Going to be out of commission for the ususal Wednesday morning update, so, I'm posting early. Very early.
In this chapter we get to meet my version of Annie's parents. You might not like one of them.
Girlwithoutfear and Mandy58 have had their say. Many thanks to them.
The usual disclaimer: Don't own. If I did it would be June 7th already.
The weeks between Halloween and Thanksgiving were filled with mundane comings and goings of Annie Walker and Auggie Anderson. Nothing more serious than a case of the sniffles happened in either of their lives. Nothing overly exciting happened either – no failed brush passes, no anxiety ridden rescues of compromised overseas officers, and no leaked secrets that led to compromised missions. Mundane. Boring. But considering the recent events, that was okay.
Well, that wasn't quite true. Annie stumbled across a seamstress that would make her wedding dress to her specifications. Annie had given the woman some ideas of what she was looking for and not finding in the retail markets. A few days later Annie had sketches and fabric swatches in hand. She finally chose the bodice from one sketch and the skirt from another to be melded into the perfect dress made in ivory silk taffeta. The bodice would have beading; very special beading that the seamstress nodded at and said would not be a problem. Annie breathed a sigh of relief. She'd have her dress in plenty of time for the May wedding. May was still six months away. Six months. Some days she thought that the day would never arrive. And others she wondered if it would all come together in time.
Monday of Thanksgiving week dawned cool and overcast in the greater DC area. Auggie had a very early morning assignment and had spent the night at his place so that he would not disturb Annie when he rose in the wee hours of the morning.
As he settled in behind his desk and began to turn his equipment on, he heard someone clear their throat behind him. "Stu?"
"Yeah, boss."
"What are you doing here so early?'
"Couldn't sleep. Thought you might like some back-up. Fresh coffee at your eleven."
"Thanks, Stu. Both for the coffee and for coming in. I might need your eyes," Auggie said calmly. Stu was a good worker, and, despite Auggie's attempts to keep the relationship purely boss/employee, becoming a good friend. Even though the wedding date was still months away, he and Annie had begun to discuss who to invite. Annie wanted small and intimate. Auggie had no problem with that and had but a few people beyond his family that he'd like to invite. Stu was one. Arthur and Joan were the others. He would not be where he was without any of them. Like Annie, Stu had become adept at anticipating and unobtrusively providing small actions that made his work life so much richer. He had not yet verbalized his personal guest list potentials to Annie.
"You know I've got your back, boss."
"And you know that I appreciate it. … Oh, Stu, start saving your pennies. You're probably going to get an invite to the wedding. It's going to be in Illinois instead of here."
"Thanks, Auggie. I've got some money put back already. Annie hinted that an invitation might be forthcoming a few days ago."
Auggie chucked softly under his breath. There Annie was again, crawling around in his head and knowing his thoughts even before he could think them.
Several hours later, Annie did wander into Auggie's office. Her arrival did not go unnoticed. Two of his favorite scents preceded her – her signature perfume and his favorite coffee. As she approached his desk, Auggie held out his left hand. Shortly the familiar Starbucks cup brushed against the back of it.
He took the cup with his left and assessed its snap on top with his right before lifting it the rest of the way to his mouth. A sip and a sigh later Auggie placed the cup on the right side of his desk. "Thanks, Annie. Besides bringing me a much needed coffee, what else brings you to my lair this morning?"
"I just wanted to lay my eyes on you and give you one of these," Annie said leaning in toward him. She planted a kiss on his cheek.
"No fair," Auggie exclaimed as Annie danced away from him. "I can't reciprocate."
"So? You'll just owe me one," Annie said playfully as she closed the door behind her.
# # # # #
On Wednesday afternoon, Joan came by the Tech Ops office and told Auggie that this year he was not going to be allowed in the building on Thursday or Friday. He began to protest that they were just ordinary days to him, but Joan insisted that this year they were not, nor would they be in the future unless the world was coming to an end. It took Auggie a few moments to understand what she was telling him. This year he was an engaged man and had a future family to make plans with. And in future years he would be a married man with his own family to have Thanksgiving dinner with. He knew that he'd be having dinner with the Brooks the next day.
