Forever My Soldier Read online

  We end our conversation as we arrive at the first home, and we both jump out of the car to deliver the gifts. We approach an older home in need of painting and repairs. Carter rings the doorbell, and a young woman answers. We explain who we are and that we have gifts for them.

  The woman breaks into tears.

  “Dillan!” She screams. “It’s the people from Veterans’ Affairs. They came through with the gifts.” He walks to the door with a cane, clearly having a hard time. Carter sticks out his hand and shakes the man’s hand.

  “Thank you so much. My kid was only going to have one or two small gifts under the tree.” He clears his throat. “It’s all we could afford. Now he has a couple more, and that will make his Christmas so much nicer.”

  “It’s our pleasure. Thank you so much for your service, and if there’s anything else our office can do for you, please reach out to us and let us know.”

  They shake hands again, and we walk to the car. Once inside, we look out the window and see them waving goodbye as we program our GPS for the next stop.

  I have the biggest smile on my face. “I can’t believe how good that felt. Isn’t it amazing?”

  “Yeah, the excitement on her face when she opened the door and saw us standing there with the gifts in our hand, it felt so good.”

  I can’t help but smile as we sing Christmas songs together and drive through the snow covered town. We’re pointing out some of the nicely decorated houses as we go. I’m so lucky to have found this incredible man. He is so beautiful inside and out, and I’m so proud of how far he’s come.

  We pull up to the next location. Carter turns down the music and we climb out of the car. This location has two kids, one that’s ten and one that’s eight. We get the kids’ gifts out of trunk and carry them up the porch. When we ring the doorbell, at first there’s no response, but everyone responded that they’d be available to receive the gifts, so we ring it again.

  “Who the fuck keeps ringing the doorbell?” a guy screams.

  “I’m getting it, honey. You relax,” a nervous voice says from the other side of the door.

  As the door opens, Carter instantly steps almost in front of me in a protective manner. “Hello, ma’am. My name is Carter from the Veterans Affairs’ office. We’re delivering the Christmas gift for the kids.”

  A big guy appears at the door. “What did I tell you about asking for handouts,” he screams at the woman.

  “But the kids have nothing for Christmas. This isn’t a handout. We need it.”

  “I’ll figure out how to take care of my family on my own,” he screams, and I can smell the liquor on his breath.

  Carter hands the gifts to the woman and then says to the guy. “How many tours?”

  “What’s it to you?”

  “Staff Sergeant Montgomery, medically discharged.”

  “Too many,” the guy says in a calmer voice.

  “Listen, we want to help. Please let us. I understand everything you’re feeling right now, but we’re here because you did something a lot of men can’t and you’ve been through more than most will ever experience. This isn’t pity. It’s appreciation.”

  The guy slumps over, looking defeated. Carter pulls a card from his wallet. “Please do me a solid and call me after the holidays. Let me help you get back on your feet.”

  “How are you going to do that?” he questions, sounding so sad. My heart is melting as I watch Carter interact with this guy.

  “By figuring out what you need and getting it. If you need a job, I’ll help you find one. If you need medical support, I’ll get it for you, but you have to call me and give me a chance to help.”

  “Fine. I’ll call you after the holidays. I’ve been kicking myself for not being able to take care of my family, and the more I kick myself the more messed up I get.”

  “I understand,” he says, handing him the two gifts that were in my hands.

  “Thank you so much. Sorry I was a dick.” He starts to back away.

  “No problem. Have a Merry Christmas.”

  The guy closes the door, and Carter let’s out a deep breath.

  We both start walking back to the car when we hear the door open one more time. “Wait!” the guy calls out.

  Carter turns to face him. “Yes, sir.”

  “I’m not sure if I’m allowed to ask this, but will you do me a favor?” he asks, looking nervous.

  “What’s that?” Carter gives him a small smile.

  “If I don’t call you by the first week in January, will you call me?”

