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“I guess I need to get another keychain made…”
“Absolutely.”
“My family is going to flip when they see these…” Emily laughed and saw his smile fade.
“Are they going to be mad?”
“No, I’m pretty sure they are going to understand.”
“Can we call… should we call? If this had all been normal, I would have spoken with your father so I could have asked his permission to marry you. I feel like I still need to, Em.”
“We’re already married – and they will ask you a ton of questions.”
“I don’t care,” John admitted, “because they are my in-laws now, and certainly entitled to ask what they want to know.”
“Then we can call, if this is what you want.”
“I need to.”
Emily nodded in understanding. This was important to him, and she could see it in his eyes. She slipped her hand in his as he pulled it up to his lips, kissing her knuckles.
“Let’s take these photos and head out.”
* * *
As they got backto the hotel room, she felt nervous realizing that several things were about to happen. Not only was she going to be alone with John in the official role of her husband… but she was about to break the news to her family.
Her mother was going to flip.
Her dad was going to go wild.
Her brother was never going to let her live this down…
And Karen would tell Jace… who would tell the entire team that John ‘X-Ray’ Masden had gotten married – and who was now Jace’s brother-in-law by marriage.
“How did you get the call sign X-Ray?” she asked suddenly.
“It’s a dumb reason and lucky timing,” John admitted. “We were running at the Air Force Academy, and I was in the second row. I’ll never forget that either. It was miserable out, pouring down rain, and we were trying to get back as quickly as possible… so we cut a corner to shave off a little time on the run, when I saw the car’s headlights.”
He swallowed, lost in the memories.
“I yanked on the collar of the two people in front of me, pulling them out of the way in the nick of time… but didn’t get the third guy in time. His foot got run over and broke a few bones from that driver who ran a stop sign.”
“It could have been so much worse…” Emily whispered, stunned.
“I know – and because when they told my commanding officer what happened, he said to me ‘What the heck, Masden? Have you got X-Ray vision or something?’…” John said gruffly, mocking the man’s voice before smiling. “And then I had to go finish my run, in the pouring rain… regardless.”
“Ughhh… I hate getting caught in the rain. It messes up my glasses something terrible and they fog up,” she said, making a face. “So, you became X-Ray regardless?”
“I was going to pick something that reflected where I came from, you know? LikeBayou,Cajun,SwampRat,Gator, or whatever…” he smiled and shrugged. “But I was X-Ray from there on out, and it just stuck.”
“I like it,” she smiled. “It sounds cool.”
“Thank you,” he replied and hesitated. “Ca va bien?How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine,” she answered, looking at him questioningly. “Why?”
“I wasn’t sure if you were sore or…” he hesitated and actually looked away shyly. “I thought maybe I would make you some hot tea if you wanted to soak in a bath while I talk to your parents.”
