CHAPTER TWO

Eleanor knew that her entire world would change the day that Leif accepted her invitation to the dance. He was her hero, her crush, her future. At thirteen, she knew it to be true.

Growing up as one of four girls, nearly identical in every way, they shared everything. She knew her sisters' crushes. They knew hers. But hers never wavered.

She always had eyes on Leif Frode. How could she not? Brown hair and those brown eyes with the hints of green, so tall it looked as if he could touch the clouds.

At eighteen, she was confused, scared, and made a huge mistake. The biggest mistake of her life. She let him go. She left Belle Fleur at the end of the summer, just as he was getting out of boot camp, and headed to college with her sisters.

As they'd always done, they shared a dorm room. They shared a car. They shared classes. They shared laughter and tears. Never dates. Never boys. But they shared everything else in their lives.

She and Leif had promised to write, and they did. But it was benign, vanilla at best. She knew that she'd hurt his feelings, but in some ways, she was hurt as well. Why didn't he run after her? Why didn't he fight for her? In her juvenile mind, although she believed it was mature, he didn't love her as much as she loved him.

"I hope you're doing well."

"I hope you're having a good year. You should be a junior by now."

"Nothing new here, same old stuff. Mags is still her same old self. Em and Maddie still fighting for the remote."

"Walker misses Mags. Not sure if they're still seeing one another."

But not one word about their relationship. Nothing about the two of them. No word about dating other people. No mention of dating, marrying, fucking around, nothing. It was as if they both felt if it were mentioned, it would start a storm they couldn't withstand.

He never asked her about what she was studying, nor did he ask her about any plans after school. He knew that she was working on her master's degree but didn't even call to congratulate her when she finished. It was as if he were slowly cutting Ellie out of his life, and that cut was bleeding inside her at a rate she couldn't keep up with.

"Eleanor? Eleanor, did you hear me?" asked Jenny.

"Sorry, yes. I heard you. We arrive in Cairo tomorrow, and I'm supposed to meet with an extraction team there. I give them the information on the asset once I've located him from the contact, and they'll take it from there."

"That's right. This is not a good time to be an American in Egypt, Eleanor. You're going to need to stay covered. You have the dark hair, but the blue eyes and your skin are a dead giveaway. Try to stay hidden as much as possible behind sunglasses or hats."

"I know the deal," she nodded. "It will be fine. Do we know which team will be extracting the asset? I know SEAL team Bravo is in the area."

"No clue right now. It could be SEALs, Rangers, MARSOC, who knows. You know how they are; they think if they keep us in the dark, everything will go smoother. They need to worry about their own damn people snitching their location."

Ellie nodded, giving the woman a small smile.

"Sorry. I forget sometimes where you come from," said the woman.

"Where I come from doesn't matter. My father was a SEAL, and so were many of my friends, family, and classmates. I wanted to become an operative to ensure they get what they need, when they need it."

"And you've done a damn fine job, Eleanor. You've been highly successful in your role, and I anticipate a very long career for you at the agency." Ellie didn't say anything at first, just pushing an invisible piece of dust on her tray table.

"What if I don't want a long career?" she asked the woman. She stared at her from their seats across the aisle of the jet. "What if I want to go home and start a family? I'm not getting any younger."

"Is that what you want? Do you want to go back home, become a wife and mother?"

"I'm not sure. It's just something I've been thinking about lately."

"Well, I understand. You're in your early thirties, still young enough to have children and enjoy them. You've been in Virginia a long time now. Don't your sisters live in the area as well?"

"They do. Maddie works at the Pentagon, Mags is at Quantico, and Em is with the bureau."

"You Stanton sisters definitely have it covered," chuckled the woman. "Listen, Eleanor, I can't tell you what to do, what's best for you. But what I can tell you is that life is too short to not be happy. Whatever it is that makes you happy, gives you the giddy, schoolgirl feeling, find it and take it, and don't let go. I did. Once upon a time, I had it in my hand and let it fly away. Now, I'm a fifty-two-year-old woman with no husband, no children, and can't even keep my house plants alive. I'm doomed."

"You're not doomed," smiled Ellie. "It's never too late. Or at least that's what Mama Irene always says."

"You speak of this Mama Irene as if she's some sort of oracle. I need to meet this woman and gain some wisdom," smiled the woman.

"I guess in a way she is," said Ellie. "She's old, wise, youthful, knowledgeable, kind, sweet, grandmotherly, everything you could think of. All of us girls went to her for advice if we didn't want to go to Mom."

"Did you not want to go to your mom?" she asked.

"No, that's not what I meant. We definitely did, but our mother is a very cerebral woman. She's a soil specialist, you know, like dirt. Mom also felt that talking about sex was healthy, and she randomly would break into conversations about contraception or sex or an interesting book about sex she'd just read. She had her opinions on things and didn't vary much. I guess Dad did as well."

"I would imagine, as a SEAL, he would," laughed the older woman. "Your grandfather was a SEAL as well, wasn't he?"

