"The Stocking:
A Proposal Via Inflatable Raft"
by
DC
DeVane
(An
Excerpt of THE STOCKING from HOLIDAY OP
Book Two from the sweet military romance anthology published by
Highland Press)
Chapter
One
“Happy
Holidays,” said the FedEx guy as he delivered the heavy box onto
her front porch, scooted the handcart out from underneath it, and
hurried down the walkway to his waiting truck.
“You,
too,” Marcy called after him.
He
waved without even looking back, stowed the dolly, and sped
away.
Marcy
Grayson looked at the package for several moments, wondering who in
the world would have sent her such a huge, heavy ‘whateveritwas.’
She ran her hands over the box looking for the sender’s
return information, but only her name and address were on the top.
Curious, she pulled at the twine and tape holding the plain brown
paper in place and worried the container loose. After several
minutes struggle, the last of the protective outer wrapping fell
away to reveal a beautiful red and gold patterned foil package with
a big card on top.
‘Love,
Paul’
She
squealed. A Christmas present from her sweetie!
Marcy quickly reached down and pulled the card loose from the
package to look at it more closely. Awwww
. . . Paul had signed it ‘Love.’
Funny, there was a string attached to the back of it.
*
* * *
Ahhhhhh
unft .
. . ummm pfttt . . . pant pant pant . . . umfffft .
. .
“NO!”
had been the last intelligible word she’d been able to utter
before the air whooshed from her lungs. Marcy was stuck spread
eagle, smushed up against the wall and not happy about it in any
way, shape, form, or fashion. She pushed at the unwieldy black
rubber blob that had become the entirety of her universe. It gave
way in some places, pushed back in others. She tried again, only to
be thrust back against the wall even harder. Being pinned into the
corner of the small enclosed porch of her modest home was soooo NOT
how she wanted to spend her holidays. She couldn’t even manage to
get her hands down by her sides to work her cellphone out of her
pocket and call for help.
Okay,
this was becoming less funny by the minute. Not only was it
frost-butt cold out there on the porch . . . never mind that it
wasn’t supposed to be this cold in Huntsville, Alabama, winter or
no winter . . . she was tired, and chilled, and it was getting
harder and harder to breathe as the enormous rubber raft attempted
to wrestle her into submission.
The
end of the raft sticking out through the front door kept it open,
giving the cold air plenty of room to seep in around its squishy
edges. Marcy wondered vaguely why none of her nosy neighbors had
come to see what monstrosity was sticking out of her porch door like
an enormous hippo butt stuck up in the air. For once, just when she
wished they would poke their noses into her business, they were
strangely AWOL. Oh well, so much for ‘Neighborhood Watch!’
As
she pushed again with all her might against the solid wall of black
blobbiness, the absurdity of the situation set in and her
irrepressible sense of humor began percolating up to bubble over.
She giggled.
Paul
was such a dead man! She was going to kill him when she saw him.
He’d threatened her with this if she . . .
At
that last memory. Marcy’s giggle escalated into peals of laughter.
Yep . . . she was just going to have to kill him. No way around it.
Kind of like the raft holding her immobile at the moment . . . an
inescapable fact of life.
*
* * *
That
straightjacket-tight pantyhose made the derriere look better under a
knit dress was an inescapable fact of life. Marcy turned to stare at
her backside in the full-length mirror in her bedroom. She ran her
hands down over her trim waist and hips, then turned around to enjoy
the sight of her well-rounded breasts in the soft, clingy fabric.
She
wanted to look especially nice tonight. Paul would be here shortly
to take her ‘somewhere special’ for dinner. Since this was their
usual date night, she wondered exactly what was up that he was
making it into such a big deal. Hmmmmm.
Well, there were a few things she could think of that might qualify.
She reached over and got the pearl earrings her mother had given her
for her twenty-first birthday and carefully hooked them into her
ears. Her gaze came to rest on her hand, focusing in on her bare
third finger. Was he about to .
. . ? Her eyes widened,
the breath catching in her throat as she bit her lower lip and let
her heart hope.
She
added the matching pearl necklace . . . just for luck.
*
* * *
Bridge
Street Town Center. Conner’s Steak & Seafood on the water by
the footbridge. Candlelight dinner overlooking the manmade lake. The
full moon reflecting down in the water, smiling back at her from
above and below. Good food, good wine . . . very good company. Even
a romantic fire in the fireplace right there in the restaurant.
