Authors: Lindsay McKenna
“I’m okay,” Tal said again, trying to reassure her, and wiped her own eyes. “Thanks so much for coming . . .”
Dilara stepped aside, holding out her hand to her husband. “Come, Robert, come hug your daughter.”
Tal couldn’t stop the tears as her father’s tough exterior melted and she saw the anguish in his hazel eyes. “Oh, Dad,” she murmured, opening her arms as he came over to her bedside.
“Is it all right to hug you?” he asked, his voice betraying deep concern.
“Just don’t jar me,” Tal said, only half kidding. Her father had always been her bulwark, and nothing fazed Robert Culver. Except when something happened to his family.
“Good,” Robert murmured, leaning over and carefully enclosing Tal in his arms. “Just let me hold you for a moment, my honey.”
Burrowing her face into her father’s uniform, she allowed her tears to run freely. “I-I never thought . . . I was so afraid I’d die, Dad . . .”
He smoothed her green gown across her back. “I know, I know,” he whispered. “Just thank God you’re all right. You’ll overcome this, Tal. You have your mother’s heart and my strength.”
Nodding jerkily, Tal wanted her father to hold her longer because she felt so broken inside.
As he settled her back against the pillow, he smiled down at her. “We were so afraid, honey. Everyone was. There was a lot of praying going on in Greece, Turkey, and Alexandria, Virginia, believe me.” Robert mustered a half smile, a sheen of tears in his eyes.
Sniffing, Tal used the bedsheet to wipe her eyes dry. She felt her mother’s hand on her other arm, and suddenly everything felt right in her world. Only Wyatt and these two wonderful people could make her feel this way. “I-I’m sorry, Dad, I didn’t mean for this to happen . . .”
Dilara clucked and smoothed her hand over Tal’s mussed hair. “Hush, Balim. Hush. You’re alive. We have everything to celebrate. My brothers cried on the phone, and then they danced, sang, and shouted to the heavens when they heard you were alive.” She tilted her head, holding her daughter’s weary gaze. “Angelo was singing in Greek, of course, dancing around his villa. Driving his wife, Maria, crazy.”
Laughing a little, Tal nodded. “Sounds like everyone is celebrating.” She leaned back, feeling suddenly exhausted, and clung to her father’s big hand. Her mother patted her cheek and leaned over, kissing her forehead. It felt so good to have them here with her. Nurturing her. Loving her.
There was another knock at the door and an orderly, a young man with blond hair, came in holding out a breakfast tray. “Ma’am? Breakfast. Are you hungry?”
Tal wasn’t, but the young man in blue scrubs looked eager to be of help. “Sure,” she murmured.
“I’ll take that,” Robert said, holding out his hand in the orderly’s direction.
Instantly, the orderly came to attention. “Yes, sir!” He quickly handed the tray to Robert.
“Thank you,” Dilara called to the orderly. “We appreciate it.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He gave a nervous smile and quickly bowed out of the room.
Robert placed the tray on the table and rolled it over to Tal. “Doesn’t this look yummy?” he said, and gave Tal a teasing look, a silly grin across his strong, chiseled face.
Tal wrinkled her nose. “No, and you know it doesn’t, Dad. Ick. I’d kill for some ice cream right now.” A banana split. Wyatt . . .
The look of distress in her mother’s eyes tore at Tal. It told her how much her accident had affected the family. Her father brought two chairs over to her bed, and they sat down. Tal wished she had a comb; her hair must have looked terrible. Dilara came over and positioned her bed so she could sit up and eat.
She suddenly yearned for Wyatt’s quiet presence. She couldn’t wait for her parents to meet him. “Dad? Did you happen to see Wyatt?” she asked, her voice still sounding rough.
Robert dropped his hat on the dresser in front of her bed and sat down. “Chief Lockwood?”
Tal nodded. “Yes.” She looked down at her tray and saw a lot of bland food like yogurt, toast without butter, and red Jell-O in a cup. Tal craved a strong cup of Turkish coffee, but that wasn’t going to happen.
“We met the chief as he was coming out of your room at 0500,” Robert told her. “We invited him to breakfast with us down in the cafeteria, Tal. He told us everything.” His voice dropped. “He said you saved his life, but frankly, the man saved yours, too, from the account he gave us. Not that he came out and said so . . .”
