He stood on the sidewalk in front of the huge Hotel feeling like an idiot. Sweat ran down his neck and into the tight high collar of his uniform. Damn, it was a hot humid night in New York City. He didn't want to be here in the first place. He was uncomfortable at these affairs. He never knew what to say. He had nothing in common with any of the people who would be there except his friend.
He clutched the sword case and felt very self-conscious about it. A very long Limousine pulled up in front of him. The rear window slid down.
"Pardon me, are you waiting for a ride to the Baxter- Adams Wedding?"
He shook himself, "Yes I am."
"Well, jump in we are running late."
He slipped in the large limo and found himself sitting beside a very attractive young lady. He stared at her. Blond hair framed a gorgeous face and big blue eyes.
"Haven't you ever seen a girl before?"
"Sure, Ma'am, plenty of them, none as pretty as you though."
"Are you kidding me, that line is as old as the hills."
"I'm real sorry Ma'am, please forgive me, I only spoke the truth, I am not used to talking to girls. If I said something wrong, I am truly sorry."
"Never mind, what is your name?"
"I am Sean P. Murphy, Ma'am, actually I'm Sean P. Murphy the eighth."
"Nice to meet you Captain Murphy. My name is Susan G. Martinson. You may call me Missus Martinson. Are you married Captain?"
"No, Ma'am. Never found anyone I wanted to marry."
"What do you do in the Marine Corps?"
"I am an Attack/Fighter Pilot in FA-18 jets, Ma'am."
"Where are you stationed Captain Murphy?"
"Well, Missus Martinson, I am currently stationed at Marine Corps Air Station, Cherry Point, North Carolina."
"Are you a friend of Captain Mike Adams?"
"Yes I am, we have known each other for fourteen years, we were wives at the Naval academy."
"Wives?"
"Yes, wives, don't read something in that that is not there. Every Midshipman there refers to his roommates as his 'wife' or 'wives'."
"You must end up knowing them as well as a man would know his wife after living with him for years."
"You are correct about that, except there is no sex involved of course."
"Why, I had sex with my roomies in college."
"What?"
"You heard me."
"I guess it may have happened with some guys. I never heard of it though."
"Do you like girls?"
"Hell yes, I have very little experience with girls. But I can safely say I admire girls and love everything about them."
"What do you like about me?"
"Ah! Er, Umm, I guess I would say I like the way you look, the way you smell, and if I had the chance I would probably like the way you feel. I like your voice, your smile, and most everything about you."
"Are you sure you haven't had much to do with girls?"
"Yes, Mam. I am kind of scared of girls."
"For heavens sakes why?"
"I am afraid of the way they make me feel, I seem to say the wrong thing a lot. I am anything but smooth."
"I think you would do quite well with the ladies if you just gave yourself a chance."
"What kind of chance do I have, I have spent four years out of the last five in Iraq or on an Aircraft Carrier. When I am stateside I am usually stationed at Cherry Point. There are probably ten thousand single guys stationed there. Maybe a thousand eligible girls live anywhere around there. Most of their parents run Marines off with shotguns if their daughters get anywhere near them."
"Why, are Marines that bad?"
"No they are just like any other young guys, only they get transferred often and leave a lot of widows behind."
"Oh! My!"
"What do you do Missus Martinson? Do you have kids, a job, how do you keep busy?"
"No, I have no children and I do have a job. Well it is not a real job, I do volunteer work at a hospital five days a week, I love helping take care of the sick children."
"Your husband doesn't want you to work?"
"I don't have a husband, we are divorced."
"OH! I mean I'm sorry, Oh! No, I am really not, I mean I'm glad......... I mean, I'm all mixed up. Let me start over, please."
"You don't have to. It's OK."
"Do you see what I mean, I can't even talk right when I am with a beautiful woman. I'll probably start drooling next."
"I think you are very cute, you make me laugh."
"Hey! Please don't say I'm cute where anyone else can hear you. I think there is a law of some kind against big, tough as nails, Marines being called cute. I ruins our image."
"I think you are sweet too!"
"Hush Girl! They will drum me out of the Corps if some body hears you."
"Listen Captain Murphy, Stay with me after the wedding and I'll give you a ride back to the hotel. All right?"
"Yes Ma'am, that would be really great."