Shortly after Joan left the office, Annie arrived to take him home.
"What did Joan want?" Annie asked as Auggie took her arm.
"Just told me she didn't want me in the building until Saturday. Did you have anything to do with that directive?"
"No, I did not," Annie replied innocently. "You think I've got any influence with Joan in any matter?"
"No, but you could have mentioned something to her and made her ban me from the building so you could have me for Thanksgiving dinner."
"This year I don't feel like I could make that demand on you. Next year, yes, but not this," Annie stated firmly. Truthfully. She hadn't said a thing to anyone about wanting Auggie to come to dinner with her at Danielle's house the next day. Her parents were coming and she wanted them to meet Auggie before the wedding.
"Do I have to wear a suit and tie to dinner?" Auggie asked as they entered the elevator.
"No, but dress slacks and a button down shirt with a tie," Annie replied. That's what Michael and my Dad will probably be wearing.
"Your Dad?" Auggie asked with alarm. "I didn't think that it would be anyone but you and your sister's family."
"Mom and Dad are part of the family," Annie countered. "I didn't know that they'd be coming too until this morning when Dani called and said that they'd arrived."
As they exited the elevator on the main floor, Auggie asked, "Your place or mine?"
# # # # #
On Thursday morning, Annie and Auggie awoke late. Very late. It was almost noon when they scrambled out of bed. The late evening of movies, and other physical pursuits, had wreaked havoc with their schedule. When she saw the time, Annie wondered why Danielle hadn't called her to get herself to the house to help with the prep work. Just as Annie stepped out of the shower her land line phone rang. She heard Auggie answer it and tell the caller that they'd overslept and were just about ready to head over.
Fifteen minutes later, Annie walked into her sister's dining room hand-in-hand with Auggie.
"Sorry we're late," Annie apologized as she and Auggie entered the dining room where she found everyone else already seated at the table.
"It's not like you to be unpunctual, Anne," Colonel Lyle Walker said firmly. "We expected to have a bit of time with you and your fiancée before we sat down to eat."
"Auggie and I had a late evening. I wanted some time then, too, but there'll be plenty of time after we eat to get to know each other. Mom, Dad, as you've probably guessed by now this is Auggie. August Anderson. Auggie, my Mom and Dad, retired Colonel Lyle Walker and Amanda Walker." When she mentioned that her father was a retired Colonel, Annie noticed that Auggie stood a bit straighter.
"Nice meeting you, Sir. Ma'am," Auggie said nodding his head in their general direction.
As she placed Auggie's hand on the back of one of the chairs and he slipped into it, she caught the puzzled looks on both her mother and father's faces. As she served him and then herself from the bowls and platters being passed around the table, their puzzled looks turned to reluctant understanding. Her whispered cues to Auggie about the placement of things on his plate and surrounding table, garnered steeled looks from her mother. From that point on conversation out of her mother was stilted; her looks at Auggie cold. Inwardly Annie cringed, she had seen those looks from her mother before – Amanda Walker was not a happy woman. Quick glances between Annie and Danielle told Annie that her sister was not exactly happy either – Annie didn't know who Danielle was mad at. Her? Or their mother? The others at the table seem oblivious to the quiet tension between Annie and her mother.
As the meal ended and the family disbursed into other parts of the house, Annie stole a quick glance at her father. At 59 Lyle Walker was still an imposing figure with ramrod straight military posture and bearing that oozed confidence and commanded respect. His hair was greyer than the last time Annie had seen her father, but she knew that under the gruff exterior he liked to present was a kind and sensitive man.
"That your future husband is blind is a pretty big thing to fail to mention, Anne Catherine," Colonel Lyle Walker said to his daughter after the others had left the table.
"I – I just didn't think about it, Dad. It's so much a part of who he is that I don't think about it much," Annie began. "You know that he was Special Forces; he was injured by an IED in Iraq. I know I mentioned that. What did you expect when I disclosed that?"
"I don't know, but certainly not blind without a visible scar on his body."
"Auggie's scars are inside and the same as any other soldier seriously wounded in battle, Dad. He won't talk about it, but I think he lost at least one man that day, too."
