First Comes Duty (The Hope Island Chronicles Book 2) Read Free Page A

Chief Flight Instructor.
    The trainees’ celebration quickly dissolved into a state of sour incredulity.
    Worsfold’s ludicrously cautious attitude began to wear thin with both students and instructors alike. Ensign Gillespie finally tagged the commander with the secret call sign “Wary Worsfold”. No one openly disagreed with the assessment. Other teams were getting further ahead of them, which did nothing to improve their sour mood.
    Nathan could not understand how someone of Worsfold’s background, a former fighter jock and monitor captain, could have become so circumspect. Monitor skippers were renowned for their aggression. They were said to have “fangs”. Thus far, Worsfold had acted like a mother hen with a brood of chicks rather than a warrior bent on producing offspring of similar persuasion.
    Next week they would say farewell to the routine of ANS Base Minos for three months. This section of training contained the most rigorous pressure of all: fail carrier qualification, and all the work done before counted for nothing. Nathan could hardly wait.
    He rounded the corner into the area set aside for the junior officers’ married quarters. The drab practicality of the base facilities fell away before uniformly neat rows of small bungalows. Complemented by white picket fences and modest garden plots, the bright white color of the buildings made the area feel as though it belonged in another reality.
    Entering the mundane billet, he once again marveled at what Livy had done with the place. As countless wives before her had done, she had taken the basic accommodation package and turned it into a home. Colorful curtains hung from the windows, pictures of family and friends festooned the living room, with a couple of spirited tapestries draped over the dreary walls. As usual, she hunched over the kitchen table, marking homework on her computer. For a time he felt content to simply take in her thick chestnut hair and fine lines.  
    “Hello my darlin’.” He hugged her around the shoulders.
    Livy leaned against his chest and sighed. His kiss lingered on her lips briefly. She had trained him not to interrupt her during work hours.
    “How was your day?” Nathan asked.
    “Good, and yours?”
    “Same old, same old. How have the mini-monsters been treating you?”
    “My students aren’t monsters,” she said, rising to the bait. “They’re adolescents.”
    “Same thing.” He grudgingly broke contact. “Is she up yet?”
    “No, so don’t disturb her. You know what you’ll have to do if she doesn’t get her sleep, don’t you?”
    “Yes, dear,” he said, talking through his nose. “I’ve got Kendo classes tonight, so I’m going to grab a quick shower and head out.”
    “Again?”
    “That’s the price of popularity.” 
    Nathan knew he shouldn’t, but couldn’t resist checking in. He opened the nursery door so quietly no sound came from the old hinges. With all of the stealth of a monitor he crept to the edge of the bassinet and peered in. Ellen Bernice Telford lay in the crib surrounded by white sheets and a menagerie of soft animal toys. Although she was only six months old, he could tell that she would develop her mother’s thick, lustrous hair. The fine-boned features were her mother’s, but she was most definitely daddy’s girl. He reached down to brush a strand of hair from her sweet little face, but resisted the urge. If she awoke now, she would awake again in the wee hours of the next morning and he would need to attend to her. Not that he minded.
    Nathan forced himself to leave and hit the shower. Two minutes of hot water followed by two minutes of cold swept away most of his fatigue. Dressed in a fresh flight suit, he grabbed the duffel containing his fighting suit, light armor and sword.
    Passing the nursery, Nathan checked in on his girl again. He tiptoed inside and stared into the bassinet, to be greeted by two large, grey eyes. The obscured blue flecks behind those eyes said