“He’s a SEAL, Dad. They never boast about themselves. You know that.” She saw her father nod, his hazel eyes losing the hardness that appeared when he was in military mode. One of the many things she loved about her type A father was that when he didn’t have to be military, he wasn’t. He became warm, caring, and protective, like he was right now. It filled her heart, and it made her feel better.
But she still missed the quiet, powerful strength of Wyatt at her side. He fed her heart and her soul too, just in a different way.
Robert smiled a little. “I suppose so. But he saved you, Tal. And as a family, we’ll be forever grateful to him for his courage under those circumstances.”
“Do you know where Wyatt is?” she asked, pushing the piece of dried, cooled toast around on the plate.
“We were just finishing up our breakfast when he was ordered back to platoon HQ by his commanding officer.”
Dilara smiled and reached out, touching Tal’s fingers. “He said to tell you he’ll be back later this evening, Balim.” She searched Tal’s eyes. “He’s a wonderful young man, and he cares very deeply for you. I could tell.” She sat very close to Tal’s bed and placed her hand over her daughter’s for a moment.
Tal nodded, her throat closing up with tears. The morphine drip she was on was making her far too emotional and vulnerable right now. “Yes, Mom, he means a great deal to me, too.”
She saw the understanding in her eyes. Tal didn’t think her father got it, but her mother, who was scarily psychic at times, got it completely. She knew that she loved Wyatt, even though she wasn’t going to discuss it right now.
“That’s good to know,” she whispered. “Wonderful, in fact.”
Robert said, “Angelo and his wife are going to arrive here at 1000. I’ve authorized clearance for his and your Turkish uncles’ jets to be able to land here at Bagram.”
“Thanks, Dad. It will be good to see all of them.”
“Well,” he grunted, “I worry it will be too much for you. They’re an excitable, passionate group.” He gave his wife an apologetic look.
Dilara laughed. “Tal, you must know that Angelo had his chef prepare some wonderful Greek food for you. He said it will help you get well faster.”
Tal grinned for the first time. “That’s great, Mom! To tell you the truth, right now I’m craving Turkish coffee. I’d love to have a cup.”
Dilara’s eyes sparkled. “Well, I’ll let you in on a little secret, then. My three brothers are coming, and believe me, you will have your wish. Uncle Ihsan knows your love of Turkish coffee, and he’ll have some made on board the jet and brought to you. Uncle Berk is bringing your favorite pastry,
peynir tatlısı
, and Uncle Serkan’s wife is bringing you
köylü çorbasi
.”
Happiness threaded through Tal, and her mouth watered at the thought of the feta cheese pastries and her aunt Melis’s peasant soup with lamb. “Thank God they’re rescuing me from this stuff,” she said, and gestured toward the uninspiring meal on her tray. She was starting to feel like herself again, despite her leg hanging suspended in the air. “When are they landing?”
Robert looked at his watch. “Angelo and Maria will be here in an hour. Your uncles will land at noon.”
“I can hardly wait for all those wonderful smells to be in this room and wipe out the bleach and antiseptic odors,” Tal said, feeling her spirit lift. “That’s so nice of all of them to come and see me.”
“Well,” Robert said, warning in his voice, “your mother will make sure things don’t get out of hand. I have to leave here in a while on Air Force business. We don’t want your uncles starting a loud, noisy party here on this floor. Dilara will ask them to leave their musical instruments on their jets. They mean well, but they don’t understand what you’ve just been through.”
Tal nodded. “Thanks, because right now, I’m feeling really tired.”
“We’ll leave shortly,” he promised her. “First, you need to know what’s happening, Tal.”
She frowned and heard a change in her father’s tone. She saw the stubborn line of his mouth become more pronounced. “What have you done, Dad?” Her father was a powerful general in the Air Force. He’d been in NATO for years and had important connections with all the branches of the military, right up to the White House.
“Oh, Balim,” Dilara said, smiling, “there’s nothing but good news coming to you.” She laid her hand on her husband’s arm, giving him a loving look. “Tell her, Robert. You’re looking tough and you’re stressing Tal out.”
He had the good grace to flush as he held Tal’s stare. “First, I arranged to have you flown out of here on the Air Force Gulfstream jet that brought us here. I’ve talked to the Navy doctors attached to your case, Tal, and they’re authorizing you to be brought back home, to Alexandria.”
