Christmas Cookies

"Good evening", he barked. "Do you know who I am?"

Startled she stood, saluted and stammered, "Yes sir. You are Admiral William Thompson the chief executive officer of this hospital."

"This gentleman is a U.S. Senator who chairs the oversight committee for all naval hospitals, in addition to other important committees. He, also, is a close personal friend of the gentleman in front of you along with his family. Now, Mr. Schneider asked you a question and I expect you to provide him with the information he requested. He and his family are to have unlimited access to Lieutenant Steiger anytime, day or night. Do I make myself clear?"

"Aye, aye sir", she replied and quickly sat back at her computer. "He is in room 1801. Just go down the hall to the third bank of elevators. Go to the eighteenth floor. His room is just across from the nurses station and I do apologize for my rudeness to you."

Admiral Thompson, after shaking hands with John and my father, excused himself to go back to his office before heading home. Mom told me to go up to see Eric and she, daddy and John would stay here in the lobby and wait for me.

When I arrived on the eighteenth floor I was met by a nurse, who had been alerted by the receptionist downstairs, and escorted to Eric's room.

"He's sleeping now", she said. "He had a bad day today with all the traveling he's done in the past forty-eight hours and was in considerable pain. The doctor has ordered some pain medication in addition to the IVs for fluids and antibiotics."

She pulled a chair over to his bedside and said, "stay as long as you like. If you need anything please don't hesitate to ask. I'll be just across the corridor at the nursing station."

As I sat there gazing at his face for the first time I realized just how handsome he really was. Grasping his hand I began talking to him in a soft voice.

"Eric, darling, it's me Catherine. I never imagined our first meeting would take place like this but I don't care. You're alive and I love you so very, very much."

As I sat there with my thoughts time seemed to stand still. I felt a hand on my shoulder and looking up saw my mother's face. "Honey it's been over two hours. We need to get to the hotel and get some sleep. You will want to be here bright and early when he wakes up tomorrow."

Getting up from my chair I leaned over his bed and kissed him lightly on his lips and whispered in his ear. "Good night sweetheart. I'll see you in the morning."

Chapter Nine

I was already awake early in the morning when the night duty nurse stopped in and asked how I felt. My reply was, "I feel great. Much better than yesterday. I slept really well last night but had the strangest dream."

"Do you remember it?" she asked.

"Sure do. My hand was being held and a woman was telling me how much she loved me and just before she left she kissed me", I responded. "Strange dream, huh?"

"That was no dream lieutenant. There was a young lady in here last night. She stayed until a little after two this morning before an older woman, her mother I think, came and got her. I saw her kiss you as she was leaving. She told me she would be back this morning as they left. Oh, and by the way here's some mail that finally caught up with you."

She handed me a large envelope containing about a dozen unopened letters and the letter I had been reading before I crumpled it up. There was a note from Kincaid telling me to read the entire letter, things were not what they seemed.

I re-read the letter and when I got to the part where I stopped and crumpled the letter I turned to the next page and continued.

Eric, this is very hard for me to write this to you. I never thought or expected this would happen, but I have fallen in love and you should know. The man I fell in love with and (second page)

the man I want to spend the rest of my life with is you. Even though I have never seen you in person, I feel as if I have known you all of my life. I have felt this way for a long time now but was afraid to tell you for fear that you would not have the same feelings toward me. Finally, I got the courage to tell you how much I love you.

Please write and, if I am way off base, tell me and I'll . . . . oh, I don't know what I'll do. But please don't keep me in suspense.

Judging from the date on the letter it was mailed over six weeks ago. Even though the circumstances behind me not responding to her letter were beyond my control what must she be thinking? Had she moved on and forgotten about me? All of a sudden the good feelings I awoke with were gone, replaced with sadness and a deep depression.

It wasn't fifteen minutes later when a doctor and a tech, pushing a portable x-ray machine, entered my room. He informed me that they were going to remove both my casts and take some pictures of my arm and leg.

After removing the casts the doctor remarked how dirty and smelly my leg was and after they had taken the x-rays he would have a nurse come in and clean me up. As the doctor left after taking the x-rays he repeated that someone would be in shortly to give me a sponge bath.

