A Marine Affair Read Free Page B

on her forehead before sitting down on the edge of the bed. “Give me my nephew.”
    Her lips curved into a beaming smile. “Uncle Eli, please let me introduce you to Mitchell.”
    Mitch .
    The name punched him in the gut. His smile wavered and he accepted the baby carefully. The ruddy, scrunched up face was still wrinkly, but a thatch of auburn hair crowned his head. “You named him after….”
    “Yeah.” Christina put a hand on his leg and squeezed. “I talked to Phil about it and he agreed with me.”
    Their baby brother—eleven months younger than Christina—nearly three years younger than Eli. He hadn’t lived to see his nineteenth birthday.
    “Hello, Mitchell.” He looked down at the baby, memorizing his features. He didn’t always get to hold them this young—the last had been Emily. He’d only met Lucy and Kate after they were nine and eighteen months respectively. “He’s tiny.”
    “Hmm, he didn’t feel that tiny when I pushed him out.” His sister leaned back against the pillows. “You okay with the name?”
    “Of course.” He frowned at her. Traces of exhaustion lined her eyes, dark smudges of tiredness—but also worry and anxiety. “Mitch would have loved it.”
    “We don’t talk about him that often. Mom cried.” Of course she did. Mitch had been the golden child—the baby—the one everyone looked after. He showered the world in sunshine and disguised all the cracks underneath until it was too late.
    “Yeah, but Mom cries when they show baby birds on television.” He fixed his sister with a stern look. “Kind of like you.”
    Christina laughed. “Yeah, so I’m a sap.”
    “You could have told me over the phone, you know. I wouldn’t have minded.”
    “Yeah, but you always get a little funny when we talk about him. I didn’t want to distract you on your assignment. Speaking of which, are you going to be home longer than five minutes this time?”
    “Haven’t gotten my orders yet, but I report to the Marine Barracks in a few days so we’ll see.” He studied the baby in his arms. “And, sweetie, you can talk to me about Mitch anytime you want. I miss our baby brother, too.” Ignoring the fist around his heart proved more difficult, but he maintained his steadiness. She needed him to be strong. It seemed coming home tested his strength. Like stubborn ex-lovers showing up at the airport. Rick had slept on the couch the night before and Eli drove him back to the airport to get his car before heading to his sister’s house.
    He hadn’t expected the man to stay, but he liked that he had. Clearing his throat, he found Christina staring at him. “What?”
    “Nothing. It just blows me away sometimes how sweet you are.”
    He frowned. “Shh, I’m not sweet. I’m a badass. We’ve had this discussion.”
    “Of course you are—and you look adorable with a baby in your arms. What do you think about coming to dinner this Friday and meeting Cindy, she’s….”
    Eli sighed. They’d made it a whole quarter of an hour. “The only girls I plan to see this leave are downstairs enjoying their presents. You keep it up and I’ll dump you for them, too. I don’t want to be fixed up, hooked up, introduced, or otherwise pimped out.” If he didn’t cut her off now, he’d be inundated with potential girlfriends.
    “Eli, you’re thirty-five. You have what? Another ten? Maybe fifteen years and they’ll make you retire. You should have a wife and kids and someone waiting for you at home. Someone to come home to.”
    “I have plenty of someones to come home to. Don’t I, Mitchell?” He glanced at his nephew again. “Someone to teach real ball toss to. No offense to your dad Mitch—but Phil can’t throw worth a damn. I’ll make sure you know what you need to make the teams.”
    His sister made a rude noise and he ignored her. She blustered on, but he tuned it out. They went through the same argument on every trip and if he let her carry on, she’d get over it. He had plenty