"Yes, and my uncle and several others, as I mentioned," she nodded. Ellie squirmed a bit, wondering if she was sharing too much. These days, anyone can find the information they want, especially someone with the agency. But she'd been taught to stay tight-lipped about her family and especially about the people at Belle Fleur.

"Well, we don't have a lot of information about this asset. They went in as a guest of the Egyptian Guards, something about training troops. We were hoping they might find information about the illegal sale of weapons to our enemies. Worst part is, they're stealing them from our bases and selling what belongs to us."

"Still no name on this asset?" asked Ellie.

"No. I hate shit like this. We end up sitting around base for several days, wondering when it's all going to come to a head, and then shit starts to hit the fan. I like male eye candy as much as the next girl, but after a while, all these Marines, SEALs, and Rangers start to stink up the place with their bravado and sweat."

Ellie nodded, biting her lip as she stared out the window at nothing but desert.

"I know what you mean. I dated a Ranger once. I mean, he wasn't a Ranger when we were dating, although I guess technically, he was."

"You're not sure?" chuckled the woman.

"It's complicated. We grew up together and when I went to college and he went to basic, we took a break."

"Ah, the infamous break," smirked Jenny. "I've taken a few breaks in my day only to discover when I returned they didn't see ‘break' the same as I did."

"I'm afraid that's probably what happened to me. I thought I was giving him space to do what he needed to do. Funny thing is, we lived in the same area, and yet any time I was home, he wasn't there. Any time he was home, I wasn't there. It's like the universe was helping us to make a decision."

Jenny stared at the young woman, cocking her head sideways as she saw the sorrow in her face.

"You know, it seems to me you're not over this old friend. Closure is healthy, Ellie. If you want my advice, when this is done, find the young man and figure out what you want to do. If you're still feeling this way after more than ten years, I'd say that's a problem."

"I guess," she nodded. "I'm going to make my calls to my sisters."

"Go ahead. We won't be landing for another two hours." Jenny got up and moved to another seat, speaking with a few of the support personnel. She dialed Maddie first since she worked at the Pentagon and was usually in her office. The woman worked fifteen-hour days as a normal.

"Madison Stanton."

"Maddie, it's good to hear your voice," smiled Ellie.

"We had dinner together last week," laughed her sister.

"I know, but can't I tell you I'm glad to hear your voice? I miss you," she said. They always had the same calls when one of them was in the field. They needed their sisters to know they were going somewhere dangerous.

"Are you still thinking about what we spoke of?" asked Maddie. They'd all talked about going home soon and trying to settle into their own lives. Working this many hours as a young woman in D.C. didn't allow for much dating.

"I am. I just think it might be time for me, Maddie."

"Have you talked to him? Reached out to him at all to see what he's doing?"

"No."

"Ellie, you're going to be fucking miserable if he brings home some girl and settles in at Belle Fleur."

"No. No, I won't. I promise. If that happens, then fate had that planned. I abide by Mama Irene's logic. Things happen as they should. Anyway, I don't want to talk about that. I just wanted to tell you that I love you, and I'll be home soon."

"Ellie, be careful. I have a weird feeling about this one. Have you spoken to Mags or Em?"

"Not yet. I'll call them next."

"Good luck. Mags is pissed about something and hasn't responded to me all week."

"She's probably pissed because you sent a drink to that guy at the bar the other night and said it was from her. He wouldn't leave her alone the rest of the night."

"We were just having fun. Besides, he was good-looking, and she needs to get laid. Seriously. She needs good sex before she loses her damn mind." Ellie laughed, shaking her head at her sister.

"I know what you mean, but let her decide that. I love you, Maddie."

"Love you, El." She ended the call and then tried Magnolia, or Mags as she was affectionately known. Like her sister, she was often working well into the night at her office in Quantico. Specialized in training counterintelligence, she worked with anyone who walked through the doors of Quantico.

"You've reached Magnolia Stanton. I'm away from my phone right now. If it's important, leave me a message. If it's not. Don't call back." Ellie laughed, shaking her head. That was her sister.

"Mags, it's me Ellie. Just want to say hi, and I love you." She immediately dialed the number for Emelia, who was a rising star with the FBI. She was probably home by now unless she was working a case.

"Emelia Stanton."

"Em, it's Ellie."

"Hey, I'm super busy. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Just wanted to call and tell you I love you." They knew what that was code for.

"How long?"

"A week, maybe two."

"Call me when you get back, El. Love you."

"Love you," she said, ending the call.

The four had made a pact about their jobs, vowing not to tell their parents that they were active in the field with their respective agencies. Although they could have called in favors to find out, the girls trusted that they would not.

When the four of them left for college, they all wanted to study human behavior, psychology, and criminal justice. And they did. Resulting in four brilliant young women, identical women, working for four different defense branches of government.

Closing her eyes, she knew that she could get about ninety minutes of sleep before they landed. After that, it might be days before she got a good night's rest.

For now, she closed her eyes and saw the face of a handsome eighteen-year-old boy. One that she desperately missed.