Page 20 of Unintended Love

“Theodora,” Clint called to her as she passed. He held up the large black velvet box containing the most beautiful gold-and-emerald necklace she’d ever seen. The thick outer heart was inlaid with small green chips, and the smaller inner heart held a green stone in the middle of it. “You’re a woman, what do you think of this?”

“It’s beautiful,” she said honestly ,stepping closer.

Her mother practically ran over. “Let me see,” she insisted. When she grabbed for it, Clint moved it out of her reach. “It’s very pretty.” She gave him a patronizing smile, which in Kimberly Parsons’s speak, meant that she didn’t care for it. Of course not. It was delicate, and her mama only owned jewelry that smacked of size and color.

The salesman, reading the room incorrectly, stepped in. “Shall I box it up for you, or would you like your wife to wear it now?” He glanced back and forth between Clint and Theodora, looking directly at their wedding bands, then at her large, obviously pregnant belly.

“Oh, we’re not married,” Clint quickly interjected. “Box it, please.”

Chapter 8

As Clint unloaded Kimmy’s plethora of matching high-end suitcases from the back the company’s SUV he’d parked in front of the Castillo home, he purposefully moved slowly, cherishing every quiet moment. Until the helicopter flight home, he didn’t know that a woman could talk for an hour straight and do nothing but complain about first-class services his men would never experience in their whole lives. He had never flown in sleeper cubicles, even traversing the oceans on commercial airlines. Military transports didn’t have anything close to those comforts. Now, working for his father’s black ops company, they most often flew with the cargo and pissed down a tube in the corner of the unheated aircraft. Occasionally, if there was room, they would lock in a few rows of standard airline seats, which were considered heaven compared to the jump seats that lined the bare walls.

He shut the trunk lid and stared at the six pieces of hard-sided luggage Kimmy had informed him was the brand used by commercial flight crews. Durable, yes. But expensive. Clint couldn’t help but wonder how often she flew that she needed such sturdy suitcases.

His mind drifted back to conversations with Javier, remembering that his friend did not care for his mother-in-law. When she visited them back in their Army days, he would often request additional duty. Now, Clint understood why.

Wheeling the four largest suitcases together, he knocked before he entered the slightly open front door.

“Pay this, sweet baby girl,” her mother demanded as she handed Theodora a credit card. “You need to deal with this right now.”

“Okay,” Theodora said as she sat at the small desk in the corner of the living room, where she obviously did her graphics work. A minute later, she gasped. “Mama. We don’t have this kind of money.”

“Sure, you do. And if you don’t have it right now, you will get it any day.”

Standing in the foyer surrounded by suitcases, Clint was embarrassed because he was sure he wasn’t supposed to hear this conversation.

Theodora glared at her mother. “Mama, what did you spend all this money on? And in the past few days.”

Her mother walked over to where Theodora sat at her computer and picked up one of her daughter’s hands, holding it in both of hers while sitting in the adjacent chair. “Baby girl, this is a very emotional time for you, and that’s why I’m here. I have been through the business of death several times, and this is one of those realities. You wouldn’t want me to travel halfway around the world in my ugly old clothes, so I needed to buy new outfits worthy of a first-class passenger. I had to look first class, so I fit in with all the other women in the lounges and on the planes. And I couldn’t show up at the airport with those dirty old suitcases we’d been using for years as we moved from house to house. You need to go ahead and pay that off right now because it has an outrageous percentage rate. I think it’s like twenty-five percent interest. You don’t want to screw up your credit score, now do you?”

From Clint’s place in the foyer, he watched Theodore’s eyes grow huge. She picked up the card and swore through clenched teeth. She glared at her mother. “Mama,” she wagged the card in her mother’s face, “this card was for emergencies only. I made it very clear to you when I gave you this card. It’s attached to mine and Javier’s bank account.”

Her mama jerked back as though she’d been slapped. “Baby girl, you called me in the middle of the night and told me that your husband has been killed in action, and you need me to fly from Texas to Ethiopia. If that’s not an emergency, then what is?”

Clint was afraid to interrupt, so he stood stone-still. In his opinion, Theodora and her mother needed to resolve this before he entered the room. It should’ve been a private conversation, but he’d already stepped into the house.

Her mother patted her hand. “How much money are you getting?”

“I don’t know.” He could hear the pleading in Theodora’s voice. “I remember Clint mentioning insurance money, but my brain couldn’t get past the fact that Javier was…gone. I guess I should ask him about it again, now the initial shock is over.”

Kimmy took her daughter into her arms and held her as tears streamed down her cheeks. “Mama, I miss him so much!”

Clint was about to step in when she was asking about insurance. That would have been perfect timing, but he didn’t do tears. He’d have to wait.

“You told me when Javier took the job here in Ethiopia that the benefits were even better than they were in the Army.” Kimmy ran her hand up and down Theodora’s back. “My neighbor, you know, Trixie, she was married to that Army guy who drove tanks. Well, he got killed in a training accident, and she got nearly half a million dollars. First thing she did was move out of the trailer next door to me and buy herself a cute little house out in town. I heard from Betty Sue, she lives three trailers down now, that Trixie is dating another Army guy. He even moved into her new house.” She waved her hand as though none of that was important. “Did you hear that? She got nearly half a million dollars. And you said things were better with this company. I’ll bet you get even more money. And since he’s been dead for days, I’ll bet you get it real soon.”

“I don’t know, Mama. I guess I’m gonna have to ask Clint.”

Taking advantage of their conversation, he quietly opened the door then shut it loudly, pretending to have just entered. “Did I hear my name?” He rolled the suitcases through the short foyer and into the living room. “Is there something else you need besides the last two suitcases?”

Theodora stood and ran to the bags. He wasn’t sure she was going to stop. “Yes, Clint. Thank you for bringing these in.” She pushed the two biggest ones toward her mother and grabbed the next two. “Do you have time to talk to me for a few minutes after you bring in the last of the luggage?”

“Sure. Give me a minute to grab those.” When he shut the door behind him, he was thankful for the reprieve. He tried to remember what he had talked about the first time when he had informed Theodora that her husband had been killed. Ashlin’s advice poured in. As he grabbed the last two suitcases and rolled them into the house, he felt better prepared.

He handed the last suitcases to her mother who took them into the spare bedroom, and Theodora gestured Clint to the living room. “Please come in and sit.”

He took the chair that was obviously Javier’s. He didn’t want to be stuck holding her like he’d been the first time. “What can I do for you, now, Theodora?”