Check. Check. And check. Yessssss.
All the elements were in place as Marcy lingered over the gourmet
coffee and slice of German chocolate decadence she and Paul were
sharing. Any minute now.
She
put down her fork and reached over to touch her ring finger. It must
be psychosomatic. It had been itching like crazy all night long.
Several times she had to consciously stop herself from scratching it
right in front of Paul. She smiled to herself. Well, what do you
know? Her finger was as excited by the prospect of an engagement
ring from Paul Callahan as her heart was.
And
her heart had wanted him to be all hers from the first time she’d
set eyes on him; back in tenth grade when she’d transferred to the
new school and he was The senior stud all the girls were dying over. One look at him and
she had almost walked into a wall. He was tall and handsome and had
a sexy ‘big man on campus’ swagger when he walked. He was also
dating Becky Carter, a girl she had taken an instant dislike to for
the completely obvious reasons that she was a sweet, blue-eyed
cheerleader who was built like a Barbie Doll . . . and dating
‘Marcy’s boyfriend.’ The
fact that Paul had no idea the flat-chested little sophomore girl
with the head full of brown curls was even on the planet at that
point was irrelevant. He was hers . . . or going to be just as soon
as he woke up and realized it. She could wait. In the meantime, she
had wondered if mojo dolls and stick pins really did work or if the
gris-gris woman she’d met when they were stationed overseas had
just been pulling her leg.
She
hadn’t had long to wait. Within a month Paul and Becky had parted
ways—as usually happened with high school romances at the end of
the summer—and with no help from Marcy.
Her
mind came back momentarily from the past when the waiter brought
Paul the check. She watched the face of the man before her and
remembered the boy he’d been. While he handled the paperwork, she
let her mind drift back down the years to that first day—that
amazing, life-changing day—when Paul had saved her and ‘They’
had begun.
*
* * *
“She
looks like she’s about eight years old. I bet she doesn’t even
shave her legs, yet.” The girl’s snide voice caused Marcy to
stiffen. As the new girl in school, there was always a brief period
of territorial skirmishes to endure, but that usually settled down
pretty quickly. This time, this school, it hadn’t. Cherie
Serginter had decided Marcy didn’t belong on ‘her’ planet and
had made it her ongoing mission to let the new girl know that it
would be better if she just evaporated now and quit taking up space.
Marcy sighed and kept walking.
“So
Mer-cee. Have you tried drinking more milk? Maybe if you poured it
directly onto your chest they might get the idea. Or you could just
borrow some of your dad’s socks and do some stuffin’.” The
hateful girl snickered. “You’re a real pirate’s dream come
true . . . got your own sunken chest.” The other girls laughed.
Bullies were the same all over the world. Get a group and pick a
victim.
They
followed her across the courtyard, as she hurried to her next class,
and temporary safety. Almost
there. She had the building in sight when things suddenly
escalated. A hand in the middle of her back pushed her forward,
causing her to lose her balance and the books and papers in her arms
to go flying. She stumbled and barely managed to keep her feet.
Another shove and she went down to her knees and found herself
surrounded. One of Cherie’s gang picked up her purse where it had
landed in the grass and started to open it to see if there was
anything in there they might want.
“I
wouldn’t do that.” A quiet male voice intruded into her
humiliation.
Instantly,
all the girls froze. A couple of them giggled nervously. Cherie
licked her lips, puffed her chest out, and stepped forward. “Hi,
Paul. How’s it going?” She had dropped her voice, trying to
sound alluring, but to Marcy’s ears it just sounded like a cheap
line from a bad B flick.
He
looked Cherie over and then, without taking his eyes off the short,
stocky girl with the overdeveloped rack, reached out and snatched
Marcy’s purse back and handed it down to her. “Here.”
Marcy
took it and snapped it closed again. “Thank you.”
He
grasped her by the elbow and helped her to her feet. “You okay?”
“Yeah.
I just need to get my stuff and get to class.”
“I’ll
walk you over there.” He turned to the circle of wannabe
thuggettes. “Well, just don’t stand there, ladies.
