Chapter 9

Chuck wandered over to the security center and office building construction site, searching for Gary. The building was still a long ways from finished, but he could imagine what it would look like when it would be completed. The foundation was in place, the framing was complete, and some of the exterior walls had been added.

Chuck found Gary inspecting the building. Gary was checking to make sure that nothing that didn’t belong had been added to the walls. There were folks who would be interested to know what went on inside the building and one of the easiest ways to do that was to incorporate spy equipment into the structure. The Russians had done that with the American Embassy. He waved the bug detector over one section of the walls.

Seeing Chuck standing off to the side, Gary said, “So you discovered that Betsy can fight.”

“Yes.”

“And?”

“And what?”

“How do you feel about it?” Gary asked.

Chuck inclined his head to stare at the floor. He had asked himself that same question too many times over the past twenty-four hours. His inability to answer it had driven him to seek out Gary thinking that another man’s perspective might give him an answer.

Chuck answered, “I don’t know.”

“You know.”

“She doesn’t really need me. She’s rich, smart, beautiful, and deadly. I’m none of those.”

“She needs you,” Gary said with assurance in his voice.

“Why would she need me?”

“She needs someone she can feel vulnerable around. She’s a strong woman, but there are times when she just wants to be a woman,” Gary said.

Chuck said, “That suggests that I need to be stronger than her. I’m not.”

“I wouldn’t know about that,” Gary said.

“I can’t run fifteen miles an hour. I can’t carry someone on my back for an entire day. I can’t swim from one island to the other. Compared to her, I’m a ninety pound weakling.”

Gary said, “There’s all kinds of strength. I can lift heavy things. I can kill people with my bare hands. I can do what needs to be done when it needs to be done. I’d say that I’m a pretty strong man.”

“I’d agree.”

“There are other kinds of strength as well.”

“Like what?” Chuck asked.

Gary paused from what he was doing, turned to face Chuck, and said, “You should probably talk to Alice. She’s got the kind of strength I’m talking about.”

“Alice?”

“Yes, Alice.”

Chuck shrugged his shoulders before heading back to find Alice. He passed by the garage, heard noises of an intimate nature coming from inside, and continued on his way.

He heard Wheels shout, “Yeah! God, yeah!”

“I guess Ben finally decided to take a ride in the Mercedes,” he muttered.

He heard a second female voice shout, “Right there!”

“Maybe not,” he said pausing to stare at the closed door of the garage.

“You two are going to kill me!” a male voice shouted.

“Then again, maybe he did,” Chuck said with a chuckle.

Chuck went into the house. He found Alice working on dinner in the kitchen. He took a seat at the table.

She glanced over her shoulder at him and then asked, “Are you looking for a snack?”

“No. Gary suggested that I talk with you.”

“About?”

“I watched Betsy spar with four guys yesterday,” Chuck said.

“Ah!”

“She wiped the floor with them.”

Alice asked, “How do you feel about it?”

“I feel like she doesn’t really need me,” Chuck said.

“She needs you,” Alice said confidently.

Chuck said, “I can’t see why.”

Alice came over to where he was seated and sat down across the table from him. It was obvious to her that he felt that Betsy was going to realize that he was beneath her and move onto someone a little more equal to her. She also believed that there wasn’t anyone better for Betsy than Chuck. She saw the way Betsy melted in his arms and became a softer nicer person.

She considered her words carefully. She knew that she only had one chance to convince Chuck that he was exactly what Betsy needed.

She said, “My late husband was a Marine. He was the strongest man I’ve ever known. He was a man’s man, if you know what I mean.”

Chuck nodded his head to indicate that he understood what she meant.

Alice said, “There were times when he’d come back from war a nearly beaten man. It wasn’t a weakness in his character. War is inhumane. No one is really strong enough to fight in a war and come back unchanged. Rock might be strong, but water will wear it down. War is like water. It’ll wear down the strongest man given enough time.

“After an extended tour, he’d drag into the house wounded, dispirited, and tired. There were times when he’d burst into tears at what he had seen and done. It was a price he willingly paid to protect his family, his friends, and country against those who meant us ill. That’s real strength.

“I’d change his bandages and nurse him back to health. I’d hold him in the dark when the nightmares threatened him. I’d give him the time and space required, for him to rebuild his spirit. I made a home which would provide the sanctuary necessary for him to rest, and grow strong again.

“Once he was whole, I would stand at the airport and watch him head off to war. I’d tell him that I loved him, that I’d be waiting for him, and that I’d welcome him home with open arms. My heart would be breaking at the idea that I wouldn’t see him again, but I’d put on a brave face for him.