As I laid there in my misery with my eyes closed I sensed someone come into the room. I opened my eyes and everything was blurred from crying. Blinking away the tears I saw the woman was not wearing a nurse's uniform.

"Eric, the doctor ordered a sponge bath for you and I am here to do it", she announced.

I finally was able to focus my eyes and look at her face. Oh, my God! It was Catherine. I recognized her from the photograph she had sent me some months past. A nurse entered the room just then with a basin of warm water and some dry towels.

Catherine turned and said to her, "Hi. I am Catherine Schneider. As you can see from Lieutenant Steiger's chart I have been given unlimited access to him by Admiral Thompson." Taking the basin from her she continued, "I'll give him all the attention he deserves."

I finally regained my voice and stuttered, "when . . . how did you find me?"

"Shsss. All in good time. First let me clean you up. You know this is one of the first things they taught us how to do in nursing school", she replied.

Using the wash cloth from the basin and tube of moisturizing soap she began to gently clean my leg starting at my ankle and gently moving up to my thigh. God! Her hands felt so good and all of a sudden I realized I had an erection. Blushing furiously I tried to pull the bottom of my hospital gown down without much success. She looked at me, smiled and without saying a word took one of the towels and placed it over my manhood.

Just as she finished and had replaced the sheet and blanket back over me the doctor walked back into the room.

"Good news", he said. "Your arm and leg are healing quite nicely. I am going to replace both your casts with lightweight fiberglass ones. Can't do much about your ribs other than keeping your chest tightly wrapped. Doctor Lee has ordered a MRI for this afternoon to determine the extent of your internal injuries and a CAT scan of your head. He doesn't anticipate any problems but he wants to be on the safe side."

Turning to Catherine he asked, "has the nurse been in to get him cleaned up yet?"

"Yes", she answered. "He's squeaky clean now."

"Ok. Someone will be along shortly to move you down to a treatment room so I can replace the casts", he said to me.

Turning back to Catherine he asked, "and who might you be?"

"I am Catherine, Catherine Schneider", she replied.

"Oh. You're the one . . . the one with special privileges. Well, you are welcome to remain here or accompany the lieutenant to the treatment room."

"I think I'll go with him. We haven't seen each other in a long, long time and . . . . "

"I understand", he interrupted. "I understand completely", he said winking at me as he left.

Pulling the chair back alongside his bed I sat and held his hand.

"Catherine we have to talk. I am so confused. How did you find me and what are these special privileges you have that everybody seems to know about but me?"

I quickly explained to Eric how frantic and depressed I had been when his letters stopped coming. I told him how my father had contacted his long time friend, a U.S. Senator, for help in finding him. Then I began telling him about last night when we arrived at the hospital and how the Senator had contacted Admiral Thompson who arranged for me to have unlimited access. At that point of my story my mother and father entered the room and I introduced them to Eric.

My mother then went on to explain how distraught I had been in the weeks prior to finding him and how relieved they had been after the Senator had called disclosing my whereabouts.

My father then stepped up, and shaking Eric's good hand, echoed mom's feelings. "Young man, you have no idea what a relief it is for my daughter, as well as my wife and me, to be here with you today."

We were able to talk for about forty-five minutes before an orderly came with a gurney to move Eric to a treatment room to have his arm and leg re-cast. Mom and dad said their good-byes as I accompanied Eric down the hallway to a nearby treatment room. When the casts were re-applied I went with him and waited while he underwent the MRI and CAT scans.

Several hours later we were back in his room and he began explaining why he had initially believed the last letter he read was another 'Dear John' letter and had not discovered the truth until that very morning. When he showed me the letter and I looked at it I easily saw why he was confused. "Oh, Eric. I am so sorry. Can you ever forgive me?"

"Catherine", he replied, "it's me that is begging you to forgive me. I should have known better than to think you would ever do that to me. I'm such an idiot."

Handing me the large envelope from which he had taken my last letter from he said, "in here is my letter pad. I want you to read a letter I wrote to you about three or four month ago."

