You can find out more about him on my website (and on the following pages!). While my characterization of Charles is fictional, I used details of his life that Dawn provided to make the character authentic. I hope I did his memory, and Dawn’s family, proud.
If you like reading about Whidbey Island during Christmas, don’t miss Navy Joy, a novella in the anthology Coming Home for Christmas, which also has stories by sister veterans Lindsay McKenna and Delores Fossen. It’s out this month, too.
I love hearing from you—please reach me via my website, www.gerikrotow.com (http://www.gerikrotow.com), Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter and be automatically entered into the Geri Krotow Loyal Reader program, where you have a chance at winning a signed book each month.
I wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas, and may the peace of the season find you wherever you are, whatever your walk.
Peace,
Geri Krotow
Navy Christmas
Geri Krotow
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR (#ulink_9019a70a-1cf0-557e-b5e5-f8bfb8b8f1ed)
Former naval intelligence officer and U.S. Naval Academy graduate GERI KROTOW draws inspiration from the global situations she’s experienced. Geri loves to hear from her readers. You can email her via her website and blog, www.gerikrotow.com (http://www.gerikrotow.com).
To My Loving Family Steve, Alex and Ellen. You’ve given me the best Christmases of my life. I love you with all my heart.
Contents
Cover (#uddff6b63-4ba6-5334-ada7-22f80267fc88)
Back Cover Text (#ua828f0a5-9c18-563e-83fe-5ba74ea1385c)
Introduction (#u7fd728da-6b4a-5ea6-857f-ac1c2e542c12)
Dear Reader (#ulink_e45c9aee-b6ef-5333-a172-e113594666f9)
Title Page (#udeb28a52-54e7-543a-8bc5-8d06fe143135)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR (#ulink_38fa99c5-a434-5be2-9ebd-99da0c1b4599)
Dedication (#u0b45894e-c1b8-5912-9cbf-46651dbd07a7)
CHAPTER ONE (#ulink_3133747f-c502-5991-9533-67788e1868fb)
CHAPTER TWO (#ulink_ebc5f566-4d85-598f-a971-1832e19098a3)
CHAPTER THREE (#ulink_0db179f6-313e-599c-a66f-ee5f2cbbc2e8)
CHAPTER FOUR (#ulink_ce9adb29-815d-5b4c-9c89-f6fc6418e99e)
CHAPTER FIVE (#ulink_0998fa50-7495-5981-808a-93a27dd97a84)
CHAPTER SIX (#ulink_9fc48502-c1ea-59e2-b79a-91634b1723a9)
CHAPTER SEVEN (#ulink_70b17804-c4e0-5e9d-90af-a2341ab97efc)
CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER THIRTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FOURTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FIFTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SIXTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER NINETEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWENTY (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE (#ulink_6064607f-8efb-51ca-8d0f-0487702b54a9)
Whidbey Island One week before Thanksgiving
“MOM, MY EAR IS FINE. How much longer do we have to wait?”
Serena Delgado looked up from the pair of socks she was knitting. Her six-year-old son Pepé’s brown eyes and earnest expression looked so much like his father’s it made her smile.
A smile was a big improvement over the heart-crushing pain the thought of Philip used to bring.
“Pepé, we have to be patient. I brought my new knitting project to keep me busy. Look, they’re the Army-green socks you asked for.”
“Mom.”
Pepé wasn’t impressed by her intricate stitches, or the fact that she was knitting both socks at once on her circular needles.
“Are you that bored with your video game already?”
“This waiting is taking a long time, Mom. I’d rather be playing soccer.”
Serena checked her watch. She’d never attempted two-at-a-time socks before, and her absorption in the task must have been deeper than she’d realized.
They’d been sitting in the pediatric waiting area of Naval Hospital Oak Harbor for forty-five minutes. Located on Naval Air Station or NAS Whidbey, it was the only military medical facility on the island.
“Maybe you’re right, mi hijo. Let’s go see if we can find someone to help us. They may have lost our paperwork in the shuffle.”
She stuffed the needle and yarn into her tote and grabbed each of their jackets. They walked past the empty reception area and Serena’s hunch that they’d been overlooked grew stronger. She knew patients weren’t supposed to enter the hallway where the examination rooms were located without a nurse or corpsman to escort them, but since it was a Friday afternoon, she’d take her chances. She was as eager as Pepé to start the weekend.
The first few exam rooms were empty, lights out.
“No one’s here, Mom,” Pepé whispered, as if they were going on a spy mission.
“We’ll find somebody.”
Light spilled from the room in front of them and Serena paused, her hand on Pepé’s shoulder. She didn’t want to barge in on someone else’s exam.
Pepé stilled next to her and a conversation became clear.
“This is crap, Doc, and you know it.” A deep voice filled with frustration rumbled from the room.
“You’re back home, Jonas. In case you haven’t noticed, there’s no battlefront here at NAS Whidbey.”
Jonas.
Serena’s spine stiffened. The one “Jonas” she knew of fit this scenario too well....
“I’m putting you where the Navy needs you, and right now I need you in the regular pediatrics clinic for the next few weeks. You’ll treat the routine cases. When Petty Officer Reilly isn’t available, you’ll have to check in the patients, too. If you have any problems getting used to the system we’ve upgraded to, ask HM1 Reilly. I don’t think you will—it’s all pretty straightforward.”
“I’m trained for so much more, Doc. At least put me in the E.R.”
If this was the Jonas she had heard about—Jonas Scott—he had an awfully sexy voice. Nothing like his brother Paul’s, whom she’d met in person.
“Mom, that’s Doc Franklin!” Pepé whispered his recognition of the second voice, but his excitement threatened to break his self-control. Besides being his beloved pediatrician, Doc Franklin shared the name of one of Pepé’s favorite heroes in American history. Pepé loved Dr. Benjamin Franklin, from the moment the Navy had assigned him to the family. Serena liked him, too, mostly for his easygoing manner with Pepé. She’d never heard this side of him, however. Military medical officers were more than doctors; they had to lead, too. And Jonas didn’t sound like he wanted direction from anyone.
“Shh, we shouldn’t interrupt them.” Her lawyerly instincts seemed to vibrate as she did her best to ignore the twinge of guilt at admonishing Pepé. She was eavesdropping, pure and simple.
But if Dr. Franklin was indeed speaking to Jonas Scott, the one man on Whidbey Island who could change Serena’s life, it behooved her to listen.
Just a bit longer.
“You can rotate through the E.R. as needed, but not until after the holidays. Peds isn’t always boring, Jonas. Right now, take advantage of being back from deployment. You weren’t even due to report to work until next week, after the Thanksgiving holiday.”
“Sitting around my house isn’t a whole lot of fun.”
Regret pierced through Serena’s stoic attorney mode. It had to be Jonas Scott. It had been as much of a surprise to her as it had been to Jonas that his stepmother and her biological aunt, Dottie Forsyth, had willed her family farmhouse to Serena. The tragic circumstances of Dottie’s unexpected death hadn’t helped. Dottie was supposed to grow old in the farmhouse, not be murdered by a crazy woman the previous summer.
