Page 40 of Jason's Justice
Jason chuckled and shook his head at her. “Six?” he said it as a question.
“Yeah, there about.” She turned back and lay against him, sighing when he ran his hand up and down her forearms.
“I also find myself liking the quiet. Not only in the office, but also the surroundings. I was serious when I talked to Duane about me stepping down from the DOD and taking a job here in Fool’s Gold. I don’t know if I would get into family law, but I could definitely get into the mindset of a slower pace. I’m not that old, I’m only fifty-two, and I’ve never been married. The only serious relationship ended badly. I could find myself slowing down and settling down.”
“Do you have anyone in mind?”
Jason remained silent for so long, Ilsa thought he wouldn’t answer, then he leaned down and whispered in her ear, “You.” He smiled against the side of her head when she jerked. “The second I saw you when I walked in behind Kevin at his house in Seattle punched me in the gut. I immediately wanted to get to know you. As soon as I heard you were freshly divorced, I put myself on the back burner so I didn’t push you into anything you weren’t ready for. I know I’m putting it all out on the line now, but after working so closely with you, I had to tell you how I feel.” When she went to say something, he shook her head at her.
“No, let me get it all out. I want to see if we have something between us, but I’m gentlemanly enough not to push. I know you’re still raw from Mason’s betrayal. If you want me to back off, I will, I won’t pressure you into anything.”
“Thank you for being honest with me, Jason. I too had butterflies in my stomach when I first saw you. You are right, I am still raw after Larry, I won’t lie about that. I think if we’re going to try to have something after this case is over, then I should tell you a few things about my marriage to him.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I know that, but I think you need to know a few things, then you can stew about it and decide if I am someone you would like to get to know better on a personal level.” She waited while he thought, and sighed a small sigh of relief when he nodded.
“Tell me.”
“Okay, I met Katherine’s father, Daniel, in the summer between our sophomore and junior years of high school. He moved to the neighborhood in late July, we were boyfriend and girlfriend by early September. It was your typical teenage romance. We went to school together, each other’s dates for both junior and senior proms. Like I said, typical teenage stuff. After high school graduation, we spent an intense summer together because we knew we were headed in different directions.” She paused as she reflected back on that time in her life, and didn’t speak for almost five minutes.
“What happened? What were the different directions?” Jason asked quietly.
“Oh, sorry. I knew since the beginning of senior year that I was going to college to get a law degree. That was a fact. At the same time, Daniel knew that he would be going into the service. He just didn’t know which branch yet, but he was going into the service. He said he could always get a degree during his down time or after he retired.”
“Okay, that sounds reasonable.”
“It was. What our families didn’t know was that while we were both leaving for our different destinations the same week, me to college, him to the service, he picked the Marines. Threedays before we were to leave, we drove to Vegas and got married. We were both eighteen at the time. We waited to tell our parents the day we left for our different destinations.”
“May I ask why you told them at the last minute?”
“Looking back, I can’t say why, but back then, we waited because we didn’t want to be talked out of it. When Daniel was given any leave, instead of going to his parents’ house, he came to see me at college. When I was home for a holiday, or break, if he was able, he came to see me then. I think during my entire years at college, we might have seen each other roughly twenty-five times. Once I passed my bar and was starting a job, Daniel was able to be settled at Camp Pendelton. It was seventy-five miles between LA and the base, but we settled halfway between, giving us both equal distance to our jobs. Also during the time I was in college, my grandparents passed away, and I was left with a significant amount of inheritance. My Dad was in finance and he made suggestions on how to invest it. I ignored it when he tried to convince me to get an annulment. When he realized that wasn’t happening, he dropped that topic and gave me financial advice. I know if he ever found out what I did, he would freak, but since he’s no long with us, I can say this.”
“What’s that?”
“I went to someone I went to college with who took finance and asked her if my father’s advice was sound, or was he setting me up to fail.”
“Ah, I can understand that, and was it sound advice, or bogus?”
“It was sound. It took me about three times to contact my friend when she explained how important my father was in the finance world and that any advice he gave me would be sound. Three years after Daniel and I were in the same state, living together, I became pregnant with Katherine. Because of my pay, along with the inheritance, and the investments, we decided thatwe would purchase a home. That’s the home I still live in. Back then, it was an up-and-coming place to live, and a lot of places weren’t there that are now.”
“You got in on the bottom line?”
“Yes, I’m not bragging, I’m stating facts, but I could easily ask two million for my home in its current condition without doing any upgrades.” She shook her head with a smirk. “A realtor knocked on my door before the shit with Katherine went down and told me so. I investigated, and that’s the lowest base price I could ask if I sell.”
Jason raised his brows and whistled. “That’s a good chunk of change.”
“Yes, but it’s also Katherine’s future. I know without even asking her that she’ll never want to return to LA, but I will wait until the time is right to sell. Anyway, that’s the home Daniel Miller and I purchased together.” She sighed and reached for a bottle of water sitting on the side table, and downed half of it.
“What happened?” Jason asked quietly when she continued to stare into space after drinking all of the water. He reached out and took one of her hands in his, reassuring her that he was there for her.
“Life was good, we, Daniel, Katherine, and I lived our lives like any other family. I went back to work after three months of maternity leave, There was a daycare in our neighborhood, so I didn’t have to worry about taking her into the city. If Daniel was home before me, he stopped to pick her up, or I would. We shared household and parenting duties equally. We lived our lives and loved it. There were times when Daniel would be deployed for months at a time, but it worked out.”
“Until?” Jason asked into the silence.
“Until Katherine was eight. Daniel was going on a long deployment. His previous ones had been between six and eight months. This one felt different, don’t ask me what, but it wassomething in the air when all the wives and children were there to see them off. This time they were told they would be gone anywhere from eighteen to twenty-four months. It was longer. After being gone for thirty months, there was a knock on the door. As soon as I opened it, I knew. I got the knock no military spouse ever wants to open the door to.” She paused, reached for the box of tissues on the side table, and pulled several of them to wipe her eyes. When she found herself under control, she looked at him sadly with a shake of her head.
“It was bad. The team that went had twenty-three members. No one made it back alive.”
