"Your Honor, I will only be questioning this witness for a short time longer."
"Mr. Hanington, this is your final warning." The Judge settled back into his chair, his eyes stern and full of admonition.
"Yes, Your Honor." The Defense Attorney turned to the witness. "Isn’t the real reason you left the Navy because you couldn’t stand the fact that it was predominantly men?"
Garrett smiled slowly. "I never left the service, sir. I’m still an active member of the U.S. Navy for the next two years." The twinkle in her eyes danced in delight as she leaned her elbows on the railing of the witness stand and rested her chin in her hand waiting for his reaction.
The Defense Attorney looked like a deer in front of headlights. He was in shock. Defeated by his own line of questioning, he swallowed hard. "No more questions for this witness."
The Judge smiled at the witness. "You are excused."
Sighing, Danni shook her head. "If looks could have killed, I think both of us would be up for murder right now, Gar." She thought aloud in a hushed tone, not wanting to disturb the sleeping woman. ‘How does he know what you are like. I do. I’d trust my life in those hands of yours a million times over.’
Lost in her dream of Garrett’s hands, Danni jumped when she heard the sound of the ringer on the phone. Racing down the stairs, she grabbed it on the end of the second ring, not wanting the sleeping woman to be disturbed.
"Hello," she hoarsely whispered.
"Danni, are you feeling alright? Are you sick?"
"Brie! No, I’m fine…well, actually I’m a little sick to my stomach right now but I’m getting used to that. Why do you ask?"
"Your voice, why is it so hoarse?"
"I was…a little vocal at the court case today. I must have…"
"Court case? What court case?"
"Brie, nothing for you to get worried about. It was a case that Garrett got summoned to. It was a rape trial."
"Rape trial? Was it someone you know?"
"No, a patient that we worked on together. They really grilled Garrett though. You would have thought Gar was the one charged with rape the way the questioning was directed from the defense attorney."
"Danni, it was good that you were there for support. That sounds like it was some kind of hell."
"Yeah, well, it still plagues us now. We were up all night with a disaster and Gar was in surgery until the early hours of the morning. It didn’t leave much time for us to sleep." Danni let her voice trail off. "Sis, was there any reason why you called?"
"Oh, I was…was going to be in town tonight and I thought that maybe I could meet that surgeon of yours."
"Gee, Brie, I don’t know. Gar is sacked out across the bed too tired to even get in it. Another time might be better." Danni sighed. "This court thing really got us both pretty beat."
"Danni, you are taking care of yourself, aren’t you. I mean, you don’t want to be losing any weight right now."
"No way, Sis. I’m starting to fill out that Flight Suit quite nicely. I’ve been getting enough exercise to carry those few extra pounds of muscle that I’ve picked up since I teamed up with Garrett."
There was silence on Brie’s part as she thought of what few extra pounds her sister might be talking about. ‘The baby or certain parts of Garrett’s anatomy?’
"Hey, Brie. I think I really need to sit down and rest for a while, I’ve been on the go for the last 36 hours or so."
"Danni, get off your feet and rest. You take care of yourself and Garrett, too, mind you."
"Sure, Sis. Talk to you soon. Bye."
"Bye!" Brie hung up the phone. "I’ve really got let Mother know about Danni’s situation otherwise, she’s going to have a bird getting two grandchildren in the same year. Good thing I’m meeting her for lunch next week. This may go over better in person." Brie rubbed her own extended stomach. "Yes, my little one, you’ll have a cousin your same age. I can’t wait to see Mother’s face when she finds out that her precious Danni is going to give her everything that she wants…but in the wrong order." There was a gleam in the pregnant woman’s eye with that thought. "I’ll be your favorite for sure then."
Garrett woke up with the weirdest sensation that she had ever had. She felt like a mummy that had been left out of its tomb, alone, after it was sealed. Ready to fight the material that surrounded her, she slowly found her freedom from the confining wrap. With one eye opened, she looked for something that would tell her where she was. It was dark, darker than most mornings when she got up. Then she saw the illuminated digital readout of the alarm clock. It was 2300. She was nowhere close to morning, yet her body was telling her that she’d slept long enough.
Letting her fingers sweep over her body she realized that she was still fully dress, sans her shoes. "Damn! I must have been so tired that I didn’t even get changed." She rolled over and pushed herself up off the bed, scanning the nightstand for her beeper. "I wonder if…" fumbling with the beeper she found that it was still turned off. ‘I guess that wasn’t what woke me then. I wonder if Danni told them we were available for flights? Guess not!’ The surgeon flopped back on the bed. "I’m up now. Guess I’ll go call us back in service." She sat up and let her legs slide over the edge, then down onto the floor. The carpet felt good under her stocking feet as she made her way into the hall.
‘Looks like Danni is still awake, the light’s on in her room.’ Garrett touched the door lightly with the back of her knuckles and it opened slightly. Shrugging at the door, she pushed it more fully open and stuck her head in. "Danni?" She spoke softly. "Danni, did you…" She stopped and peered in at the sleeping woman who was sprawled under the covers, her fingers tightly clenching onto her journal. "I guess you didn’t."
It was a beautiful sight, the petite woman looking more like a child than anything, lost in the confines of the queen size bed. ‘It didn’t seem that big the other night when I slept in it with her.’ Garrett thought about how good it felt to wake up beside this woman the next morning. It was almost like she had done it hundreds of times before. It was such a natural thing to do.
‘Mom, is this what you were laughing about when you told me all those pot o’gold stories when I was a kid?’ Garrett wished she could turn back the hands of time and have her mother here to guide her. Just this one time she wished for someone else’s wisdom to guide her life. It was so easy when she was a child. You just did what you were told. But now, as an adult, no one told you how to live, you had to do that for yourself. And contrary to her beliefs as a child, those decisions didn’t get any easier with age. In fact, they just got more complex and compounded by the reaction that they would have on the world around you.
How could she give up her friendship with Danni in the hopes of having something more? She knew the friendship was strong but would it be strong enough to withstand an invitation for love on a higher plane? Especially if that was not what Danni was after.
Then her mind began to wonder. ‘Could I still be friends with her if she didn’t want to pursue that type of relationship?’ She thought of David and the gnawing pain that she felt each time that she pictured the two of them together. No, to Garrett Trivoli, the names of Danni and David did not belong in the same sentence let alone the same lifetime together.