Pick her stuff up and hand it back to her.” He stepped straight
into Cherie’s space, forcing the girl to step back. “Now.”
The
girl’s mouth got a mulish set to it and her eyes darted around
Paul to glare at Marcy. Paul didn’t budge or speak another word.
After a few moments Cherie nodded and her little gang of five
started picking up Marcy’s books and papers and shoving them back
at her.
“Now
get the hell out of here and leave her alone.” He dropped his
voice and leaned close to whisper into the pack leader’s ear,
“Or else.”
Apparently,
Paul Callahan didn’t just walk like a big man on campus—he was
one. The girls groused while they did as ordered; but they did
as ordered, and that was what counted in Marcy’s book.
Once
they were alone he turned to give her his undivided attention.
“They give you any more trouble, let me know. They have a rep for
trying to be tough and making life miserable for any new girl coming
in.” He reached out and tweaked a leaf out of Marcy’s riot of
curls. “Don’t take it personal. You weren’t the first. And
I’m afraid you won’t be the last.” He stopped and actually
looked at her. “Marcy, right?”
“Yes.”
She took a deep breath, squared her shoulders and looked him
straight in the eye. “And you’re Paul.”
“Where
were you headed when . . .?” He indicated the direction the girls
had stomped off with the twitch of his head.
“Oh,
just study hall. Coach Rosetti.”
“I’m
heading that way. I’ll walk you over. Here, let me take those.”
Without waiting for her to agree, he hefted the load of books out of
her arms and fell in beside her. “Lead on.”
Oh My God!
Paul Callahan. Carrying
her books and walking her to class. Her day had just gone from
less than zero to home run! It
was worth the humiliation she’d endured. Well, almost worth it.
Her pride was still stung, but her mom and dad would be proud she
hadn’t gotten into a fight with the girls. She glanced over at
Paul and blushed all the way to the roots of her hair. He was
looking straight at her. Staring was more like it. She stopped and
stared right back at him.
“You
have caramel-colored eyes. I’ve never seen that on a girl
before.”
“Yours
are more like milk chocolate.” Just then, she snorted.
“What?”
“I’m
just glad you didn’t say ‘peanut butter colored,’ cuz then
we’d look like a Reese’s Cup walking along,” she teased.
He
grinned, then chuckled.
“You
said you were going my way . . .?” She hooked a thumb in the
direction of the class she was late for.
“Oh,
yeah. Heading over to the rifle range for ROTC actually.” He
grimaced. “Target practice. I’m trying to pass my qualifications
and I . . .”
Marcy’s
head snapped up to instant alert, her eyebrows going up in surprise.
This might be the opening she’d been praying for with Paul.
“And
you . . .?” she led the question.
Paul
actually blushed and ducked his head down a bit. “Oh, it’s
nothing. Just having problems with landing my center matches at
distance. I’ll figure it out.” He’d done the typical guy thing
of throwing out a couple of technical terms figuring she wouldn’t
know exactly what he was talking about and be impressed. He’d
miscalculated.
Marcy
grinned over at him in delight. “I can help with that. Let’s
go.” She took the lead and walked straight past her assigned
classroom out toward the ROTC area. She glanced back to see Paul
staring after her in shock for a second before hurrying to catch up.
That
had been eight years ago. It had been Paul and
Marcy—shoulder-to-shoulder, back-to-back—against the world ever
since.
*
* * *
A
gondola ride around the lake, complete with hot cocoa and warmed lap
blankets followed dinner. There was even a singing gondolier—but,
still no proposal—although Paul did pull her into his arms and
kissed her silly as they went under the bridge, a tradition said to
ensure eternal love according to their poleman.
As
the gondola started back to the dock, Paul looked down at Marcy and,
with a sigh, gently pushed her away from his body and set them both
back to rights, straightening the front of her jacket, and even
making sure the laprug was tucked in so she wouldn’t be chilled.
He took a deep breath and cleared his throat. “Honey . . .
there’s something I have to tell you. Something I want to ask
you.”
Here it was!
Her ring finger had been right and gave a happy little
tingle. He’d just been waiting for the right moment.
“Honey
. . .” He paused, took another deep breath.
Marcy
mentally urged her big-strong-knight-in-shining-armor to be brave
and just ask. It shouldn’t be so hard to ask her to marry him.
