That exchange and comment made everyone around
the table laugh for a moment. Lt. General McBride quickly made a comment to
General Davis. "I told you nothing keeps him down for long. The only thing
he has more of than brains and brawn, is nerve. It never occurred to me that
these two might actually connect when I had him assigned to Mach One, but it
should have. He has the makings of a fine officer, Bill. Sarah was right, he
has done nothing wrong. I think Pat is right too. We all need to relax and just
enjoy the evening. He is our guest after all." That was when Brigadier
General Holmes spoke up. "As a matter of fact you should know that he has
more than earned the right to be here. He is the top cadet in academics in his
class and that is saying something. You see, he tested out of several of the normal
first year classes. In fact, he is taking a class with upperclassmen and is
still tops in the class. I can honestly say I am not sure he has more nerve
than he does brains. He is one of the sharpest young men I have ever seen here.
Unless something drastic changes I have little doubt that he will graduate at
or very near the top of his class."
That announcement sobered everyone up
again. James knew that the last
standings hadn't yet been posted, so this was news to him. He had been in a
virtual tie for the top spot with several cadets at last word. After the drinks
arrived they all placed orders or went to fill plates if they didn't need
something cooked up special. James and Sarah went to the buffet line as did
most of the women. The men remained at the table to order steaks, before going
to get salad and appetizers for themselves. James received several words of
encouragement from the ladies. Even the commandant Major General Mary Ann
Stevens complimented him on how he had handled himself. James was relieved when
they moved on and left him with Sarah. Sarah just laughed and filled her plate
before speaking quietly to James. "Relax James, the lions are being fed,
you should be safe until at least midnight!" James wasn't amused, but Sarah
seemed to be. He decided to wait before having more than a salad. At the moment
his stomach was still a bit queasy and the buffet stayed open until an hour
after the New Year. They both took their time about getting ready to return to
the table. Sarah seemed to be fairly calm, but James wasn't looking forward to
facing all those stars again.
Unfortunately it wasn't the actual officers
he had to deal with this time. The spouses started asking questions and soon
they wanted to hear the story about his Ironman run. Lt. General McBride
finally had to tell the entire story. Once forced to it by Patricia he didn't
spare any details either. After he was finished he had a good stiff drink and
watched James closely. This time it was Catherine, Cathy, who spoke up into the
silence. "Well, I can certainly understand why you seemed so nervous now
James. That isn't something that will be forgotten, or unfortunately forgiven.
I can also see why Sarah has taken such an interest in you. I will admit I was
concerned that she might just have fallen for a good looking man acting like
prince charming. But it seems like you are more the knight in shining armor
type, although I don't think you like it when someone notices." Pat chimed
in on that. "No, I don't think he likes it at all, but he still does what
he believes is right. I can certainly understand why you reacted as you did
too, Bill. I wasn't aware of any of this, but I seldom do hear any of the good
gossip from you and I can see why nobody else mentioned this either. It must be
very uncomfortable to have a young man willing to stand up against what he
believes to be wrong with nothing more than his faith to back him."
Lt. General McBride spoke up then. "Uncomfortable, but very much
needed. Don't be too hard on your husband Patricia. I am on the way out. Bill
is still on the way up and his niece is just starting. I placed James in Mach
One to try and change things. Things have gone wrong at the Academy and in the
Air Force as a whole. It is time for something to change. I think it can be changed given some time and
the right sort of push. I figured it was about time I did a little pushing
before I left for good and Cooper seemed to be the perfect tool. If he can
stand in Mach One, which he seems to be doing very well, I think Mach One will
ease up. If that happens so will the rest of the Academy and over time the
entire Air Force. Cooper may be a fine young man and future officer, but he has
been given the equivalent of an armed nuclear bomb to disarm. If that isn't bad
enough he has no training to deal with it and he must do it alone. Bill has a
right to be concerned about Sarah becoming involved. I wouldn't have done this
if I had thought Sarah would become involved."
Sarah laughed. "You all need to chill
out a little. I am perfectly capable of handling this and so is James. I don't
believe you would have put him here if you didn't believe that too, sir. Why
don't we just let all of this go for tonight and enjoy the party? Life is too
short to worry about could be or should be all of the time." Then she
turned to James and smiled. "You may be Cadet James Andrew Cooper, top in
his class and Ironman extreme to them, but tonight you are just James Cooper,
my date." James smiled and lifted his drink. "I can drink to
that." They both did just that and then he added another comment.
"Frankly I am a little confused by all of this. Everyone seems to be
concerned about me and as far as I can tell I am no danger at all. Sarah you
have proven to be far more dangerous in my opinion than I will ever be. I just
thought you were a good Christian and friend. Tonight I find out that you have
a Senator and the commander of the entire North American Air Force watching out
over you... and people think I am a threat?"
That finally did seem to loosen up things
for good. Everyone was laughing when the food arrived. The conversations became
much friendlier and stayed away from anything to do with the military or the
Academy. Later they went into the area reserved for dancing and ringing in the
New Year. Sarah and James danced a lot of dances and he did end up dancing with
most of the women from the table too.
Actually there were very few dances that either Sarah or James weren't
on the floor. The only way to avoid dancing was to move to another room and
join one of the smaller parties. They did that quite often after realizing it
was their only hope of escaping another dance. James soon figured out what
'plan' Sarah had, or at least he thought he did. She had made a point of
telling anyone who he hadn't seen at the dinner about the time spent with her
uncle and the others, although she was careful to not call her uncle anything
except General Davis.
It was soon clear that she intended to use
that association to make everyone hesitate where James was concerned.
Apparently even the folks who had no idea about the family connection she had
were aware that she was under the eyes of General Davis. Now they would likely
assume that James was also under his eyes. That would discourage anyone doing
anything Davis might not like. The time passed faster than he had thought
possible in a situation like this had been. He also had a lot more fun than he
had expected. Sarah seemed to be glowing as the night progressed. Once General
Davis even commented to James about that "I have to admit. I can't ever
remember seeing Sarah this happy at a function. I haven't seen her smiling or
laughing like this in years." He had grinned at James then. "Keep
this up and I might even learn to like you... maybe!" As he started to
walk away James heard him add another comment he wasn't sure he was meant to
hear. "Her dad may be another matter though."
As they gathered to watch the countdown Sarah leaned in close and
whispered to James. "It is totally up to you... and it may cause you more
trouble than you know. But I would like for you to kiss me at the stroke of
midnight. I mean really kiss me... but only if you want too. I hope you do want
to kiss me... I would like that very, very, much." She stayed there
looking up at him and gave him a very shy smile as she blushed. James looked
down at her unable to say anything. Lord she was beautiful and she wanted him
to kiss her... to really kiss her. They were still looking at each other when
he heard the crowd calling out the final countdown. James leaned down as she
rose up on her tiptoes. She was barefoot and had been for some time. He did
kiss her at the stroke of midnight and was still kissing her well after. They
held that kiss long enough for most of the crowd to notice them... though they
never noticed the crowd at all.
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