Semper Fi (An Erotic Romance) Read online

  Monica added, “He was gushing blood from his nose. Nasty.”

  Impossible! Dad’s a doctor! Doctors don’t punch people! My mind raged.

  Dad issued a strained smile, “Travis is no longer our concern, that is unless Marlene has something to say?”

  All heads faced my youngest sister who was tearing her cuticles into shreds on the fireplace. She hesitated. “Mattie, I’m so sorry!” She cried her face filling with tears. She heaved letting go of her pain, sobbing into her hands. “It just happened. I swear I didn’t mean to hurt you…” She sobbed. “I love him, I, I, I, always have.” She wiped her nose with the sleeve of her dress as Mom stood quickly to hand her a box of Puffs.

  My mind went backwards; Marlene was three years younger than us. But as children she’d always chosen to follow Travis and me around, not Monica and Mandy. She’d taken up sailing, she’d gone with us on dates, and she was always around when I was with Travis. It made complete sense now. She’d chosen to go to Georgia because he was there! She was in love with him! I looked at her sobbing her eyes out on the fireplace. Instantly I felt like comforting her. She was my baby sister.

  I remember the day our parents told us we were getting a new sister. Monica and Mandy had decorated our room for her and I had dug through my closet and found my first sailing books to give her. She’d been our baby, all of ours. Now I was torturing her unnecessarily. She didn’t deserve this, Travis and I were long over, and we had been for a while. It’d be awkward but if she loved him, and clearly if he felt strong enough for her to risk everything, then… I had to admit it, they should be together.

  I leaned forward and put my elbows on my knees and took a deep breath. It was time the truth came out; my master plan had failed miserably. I hated to explain to everyone that I hadn’t planned on marrying Travis, ever. In fact, I was now in love with someone else. As if on cue, a sharp point caught me in the thigh. I reached in my pocket and pulled out Logan’s ring and held it to my lips. Somehow holding it to my mouth made Logan seem close by; it seemed to radiate from him, as though he’d given me a part of himself to keep with me all the time. Touching it, I felt him. I was caught in my own thoughts.

  “Whoa! What the hell is that?” Monica said, snatching the ring from my hand.

  All eyes were now on me and the ring in Monica’s hand. Mandy grabbed it from Monica and examined it. “This is two carats!”

  I nodded silently; the horse was out of the barn now. Marlene looked suddenly confused. She blew her nose into the pink tissue in her hand. Trying to see what her sisters were looking at. “What is it?” She bobbled.

  Mom stood and stepped over as Monica held up the ring that Logan had given me. She took it and studied it. “Who’s LM?” she asked, almost accusingly.

  “Can I have that back please?” I protested, nearly begging.

  “Young lady, you can have this back when you explain what it means!” Mom sounded stern, more stern than I’d heard her speak to me since I told her I was a Republican.

  “Logan McNarry. I met him last week. Travis told me he wanted to break up.” I gasped for air; everyone was still staring at me, waiting for me to explain further. “He was drunk though, so I thought we should talk about it in person. I was going to fly to Atlanta and talk to him, to break up with him. Our relationship has really been over for a long time. Neither of us wanted to face it. But the hurricane shut down the airport and I had to stay overnight. Then I met Logan at the airport.”

  “What?” Marlene choked, still not fully over her sobs. “You were breaking up with him?”

  It was astounding that is what she pulled from the information I spilled. Sometimes I forgot that she was still our baby. I nodded confirmation and stood. I sat down next to her on the fireplace hearth, baby or not she wasn’t getting away scot free on this. “Marlene, it doesn’t fucking matter if I was breaking up with him or not. There’s a damn sisters code here that’s been broken.” Tears streamed down her face. “Look, you’re our baby. As long as I can remember, we…” I pointed to Mom and Dad, Monica and Mandy, “have wanted you to have what you want. If you want Travis, God help you, then you are welcome to him.”

  Marlene moved to stand, but Dad waved her back down. “Hang on here ladies. Mattie, why in the world did you accept Travis’s proposal if you wanted to break up with him?”