Afterall, they had been together for ages. What was he waiting for?
“Paul
. . . what is it?” she prompted, giving him the opening to ‘pop
the question.’
He
took her hand in his, brought it to his lips and kissed her fingers.
“Honey . . .” Another pause and then it all came rushing out at
once. “I joined the Army. I just got my notification. I’ve been
accepted AND I’ve got a chance to eventually get into the Rangers.
I leave in three days for bootcamp at Fort Benning, Georgia. Will
you keep my dog?”
The
cold must be affecting her ears. ‘I’ve discovered that I love
you. Desperately. Passionately. You are my heart, my soul, my life,
my very reason for living and I can’t endure another day without
you as my wife. Will you marry me, my darling Marcy?’ came out
sounding exactly like ‘I’ve joined the Army, will you keep my
dog.’
Marcy
sat in stunned silence, a weird, bloodless pressure seemed to be
centered around her face, over by her ears. Her eyes were having
trouble focusing all of a sudden and her mouth opened and closed
several times, but nothing came out. Her ring finger was strangely
silent.
“Honey?”
Nothing. “Honey? Did you hear me?” Paul reached up to gently
touch her face.
She
slowly turned to him. “You joined the Army and you want me to keep
your dog.” Her deadpan response quietly fogged from her mouth into
the frosty night air.
Paul’s
face relaxed. Yes. She had heard him. He looked expectantly at her.
Still nothing. He took a deep breath and plowed on. “You’ve
known Alex since he was a puppy. He likes you and I know he’ll be
safe and happy with you while I’m gone.”
Marcy’s
brain finally started to function again and she closed her mouth
that had been hanging open ‘catching flies’ as her mom would
have said. “You joined the Army. And you want me to keep your
dog.”
“You
already said that.”
“Just
checking to make sure I heard you correctly.”
As
soon as the gondola pulled up to the pier, Marcy stood and reached
for the hand of the man waiting to help the ‘romantic couple’
from the boat. She thanked him, turned around without stepping back
from the edge of the dock—thus preventing Paul from exiting the
craft—and looked down at her not-fiancé
trying to steady himself while standing in the unstable vessel.
Her
too-quiet, measured tones and deliberate sentences dropped onto his
head like lead weights from above. “Thank you for a lovely
evening. Good luck with your Army career. I hope you make it into
the Rangers. Yes, I’ll keep your dog. No, I don’t need a ride
home.” With that she turned and walked away without looking back.
*
* * *
Paul
watched Marcy brush past the carousel and the street vendors without
stopping and disappear into the crowd. He sat back down on the
blanket—still warm from being on her lap—a strange, unreadable
expression on his face.
The
gondolier looked down at him in amusement. “You’re an idiot.”
Paul’s
eyes flew up to glare at the man standing over him, then flicked
back to see where Marcy had disappeared and his shoulders sagged. No
point in being pissed at the gondolier . . . the guy was right.
Without wasting another second, he reached up, grabbed the mooring
pylon, heaved himself up onto the dock, and took off running after
Marcy.
“Marcy!
Mars! Wait up!”
Thankfully,
she stopped, and waited for her idiot boyfriend to catch up with
her.
“Honey,
what’s wrong? Why did you leave me like that?” Paul’s eyes
desperately searched her face for clues as to what she was thinking.
“I
love you,” she whispered, then just stood there silently, not even
looking at him.
“I
love you, too.” This uncharacteristically deflated Marcy was
starting to scare Paul. “Mars? Talk to me, honey.”
*
* * *
“A
woman waits her whole life for a proposal from the man she loves,
and I guarantee you, when she’s a little girl thinking about her
‘Prince Charming,’ that proposal does not come out sounding like
‘Will you keep my dog!’” She wiped the tears from her eyes
with the back of her empty-fingered left hand and sniffed back her
hurt as she stared out across the piazza.
Paul
closed his eyes, his head falling back for a moment before he blew
out his breath and brought his gaze down and forward to stare at
her.
“Mars,
I . . .”
“No.
Don’t. You don’t have to say anything. I let my expectations
ruin a beautiful evening between us.” Her voice caught in her
throat. “Apparently, one of the last ones we’re going to have
from the sound of it.” She gathered as much of her dignity and her
aching heart as she could scrape up off the cobblestones and pasted
a smile on her face as she looked up into the big brown eyes of the
man she loved. “It’ll be okay. And, yes. You know I’ll keep
Alex. He’s as much mine as yours. And . . . I’m . . .