After the wedding Sean looked around for the girl. He finally saw her talking with a very large handsome man. She turned and started walking away from him. The big man grabbed her arm and pulled her back. He pulled her to his chest as she struggled against him. Sean hear her hiss, "Let me go you bastard, just let me go!"
Sean said, " Pardon me Susan, may I have this dance, may I cut in?" She looked at him and said, "Yes, I would love that, Sean."
The big man turned toward him and snarled, "Get the fuck out of here Soldier boy before I shove that toy sword up your ass."
Sean smiled at him. "I don't think it would fit, and I am sure you couldn't do it without a whole lot of help. I am not a little lady you can jerk around."
The large guy swung a large fist at Sean who easily slipped the punch and grasped the man's arm and twisted it up behind the man's back. Sean held upward pressure on the wrist and bent the hand backwards. The man screamed in pain. A crowd gathered around and Sean told the man he would release him if he would quiet down and apologize to the lady.
A couple of men told Sean to release the guy and they would take care of him. Sean slowly let the arm down but kept pressure on the hand and wrist. "Apologize and I'll let you go and we can all forget about it. OK?"
"All right, let me go." Sean released the man and the man spun around and tried to kick Sean in the balls. Sean turned away with the kick and it glanced off his thigh. Not connecting with the kick threw the big man off balance but he recovered quickly and threw another punch at the Marine. It caught Sean on the cheek as he tried to dodge it. Sean shrugged it off and grabbed the man's arm again and quickly subdued him. He jerked up on the arm and kicked the man's legs out from under him. The man screamed again and there was a sickening snap as Sean dropped on the man's arm with his knee. Sean jumped to his feet. He stepped away from the man on the floor. The man lay on the floor sobbing and crying in pain. Sean picked up his sword and gave a bow to the girl, "I am sorry if I caused you any embarrassment. It was not my intention to do so." He turned and started away. He felt little hands pull at his arm. "Please don't go! Please let me stop the bleeding from your cheek. Oh! No! It is ruining your beautiful uniform. Here, my hankie will stop it some."
"Hey, Sean," said a deep voice. "Are you OK?" They looked up to see the groom and bride standing there. Susan rushed to the bride and started crying that she was sorry she had ruined her wedding. Grace, the bride told her that it wasn't her fault her ex-husband had crashed the party. Grace said, "Honey, I know he was going to hurt you again. I just told the officer who had him in custody he was in violation of a court restraining order when he came near you."
Sean looked at Susan, "He hurt you before?" She nodded. "If I had known that I would had not been so gentle with him."
"Gentle?" smiled Grace.
Her new husband grinned at her, "Yeah! Gentle. You should see him when he is angry. I out weigh him by seventy pounds or more. I wouldn't dream of starting a fight with him. I have never seen him start one but I have never seen him loose one either."
Susan pulled his face down and gently wiped at his cheek. It had stopped bleeding. She dabbed at it tenderly then looked in his eyes. "Thank you so much." Then her soft warm lips pressed softly against his. He smiled, "Anytime girl, anytime at all. I can't stand to see any guy pick on a girl, I just hate it when they do that."
Susan just stared at him softly smiling. She turned to Grace, "I think I like this guy."
Grace smiled back, "I love him, almost as much as my man here. Mike talks about him all the time."
Susan took Sean by the hand and told the bride and groom they would be right back, she was going to try and get the blood off his uniform before it was set. She pulled him to a service area and had him remove his jacket. She searched in her purse and found a small spray container. She sprayed something on the blood and blotted at it with a paper towel. Several more applications and the stain was gone. Only a damp spot remained.
He grinned at her. "Wow! Thank you. I thought it was ruined."
"It's something my company makes. It works very well on most any stain if you get to it fast enough. I always carry some with me."
"Susan, if I may call you Susan, would you do me the honor of dancing with me?"
"Sean, I would love for you to call me Susan or Sue, and I would also love to dance with you."
They moved onto the dance floor. They danced with air-space between them at first but before long they were pressed against each other. They looked into each other's eyes as they moved about the floor. She pulled his head down and brushed her lips across his cut cheek. "Is it still hurting?"
"No, It feels better each time you do that. Would you like to get a cold drink and step out on the balcony and talk for awhile?"
"Yes, I would like that."
They found a bench where a cool breeze hit them. Neither of them touched their drinks. They just looked at each other.
"Sean, please tell me all about Sean Murphy."