  “I didn’t accept his proposal!” I protested. “I took his ring because we didn’t want to hurt all of you. Our time together as a family is so short now that we’re all away at school. We just wanted to pretend that things were good while we were here. But I told him we’d talk about the rest later!”

  “You took the ring, but you didn’t plan on marrying him?” Mandy narrowed.

  I shook my head that was pretty much the extent of it. “I wasn’t sure… I was confused. I felt like giving up my relationship with Travis was like giving up one of you. I couldn’t bring myself to let him go.” Tears started forming in my eyes. “I didn’t know what to do! Then I met Logan and it was all so different.” Marlene held out her tissue box to me. “It was like an electrical current when he was near me. Like Travis didn’t exist. Logan is… I don’t know, just perfect.”

  Mandy picked up my phone from where I’d left it on my seat on the sofa. Nothing is sacred with sisters, and right now mine were in detective mode. Immediately she began scouring my text messages. A stream of oohs and aahs emanated from her and Monica as she shifted over to read alongside. I jumped up and grabbed my phone from them before they could get to the photos I’d taken of Logan. I held it possessively as I took a seat next to Marlene.

  Dad interjected, “So your sister and Travis aren’t the only ones who’ve been… lets use the word, unfaithful.”

  Marlene sat sobbing beside me. I nodded sadly, blowing my nose into the tissue.

  Mom stood in the middle of the living room with her hands on her hips. “I think this calls for a slumber party.”

  We all stared at her blankly. No one spoke a word as she left the room to head to the kitchen. Our parents had always allowed us to work things out for ourselves. Somehow the four of us always figured out the best way to handle our lives, but not without hours of bouncing ideas off one another. We heard the popcorn popping in the microwave in the kitchen. I was far from finished dealing with my baby sister, so the night was only beginning.

  Monica stood, “Alright pops we’re outta here!” She kissed Dad on his balding head.

  Mandy followed suit and Marlene hugged him tightly. As we headed up the stairs to our room Monica pulled my phone from my hand. “I know you have a picture of him on here!” she said, racing up the steps ahead of me. I was in full pursuit! She was laughing uncontrollably.

  Chapter 17

  I unfurled myself from my sorority blanket and peeked over the pile of stuffed animals on my childhood bed at my sisters. Marlene was in the bed with Monica, and Mandy was surely under the pile of covers and pillows on her bed. Lucky me! I thought randomly heading for the bathroom. We had two bathrooms but four girls, so getting up before the rest of them was indeed a lucky stroke. I splashed water on my face and picked out a new toothbrush from the supply Mom always left in the drawer. We always joked that we knew it was time to go home for a visit when our toothbrush wore out. Movement caught my eye from the front yard. I peered out the small bathroom window and saw a bandaged Travis pacing anxiously next to the Locksmith’s truck. It was a shame no one robbed him. He was certainly nervous to be here this morning, I thought with a laugh. Then I knew what I needed to do, I needed to do what I’d originally planned on doing before I met Logan and became entranced.

  I slid on my flip flops and went out to the street. Travis seemed to back away as I approached. “Look Mattie, your Dad’s already broken my nose. Can we keep this civil?”

  “Really? Really? Travis is that all you have to say to me? Don’t hit me?”

  “No I uh… I’m sorry Mattie. I never meant to hurt you. This is all my fault, that’s the truth! Don’t blame
Marlene for this,” he said, looking truly sorry.

  “Stop Travis!” I held up my hand to halt his rambling, “come on, let’s get some coffee.”

  He motioned towards his truck. “I’m a little stuck here right now.”

  I laughed, “I meant inside.”

  “Oh hell no! Your Dad is trying to kill me!” He looked eerily frightened.

  “Come on!” I said as I pulled his arm. “Dad already hit somebody this week, so you’re safe.” Of course I was teasing. My Dad had never hit anyone in his life, which is why Travis’s broken nose was such a stunner to us all.

  Travis followed me into the silent house. No one was up yet, but his eyes scanned each dark corner. I wasn’t sure whether he was looking for Marlene or a zombie hiding in the house ready to kill him. One thing was clear; he had a new found fear of Dad. I chuckled.

