Masters at Arms (Rescue Me Saga, #0.5)(47)

Marc turned away. He sure as hell wasn’t a hero. The heroes were people like Miller and Orlando. Like Gino.

“I was just doing my job, Mama.”

“Well,” said Papa, “we want you to know we’re proud of you, son. The whole family is so proud of you.”

Marc looked from one to the other. While having them be proud of him wasn’t his goal or even anything he cared about, for some strange reason, the words made him feel better. Then Mama wrapped her arms around him. She hadn’t done that since he was a little boy. He’d always been in trouble, and was more likely than his brothers to be punished. Marc put his arms around her shoulders and hugged her in return.

“I hated that you joined the military, Marco. But that was just because of Gino…. I didn’t want you to…”

Marc pulled away to look down into her eyes. Tears streamed down her face and she did nothing to wipe them away this time. Papa wrapped an arm around her, too, obviously as stunned by her emotional state as Marc was.

“Mama, you won’t believe this, but I’m actually serving with Gino’s unit. With his master sergeant even.”

“No!”

When Mama looked as though she’d collapse, he and Papa grabbed her by either side and guided her to the only chair in the room. Marc was careful not to dislodge his IV. He hadn’t told her before because he didn’t want to remind her, but needed to tell them what he’d learned.

“Master Sergeant Montague told me about Gino. Mama, Papa, Gino was a real hero, a brave Marine. He saved a man’s life.”

His mother rocked herself. Seeing her exhibiting such maternal emotions shook Marc to the core. She’d hardly cried when she’d heard about Gino, at least not in front of him. Something inside his chest broke, as loud as if his rib had cracked. He’d never thought of her as being vulnerable. Of course, Gino was special to her. His brother always had been her favorite one. For good reason. He’d never given Mama any trouble.

Easier to love.

Marc hunkered down beside her chair, but his legs began to shake and his lungs grew tighter and tighter. He wanted to comfort his mother, but his head grew light. When he gasped for a breath, Mama looked up, “Marco, you must get into bed!” She motioned for Papa to help her get him to the bed. They guided him to the bed. Marc collapsed against the pillows, trying to catch his breath. Damn. He hated feeling so f*cking weak and helpless.

“Go get the nurse, Papa,” Mama said, lifting his feet into the bed and pulling the sheet up over him.

Between his gasps for air, Marc said: “No nurse, Mama…I’m fine…Just moved too fast…Hard to catch my breath still.”

But Papa had already left for the nurse’s station. Marc could have pointed out that there was a call button, but instead focused on catching a decent breath. When would he be able to breathe normally again?

“Here, take a sip of this.” Mama held a straw to his lips and he sucked down the ice-cold water. Even something as simple as that left him shaky.

“What’s up, Doc?”

The blonde nurse who had checked him onto the floor bounced in and quickly checked his pulse.

“Just a little dizzy and short of breath. Moved too fast.”

“Well, hon, you’d better stay in bed a while and save those moves for later.” She wiggled her eyebrows and he smiled. She’d been flirting with him since he’d arrived this morning.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Your parents have been camped out all night waiting for your flight to get in. You got away from them while they were out to get a bite of breakfast.”

Marc’s chest squeezed tight. “Yeah, we were just…catching up now.”

Her smile faded as she helped him to sit up in the bed and pressed her stethoscope against the middle of his back. “Take as deep a breath as you can for me without hurting yourself.”

He did the best he could, although it was anything but deep, then he felt the familiar hitch in his side.

“Good enough for now. I’m going to torture you with the spirometer later, though, so you’d better rest up. Don’t want you catching pneumonia on top of that hemothorax.” She helped him lie back down against the pillow. He grunted from the exertion.

“Maybe we should leave and let you get some rest,” Papa said.

“I want to stay,” Mama said to him, then looked down at Marc. “If you don’t mind, Marco. I promise not to upset you again.”

“You didn’t upset me, Mama. I’m glad you’re both here. But I’m afraid I won’t be much company. It’s all I can do to keep my eyes open.”

Mama pressed her warm fingers against his forehead and drew them down over his face to close his eyelids. “Just sleep, my son. We’ll be here if you need us.”

The next thing Marc remembered was opening his eyes and seeing that Papa had found himself a chair and he and Mama were huddled together, their sleeping heads leaning on one another, hands clasped together.

Sweet. He couldn’t picture himself growing old with a woman. He liked women too much to settle for one. Besides, you had to let your guard down if you were going to let someone that close. He didn’t want to be that vulnerable to a woman ever again.

He turned away. For now, he’d like to get stronger so he could see if the blonde nurse was all talk and no action. Somehow, though, he pictured she might be the one into wielding the whip.