Love Comes Home (6 page)

Jay was far from perfect. Fear lurked around a lot of corners for him. Kept him alive a few times when something raised the hairs on the back of his neck.

That kind of fear could be a soldier’s friend. Keep him from doing reckless stuff to get himself killed. “You’ve seen it happen,” Sarge had told him. “A soldier not keeping his head down. Running into fire like he thinks he’s wearing tank armor.”

“Sometimes that’s fear too,” Jay said. “Crazy fear. The get-it-over-with fear because you can’t stand it another second.”

They’d been keeping their heads down as they ate their rations back behind the lines. The artillery was a constant
rumble in their ears, but it wasn’t their turn to face it yet. Instead they kept their ears tuned for enemy planes, ready to dive for cover.

“I’ve seen it happen,” Sarge admitted as he spooned out the last bite of his K rations. It didn’t matter about the taste. A soldier ate what he was given. “Just don’t let it happen to you. I’m expecting you to have my back when we move on up. And don’t stop to take some fool picture and get your head blown off like Archie.”

“It’s my duty now to take pictures.”

“Not when you’re getting shot at.” Sarge gave him a hard look. As two of the older men in the unit, they’d been through a lot together. “Not when I’m getting shot at.”

“Yes, sir.” Jay saluted. “Gun first. Camera second.”

Sarge let out a sigh and pitched his empty can to the side. “A man can get killed either way.”

“Do you get scared, Sarge?” Sarge was so tough, Jay never thought about him being afraid.

“What do I look like to you, Tanner? Some kind of machine?” Sarge glared at Jay. “I’d be a fool not to be scared when bullets start flying or we have to step our way through a minefield.” He tipped his canteen up for a drink and wiped his mouth on his sleeve. “A man tells you he’s not scared, you give him a wide berth. He’ll get you killed straight out.”

“All kinds of ways to be afraid.” Jay chewed on one of the hard biscuits in his rations and thought about Rosey Corner food. A man missed real food. And a woman’s arms around him. He looked over at Sarge. “You’ve been married a long time, haven’t you, Sarge?”

Sarge let out a snort that was half laugh. “You sure are jumping around today, Tanner. You thinking of home?”

“Who isn’t?” Jay said.

“You aren’t lying there. Me and the old lady, we’ve been married since I was twenty. Going on fifteen years now.” He narrowed his eyes on Jay before he went on. “What’s the matter? You get a bad letter from the wife?”

“No, no, Kate’s great. Busy. Full of what we’ll do when I get home.” Jay finished off the last of his rations.

“You not wanting to do what she’s wanting to do?”

“It’s not that.”

“What you got stuck in your craw then, Tanner?” Sarge sounded impatient.

“It’s just thinking about being married.” Jay rubbed his hands off on his pants.”We weren’t together but a few weeks after we tied the knot and now it’s been years.”

“You get a pile of letters every mail call.”

“Yeah, but that’s just words on paper.” Jay stared off down the road where the artillery boomed. The noise didn’t seem to matter any more than a train rattling past. It ought to matter. Somebody was probably dying.

Sarge leaned over and stared him in the face. “You’re sounding like you’re scared of being married?”

With a self-conscious grin, Jay dropped his head down to stare at the ground. “Maybe I am.”

“You’re an idiot, Tanner. A certifiable idiot.” Sarge grabbed his pack and gun. “Come on, soldier. Time to go down the road and see if we can get ourselves killed. I figure the two of us are on borrowed time already.”

Without another word, Jay got up. He didn’t know what it was about Sarge that had him always talking about things that might be better kept inside. Sarge was right. He was an idiot.

The other men in the unit were falling in behind them when Sarge looked over at Jay with a sideways grin. “Idiot or not, you’ve got a pretty good handle on what being married can be. It’s God’s own truth that a good woman can put a scare into a man if he don’t do right. You just make sure you do right for that girl and you’ll be fine.”

The screech of the train brakes jerked Jay back to the present. As he climbed down from the train, he looked around at the crowded platform. No way would Kate be there, but she’d be in his arms soon.

Perfect love
casteth out fear.
The verse ran through his head again as he walked away from the train station. He might not be perfect, but he did love Kate. And she was only a few blocks away. His heart started pounding. Not with fear, but anticipation. He picked up his pace, hating the very air that held him back and kept him away from her.

He found the newspaper building easy enough. He stared at it, wishing she’d look out and see him. He thought about throwing something up at a window. Like Romeo getting Juliet’s attention. But he had no idea which window.

Instead he went inside to the front desk where a girl with sausage curls was on the phone. She hung up and smiled at him. “Can I help you, sir?”

“I hope so. I’ve got this story. A big story.” He flashed a smile back at her and color bloomed in her cheeks. Maybe he hadn’t lost all his charm in the Army. But he wasn’t interested in charming her. He had another girl on his mind.

“I’ll call someone down to talk to you.” She reached for the phone again.

“I’m not giving my story to anybody but this woman reporter
who works here.” He pretended to think a minute. “Kate something.”

“Tanner?” she suggested.

A little thrill inched through him. Kate Tanner. His wife. “That’s the one. Nobody but her. I’ve read her stuff. Trust me, it’s a story she’ll want to write.”

7

I
t’s almost quitting time.” Kate couldn’t believe Francine was calling her with something like this. Not today when she knew Jay would be home soon.

Kate looked at the clock on the wall. In two hours and eight minutes. Kate’s heart gave a little jump at the thought. She shut her eyes and pulled up Jay’s face. The years hadn’t dimmed his memory. He won’t be the same, she reminded herself. War changed people. She didn’t want to be like Evie and expect nothing to be different. But Kate couldn’t think about Mike and Evie right now. Tonight was her night.