  I poured two cups of coffee and added cream and sugar like Travis preferred it and led him onto the back patio to sit down. I took a sip of my coffee and studied Travis. “Let’s start this over.” He looked at me, baffled. I began, “Travis, I love you. We’ve been best friends for a long time. I will always love you, and value our friendship. But I think we should break up.”

  Travis’ hair blew into his face and he aimlessly reached up to smooth it back. “I don’t understand.”

  I put my hand on his arm, “We’re formally breaking up you idiot,” I explained.

  He sat still and stared at me. “Mattie I’m so sorry.” He put his hands on his face and his elbows on the table. “I would rather take a bullet to the head than hurt you.”

  “I know Travis. I feel the same way. But both of us have messed up this relationship, and I think in the end it wasn’t meant to be a forever thing.”

  “Yeah, well you didn’t fuck my brother at our engagement party.” He groaned into his hands.

  “No.” I chuckled, “But Travis, there is someone else in my life. Someone I’m in love with.”

  “What?’ He seemed not to grasp my words. As if he was the only one in our relationship who’d already moved on.

  “I met someone else Travis, it’s that clear. I am fairly sure I love him.” I was positive actually, but that addition seemed overkill. Why I was mincing words I don’t know, after all he was fucking my sister in front of me. I laughed quietly; I bet his pecker shrunk to peanut size when I walked into that bathroom. It’s quite possible they haven’t even consummated their relationship. My demeanor brightened at the thought.

  Travis straightened, my confession gave him license. “Mattie, I can’t explain it. It’s like I’ve never seen her before. I’ve known her forever, but all of a sudden my eyes are open. I can’t stand to be away from her for one minute. That’s why I was in such a rush to get home from the airport last night, I am insane over her.”

  I touched his arm with my fingers and swirled the little hairs there. “I understand that feeling more than you know. Take care of my sister asshole. You do that and we’ll get along fine!”

  “That’s it?” he asked, mumbling quite nasally. The bandage on his nose and two black eyes still didn’t seem to take away from his good looks.

  “That’s it! What else do you want me to say? I mean you’ve turned into a raging prick, but somehow I still can’t find it in myself to hate you completely,” I added.

  Marlene stepped out onto the patio in her furry blue robe. I’d given it to her four Christmases ago because it had little sailboats printed on the thick fleece. Her brown hair cascaded in thick curls around her face and blue eyes watched us carefully. “Can I join you two?” She asked in more of an adult voice than I’d ever heard from her.

  I nodded strongly and shifted my chair over a bit so she could fit next to Travis. She lowered herself into the chair; Travis’s eyes never left her. I stood and prepared to go back inside. “Yep, Marlene you’re welcome to this asshole,” I said dismissing both of them to rot in whatever romantic hell they had created.

  Mom and Dad pushed through the patio doors. Dad looked at us curiously, “I see you kids have this all worked out.”

  He stepped over behind Travis; I could see tiny beads of sweat forming on Travis’s forehead. “Sorry about the nose there, Travis.” He patted him on the shoulder. “But if you hurt another one of my daughters again, it’ll be a much lower punch.”

  Travis gasped, “Yes sir!” he said firmly, but he was still in protective mode.

  Mom laughed, “Let’s get inside and fix some breakfast! We need to get in line to vote in an hour!”

  Chapter 18

  I’d gotten my political background from this woman in the terry cloth bathrobe I mused watching Mom make pancakes. My Mom needed a Twelve Step program for her addiction to MSNBC. More than once I’d sent Bill O’Reilly emails telling him he was missing out by not inviting my mom on his show. The woman was a virtual endless pool of information when it came to politics. We’d all been shoving into the voting booth with her since we were nursing. She actually held ‘First Voting Day’ parties for us when we came of age. This is why we were all here, on Election Day, because it was her special day. We flew in from hundreds of miles, four separate colleges to be with her. That’s how much it means to her.

  An hour later I pushed the ‘VOTE’ button and my die was cast. My vote joined millions of others, and later tonight would be totaled. I crossed my fingers at the thought, hopefully my guy would win. Now we would head home and spend the remainder of the day as a family celebrating our nation’s wonderful freedoms. If you dared to question why we celebrated such a non-holiday, you got an earful from Mom. We’d learned long ago just to enjoy the party. There would be coolers of beer, American flags, and barbeque on the grill. It was a big day at our house.

