~Raiden~
It’s already morning?
My body is still so groggy from changing time zones. I don’t normally have an issue with time zone changes but I was out late last night with Eli and my body is screaming at me that I need more sleep.
I stretch my arms above my head, working out the kinks in my shoulders.
My hands hit the wall right above my bed.
Ow.
I forgot how short my bed is here at my mama’s. I have my own apartment but it’s a tradition that when I come off tour I stay at Mama’s for at least a week. She likes to dote on me and have her baby back. I can’t deny that woman anything, especially when there are home cooked meals involved.
I get up, rubbing my eyes and shuffle into the kitchen where my mama is already making breakfast. The smell of pancakes wafting into my nostrils.
She turns around when she hears me in the doorway and squeals.
“Raiden, baby! I am so glad you’re awake; I was just making you your favorite.”
She rushes over to hug me, I have to lean down so she can get her slight arms around my neck. She gives me a kiss on the cheek and walks back to her cooking.
“So.” She turns slightly to look at me over her shoulder.
I just raise my eyebrows, waiting for me to continue.
“Whose Mustang was that?” she smirks.
I let out a breath and chuckle, knowing she’s about to pull a ‘mom’ and give me the third degree.
“Well…a friend’s.”
She turns around wiping her hands on a towel and levels my gaze.
“A friend, hmm?”
I look down and rub the back of my neck, feeling sheepish.
“Yeah, Mama, well I mean I just kinda met her but it’s a long story.”
She turns off the stove, dishing up two plates full of pancakes, eggs, and bacon, and pushing one to me across the island.
“I’ve got nothing but time, son.”
I sigh, there’s no fighting her when she wants to know something. Never been able to hide a thing from this tenacious stubborn woman.
“Well…her name is Elli. And she started out as my pen pal.”
She just watches me across the island, sipping her coffee and silently willing me to keep going, knowing that isn’t everything. Like I said can’t hide a thing.
Might as well get this out and over with.
“She’s a widow, her husband was a SEAL. Her friend picked a name from a list of potential Military pen pals to get a little insight on how to move on and she ended up emailing me.”
I take a bite of pancake, drowned in maple syrup, relishing how good real food tastes. First In-N-Out, now this?
Heaven.
“Go on,” she urges me, a slight smile on her face.
“Well, she just kept writing me, and I kept writing her back…then we had that attack at the base and she freaked out, she was crying and I just…I couldn’t take it, Mama. I never want her to cry.”
I look down, feeling slightly ashamed at describing how I feel about my girl.
Mama clears her throat and gives me a sympathetic look, urging me to keep going.
“And then we Skyped and she is just…God, Mama she’s so beautiful. It’s unreal. Then she came and got me yesterday when I landed and I took her to my spot on the beach.”
I watch as she processes this, she looks to me and I know she gets me. She always does, even if I didn’t say it out loud she knows exactly how I feel about Elli.
“Well baby, sounds like you’re falling for this girl. How long did you say this has been going on?”
I take a moment to think back because even though I feel like I have known my sweet girl for so long, I realize it’s only been about three and a half months.
I look up and Mama is still staring at me.
“Uh, been almost four months I think.”
She sets her coffee cup down and walks around the island toward me and leans her back against it.
“Raiden, jump.”
“Wha-”
She holds up her hand when I try to speak.
“No baby, just let me finish.”
She takes my hand in both of her small ones.
“When your daddy was overseas, doing Lord knows what… It was really hard for me. I was pregnant, I was alone and I missed him with every piece of my soul.” She squeezes my hand gently. “But when he was here, home with me, with you, I felt so unbelievably complete and happy. We had a one in a million kind of love. And just watching you describe this woman, I know that you’re destined for the same kind of love.”
I stand there struggling to absorb this. She lost my dad when I was only a boy, and after that, she just took care of me. Never remarried, never dated, it was always just the two of us.
“Being the hard-headed boy you are I know you’re going to try to fight it, thinking you’ll get hurt if you give your heart over.” She puts a hand on my cheek. “But baby, if you feel for even a second that this woman is the one for you, then you give everything you have.”
I lean down and envelop this wise woman in my arms, letting her know I heard her loud and clear even if it scared me half to death.
I do the dishes for her while she goes outside to tend to her garden and take a minute to look out the window at her, surrounded by the plants she nurtures every day.
She’s right. I already know Elli is different, she’s loved and lost but more than anything, I want to protect her and her heart. I know she’s worth it. I just have to be patient with her.
Until she’s on the same page as me, I just have to show her I am here and I’m not going anywhere.
I shake my head, already feeling myself drift so far from the man I was only a few months ago.
What is it about that one person that can so totally change you?