Immortally Yours, An Urban Fantasy Romance (Monster MASH, Book 1) (35 page)

"She's gotten used to life without me," he said, his voice empty. "She said so in this letter."
 

I didn't believe it for a second. "She couldn't have meant it that way."
 

He carefully folded the letter. "She probably didn't, but it's true. Mary Ann is happy without me."
 

I took a seat on Marius's footlocker. "Look, just because she's not dwelling on how hard it is doesn't mean she doesn't miss you. If anything, I'd say she's trying to cheer you up."
 

Head down, he creased the letter over and over.
 

As much as we went through down here, it was easy to forget how hard it was for the people we left behind. "We're drowning in blood and guts and war. She doesn't want to burden you with what she's going through."
 

"She seems happy."
 

"I know. I did the same thing when the person I loved was called into this war."
 

He glanced up at me.
 

I didn't like to talk about it, but at that moment he needed to hear it. "I think I told you about Marc."
 

Rodger shrugged. "Maybe a little."
 

"I met him when I did my residency at Tulane. He helped me find my way around."
 

That got a snarf out of Rodger.
 

"It's true. I had a rough time starting out. I don't know if I would have made it through without him." Even now I could picture him and the names we made up for these two doctors who liked to give me trouble. "Marc was our head resident. We started dating. He did his fellowship at Tulane so we could be together. He used to bring me beignets on my breaks." I knew I'd told Rodger plenty about beignets.
 

"From Café Du Monde?" he asked.
 

"No. Frank's Fish Market. It sounds weird, but they're amazing. Anyhow, Marc and I would sit in the cafeteria, just being together, until I had to go back in." In my off time, he'd taken me to concerts and parties and restaurants, but those quiet times sitting in plastic cafeteria chairs were the times I treasured the most.
 

I sighed. "Then the old god army did a recruiting sweep of New Orleans. They took him," I said, once again feeling the pain of it. "We didn't even get to say good-bye."
 

"At least I had a day or two with Mary Ann and the kids," Rodger said grudgingly.
 

They gave that to spouses, not to people you intended to marry.
 

But we weren't here to talk about my issues. Marc was in the past. I folded my hands in front of me as I leaned forward. "My point is, I wrote him letters all the time. It was how I got through that year he was gone. But I never told him the bad stuff. I didn't get into how much I missed him or how hard the program was or how I was miserable I felt." Rodger glanced up at me. "I stayed happy because I knew he was going through hell." He was in a war zone, an expendable mortal MASH surgeon. I wouldn't have the last words he heard from me be sad or depressing or down. I'd be his strength.
 

For the first time, I saw hope. "So you did it for him."
 

I nodded, glad that Rodger at last understood. "Marc was killed about a year later during an evacuation. The unit had to bug out, but they had a patient who couldn't be moved. Marc had done an arterial reconstruction and it was too soon."
 

Rodger gave a small smile. "He was brave."
 

"I know." I didn't like to talk about it. I didn't want to now. "So do you understand why Mary Ann doesn't tell you the bad stuff?"
 

"Aside from the Skittles up the nose?"
 

I couldn't help but grin. "That's not bad and you know it."
 

"One is bound to hit baby Kate in the brain one of these days," he said, shrugging.
 

I let out a sigh. "You know what I mean."
 

"I do." He smiled. "Thanks."
 

All righty then. I went to go look for a hairbrush.
 

"Marc would be proud of you."
 

It cut me deep to hear someone else say his name. "I know," I said, digging through my dresser drawer. I'd put him to rest. Marc was my past. Galen could very well be my future.
 

"I like Galen," Rodger said. "He's good for you."
 

He was. "You know, Galen is the first guy I've been able to really see myself with since."
 

"So what's going on?" Rodger asked.
 

He was sitting back in his cot, the folded letter on his chest.
 

"I don't know," I said, brushing my hair.
 

Still, talking about Marc had freed something inside me.
 

It had let loose the kind of hope I hadn't felt in a long time. "I feel like I have a shot at this, whatever it is between Galen and me." If we could just make it past this next hurdle. I lowered the brush. "Let me ask you this, Rodger. Do you believe people are sent into your life?"
 

He nodded. "I do. Everything happens for a reason."
 

Strange. I'd never really believed that. Now I wanted it to be that way. I craved it on a fundamental level.
 

"You about ready?" Rodger asked.
 

"Sure," I said, slicking my damp hair back into a ponytail.
 

I couldn't shake the thought as Rodger and I made our way to start our shifts in recovery. Galen was here, with me, for reasons I was just beginning to understand. Together, we could have a real shot at peace—and something more.
 

It stayed with me as I made my rounds, this sense of peace, the idea that for the first time in a long time, I had a true partner.
 

Our shift was busy. Most beds were full, and thank heaven the new army hadn't yet seen fit to start taking injured back to the front. I prayed it would never happen.
 

I spent most of my time on a yeti claw infection to the spine and a bowel resection. Immortals healed wrong from time to time. I hated to go back in. It was surgery without anesthesia. Once was bad enough.
 

The first patient we'd saved while on special assignment was doing well. Sleeping. I replaced his chart and headed off to see the other in intensive care.
 

The ICU was located between the OR and the recovery unit. I pushed my way through the double doors to the semicircle of curtained patient rooms.
 

I could tell which one held my guy from the pair of cyclops guarding the entrance.
 

"Dr. Petra Robichaud," I said, fishing for the ID on my white coat. I was glad I hadn't forgotten it this morning. ID seemed kind of redundant when I had my name sewed on my coat. And when everybody knew me. But orders were orders and I knew they were playing this one by the book.
 