“They say that behind every successful man is a strong woman. The kind of strength it takes isn’t physical. It’s emotional and spiritual. Believe me when I say that it’s hard to stand next to someone you love who has just suffered a setback and pick them up, then send them out to try again. I felt his pain. When he was gone, I imagined the worst. I lived with nightmares at night. But, I stood strong, to be there when he returned.

“Betsy needs someone like that in her life. She needs to come home and find someone who loves her, waiting there. There will be times when she’ll need your arms to wrap around her, while you assure her that all is right in the world, no matter how bad it looks.

“Believe me when I say it is a hard job. I think, though, that you’re strong enough to support her through the dark times and to celebrate the good times.”

Chuck asked, “You don’t think that will make me a second class person in our home?”

Alice snorted in disgust. She said, “Not for a minute.”

“Why not?”

“You’ll be the most important person in her life. She’ll value you more than herself. You’ll be the one who keeps the world away when she’s weak, tired, and vulnerable. You’ll be the well of strength that she drinks from. You’ll be her whole reason for being,” Alice answered.

“Wow!” Chuck said thoughtfully.

Alice let him sit there for a minute thinking about what she had said. She reached across the table and patted his hand. She smiled at him when he looked up at her finding comfort in her gesture.

She said, “You might take her back to your house when she returns to the island, tonight. Put candles around the bath tub. Fill it with bubble bath. Play some soft music in the background, and feed her finger foods while she’s soaking. Take a moment to remind her that she’s a woman. You’ll know what I mean when you see her look up at you, from the tub.”

“I’ll do that,” Chuck said.

“You should probably go and get everything ready for her.”

“I guess so,” Chuck said.

“Well, get to it! She’ll be home before long,” Alice said with a shooing motion to send him on his way.

Chuck left the house walking thoughtfully to his home. He noticed Ben leaning against a car looking like he had gone twenty rounds with a heavyweight fighter. Wheels and Sam had their arms around each other looking fresh and alert.

Upon her return home, Betsy stopped in the backyard rather than heading directly into the house. She looked around at yard for a moment. It took her a few seconds to realize that there had been a few changes around the place.

“The chickens are gone,” she said.

From his seat in a lawn chair on the patio, Gary said, “They took them across the street, this morning. The cow and sow are over there, too.”

“Good. I was about to cook that rooster,” Betsy said.

Gary chuckled. She wasn’t the first one to say that around the house. He had entertained that thought several times as well. He thought they crowed once at sunrise, but that damned bird crowed all of the time.

Betsy sat down heavily in the chair next to his. She sighed.

“What’s the matter, Betsy?”

“I think I’ve scared Chuck away.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that,” Gary said.

“You didn’t see his face yesterday, after I sparred with the guys at the university,” Betsy said.

Gary asked, “Why did you do it?”

“I wanted to convince him that I can take care of myself,” Betsy answered.

“Is he convinced?”

“Yes.”

Flippantly, Gary said, “Mission accomplished.”

Betsy glared at him. “I lost him in the process.”

“No, you didn’t.”

Betsy sighed. “When we walked back to the recycling plant, he didn’t put his arm around me. He didn’t hold my hand.”

“Um,” Gary said sounding a lot like a doctor who has discovered something interesting about a patient.

“Um, what?” Betsy asked.

“Why do you think he went there with you?”

“To protect me, I guess.”

“So you proceeded to show him that you didn’t need his protection,” Gary said.

“Right.”

“Why?”

“I don’t want people thinking they have to protect me.”

“I guess that makes sense. I mean that’s why you left Arizona and moved here,” Gary said.

“That’s right. My mothers were smothering me.”

Gary settled back in his chair and crossed his legs. He smiled. It was more of a smug smile than a friendly smile.

Betsy watched him for a minute. It seemed to her that he knew something that she didn’t.

She said, “You know something that I should know.”

Gary asked, “How do you feel when Chuck puts his arm around you?”

“I don’t know. I guess I feel warm and protected.”

“Um,” Gary said giving a kind of significance to the simple sound.

Curious, Betsy asked, “Um what?”

“You don’t want to feel protected. Isn’t that what you just told me?”

“Well...”

“So he didn’t try to protect you when you two were walking back to the recycling plant. You should be happy. You accomplished your goal,” Gary said.

“But...”

“But what?”

“That’s not what I wanted.”

Gary said, “You can’t have it both ways.”

“I don’t want him to worry about me.”

“You’d rather he didn’t care?”

“No. That’s not what I want,” Betsy said growing increasingly frustrated.

“By the way, I’d like to thank you for helping me make up my mind,” Gary said.

“What did I do?” Betsy asked jarred by the sudden change in topic.

“Watching you and Chuck convinced me that I should give love a chance. I proposed to Nancy,” Gary said.

“I didn’t realize that things had developed to that point between the two of you,” Betsy said.