  “Mattie, go grab me the sauce please.” Dad called to me from the back yard. “It’s on the shelf in the refrigerator.” He already had the grill set to ‘char’ and was ready to get to burning some burgers.

  It was Dad’s special sauce; he claimed it was better than anything sold in the stores. We thought he was right. I tripped over the threshold on the back patio doors. As I righted myself I saw FOXNEWS on the small television in the kitchen. Another bombing in Libya. I moved towards the refrigerator as I read the captions moving across the bottom of the screen. When was this? I thought as I reached into the refrigerator. “Two Marines killed, four injured in bombing in Libya this morning.” I stood staring at the screen with the refrigerator door open and my hand on the bowl containing the sauce. Two Marines killed. It repeated through my head. My phone, where was my phone, I patted my pockets. I pulled it out and stepped away from the open refrigerator. I typed frantically, my blood freezing in my veins. I don’t recall ever having been so terrified in my life.

  Where are you? I texted Logan.

  I collapsed into the chair staring at my phone, praying for an answer.

  Logan, please tell me where you are! I typed.

  “Hey what’s up with this?” Dad’s head popped in the door beside me.

  I pointed at the television screen. Dad’s head turned, he walked into the kitchen and stared at the television. Mom walked in and closed the refrigerator, following Dad’s stare at the tv. Her hand went to her mouth as the sudden realization came to her. I was dating a Marine. One that seemed to spend a lot of time in third world countries, my sisters hadn’t been the only ones who’d wanted all the details on Logan. Mom even said he was “quite handsome” when I’d shown her his picture over breakfast.

  “Oh my God!” She spewed, running across the kitchen to grab my shoulders. “You don’t think its Logan do you?”

  “What’s Logan?” Monica and Mandy said in unison as they came into the kitchen to see what the commotion was about. Their eyes narrowed in on the television.

  My phone buzzed loudly in my hand. It was a Washington number. I held my breath and stared at it afraid to answer. My family surrounded me as I clicked the button. “Yes?” I said quietly.

  “Mattie?”

  “Yes.” I ans
wered.

  “Darlin’ this is Gracie.” I held my breath.

  “Darlin’ there’s been a problem! First of all, Logan is alive.” I let out my breath and nodded to my family that he was okay. In case they missed it, I held up my hand giving a thumbs up.

  “But he’s real hurt. He’s on the plane now, headed back. He’s in and out, but he’s yellin’ for you. Mrs. McNarry’s already got her plane headed to Chaleson to getcha. Mattie, can you get on that plane?”

  My head swarmed with information but it caught my ear. “Mrs. McNarry?”

  “That woman goes in and out of the real world like a bee in a hive. But of all days in the world for her to have a clear head and she chooses this one. I heard when Ronald told her it was like a lightbulb went on, and she was all of a sudden clear. Course no tellin’ when she’ll fuzz up again. But Logan had told her about you, and she ordered that plane in the air in half a second. Hang on a second, she just got here. She wants to talk to you.”

  I froze, shaking as though it was ten degrees. I’d thought that Logan’s Mom was incapable of a conversation. It chilled me to think that at any minute she may not know he was even injured.

  “Mattie?” The voice was clear and sophisticated.

  “Mattie, this is Elise McNarry. Listen child, I don’t know how much time I have. It varies so, I need you to come take care of Logan. He loves you. He doesn’t need his Momma anymore; you’re the one he needs now. I’m going to the hospital to meet his plane, I hope I’m there when you get there, but if I’m not… tell me to give you what’s in my sweater pocket. Promise?”

  I nodded frantically though she couldn’t see me. “Yes Ma’am,” I answered.

  “Good girl, and Mattie?”

  “Yes Ma’am?” I replied.

  “Take care of my son,” she ordered.

  “I will Mrs. McNarry, I promise.”

  The phone went blank. I sat in stunned silence. Finally I looked up at my family. They all looked unusually pale and frightened. “It’s Logan, he’s been hurt. They are flying him into Washington now. His mother is sending her plane to get me.”