  Carter chuckles. “Planned on it.”

  “Thanks.” The guy finally gives a small smile with what looks like a tear forming in his eye.

  Carter lets out another deep breath, and we both climb into the car to hit our next stop. After we’ve pulled away, Carter says, “Boy, I hope the rest of them aren’t like that. It was a bit draining. I’m glad I turned him around, but that was intense.”

  “I have to admit, I was a bit scared at first,” I say, looking out the window.

  “That’s why I stepped in front of you. He was a bit of a loose cannon, and I could tell he was wasted. He wasn’t getting anywhere near you, but I had a feeling if I spoke to him soldier to soldier that he may loosen up.”

  “I’m proud of you. You handled it well. A lot of guys would have shot their mouth off at him, and you stayed calm.”

  Carter smiles and turns up the music. I have no doubt he’s thinking about his conversation with the guy and how everything went down.

  The next few houses go smoothly. The families are very appreciative of our generosity, and Carter has continued to give out his business card, offering more support if the families need it. We have a few more stops to make and then we’re done, so Carter shoots a quick text off to Derek.

  Carter: Almost done. How are you doing?

  Derek: Me too.

  Carter: Okay we’ll see you at the diner.

  “He’s almost done too,” Carter says as he plugs the next location into the GPS.

  About two hours later, we complete the deliveries and are completely starving. We shoot Derek off one more text, letting him know we’re on our way to the diner. He lets us know he’s pulling in now. He promises to get us a table and confirms that Bella is meeting us there.

  We pull up to the diner a short time later, and when we walk in we find Derek trying to comfort a shaken up Bella. “What’s going on?” I ask as I take a seat across from her.

  “He was at my shoot,” she says, her voice trembling.

  “The guy from the fashion show?” I ask.

  “He left me this note and some flowers.”

  She hands me the note.

  My love,

  Thank you so much for the beautiful show you gave me the other day. I took so many beautiful pictures of you and have been spanking off to them ever since. I’m grateful to you for those pictures. They’re the best I’ve been able to get of you yet. I know you don’t know who I am yet, but you will soon enough. There’s no way I can live without you in my life. Tell that boyfriend of yours he needs to back off because you’re spoken for. I promise to take good care of you.

  Xoxo

  Hope you enjoy the flowers.

  “Oh my God,” I whisper, totally freaking out that my best friend has a stalker. “Bella, you have to stay with Derek. There’s no way you can stay at your house alone. I won’t allow it.”

  “Patty, please calm down. We’re discussing that now. She’s going to stay with me temporarily until we figure this out,” Derek says calmly as he rubs her back.

  “My agent is also setting up a security detail for me. I’ll have access to them anytime I need to leave Derek’s house without him. I need to give them my schedule or call them if there’s a change and I need them.”

  “Good, that makes me feel better.” Carter’s rubbing my arm now, trying to calm me down. He knows I’m concerned about her. “What about New Year’s Eve?”

  “There will be plenty o
f people around to keep an eye on both of you, and we need to make sure neither of you are left alone,” Derek says to me.

  “Yes, you two need to stick together, and I’ll be sure to have plenty of security there,” Carter adds.

  The waitress comes over and says, “Long time no see. What? Now that you have a cute boyfriend, you can’t come in anymore?”

  I start to laugh. “Sorry. Been busy with work and stuff. We’ll have a diet soda with our usual, but I’m not sure they know what they want.”

  Derek and Bella both ask for water. She tells us she’ll be back with our drinks, and they start looking over the menu so they can decide what they’d like.

  When the waitress comes back with our beverages, she takes our order and walks away.

  “So, how did the deliveries go?” Bella asks.

  “Most of them went well,” Carter says. “I had one guy who I had to talk to for a bit because his pride was getting in the way of him getting the help he needs.”

  “Really?” Derek asks.

  “Yeah, I even stepped in front of Patty because the guy was making me nervous. He was pissed that we were delivering gifts. He said he didn’t need any handouts.”

