Kristen turned slowly, not daring to hope. Then she saw Brodie seated on the back of the motorcycle. His helmet hung from the handlebars and his left leg was cocked over the seat. He was wearing his riding leathers with jeans, boots, and a sweater under his leather jacket. His thick, beautifully unruly hair was blowing in the wind, beckoning her fingers to try and tame it. Kristen caught her breath, not entirely certain she wasn’t hallucinating.
“You’re a hard person to find, Lieutenant,” Brodie broke the silence softly.
“Sir?” Kristen asked numbly.
“I’ve been riding all over the base for the last five hours. I was beginning to think I’d never find you,” he told her honestly.
She stepped toward him tentatively. “Why…” Her voice cracked, and she paused to clear her throat, struggling to control her emotions. “Why would you want to find me?”
“Well,” he shrugged easily, “I thought I might ask you a couple of questions.”
“Okay.” She stopped barely a foot from him. “You found me.”
Kristen felt his eyes on her once more. But this time it was different. Looking into his eyes, she could feel what she’d never been certain of before. The utter loneliness she’d felt since their last meeting faded. Without him saying a word, she knew she’d been right. The mask of command was gone. There were no more regulations standing between them. No more expectations of professionalism.
The cold wind warmed slightly.
“Would you like a ride, Kris?” he queried as his eyes held her gaze and reflected what she felt.
“Are you sure?” she asked, unable to bear it if he wasn’t. “Because if you aren’t…”
Brodie nodded firmly. “I’m sure,” he told her honestly. “I don’t think I was willing to admit it to myself until today when I knew I’d probably never see you again.”
“But…” she hesitated, afraid now to take a chance after their conversation in the torpedo room. “But, I thought you said…”
“I couldn’t let you resign, Kris,” he told her simply. “You have your whole career ahead of you. Mine is over.”
“But, you could be an admiral,” Kristen reminded him.
“I don’t want to be an admiral,” Brodie told her sincerely. “I never did. And now, after twenty years of giving it all to the Navy, all I want is you.”
Kristen felt her lip quiver slightly as she stepped forward. She took his offered hand and slipped up behind him on the bike. Brodie handed her a helmet. She wiped away a few tears on the back of his jacket and then pulled on the helmet. She then slipped her arms around him, pulling her body close to him and letting the tears of joy fall as they may.
“What was the other question?” she asked him lovingly.
“Where to?” Brodie responded as he balanced the bike and prepared to start it.
She kissed the back of his neck, nestled against him, and offered in a hoarse whisper, “How about wherever life takes us?”
“Aye-aye, ma’am.”
Epilogue
“Good morning, Captain Brodie,” Ensign Tara Neal reported as she came up on the bridge to relieve the current lookouts so they could go below and get some lunch before the galley closed.
Her captain offered a reassuring nod in greeting. The captain was seated on the sail behind the bridge and looking toward the south as they moved past the last point of land before clearing Puget Sound and entering the broad blue Pacific.
Tara was one of three female officers on board the USS California, the newest SSBN in the American arsenal. Although a bit intimidated by the living legend seated on the sail, she counted herself fortunate to have gotten assigned to the California. Any officer who hoped to one day gain a submarine command of their own fought tooth and nail to be assigned to the California for one reason: a stamp of approval from the paragon of the submarine forces who currently commanded the California would all but guarantee a fast track to command.
Tara recalled her first meeting with the skipper in the captain’s stateroom when she’d reported aboard, literally trembling with nervous energy. The captain’s stateroom walls were covered with numerous pictures of skydiving, sailing, motorcycle riding, fishing expeditions, camping, and family vacations from seemingly everywhere. Each picture included the captain and the man she assumed was the captain’s husband. He had thick, slightly graying hair that appeared to always be blowing in the wind, and many of the pictures also included a pair of young boys.
But, the most interesting picture had been one of the captain taken years earlier in front of the old USS Seawolf. The picture showed the captain holding up a bulletproof vest with a pair of Navy SEALs beside her. She’d heard rumors of the captain’s past exploits, and Tara knew her captain had a rather impressive list of decorations including a Navy Cross from one of her clandestine missions.
“What’s the latest project, Skipper?” The Chief of the Boat, Master Chief Gameroz asked from where he sat perched beside the captain.
The captain looked through her binoculars at a house nestled high on the bluff. Mount Olympus formed the backdrop for the grey cottage-style home overlooking the Pacific Ocean. As she looked, a broad smile crossed her face. “Oh, you know, Sean,” she replied. “It’s supposed to be a surprise, COB.”
“I bet it’s a game room,” Gameroz suggested.
“Nope,” she answered. “He built one during our last patrol.”
“What is it, COB?” Tara asked only aware of rumors about her legendary captain’s exploits and not privy to her personal life.
Gameroz pointed toward the house on the bluff. Tara raised her twenty-power binoculars and saw the beautiful home, complete with a white picket fence. She followed the steps down to the beginnings of a dock where a man, with wild flowing hair, stood. Beside him, two boys, one perhaps ten and the other a couple of years younger, stood and waved at the passing submarine. The man leaned calmly against the railing, a stack of lumber behind him and a wooden tool box at his feet with hammers and handsaws visible. “The captain’s husband likes to surprise her with new additions to their home after every patrol,” the no nonsense, hard-as-nails Chief of the Boat explained.
“It damn well better not be another nursery,” the captain replied with a playful smile.
Tara glanced back at her captain, who was usually a rock of self-control. She then saw the captain tear up momentarily as she put her fingers to her lips and waved the two boys and the man a kiss. Tara glanced back, looking through her binoculars to see the two boys still waving goodbye as the man returned the kiss across the waves.