.
the others had left, even the eager reporters hoping for a heartwarming homecoming sound bite or a gut-wrenching picture for the front page. Maybe it was time for him to do the same. After all, he didn’t have anyone waiting to welcome him home. He’d told his mother to stay in Louisiana, that he’d call her the minute he landed. And he’d gotten that uncomfortable call out of the way earlier, thank goodness. The only thing on his agenda for the next week or so would be the mandatory post-deployment training that all the returning troops had to go through.
When he saw Chaplain Steve’s assessing gaze, he shook his head. “Another time maybe. As the chaplain knows, I have to go through a PDHRA before I can be considered human again.”
Steve grinned. “You look human enough, Chief, even if you are wearing ACUs. But yes, I expect I’ll be seeing you for part of your reintegration process this week. Still…you don’t have to get started on that right away. Sure you don’t want to come to breakfast with us?”
The challenging look in Anna’s eyes made him wish he hadn’t been so hasty in saying no.
David thought about his options.
“Let me see,” he said, scratching his head. “Post deployment health assessment, or breakfast—a real breakfast—with people who aren’t in a big hurry to get to the fight. Hmm.”
Anna lifted her head. “Oh, we’re always in a hurry around here, but we just take our time getting there.”
That brought a smile to his face. “Then I guess I might as well start my debriefing with a big Tex-Mex omelet and some real coffee.”
“I know just the place for that,” Caitlyn said, her arm linked in Steve’s. “You remember Prairie Springs Café, right, David?”
David laughed. “Is Max still there?”
“Still there,” Anna said as she motioned him toward the door. “And if I know Max, he’ll pull out the red carpet for a returning hero. Might even give you a free meal.” Tossing him a smile over her shoulder, she said, “Welcome home, cowboy.”
Anna watched as David wolfed down the last of his big omelet, then reached for another biscuit. “Did you miss American food, Chief?”
David buttered the flaky biscuit, then put down his knife. “It wasn’t so bad. We had something very close to American food on most days. That and our MREs, of course.”
Caitlyn wiped jelly off one of the twins’ mouths. “But a ready-to-eat meal can’t take the place of the real thing, can it?”
“No, I reckon not,” David replied, noticing the way Caitlyn and the chaplain kept smiling at each other. “You two an item or something?”
Steve burst out laughing. “You don’t mince words, do you?”
Embarrassed, David shook his head. “I guess I don’t. I believe in being up front and honest. But I can be too blunt at times, or so I’ve been told.”
Anna looked down at her plate, thinking she believed in honesty herself. They had that in common at least. She didn’t even know David Ryland…but she sure knew of him. He was considered one of the finest medevac chopper pilots at Camp Die-Hard. Or so she’d heard. Dr. Mike couldn’t say enough nice things about him. The devoted doctor had called in several markers just so David could be the one to get Ali safely home. And yet, he’d asked Anna to watch over his friend David, too.
“Take care of him for me, Anna. He’s a good man. But he’s not so forthcoming about himself. Maybe you can draw him out, make him feel welcome.”
Dr. Mike’s words came back to her now as she glanced up at David. “Are you glad to be home?”
He nodded, his dark eyes washing over her intensely. “I guess I am. Time will tell.”
Curious about that remark, Anna was about to ask him why he wasn’t more excited, but the jingling bells on the café door caused her to stop and look up. “Uh-oh.”
David turned to stare at the attractive older woman entering the café, then glanced back at Anna. “Is something wrong?”
Anna lowered her head, her hand going to her necklace. “No, nothing I can’t handle. My mother just walked in.”
Max waved a beefy hand from behind the counter. “As I live and breathe, if it ain’t one of my favorite people. How ya doin’, Olga?”
Olga waved back to Max, her smile somewhere between shy and coy. “I’m just fine, thank you.”
“That’s your mother?”
Hearing the surprise in David’s words, Anna could only nod. “Yes. Olga Terenkov in the flesh. Get ready.”
“Okay,” David said, noticing the amused expressions on Caitlyn’s and Steve’s faces. “Should I be worried? I mean, she looks harmless.”
That brought a grunt from Steve and a snicker from Caitlyn. But the twins seemed happy to see Anna’s mother. They squealed and waved, calling out, “Miss Olga, Miss Olga!”
The woman waved back, clearly glad to see the cute little girls. “Hello, my darlings!”
“Harmless is not a word I’d associate with my mother,” Anna said under her breath. “She’s been doing things to embarrass me for most of my life and I have a feeling that’s not going to change anytime soon.”
Steve leaned close, his eyes on David. “Be forewarned, David. You’re about to enter the hug zone.”
David did look worried now. “But I—”
“Anna!”
Anna cringed. “We’re in for it.” She sent her beaming mother a feeble wave. “Hello, Mother.”
Olga, still young looking at fifty-four, was dressed in her usual get-up—brown cowboy boots and a denim prairie skirt with a crisp flower-sprinkled cotton blouse. Her golden-blond hair was pulled up in a haphazard coil.
“Anna-bug,” Olga called out, the click of her boots hitting the hardwood floor as she sashayed up the aisle, “I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Isn’t little Ali just adorable? Can you believe he’s finally here? Did you get to give him a hug? Is he terribly afraid? Oh, I can’t wait to see him again.”
By this time, Olga was standing at the table, her mouth poised for yet another rapid-fire question when she stopped in midbreath to pin David with a wide-eyed appraisal. “Oh, my. And who are you?”
David stood, out of respect, but hesitated, caught in midair as if he wasn’t sure what to do next. “Hello, ma’am.”
Olga held a hand to her face, then giggled. “So polite.”
“Mother, this is Chief David Ryland,” Anna said, hoping the telltale hives she usually got along her jawline and neck whenever she was embarrassed wouldn’t show up today. “He’s the helicopter pilot who flew Ali to meet the C-17 to Germany. He escorted Ali home.”
Olga put a hand to her heart, then touched it to David’s sleeve. “Oh, oh, my goodness, we are so very thankful for you. So very thankful.”
Anna noted her mother’s Russian accent thickening. Olga’s accent always came out whenever she was excited, and that was just about every day. Her mother was such an optimist, always looking on the bright side of things. And right now she had her sights set on David Ryland, which meant she was looking at the bright side of her daughter having breakfast with a returning soldier. When Olga glanced from David to Anna, her big blue eyes full of that hopeful glimmer Anna both admired and dreaded, Anna knew that two things were about to happen.
Olga put a hand on her hip, then looked up at David again. “Did you have anyone waiting at the airfield for you, son?”
David shook his head. “Well, no, ma’am—”
David didn’t get to finish. He was immediately engulfed in