"You mean you think he was in charge on a failed mission? And not just a grunt?"
"Yes, Dad. He's college educated; did ROTC so he was at least a First Louey. He's got two Purple Hearts as well as a Bronze Star. He saw combat, Dad."
"If he won't talk about it, how do you know that he's been decorated?" Colonel Walker said as he sat back down in one of Danielle's dining room chairs.
"I've seen them. I've held them in my own two hands."
"Did he show them to you?"
"No, I came across them one day when I was helping him pick up his place. He was not happy that I'd found them. Said that he didn't deserve them."
"The bravest never seem to think they deserve accolades." Colonel Walker seemed to be tempering his view of Auggie.
"I know, Dad. I know. And Auggie's a very brave man," Annie said with pride.
"How long –" Annie's father began.
"Auggie's been blind a little over four years as best as I can tell. I don't know the date, or even the season of when he encountered the IED that took his sight. He mentioned the how briefly when we first met, but since then that subject has been taboo. He said that he'd tell me when he was ready. Frankly I don't much care about the when. Or even much about the how. I just know that I've come to love him despite his being blind. He is an amazing man, Dad. Give him a chance?"
"Oh, Anne dear, I do plan on giving him a chance. I think he has potential in the son-in-law department. Do you know when he did his SERE at Bragg?"
"He went right out of college, so around twelve years ago. I don't really know for sure. Some things just never got brought up in conversation. Why don't you go ask him?"
"I was planning on doing just that," Lyle Walker said as he got up and left the room
Annie smiled briefly. One mildly displeased parent had been diffused, she thought. What awaited her in the kitchen would be another matter altogether. She was not looking forward to the wrath of Amanda Walker. The sounds of angry dish scraping grew louder as she crossed the hall into the kitchen. Annie knew that they were not coming from Danielle. Annie took a deep breath just before she set foot in the kitchen. One look at Danielle's face and her upraised forearms Annie knew that she'd have to bear the full brunt of her mother's anger without her sister's assistance. Danielle had already tried, and failed, to calm their mother.
Her mother looked up from the dish she was slamming into the dishwasher. "The man's blind for god's sake, Anne. And you act like it's no big deal," Amanda Walker hissed as she began to violently scrape the remains of another plate into the garbage can.
"Mom, it's not a big deal. Not to him and certainly not to me," Annie retorted. "He's my best friend and the man that I intend to marry whether you like him or not!"
"You have to tell him what's on his plate, what's on the table in front of him," Amanda continued without appearing to have heard a word that her daughter had uttered.
"Yes, I give Auggie cues as to what's where. He could discover those things on his own but it's a lot less embarrassing for everyone if I give him cues," Annie stated without raising her voice to her mother.
"What else do you have to do for him? The man is dependent on you; you should be able to depend on him Anne Catherine. I will not stand by and quietly watch you throw your life away on a cripple."
"MOM! Auggie is not a cripple. How dare you use that term on him! He is a very brave and amazing man who just happens not to be able to see. I'm aware of what a life living with a blind man will entail. I'm willing to make the few accommodations that come with it."
"Can he at least support you?" Amanda Walker asked hostilely.
"Mrs. Walker, I am perfectly capable of supporting your daughter," Auggie stated evenly even though Annie could tell from the cadence of his words that he was seething inside. He had come up behind her sometime during her mother's tirade.
Annie turned toward him and looked at his face. There was hurt there, but overriding that was determination. "How much have you heard," she asked placing a hand on his chest.
"Enough," he said calmly. "You do not have to put up with this, Annie." Auggie placed his arm around Annie and ushered her out the back door.
Once they were in her rooms, Annie broke down. "Oh, Auggie," she sobbed into Auggie's shoulder. "I'm so sorry. I never, ever thought that my mother could be this cruel and narrow minded."
"It's okay, Annie," Auggie said softly, stroking Annie's hair. "I was bound to run into someone with her views of me sometime or other. I'm just sorry that it's upset you so," he tried to sooth her. "I'll just have to find a way to prove her wrong."
So, what do you think of the Walkers? Do you think there's any hope for Auggie winning Amanda over? Let me know what you think?