Francine broke into her thoughts. “I know, but he says it’s a big story.”

“What kind of story?” In spite of herself, that itch started up inside her. To be first to break a story. She grabbed a pencil to scribble down the date, 12-20-45, and checked the clock again for the exact time. 4:45 p.m. Writing the time broke the spell. She couldn’t write the story. She had a hundred things to do before Jay’s train came in.

“I don’t know. He won’t say.”

Kate cut her off. “Look, Francine, I’ll get Tommy to come
down.” It didn’t matter how big the story was. She wasn’t going to write it. She wasn’t even going to stay until quitting time. With the telephone pinned against her ear, she covered her typewriter and dropped her pencil into the drawer.

“He says he won’t give the story to anybody but you. He asked for you.”

“He asked for me?” Kate frowned. Who would ask for her? She tried to remember how long it had been since a story had carried her byline. Gus Black, the editor, didn’t think news stories needed bylines. “Are you sure?”

She grabbed her purse out of the drawer and shrugged on her coat as she listened to Francine say she was very sure.

“I don’t care. He’ll just have to tell his story to Tommy,” Kate said.

She heard the mumble of the man’s voice telling Francine something. No doubt that he had the story of the century. She didn’t care if he did. She wasn’t staying late today.

Francine’s voice came back over the line. “I think you should talk to this guy, Kate.” She lowered her voice. “I know I’d be ready to listen to his story if I was the reporter.”

“Good-looking guy, huh?” Francine didn’t have a fellow, but she wanted to.

“He’s wearing a uniform.”

“A soldier?” Again she heard the deeper tones of a man’s voice. Even though Kate couldn’t make out any words, a tremble started up in her.

Francine’s smile was easy to hear in her voice. “He says to tell you that maybe his story isn’t right for a big-city newspaper after all. Maybe he needs to go find a Rosey Corner reporter. One who likes to dance.”

Kate dropped the phone and took off for the stairs.

“Whoa, Kate. Where’s the fire?” Tommy yelled after her.

“In my heart.”

Her heart was on fire. She fought her way down the steps that were holding her back from Jay. It had to be Jay. Earlier than she expected. But never too early.

She’d planned to put on her fanciest dress, pin up her hair, and look her best when she met the train. But what difference did any of that make? Not when, if she could only move faster, he might be right in front of her eyes. Now!

She swept around a corner and bumped into Wilma, Gus Black’s secretary. The jostle knocked the file folder out of the woman’s hands. Papers scattered all over the floor.

“My word, Kate. Slow down.” She frowned and grabbed Kate’s arm.

“Can’t. Big story.” Kate jerked away from her. “Sorry. Really.” The door was in sight at the end of the corridor. Jay was on the other side of that door. She knew he was.

“Something I can let Gus know about when I tell him why his letters have footprints on them? So he can get the big headline type ready?” Wilma called after Kate with a good measure of sarcasm.

“The biggest,” Kate said over her shoulder. “Jay’s here.”

Wilma’s frown disappeared. “Then why are you moving so slow? Get out there, girl, and chase that headline.” Her laugh followed Kate down the hallway.

Kate pulled open the door, and across the lobby beside Francine’s desk, a soldier turned toward her. Her soldier. A smile, the smile she knew so well, lit up his face. He took a step toward her as she practically flew across the floor and into his arms.

Kissing must be something a person didn’t forget how
to do. Like riding a bicycle. Three long years since the last kiss, but their lips hadn’t forgotten. A warm feeling soaked through Kate until she thought she might simply melt in Jay’s arms. But she wanted to see him too, to let her eyes feast on his face. She wanted his voice in her ears.

She was so wrapped up in the joy of Jay’s arms around her that it was a minute before she heard the applause. Kate pulled back from Jay to look around. Francine was jumping up and down, clapping like a kid. Wilma joined in from the doorway behind Kate. Some guys from upstairs had paused on their way out the door to add their applause. Even a man and woman she’d never seen were cheering them on. They must have come in off the street to pick up a paper.

Jay kept his eyes on Kate. “I think they want an encore.”

“Definitely.”

Another kiss and then he lifted her up and spun her around. Happiness sparked off them to light up the room.

“I knew the promise of a big story would get you down here fast.” He set her back on her feet and stared down into her eyes. “Are you ready to go take some notes?”

“Ready,” she whispered. “Very ready. I’ve wanted to follow up on this story for a long time.”

“So, where’s your notebook?” His eyes were teasing her. The same Jay. The Jay she loved.

“Who needs a notebook? These notes will be written on my heart.”

Jay stared down into her eyes. “You are so beautiful.”

She felt beautiful with his eyes caressing her. Everything around them was forgotten as they stood there, wrapped in love.

“I love you, Jay Tanner.” She remembered how hard it had
been for her to admit that before they married, but now the words bubbled out of her with ease.

“Let’s get out of here, Mrs. Tanner. We’ve got a story to chase.” Jay kept one arm around her as he picked up his duffel bag.

They waved as they went out the door, and more applause followed them out on the street.

Right on cue, a few snowflakes drifted down. Once before the war, they had danced in snow much like this, so now the snow seemed to be falling just for them.

“Do you hear the music?” Jay dropped his bag and reached for her hand.

“Oh yes. I hear it.”

He pulled her close and with fat snowflakes falling around them, they danced as if they owned the sidewalk. Snow caught in their hair and melted on their cheeks.

A kid ran up with Jay’s duffel bag to break the spell over them.

Jay laughed, tossed the boy a nickel, and grabbed Kate’s hand. “Let’s go home.”

Kate led the way down the street. Home, what a beautiful word. In all the time she’d lived in her apartment, she’d never once thought of it as home, only a place to sleep. But now with Jay climbing the stairs behind her, home awaited. And the music played on.

8