  “You should have seen Carter, though. He was amazing. He not only calmed the guy down, but by the time we left, the guy was asking him for help.” I beam. I’m so proud of my man.

  “Nice,” Derek says as our food is delivered.

  We’re eating our dinner when Derek says, “This food is delicious. We should definitely come here more often.”

  Bella and I giggle as we continue to eat. As we finish our dinner, we confirm our plans for Bella and Derek to come over on Christmas day around three o’clock. We want some time with them prior to everyone else arriving. We’ve gotten each other Christmas gifts, and we want to have a quiet exchange.

  Derek and Carter fight over who’s going to pay the bill, and while they do I scoop it up and hand the waitress my credit card. I’m tired and don’t want to deal with their silly little debate over whose turn it is to pay. When she comes back with my slip, I sign it and we leave her with a promise that we’ll be back again soon.

  We all walk out of the diner together to find it’s snowing—not hard, but just hard enough to make the area feel beautiful and wintery. We all walk Bella to her car, ensuring her safety. Derek tells her to go straight to his house and that he’ll follow behind her so no one else can. She gives me a big hug and promises to see me on Christmas.

  We walk back to Carter’s Jeep, and once inside I let out a deep breath. “I’m exhausted. It’s been a long day.”

  “It sure has. What do you say we go home and snuggle up on the couch with only the tree lit and watch a movie?”

  “I think that sounds like the perfect ending to a really long day.”

  Chapter 12

  Patty

  It’s Christmas Eve and Carter has to work part of the day, so I’m walking around the house, trying to occupy myself while I wait for him to come home. I’m glad he’s at least getting out early. I packed him a lunch so he wouldn’t have to leave the office. Carter and Derek are both planning to work through lunch so they can get out of there as soon as possible.

  I’ve already wrapped his Christmas gifts and put them under the tree. I smile as I look at our beautiful tree. I’ve already turned the lights on, and the tree looks even nicer with the gifts under it.

  Bored, I take out my laptop and check my email while I wait for Carter. The first thing I see in my email is a message from my editor. She’s worked on my last three books with me and we work really well together, but she has bad timing. Her message says:

  Here’s the first round of edits. Hope you have a nice Christmas.

  I stick my tongue out at my laptop, frustrated that due to her bad timing I'll now be working the day after Christmas. I may even decide to start it today while I wait for Carter to get home. I push it aside, not really wanting to work on it right now, and move on.

  I open my Facebook page to send out a Happy Holidays’ message to my fans with the picture of Carter and I in front of our tree, but when I get to my page, I’m totally shocked. I see a bunch of messages bashing me on my wall. The name isn’t Joan’s, but there’s no way anyone else would do this. I go to work deleting them and blocking the person from my page. I smile as I notice a few of my fans have been defending me and posting replies, telling the person to go away. One fan wrote:

  ‘If you don’t like her work, stop reading it, but don’t bash her for it. It’s not fair and I won’t tolerate it. Either leave constructive criticism or leave her page.’

  I smile as I delete the last message. I’m not going to allow Joan to ruin my Christmas, but that fan deserves a special message from me. I click on her name and leave her a private message thanking her for her kind words. I ask her for her address with the promise of sending her a signed copy of my next book.

  I feel a lot better now. I get to work posting my picture with the message on my wall. This is my favorite time of the year, and I will not allow her to interfere with my life or ruin it in any way.

  I frown for a minute, realizing I deleted the evidence that she’s stalking me, and then I realize it probably won’t be the last message I get from her. She’ll create another account, and I’ll hear from her again anyway. I log into my blog to do a quick post there as well.

  After I’m done with my blog, which takes me all of five minutes, I stare at my computer, trying to figure out what to do next. Since I already have dinner set to go in the oven and I have absolutely nothing else to do, I open my book and look at the notes the editor left for me.