Congratulations on getting into the Rangers. I know you’ve talked
about joining up for a long time. Since before college even.” She
took a deep breath that only shook slightly. “I just didn’t know
you were going to do it so soon.”
“I’m
not in the Rangers yet. That’s at least a year off, if then. But
at least now I have the possibility of being accepted.” He paused
before gently continuing. “I waited until you got out of college
and got settled into the new job. I wanted to make sure you were all
set before I headed out.”
“Headed
out,” she parroted almost soundlessly. “Sounds like you’re not
planning on coming back.”
Paul
grabbed her arms and made her look directly into his eyes. “NO!
That’s not what this is about. Don’t even go there.” He
pulled her up tight against his body and wrapped his arms around
her. “I love you, Mars. I always have. This is just something that
I have to go do.” He tilted her chin up to look at him. “I will
be back. I’ll always come back to you.”
She
sighed and snuggled back down against his chest, enjoying the warmth
of his body that radiated out even through his jacket. “I guess it
won’t be so bad. I mean, how long is bootcamp and all that other
training? Six weeks? Six months? We were apart a lot longer than
that when you first went away to college without me. We’ll get
through it and then you’ll be home.”
Paul
stiffened under her fingers. “Honey, if I make it through bootcamp
then there’s AIT—Advanced Individual Training. After that
there’s at least one year in the Infantry and then I can apply for
RIP—Ranger Indoctrination Program. If I make it through that . . .
then I go to Ranger school, and . . . then . . . I go operational
and I’ll be deployed. An enlistment is a minimum four-year
commitment and most of it won’t be Stateside. Not with the country
fighting two wars and God only knows how many more skirmishes around
the world in the coming years.” His words made her realize she
hadn’t thought it through. He tried to soften the blow as much as
possible. “I will get leave and we will be rotated out, so I’ll
be Stateside some of that time, and with you every moment I can
be.”
Her
eyes drifted up to the festive lights strung across the walkways,
lighting the night and shining down on happy couples and families
she watched walking along, window shopping. They seemed to mock her,
the lights. She looked away from their fairy brightness and as her
eyes adjusted, her heart clutched. Paul had caught up to her right
in front of Kay Jewelers. There, in the shop, was tray after tray of
engagement rings and wedding bands . . . and none of them were hers
. . . theirs. She closed her eyes to block out the sight of so many
promises of happiness, took a deep breath and did what she always
did: stepped up to support Paul in whatever he wanted or needed her
to do.
“So
what can I do to help? I mean, do you have everything you need
already? Can I exercise my shopping genes on your behalf? Or . . .
something?”
Paul
squeezed her tight until she squeaked for breath before letting off
on the pressure. “So, you forgive your idiot boyfriend for
spoiling our last date night for a while?”
Marcy
snorted at Paul’s description of himself. He had just gotten a new
nickname in her book. “Don’t I always?” She nuzzled her head
up under his chin. “Seriously though, what do you need me to do to
help you get ready?”
“I’m
fine for now. Basically, we show up in our skivvies and Uncle Sam
takes it from there.”
“Winter’s
coming on soon. It’s going to be cold this time of year. I’ve
seen pictures of those boot camps. Most of the time the guys look
like they’re either going to die of heat stroke or hypothermia.”
He
chuckled. “I’ll be fine. You know I love camping out and
‘roughing it.’ Only
thing I won’t have is you next to me to keep me warm.”
A
wry smile quirked her lips. Her humor was her armor. Always had
been. It got her through tough times and hard things when nothing
else could. It would in this case, too. So, okay, she obviously
couldn’t make him unsign the enlistment papers; she wouldn’t if
she could because she knew how long he’d wanted this. Nor could
she go to bootcamp with him, but there was no sense in not having
some fun with his last remark.
“Well,
no.” She gave a big, overly dramatic sigh. “I can’t go with
you to keep you all nice and warm at night, but I could make you one
of those big, soft specialty teddy bears with your name embroidered
on it. They even have little green fatigues you can dress them in at
the Build-A-Bear shop I passed by the other day at the mall.”