I opened the envelope, found the pad and extracted a folded sheet of paper and read the first few lines. With tears in my eyes, I threw both arms around his neck and placing my head on his shoulder began sobbing. "You love me . . you love me", I repeated over and over again.

Chapter Ten

Over the next ten days Catherine and her mom and dad visited me every day. One day her father announced that it was time for them to go home. Before I could say a word, Catherine announce she was staying until I was discharged from the hospital.

"Of course", her father said. "I wouldn't have expected anything else. If you need anything, anything at all just call me sweetheart."

The weeks flew by with Catherine spending every day with me. She was there when I woke up in the morning and didn't leave until I fell asleep in the evening. She went with me and helped with my physical therapy as well accompanying me to all the tests the doctors put me through to assess my mental condition after recovering from the severe concussion I had experienced.

Finally, in late November, the doctors were ready to discharge me from the hospital. They were concerned about where I would live since I still needed someone to look after me and I had no living relatives.

"He's coming home with me", she told them adamantly.

Looking at me she went on, "and there will be no argument from you either."

So on the Monday before Thanksgiving I left the hospital. Catherine explained to me that we would be flying to her home out west.

"How were you able to get tickets? It's just before the holidays. Aren't all the flights booked?" I asked.

"Oh, we are not flying commercial", she replied. "Daddy is flying us home himself."

When we arrived at the airport we went to the private side of the field. Rolling through a security gate we drove onto the apron and up to a Gulfstream business jet. Standing beside the boarding steps stood her father with a big smile on his face.

Turning to Catherine with a grin on my face I said, "I don't think you told me everything about your family."

"All in good time", she said kissing me before opening the door of the limo. "All in good time."

Carl Schneider assisted me up the steps of the boarding steps into the cabin of his jet. Catherine followed along after seeing that the limo driver safely loaded her luggage and my own into the baggage compartment of the plane.

"We'll be leaving in ten minutes just as soon as my flight plans are cleared and I get the latest weather report. We should be home in about five and a half hours after wheels up", he informed us. "So sit back and enjoy the flight. I know I will."

On the flight to Catherine's home she talked at length to me about her family, her father's law firm and his relationship with the Senator.

"Catherine, your father obviously likes me. But I hardly know him. What gives?" I asked.

"Two reasons, Eric", she answered. "Number one: He loves me and has always trusted my judgement. He wants me to be happy and you make me happy. So he is happy. Number two: When we were searching for you he asked the Senator to find out everything there was to know about you. What he learned impressed him very, very much. He told me that you were a man that he could trust to love me and take care of me the rest of my life. Daddy told me all about your war record and how you risked your life to save five of your men from certain death when you were ambushed. He respects you and your willingness to sacrifice everything, including your own life, for the men under your command. That's why."

Five and a half hours later we landed at a small private airfield. Taxiing into a hanger Carl shut the engines down and made his way back into the cabin from the cockpit.

"Well, we're home. I love flying, especially in such nice weather", he remarked. "Your mother is already here and ready to take us home."

Sure enough when the cabin door opened I saw Mary Schneider standing alongside a large black Lincoln SUV with a big smile on her face. Carl helped me down the boarding steps as I still was somewhat unsteady on my feet after my long hospital stay. As soon as I had both feet safely on the hanger floor he released my arm and Catherine replaced him at my side.

Mary quickly joined us and attached herself to my other arm. "It's wonderful to have you here, Eric. You look so much better than the last time I saw you."

"Thank you. It's really nice of you to invite me into your home for the holidays", I replied.

Just then Carl joined us after opening the hatch to the luggage compartment and supervising loading of all of our luggage into the back of the SUV. The two women walked me over to the car and I opened the front passenger side door for Mary and the rear door for Catherine. I slid in beside Catherine and fastened my shoulder safety belt. Catherine sat right next to me fastening the middle seat belt.

"It's about an hour's drive to get to the house. I feel a little tired and I want to snuggle up to you and close my eyes for a bit", she said as Carl drove out the gate from the airfield and onto the highway.