They moved aside and I entered the room of Dagr, god of hope and fertility and probably a few other things Kosta hadn't seen fit to mention.
 

He lay on his back, strapped to beeping heart monitors and an IV bag administering the anti-inflammatory drugs we gave for long-term exposure to parasitic entities. Injured, he would have experienced an acute reaction to the Shrouds. If the bodies of the gods overcompensated for the energy drain, it could put them into shock.
 

Dagr was pale, but his breathing looked good. Dang. He reminded me of a young Ricky Schroder. I took the chart from the end of his bed. His oxygen counts were still low, but that was to be expected.
 

"Hi, Doc," he murmured.
 

"How are you feeling?" I asked, moving to the side of the bed so he could see me better.
 

"Fine."
 

"You look good," I told him. And he did. Based on his chart, most soldiers with his kind of injury would be in recovery.
 

I had a feeling we'd be hiding him here until it was time to let him leave. Although I had to think that the double guard outside the kid's room was giving away the secret.
 

"I just want to fight," he said, clearly miserable. "They're afraid to let me do anything."
 

"Sounds like you showed them," I said. His wound could have easily been deadly if we hadn't reached him in time.
 

He watched me. "I told her I'd be a hero."
 

"Who's that?"
 

"My girlfriend."
 

"Ahh...now, that's something worth fighting for."
 

"Anybody can be a god," he sighed. "It's harder to be a hero."
 

"To be counted among the stars." And I wasn't kidding. The gods made their stars into stars. Look at Hercules. "That's a lofty goal."
 

He shifted in bed, facing me as best as he could. "Give me your honest opinion. As a girl. Would that impress you?"
 

"As a girl, yes. As a doctor"—I stood—"why don't you try and be a little more careful next time?"
 

He folded his hands over his chest. "You doctors are all alike."
 

"I wish," I said as I replaced his chart and headed out.
 

My shift was over and I had a hero of my own to see, for as long as I had him.
 

I glanced back at the cyclops guard as I left, feeling a tug of sympathy for the young god and his dreams of war and glory. It was immature in a way—and damn dangerous. But I could imagine how hard it would be to want to be a soldier, to be trained and given the uniform, only to be told that you couldn't actually go to war with your friends.
 

Shaking my head, I ducked outside. At least we had one more kid off the battlefield. He'd survive this war, even if the rest of us didn't.
 

The twin suns were setting with a rosy glow.
 

Attention all personnel. Attention.
Shirley's voice crackled over the loudspeaker.
As you know, Colonel Kosta has forbidden us to make any official announcements about the prophecy. Therefore, I will not tell you that PNN says the oracles are coming out of the mountain right now.
 

People began emerging from the tents and buildings around me.
 

I repeat. There is nothing to see—unless you want to go down to the mess tent.
 

I shared a glance with a nurse across the way. Holy heck. I began jogging with the crowd.
 

This was it. Our final assignment. I only hoped I could handle it.
 

Chapter Twenty-Four

Galen stood outside the mess tent. "I saw you heading this way."
 

My heart gave a squeeze. How long had it been since someone had waited for me to get off work?
 

He treated me to a long hug and a lingering kiss that had me gripping the lapels of his fatigues and yanking him closer.
 

"Are you ready?" he asked.
 

"Heck yes." After that, I was ready for just about anything.
 

The mess tent was even more crowded than before. There was a line six-people-deep just to get inside, the buzz of voices reminding me of an overstuffed beehive.
 

Once we'd made it through the door, we jostled through the crowds lingering between the long tables.
 

There were all kinds of people parked on the tables as well. Others had pulled most of the metal folding chairs up to the front. Still more created a mass of bodies on the floor in front of the television. The serving area that had held snacks the last time was filled with people. Horace and some of the winged orderlies hovered along the sides.
 

Everybody who wasn't on shift was here. Well, except for Kosta. Excitement flowed through the mass of onlookers like an electric current.
 

"Turn it up!" hollered someone in the back.
 

A nurse jumped up and twisted the big round volume knob. Stone McKay's voice blared over the crowd. ". . . along with updates from the front..."
 

"Turn it down!" everyone yelled as he adjusted it lower.
 

The overly tanned newscaster was as cheerful as a game-show host. "Remember, you can follow the oracle excitement on our blog at www.pnn-Network.com. We'll have the latest news and developments, live streaming video, and the Ask an Oracle quiz show where you can submit your questions to our own PNN soothsayers. It's all at PNN-Network.com."
 

I stopped in my tracks. "Quiz show?" Didn't they understand what was happening here?
 

Galen took my hand "Come on."
 

The crowd made way for him. I liked to think it was because he held an air of command, but I also saw how most of the women gave him a second look. And sometimes a third. I couldn't help but smile. Yes, this man was with me—and every single one of them knew it.
 

We found seats by Shirley near the front. People were passing king-sized bowls of popcorn.
 

A banner scrolled along the bottom of the television screen. breaking news: twelve vampires dead after falling asleep at outdoor oracle watch party.
 

"How'd you get off?" I asked, sliding in next to Shirley on the table.
 

"Kosta is pissed," she grinned, tying back her hair in a colorful bandanna. "He wanted me out of his sight."
 

"You don't seem too bothered by it," Galen commented, making himself comfortable on the other side of me.
 

Shirley shrugged. "You've got to push a man's buttons every once in a while." She grinned. "It used to be Kosta didn't notice me. Now he watches me. And he really reacted today."