*
* * *
Paul’s
blood ran cold at the thought of her sending him a teddy bear. He
knew this woman intimately, and her thought—should he think of it
more in terms of her ‘threat’—of sending him a bear was not
something to be taken lightly. She’d do it!
And oh he would be so dead. He wasn’t even IN the military
yet, but he knew enough to know that ‘mama’s boys’ had a hard
time and a teddy bear would brand him for life as the ‘boy who
brought his BooBoo to
bootcamp.’
“Oh
honey . . . nonononononono . . . you can’t. Really!” He held her
away from him to stare pleadingly into her eyes. “You do that to
me during bootcamp and I’m dead meat.”
She
twinkled back at him. “Why, Paul, I don’t know what you’re
talking about. You know I would never
do anything to embarrass you.”
“Yeah.
Sure you wouldn’t. Let me tell you something, Marcy Grayson. If I
wind up getting pummeled because of you and some stupid bear,
I-I-I’ll . . .” He fumbled around looking for a suitable threat
that might make an impression on the hardheaded female he’d lost
his heart to all those years ago. “I’ll send you an
auto-inflating raft boobie trapped to go off in your living room.
Then you’ll be sorry.”
*
* * *
The
ice and fear between them cracked a bit as she grinned up at him. Of
all the ridiculous bluffs he could have threatened her with, an
auto-inflating raft was the best he could come up with? Her boy was
seriously losing his touch.
She
knew then that this was going to be an ongoing joke between them and
that she would continue to torture him with the promise of sending
him a teddy bear to keep him warm and comfy at night. She loved her
‘idiot boyfriend’ —as he would forever be known as after this
night of non-proposal—and would never intentionally do anything to
make his bootcamp tougher for him. Realllllly. But she wasn’t
above having a little fun with him in the meantime.
And
have fun she did. Over the next few weeks that he was away at
bootcamp, Marcy kept the post office in business with cards and
letters. She’d done a little investigating and tracked down his
mail station. The first letter, welcoming him to the next phase of
his adventurous new life, had actually arrived the same day he
reported. And letters and pictures, all that was allowed to be sent,
arrived in a steady stream to remind him of exactly what he was
going through bootcamp for. Some were pictures of her and Alex and
‘home.’ Others were
cutouts of fully operational US Army Rangers in camo paint holding
big, scary-looking things that went bang and boom and that you had
to yell, ‘incoming’ about. Written at the bottom in bold black
marker was, “Ranger Paul!”
And
with each letter, the mention of how much she was enjoying designing
and building his bear . . . what it looked like . . . how pretty its
white fur and big chocolate brown button eyes were. In one letter,
she had even taken pictures of various bear outfits in the
shop—her favorite was the pink ballerina bear one—and included a
little form to fill out of which ones he liked best and a
self-addressed stamped envelope so he could send it back to her.
Marcy had laughed until she couldn’t breathe at what he’d sent
back and saved the reply for the scrapbook she was making for him.
She could practically feel Paul squirm as he read her letters and
knew that if he’d been able to call her from bootcamp there would
have been a little tinge of worry in the back of his voice that she
might actually carry through on the ‘promise.’
Paul
had been at Basic for over a month. Just a couple more weeks and
he’d be done . . . and home for the holidays. Marcy couldn’t
wait to see him and hold him tight again. But first she had one more
thing to send. She had to hurry and get one last surprise finished
and in the mail prior to the cutoff date to get it there in time
before he left. It had all been arranged between her dad and
Paul’s DI. She hoped the guys in Paul’s bay didn’t pound on
him too hard because of what she was about to pull.
And
so, with the Charlie Brown Christmas Special playing in the
background on the TV, she carefully stitched the small brown buttons
into place on the face of the bear, then held her handiwork out at
arm’s length to inspect the overall effect. All that beautiful
white fur. The pink ears and paws done in satin. The smile carefully
embroidered onto his face and his Army Ranger cami fatigues as
letter perfect as she could make them. A sprig of mistletoe and a
couple of jingle bells on his boonie cap completed his
‘ensemble.’ Almost
done. Another couple of hours work and it would be complete and
ready to send to Paul. She took a sip of her hot chocolate and went
back to her hand stitching, humming It’s
Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas under her breath.