LITMIR.BIZ

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choice in the matter. Someone’s got to do it. But then once our husbands sail home we’re supposed to return to the docile role of wife and mother and automatically let the men take over. Sometimes it doesn’t work that well.”

      “I don’t imagine it would,” Lindy said thoughtfully, and sighed inwardly. Briefly she wondered what problems the years held in store for her and Rush. She’d never thought about the shifting roles they’d need to play in their family life. It was a little intimidating, but she’d only been a bride for a month and didn’t want to anticipate trouble.

      “Every time Chuck’s due back home, I get sick,” Mary confessed, looking disgusted with herself. “It’s all part of the syndrome.”

      “The homecoming is wonderful, but Wade and I tiptoe around each other for days for fear of saying or doing something that will ruin our reunion,” another wife explained.

      “We choose to ignore the obvious problems and pass over strife until it’s time for him to be deployed again.”

      “That’s when it really hits the fan,” Susan inserted.

      “What do you mean?” Lindy was curious to know. She could understand what the others were saying, although she hadn’t been married long enough to experience with Rush a lot of what the women were warning her about. But the time would come when she was bound to, and she was eager to recognize the signs.

      “It seems we’re all susceptible to arguing before our husbands’ leave,” Joanna explained.

      Lindy remembered how Rush had purposely picked a fight with her the afternoon he’d learned the repairs to the Mitchell had been completed.

      “Rush jumped all over me for putting his book away,” Lindy told the others. “I didn’t understand it at the time. It was so ridiculous, so unreasonable and not like him at all.”

      The others nodded knowingly.

      “I imagine it was about that time that Rush realized he loved you,” Susan added smoothly. “Jeff pulled the same thing. He always does. The day he comes home and suggests it’s time I go on a diet, I know what’s coming. He’s just learned when he’ll be deployed. Jeff loves what he does, but he loves me and the kids, too. It’s a crazy kind of tug-of-war that goes on inside him. He dreads leaving, hates the thought of all those months apart, and at the same time he’s eager to sail. He can hardly wait to get out on the open seas.”

      “Try to make sense out of that if you can,” Mary grumbled. “But this is all part of being a navy wife.”

      “And then there’s the constant knowledge that we can be transferred at any time.”

      “Say, did anyone else hear the rumor that the Mitchell could be reassigned to Norfolk?”

      “It’s just gossip, Sissy,” Joanna answered. “There’s no need to worry about it now.”

      “See what I mean,” Susan told Lindy with a soft laugh.

      “You mean the Mitchell might transfer its home port to Norfolk?” Already Lindy was thinking about what would happen with her job if Rush was to be stationed in another state. She’d have to go with him and leave Seattle. Of course she could always find another job, but she didn’t relish the thought. A growing knot of concern started to form in her stomach.

      “The Nimitz was transferred from Norfolk to Bremerton,” Sissy reminded the group.

      “Two joys of navy life,” Mary muttered disparagingly. “Deployment separation and cross-country moves.”

      “If worse comes to worst, we’ll survive.”

      It was apparent to Lindy that Joanna was the cool voice of reason in this friendly group. Lindy still had trouble keeping track of who was who, but felt that she was going to fit in nicely. It was as though she were being welcomed into a sorority. The other navy wives’ acceptance of her was automatic, their reception warm.

      “We always survive,” Susan added softly. “Now, as I said earlier, we’re not going to knock poor Lindy over the head with everything in one afternoon.”

      “Yeah, we plan to give it to you in small doses.”

      “Has anyone else stopped to figure out how much time married couples are separated if the husband is in the navy?” Mary asked, holding a calculator in her hand. Her fingers were punching in a long list of numbers that she called out at regular intervals. “According to my figures, during a twenty-year enlistment—” her fingers flew over the keys “—the husband and wife will spend six years apart.”

      “Six years?” Lindy repeated while the numbers whirled around her head.

      “It’s not so bad,” Susan said, and patted Lindy’s hand to tell her she understood her friend’s distress. “In small doses.”

      “While I’ve got everyone here,” Joanna added, snapping her briefcase shut and setting it aside. “Remember you need to have your letters mailed by the fifteenth of each month.”

      The other women nodded, apparently already aware of the deadline. Susan had explained to Lindy earlier that because the Mitchell was deployed in unfriendly waters, the mail would be flown in with supplies only once a month.

      “When are we going to eat?” Sissy asked, craning her neck to peek into the kitchen.

      “Every time Bill’s gone, Sissy gains ten pounds.”

      “I work it off once he’s home, so quit teasing me.”

      “I could make a comment here, but I won’t,” Sandy muttered, and the others laughed.

      “Well, if a certain someone doesn’t feed me soon, I’m going to fade away before your very eyes.” Dramatically Sissy placed the back of her hand against her forehead and released a long, expressive sigh.

      “Okay, okay,” Susan said with a laugh. “Lunch is served.”

      Everyone stood at once and moved into the kitchen. The table was arranged with a variety of salads, buffet style. Plates and napkins were arranged at one end and the forks fanned out attractively.

      “I brought the recipe for the Cobb salad, in case anyone’s interested,” Paula commented.

      “I wish you had said something,” Lindy complained under her breath to Susan. “I could easily have brought something.”

      “You’re our guest of honor.”

      “We’re all dying to know how you met Rush,” Sissy said and Joanna moved Lindy to the front of the line and handed her a plate.

      “I think he’s sexy as hell, and Doug told me he could hardly believe Rush would marry someone he only knew two weeks.”

      “Well, actually,” Lindy murmured as an embarrassed flash of color entered her cheeks, “it was closer to three weeks.”

      The women laughed.

      Sissy pressed her hand over her heart and sighed. “That’s the most romantic thing I’ve heard in years and years.”

      Elly’s shoulders moved up and down as well in an elongated sigh. “I always knew when the big man tumbled, he’d fall hard.”

      “He’s so handsome,” Mary interjected.

      “So dedicated,” Paula added.

      “Until the night of your wedding dinner, he was always so…detached and distant. We all noticed the change in him.”

      “Thank you,” Lindy answered softly.

      “I bet he’s a good lover.”

      “Sissy!”

      Lindy laughed because although the others had been quick to chastise their friend they eagerly looked in her direction for a response. Not willing to disappoint them, she wiggled her eyebrows a few times and

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