  ***

  Carter

  “Dude, you need to stop pacing your office. I swear, you have a ten thousand step count on your Fitbit from your pacing today,” Derek says, busting my balls as he leans against the door to my office.

  “Whatever, man. I’m nervous. I really hope she likes what I got her for Christmas. I was hoping to surprise her with a nice dinner too, but she insisted that she cook. She says she was going to be bored waiting for me to get home and needed something to do.”

  “You’ve got it bad, don’t you?” he says with a huge grin.

  “She’s my life. When I first went out to the lake house, I prepared myself for this rich, snobby brat, and I was so wrong. I swore I was going to find her at that lake house looking totally out of place and miserable, but I was so wrong…” I pause, trying to figure out how to put it into words. “What I found was this beautiful woman who not only fit in the amazing fall scene that surrounded her, but she’s such a free spirit. It opened my eyes and made me realize I wanted to feel the same way. It helped inspire me to get my life together. I think that’s what messed me up so much when she left that night. I knew I couldn’t lose her.”

  He chuckles. “Are you telling me you’re going soft on me?”

  I burst out laughing. “No, I’m telling you that I don’t know what I’ll do if she doesn’t like my gift.”

  “You’ll do the same thing I’m doing with Bella. You’ll keep trying because she’s worth it.”

  “Oh, who’s going soft now?” I say.

  “Okay, let’s try to get some work done,” he says, changing the subject. “Are we all set for the New Year’s Eve party?”

  He’s really having a hard time dealing with Bella not committing, and now he has to worry about the stalker business too. I contemplate saying more, but I drop it and take a seat behind my desk, pulling out my binder. I open it up to show him the signed commitment letters from each of the three contractors who have offered to help with some of the homes that need repairs.

  “That was an awesome idea. Next year I want to shoot for five donors and hopefully, since we’ll have more time to plan, it won’t be an issue to get them lined up.”

  “Maybe next time we can even get some local bankers to donate money so we can pay for the repairs and give them a table the same way we did the contractors.”

  “I th
ink we need to make you the king of fundraisers for the state.”

  I laugh. “King of fundraisers?” I give him a questioning look.

  “Yeah, you’re good at it, and you’re clearly good at getting people to realize our troops need the support, so this is all yours.”

  “How did we do on ticket sales?” I ask him.

  He gives me a small side grin. “Thanks to Sandra’s help, we’ve sold every last ticket. I even printed an extra fifty because our max was three hundred and we had thirty in donors and our table of ten.”

  “That’s awesome! That means the place will be packed. Sandra has a list of silent auction items and is making sure they each have a signup sheet. Patty was able to get a few items lined up, and Sandra has those too. A friend of hers is going to watch the table until we close down the auction at eleven.”

  “Good! I don’t want anything disappearing from the room,” Derek says.

  “Nah, I have two guys that will be standing at the door as well. With everything going on with the two girls, I want to make sure they’re safe, so I paid for extra security at the event.”

  “Sounds like all we have left to do is to make sure everything runs smoothly.”

  “Yeah, and to be honest, Sandra has kind of taken over, so I can’t see anything going wrong. She seems truly excited to be a part of this event. She’s even talked about helping again next year.”

  “That’s great. She’s a good person to have on our side,” he says, standing from the chair in front of my desk. “I’m going to eat lunch at my desk so I can wrap some things up. I want to be able to enjoy my days off.”

  “I hear that.”

  I take out the lunch that Patty packed for me. Derek and I both agreed to have lunch in today so we can leave as early as possible. I mean, who seriously wants to be working on Christmas Eve?

  Two hours later, I walk out of work feeling confident that I got everything done that needed addressing. I inhale the clean, crisp air. It’s snowing lightly, perfect weather for Christmas Eve. I stop off at the florist on my way, hoping to pick up a bouquet of flowers for my girl. I run in and ask the woman behind the counter for a dozen red roses.