“Well, I guess since he’s ninety-two, he figures the smoking isn’t going to hurt him too much.”

“He’s probably got a point, but it certainly isn’t helping his circulation either.”

“He needs to have an arteriogram and either an angioplasty or bypass.” KT indicated the notes that she’d made in the chart that day. “I’m not getting any pulses below his popliteals, and if that artery occludes acutely, he’s going to lose his foot.”

“I agree,” Tory said. “I’ll call him tonight and talk to him about going to Hyannis to see a vascular surgeon.”

“I can do it if you want.” KT checked her watch. “We were supposed to be out of here two hours ago.”

“I know, but I should probably do it. He might listen to me.”

“You need to start letting me do more of that kind of follow-up, Tory. Otherwise, there’s just too much work for you to handle,” KT suggested gently, setting the file down on the corner of the desk.

“You’re only here for the short term, KT,” Tory pointed out reasonably. “The patients are just more used to me.”

“According to Pia,” KT said, the muscles in her jaw tightening perceptibly, “I’m not going anywhere any time soon.”

“Is there a problem with your hand?” Tory still found it difficult to look at the splint and the tendon outriggers on KT’s arm. In the years they’d been together, she’d seen KT operate dozens of times. Her hands had been so facile, so sure, so beautiful to watch. It hurt her physically to imagine what KT was going through now.

“Nothing too bad. A lot of paresthesias.” KT shrugged. “But Pia seems to think it’s going to slow my recovery down because she doesn’t want to irritate the nerve endings and risk the chance of neuromas forming.” She couldn’t hide her frustration. “So she’s sitting on me to go slowly.”

“Pia’s very good. She’s taken care of a number of my patients.” Tory placed her hand on KT’s shoulder, squeezing gently to reassure her. “You can trust her judgment. She’s the best.”

KT thought about sitting across the table from Pia the night before at dinner of how much she’d enjoyed herself and how very much she had not wanted to say good night at the end of the evening. This time, Pia hadn’t even given her the opportunity to try for a good-night kiss, surprising her by leaning forward and brushing her lips softly over KT’s cheek as she whispered good night. It was still hard for KT to believe that she’d stood rooted to the spot, unmoving, and watched Pia walk away without a word. Every smooth line and practiced gesture she’d acquired unconsciously over the years had fled with the first sweet touch of Pia’s lips to her skin. She could still feel the memory of that brief, warm caress.

Tory watched the emotion play across KT’s face with a sudden sense of foreboding. She knew the look in KT’s eyes. She’d seen it often enough, and it would take more than a few years for her to forget what that smoldering heat meant. The words were out of her mouth before she even had time to consider them. “You can’t possibly be thinking about making a play for Pia.”

“What?” KT jerked as if Tory had struck her. Her surprise was followed swiftly by anger. “Make a play for her? You mean as in seducing her into bed for a quickie? I suppose you think that’s the only thing I’m interested in where women are concerned.”

“Isn’t it?”

KT reached for the file she’d dropped on the desk. Through clenched teeth she snapped, “I’ll call Mr. Abbot.”

Tory reached out swiftly and stopped KT with a hand on her arm. “I’m sorry. That was completely uncalled for.” When KT turned to face her, Tory smiled wanly. “You didn’t deserve that.”

“I don’t know. Maybe I did deserve it.” KT held Tory’s gaze unwaveringly. “Maybe I did, once, Tory. But it’s not like that with Pia.”

“There is something going on, then.” Tory shook her head. “KT, Pia…God. Pia is just…so.. .not the woman for you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” KT asked, half astonished and half angry. “We have a lot in common. We get along really well. What’s so wrong about that?”

“Oh, come on. Pia is a sweet woman, but hardly your type.”

“My type.” KT’s voice was flat, her eyes expressionless, “And what would that be, exactly? As I recall, you were my type once.”

“Yes, and look how well that turned out.”

“Jesus. Are you ever going to forgive me?”

The anger mixed with hurt in KT’s voice brought Tory up short. Forgive her. Is that what this is really about? “I don’t know.” She reached out and touched her ringers gently to KT’s cheek. It was the first time she had touched her in almost seven years. “I think eventually I’m going to need to.”

The touch of Tory’s hand was so unexpected and so welcome that KT closed her eyes and leaned into the caress, resting her uninjured hand against Tory’s hip. She hadn’t realized how much she longed for simple tenderness and comfort. “God, I’m sorry, Tory.”

“Oh, KT,” Tory sighed. “I wish” She stopped at the sound of footsteps and turned to see Reese framed in her office doorway, watching them. She dropped her hand and stepped away from KT as she smiled at Reese. “Darling, you’re back.”

KT jerked slightly, as if awakening from a dream. She looked from Reese to Tory and then rapidly retrieved the file from the desktop. “I’ll take care of this right away.”

As she passed Reese in the doorway, she nodded and said hello.

“Hello, KT.” Reese’s voice was quiet and steady, her eyes on Tory. To her lover she said, “Do you have time for a break?”

Quickly, Tory crossed the room and kissed Reese on the mouth. “I’m pretty much finished. We only opened for a few hours this afternoon because tomorrow’s schedule looked so full that I had Randy bring some of the patients in today for routine exams. I can leave the rest of it to KT.” She threaded her arm around Reese’s waist. “Let’s go.”

On their way out of the building, Tory instructed Randy to have KT see the last few patients in the waiting room. It was already close to eight on Sunday evening, and for once, there were no emergencies. Outside in the parking tot, Tory climbed behind the wheel of the Jeep while Reese slid into the passenger seat. Neither spoke until Tory reached Route 6 and headed toward Herring Cove. Then Tory reached across the space between them and rested her hand on Reese’s left thigh. “How are you?”