Her eyes widened. Tal had thought she’d end up at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego for recovery and physical therapy. She swallowed her surprise, knowing her father was a major powerhouse in the military. “Okay, that sounds great. But I’m going to need therapy, from what my surgeon told me in Recovery yesterday. I remember him saying that because of my ankle injury, I’d need serious, ongoing rehab.”
Holding up his hand, Robert said, “No worries there. We are assembling a team of the best physical therapists from the Washington, D.C., area for you, Tal. When we leave here tomorrow at 0800, you’re going home with us. I know you have a condo nearby, but right now, you need twenty-four-hour nursing care. Your mother and I have already hired a group of nurses who will care for you at our home.” He smiled a little. “You’ll get your old bedroom back, but with a special bed in it to keep that leg of yours on a healing trajectory.”
Her heart swung to Wyatt. She’d be gone tomorrow morning! Would she even get to say goodbye to him? Suddenly, Tal didn’t want to leave, but she saw the care, love, and concern in her parents’ faces. This had shaken them badly, and she’d known her father would, of course, get heavily involved in her recovery. “And this is okay with Major Dickenson, my CO?” she asked, her voice hoarse.
“I’m seeing him shortly,” Robert said, glancing at his watch. “I’m sure he’ll support the plan.”
Of course he would. Dickenson was a major, and her father was a general. A major did what a general ordered, no question. Tal knew Dickenson wouldn’t stand in the way of what her father had planned for her, anyway. But Wyatt? Oh, God, she wouldn’t see him for how long?
She felt a pain in her heart much deeper and more hurtful than her ankle was right now. Tal knew it was impossible for Wyatt to leave his platoon. He had four more months of deployment in Afghanistan before he’d be sent home to San Diego. His enlistment would be up in November of this year. That was months away.
“And then,” Robert said, standing, picking up his hat from the dresser and settling it on his head, “there’s the question of when you’ll turn in your commission, Tal.” He walked over to her, picking up her hand, looking into her weary eyes. “Maybe this injury is just going to get you out of the Marine Corps sooner than any of us expected. But it does give you an opportunity to make a seamless transition to becoming CEO of Artemis Security.” He smiled reassuringly and patted her hand. “Even from your bed, you can become immersed in the creation of Artemis, the hiring of staff and all the other decisions that have to be made on a daily basis as we build the facility. It will be operational June of next year, but the run-up is happening now.”
Shock bolted through Tal, but as she stared into her father’s kind eyes, she felt his love and warmth surround her. Tal knew she should have expected this. Her father was a tactical strategist—a brilliant one—and a man of action. The Air Force had quickly catapulted him in importance and rank precisely because of those skills. He was considered an impressive, can-do senior officer, and the CIA and other black ops groups relied heavily on him because of all his skills and his extensive international contacts. When he spoke, they listened.
She curved her hand into his. “Okay, that sounds fine, Dad. I will turn in my commission now, not later. I know I’ll go crazy because I’ll be trussed up for a minimum of eight weeks in bed while my bones heal. The surgeon told me the metal pins have to stay and I have to lie in bed; otherwise, the bones won’t knit properly.”
“And you don’t want to lose your foot, Tal,” her father warned her grimly, frowning. “You’re not going to be happy, but your mother and I already discussed this situation. When the doctor authorizes you to start physical therapy, the Artemis Security building will be fully equipped with the machines you need and ready for use. We’d already planned a gym on the first floor, but I’m working with the construction supervisor and a physical therapy group. They’re going to put equipment in that gym that are specifically aimed at helping you get, quite literally, back on your feet.”
Tal brightened and smiled weakly. “You’ve thought of everything, Dad.”
“It’s my business to, honey,” he said gruffly, leaning over and placing a kiss on her brow. “Now, I have to leave. Your mother is going to be your gatekeeper when your cousin and uncles descend en masse upon you. Just tell her when it’s too much and she’ll shoo them out of here, all right? I need to have my attaché, Major Turnington, arrange for them all to get distinguished visitors’ quarters here on base.” He smiled kindly down at her, releasing her hand.
“See you later, Dad,” she said, giving him a grateful look. “Thanks for everything you’re doing. I really appreciate it.”
Her only loss would be Wyatt. Tal was glad she didn’t have to sit in a naval hospital for eight weeks. She’d much rather be at home. Her mom was an incredible cook, and she could look forward to Greek, Turkish, and American meals—and as much Turkish coffee as she wanted! The thought made her mouth water. God bless Uncle Ishan’s thoughtfulness to be bringing it here to her.