A Soldier's Devotion

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The early-morning shimmy concluded by the time she crouched in the doorway beside Elsie’s chair and knelt with her Bible to her chest. She hadn’t even realized she’d grabbed it. The pendulum-swinging floor paused. Elsie drew a relieved breath and relaxed her grip from the chair.

Val exited Elsie’s room to find people in the hall looking bedraggled and confused. “Earthquake?” Val asked.

A family member to Elsie’s hospital neighbor to the left approached. “Yeah. Worst one I recall in years.”

“So this isn’t normal?”

“Not really. Quakes that size are extremely rare.”

Val recalled her conversation with Aaron.

And burst out laughing.

A single mom Val recognized from her neighborhood and who had a teen named Logan approached. “You probably think we’re amateurs because you’re from California, huh?”

Val wondered what the woman was doing at the hospital. “No, that’s not it. I just found it ironic that I had a conversation mere hours ago about earthquakes.”

Earthquakes…a woman like her falling for a man like Vince.

Never happen. Not in a million years.

Petrowski’s and her words wafted back into her mind. Val eyed the sky through the window back inside Elsie’s room. I hope this isn’t a foreshadowing of things to come. But I’ll consider myself sufficiently warned. Elsie eyed her curiously but didn’t ask.

After waking before her alarm clock in the morning, Val flung the covers off and prepared to go visit Aunt Elsie again.

Her phone rang. A number she didn’t recognize popped up. “Hello,” she answered, not giving her name. Since she was a prosecutor, she kept her name, numbers and addresses unlisted.

“Yes, I’m Sarah Graham and I’m returning Val Russo’s call.”

“Sarah! Hey, this is Val.”

“I wanted to catch you before you rushed off to work. I hope it’s not too early.”

“No, today is Wednesday so I work through client files from home.” Val caught sight of her hair in the mirror on the way to get her clothes. “Ew! What a fright.”

“The files?”

Val laughed. “No, I know better than to go to bed with wet hair. But frankly, yesterday left me mentally and physically exhausted.”

“Aaron told me.”

Val developed an instant liking to Sarah and was determined to build a friendship. She got ready as they chattered on and on.

“Hopefully today will be a better day for Elsie,” Val said into her cell to Sarah on her way out the door.

“And for you,” Sarah said with a chuckle.

Val adjusted her rearview mirror. “As long as I don’t have another run-in with a certain tall, dark and dangerous special operative who’s homicidally livid over losing his bike, I think I’ll be okay.”

Sarah laughed. “I better let you go since you’re heading to the hospital. And we know what happened the last time you drove while talking on a phone.”

Val sighed. “Yes, but thankfully I have a hands-free now. Still, I better sign off. Promise to call you later.”

“Especially since I have a feeling you will see Tall, Dark and Dangerous again.” Sarah made an exaggerated throat-clearing noise.

“Is that a drastic hint that you know something I don’t?” Val pulled out of her driveway.

“Yes, but this time, you don’t need to be afraid. You’ll want to hear what he’s coming to say.”

Chapter Five

Val felt Vince’s approach before she saw him.

Her heart began to pound, but not just from fear. More from the fact that he’d actually made an effort to come talk to her for the third day in a row.

She’d missed his visit yesterday, but when she’d called Sarah-soon-to-be-Petrowski, she’d casually mentioned that Vince had tried to find Val after she’d left the DZ that first day, then again at the hospital yesterday.

That he’d been actively trying to find her caused her heart to speed in ways that ought to be illegal.

His massive presence consumed the hallway and her senses as he moved silently to stand next to where she stood in front of an ICU window. “Why didn’t you tell me?” he said without looking at her.

“What?” Val stared straight ahead, too. His nearness exuded barely chained power. But she didn’t get the idea his persona housed hostility as much as it did passion for whatever he’d come here to say to her.