Reese covered Tory’s hand with hers, cradling Tory’s fingers in her palm. “I’m okay. How’s KT?”

Tory glanced over briefly before looking back at the road. “Why?”

“She looked upset back there in the office. So did you. Is everything okay?”

Tory turned right along the coast road and then made a quick left turn into the long, narrow parking lot that overlooked the beach at Herring Cove. She pulled to a stop at the far end and turned off the engine. They were alone.

She turned in the seat and regarded Reese with a gentle smile.

“Most women would want to know what the hell I was doing with my hand on my ex-lover and hers on me.”

A small crease formed between Reese’s brows as she gave the notion some thought, “Are you upset that I’m not jealous?”

“No. Just. ..curious.” Tory brushed her ringers through Reese’s hair. “By the way, you have nothing to be jealous about.”

“It’s not that I don’t think you’re the most beautiful woman in the universe or the sexiest,” Reese noted seriously. “I still have no idea how KT ever let you go. I don’t imagine there’s one woman in Provincetown, married or not, who doesn’t have a crush on you.”

Tory laughed self-consciously. “Stop it. You’re embarrassing me.”

Once more, Reese regarded her lover intently. “It’s true. Every word.”

“Stop,” Tory whispered, her fingers trailing down Reese’s neck and over her chest. “Because God help me, I’m not going to be able to keep my hands off you if you don’t.”

Reese shifted in her seat, caught Tory’s hand, and drew it to her lips. She kissed Tory’s palm and then cradled her hand between her own. “I love you. You make me feel like the luckiest woman in the world. I know that whatever was going on back there was about one of you, or both of you, hurting.” She lifted Tory’s hand again and brushed it against her cheek. “If it’s you, I want to help.”

“I’m all right,” Tory murmured, struggling with unanticipated tears. “Let’s go sit on the beach. If we stay in here, I’m going to forget myself.”

Reese grinned. “Yeah?”

Tory leaned over and kissed her a slow, deep kiss. “Yeah. Grab the blanket out of the back, will you?”

“Uh-huh,” Reese muttered, her stomach tight and the conversation with her father forgotten. Almost.

Chapter Seventeen

Reese spread out the blanket in one of the many bowls of sand carved into the dunes by the wind and the rain. Once they were inside the natural shelter ten feet across and just as deep they were invisible to anyone passing by on the beach below, even had the night not been fast closing around them. The sky was so clear, the stars overhead so bright, that it seemed she could reach up and touch one. Fifty yards away, the ocean lay before them, its black surface broken by the crests of waves that sparkled like diamonds in the moonlight.

Carefully, Tory lowered herself to the blanket and stretched out on her side facing Reese. The crash of the surf and the swirling wind forced them to lean close together to be heard. Tory wrapped an arm around Reese’s waist and snuggled against her. She knew Reese’s body so well that she recognized the knots in her back as an unmistakable sign of tension.

“Tell me what happened with your father, sweetheart,” Tory said, starting to knead the tight muscles.

Reese shifted and settled Tory’s head against her shoulder. She sifted strands of Tory’s hair through her fingers as she spoke. “He came to talk to me about the wedding.”

“Ah, I guess he got your letter, then,” Tory remarked, recalling the note Reese had sent to her father telling him of Regina’s birth and their plans to be married. She’d enclosed a picture of the baby and had invited him to come to the ceremony. That had been almost a month ago, and they’d received no reply. “I can’t believe he came in person to discuss it.”

“He said he was on the east coast for an appropriations meeting.”

“Uh-huh.” Tory rubbed her hand up and down Reese’s back. “So what did he say about it?”

Reese sighed. “What you might expect. He repeated the military’s stance on homosexuality, warned me that I was putting my commission at risk, and argued that there was no point in doing that since our marriage had no legal standing anyhow.” She pressed her lips to Tory’s forehead briefly. “He was very reasonable and rational.”

“He didn’t threaten you with any kind of official action again, did he?” Tory was struggling to remain calm despite her fury that her lover should have to face this kind of irrational discrimination from her own father.

“No.” Unconsciously, Reese tightened her hold on Tory.

“I take it he isn’t coming?”

Reese laughed humorlessly. “Ah, no. ‘Fraid not.”

“I’m sorry, sweetheart.” Tory felt impotent, unable to offer her lover the one thing that Reese provided her so effortlessly. Comfort.

“It’s okay,” Reese murmured, closing her eyes and savoring the aroma of the sea and the delicate sun-kissed meadow scent that was uniquely Tory. “It’s not important whether he comes or not. What’s important to me is you and Regina.”

Tory heard the undercurrent of concern in Reese’s voice and had the sudden sickening sense that there was something even more serious at stake than Reese’s military position. “He came for some other reason too, though, didn’t he?”

Reese hesitated. “Nothing definite.”

Tory shook her head. “Don’t do that with me. Don’t try to protect me. I love you for it, but it’s not what I need.”

“I know.” Reese nestled her cheek to Tory’s. “He was circumspect because he had to be, but his message was clear. What we’ve been hearing about the unrest in the Middle East is only the tip of the iceberg. The situation is much worse than we think. That rumbling in the distance is war coming.”

“War.” Tory turned the word around in her mind. She didn’t remember much about the Vietnam War. Desert Storm had been over so quickly and, due to the strange immediacy of being able to watch it unfold nightly on CNN, had seemed almost unreal. “What does that mean?”

“I got the impression from the general, although he wouldn’t say anything specific, that a significant mobilization and deployment is likely within the next year.” Reese took a long breath. “If that happens, my reserve unit will be one of the first called. No matter what the situation, the Marines, especially the military police, always go in first.”