I must have fallen asleep, as well, because the next thing I remembered was waking up when the the SUV stopped momentarily to allow an iron gate to open allowing us to proceed up a long driveway. As soon as we stopped an older man came down the steps from the front porch and approached the car.

Dinner is ready he informed us as we made our way up the steps to the front door. "I'll see to the luggage after we eat."

Leading the way to the kitchen Carl and the man spoke quietly to one another. Entering into the kitchen I saw a large table with six place settings off to one side.

"Oh where are my manners?" Carl said. "Let me introduce you to Charles Williamson and his wife Martha. Charles has worked with me for almost forty years now. I was ten years old when he came here and he has been like a second father to me."

I was somewhat confused. Were Charles and Martha employees or . . .?

The answer would be soon forthcoming.

"Please sit down", Mary said as she, Martha and Catherine proceeded to put dinner on the table.

Catherine turned to me and explained that Charles and Martha were more than employees. "I've known them all my life. They are family. I think of them as my third set of grandparents."

Sitting around the table and listening to the conversation that evening I realized that they were family. I thought to myself that I would have given anything to have had this type of relationship in my life. After dinner Charles excused himself from the table and left the room. He returned in about fifteen minutes to rejoin us. We continued to talk over dessert and coffee for at least another hour.

"Oh my gosh. Look at the time", Catherine exclaimed. "You must be exhausted, Eric. I'll show you your room just as soon as I finish helping mother and Martha with the dishes."

Standing up from the table, Carl invited Charles and me into his study for a drink while the girls finished cleaning up the kitchen. Floor to ceiling bookcases occupied three walls of the room. A large fireplace filled the fourth wall with leather chairs and a sofa arranged in front of the hearth. A large walnut desk and comfortable desk chair completed the room's furnishings.

"Please, sit down while I fix us a drink. Brandy ok with you?" he asked.

While Carl was busy pouring the brandy, Charles walked to the mantle, removed a match and lit the fire. A few minutes later the ladies rejoined us and Carl poured them each a glass of sherry. The conservation continued with Mary and Martha asking me how I was recovering from my injuries. Catherine grasped my arm a little tighter as I explained how my recovery was progressing and how much of a role Catherine had played in it. About that time Catherine stood and informed them that it was time for me to say goodnight and she would escort me to my room.

The four of them rose and Charles said, "I placed your luggage in your room and took the liberty to unpack for you. Your uniforms are hanging in the closet and the rest of your things are in the dresser. If there is anything you need, please do not hesitate to call upon me."

After kissing her mother, father, Martha and Charles on the cheek goodnight she walked me out of the study over to the staircase.

"Can you make it up the stairs", she inquired. "Mom and dad's room is on the second floor", she explained to me. "My room is also on the second floor", she continued. "Your room is on the third floor."

It took me a while to climb the stairs to the third floor but I made it. She opened the door to a large, spacious room. In addition to the kingsize bed, there were two comfortable chairs and a small sofa in front of a fireplace.

Opening a door Catherine showed me the walk-in closet with my uniforms hanging neatly inside. There was a dresser in the closet where my underwear, socks and t-shirts were folded. Opening another door she showed me the bathroom where my shaving kit was set out on the marble counter top. The bathroom had a whirlpool tub and a large tiled shower.

"Oh, did I mention that I'll be moving my room across the hall from you just in case you need anything during the night."

As she turned to leave, I reached out and grabbed, her turning her around and into my arms. As she tilted her face upwards I leaned down and kissed her. She threw her arms around my neck and passionately returned the kiss.

"Oh my God, Eric you have no idea how long I've wanted to do that", she said breaking from my embrace.

After several more minutes of increasingly heated kisses I broke away.

"Sweetheart, I have to stop now or I won't be able to and I don't want you to break your promise." I whispered as I gently led her to the door.

The following morning as we went down the stairs she stopped me on the mid-floor landing. Climbing up one step, so we were at eye level, she wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me close whispering in my ear, "Thank you. I was so ready last night that I forgot all about the promise I made to my mother to save myself until my wedding night. I don't know how I would have felt about myself this morning knowing I broke that promise."