Filed To Story: The Things We Leave Unfinished Novel Free
“I didn’t catch it,” the kid admitted. “But he’s waiting for you in the pilots’ rest room. He was really insistent that he see you.”
Jameson sighed and ran his hand over his sweaty hair. He hadn’t just spent the last few hours in an aircraft, he also smelled like it. “Okay, let me get a shower -“
“No! He said he needed to see you as soon as you landed.”
“Great.” Jameson kissed the thought of a shower goodbye. “I’ll head over right now.”
To say he was in a foul mood by the time he walked into the rest room would have been an understatement. He wanted a shower, and Scarlett, and William, and a hot meal, not some secretive meeting in the-
“Holy shit! Uncle Vernon?” Jameson’s mouth dropped open at the figure he found lounged in one of the leather armchairs that lined the rest room wall.
“Finally!” His uncle stood with a wide grin and captured him in a bear hug. “I almost had to give up on you. I’m due to leave in the next half hour.”
“What are you doing here?” Jameson asked as he stepped back, noting the American uniform his uncle wore.
“Your mother didn’t tell you?” Uncle Vernon asked with a sly grin.
Jameson’s brows rose as he recognized the insignia. “You joined the Transport Command?”
“Well, I couldn’t very well sit home on my backside while you were over here risking yours, could I?” His uncle’s eyes swept over Jameson in that appraising way he’d always had. “Sit down, Jameson. You look like hell.”
“I’ve looked like hell for the last two years,” Jameson argued, but sat, sinking into the worn leather. “How long have you been flying for the ATC?”
“Almost a year,” Uncle Vernon replied. “Started out as a civilian, but eventually the pressure got to me,” he admitted, motioning to the rank on the collar of his flight suit.
“At least they made you a lieutenant colonel,” Jameson noted.
His uncle grimaced. “It has some privileges, like being able to hold a flight three hours late when your nephew is in the middle of a dogfight. A nephew I heard happens to be an ace.”
“Wonder where I got those flying skills from.”
“You’ve surpassed anything I could have taught you. It’s damned good to see you, boy. Though even I can admit you’re a man now.”
Jameson rubbed the back of his neck. “I’d say I would have been here sooner had I known, but I wouldn’t have.” He’d never leave his squadron in the sky.
“I’m just glad I got to see you. I wish I could have met your Scarlett and my great-nephew, but maybe we can get the Germans to agree not to attack when I come back next month.” His uncle flashed a smile that closely resembled his own.
“I’ll get right on that,” Jameson said as flatly as he could manage before cracking a smile. “So where do you go from here?”
His uncle arched a brow. “Don’t you know? That’s classified.”
“Don’t you know? I named my son William Vernon.” Jameson lifted his own brow in response. How easy it was to be with him again, as though the last two and a half years hadn’t happened. As though they were at home on the porch, watching the stars come out in the Colorado sky.
“I heard something about that.” His uncle grinned. “I’ll meet up with the rest of the ATC pilots up north, and we’ll head back tonight. It’s hard to believe that sixteen hours make the difference between being in England and hitting the east coast.”
Sixteen hours, Jameson thought. The entire world could change in just sixteen hours. “We’re grateful,” he said, looking his uncle in the eye. “Every bomber you guys ferry over here from the States is needed.”
“I know,” he replied, his face falling. “I’m proud of you, Jameson, but I wish you didn’t have to be here. And I definitely wish you weren’t raising my great-nephew where bombs fall on sleeping babies.”
Jameson let the back of his head fall against the leather and squeezed his eyes shut. “I’m trying like hell to get them out of here. She’s been through the medical exams, we have all the paperwork in order, and they’re entitled to citizenship…as long as my government hasn’t revoked mine.” Scarlett’s appointment for her visa was next week. It was already May, and he knew chances were the quotas had already been filled, but he couldn’t give up hope.
“They haven’t revoked your citizenship,” his uncle promised. “America is in this war now, for better or worse. They’re not gonna punish those who were brave enough to fight before we were provoked.”
“We booked her passage. She has to have her travel arrangements before they’ll grant a visa, but that doesn’t mean she’ll actually get on the ship.” Scarlett had made her feelings all too clear when it came to leaving him, but that had been before the latest barrage of bombings.
“I know some people at the State Department,” his uncle said quietly. “I’ll see what I can do to help move that wheel, but sticking your family on a ship with all those U-boats prowling the Atlantic might be a bigger gamble than letting them sleep in their own beds.”
“I know,” Jameson said softly, running his hands over his face. “I love her more than I love myself. She is everything to me, and William is the best of both of us. If I can’t even save my own son, then what good did I do coming here? What was it all for?”
The two men sat in silence for several moments, both knowing that neither option was safe. Then Jameson realized there was one.
“I need a favor,” Jameson said, turning in his chair to face his uncle.
“Anything. You know I love you like you’re my own.”
Jameson nodded. “I’m counting on it.”
His uncle’s eyes, the same mossy green shade as his own, narrowed slightly. “What do you have in mind, Jameson?”
“I want you to help me get my family out.”
…
“Thank God!” Scarlett exclaimed as she raced into Jameson’s arms.
He kissed her before he said a word, lifting her in his arms in their living room. He kissed her over and over, pouring his relief, his love, and his hope into it, until she melted against him.
“I’ve done the wash, and you have a clean uniform in our bedroom,” she said, her hands cupping his cheeks.
“I’ll put it on in the morning,” he assured her with a smile.
Her eyes lit up. “You can stay the night with us?”
“I can stay the night with you.” He would stay every night that was humanly possible between now and the date he’d discussed with his uncle.
Her smile was brighter than he’d ever seen, and she kissed him soundly in reply. “I’ve missed you so much.”
“I’ve missed you,” he whispered before kissing her again.
“I want nothing more than to carry you upstairs and make love to you until we’re both limp,” he whispered against her lips.
“That plan is brilliant,” she replied with a smile. “With one exception.”
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.