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"I suppose he told you about Cheryl?" She squared her shoulders and stiffened her spine in a defiant gesture She knew there’d been someone else, but Rush hadn’t filled in the details She hadn’t told hi about Paul, either "Did he?" Steve pressed "No," she flared

"You’reabout his past"

"I love Rush and he loves me That’s all I need" Lindy was painfully conscious of her brother’s adverse feelings toward her and Rush, but she was at a loss to understand his hostility Unless his divorce had coe

Steve shook his head, his face pinched in a deep frown "I’est mistake of your life, Lindy Kyle"

She stepped into the roohan, now"

Chapter Eleven

Susan Dwyerher inside the house A group of wo room and snized several of the faces fro dinner, but re all their names would have been i her head toward the others She took the only available chair and crossed her long legs, hoping she gave the appearance of being at ease Susan had invited her over for a late lunch the week before, but her friend hadn’t mentioned that anyone else would be present

"I thought it was tiot to know some of the other wives," Susan said as ato say it, I will," an attractive blonde ide blue eyes piped up "We’re all anxious to get to know you better"

"We’ve all been crazy about Rush for years I’m Mary, by the way"

"I’m Paula," the blonde who’d spoken first added

"Hello, Mary and Paula" Lindy raised her hand

Four of the others quickly introduced theet the wives’ packet?" Joanna wanted to know scooting to the edge of her seat

Lindy’s eyes shot to Susan "I don’t think so" The Mitchell had been gone almost a month now and because Lindy had been so busy with her job and worrying about her brother, she hadn’t been able to get together with Susan as soon as she’d wanted

"I’ll take care of that right now" Joanna opened a briefcase and brought out a thick packet She stood and delivered it to Lindy "This is a little so the navy hands out to neives so they aren’t cootten the -your-sea-legs-while-still-on-land idea," Susan explained

Lindy opened the packet to find several brochures and booklets There was one on the social custouidelines for the wives of co officers and executive officers, another on overseaave the history of the US Navy

"An issue of Wifeline should be in there, too"

"Joanna’s one of the ombudsmen for the Mitchell" Susan explained

Lindy wasn’t sure what thatshe didn’t sound completely stupid

Joanna must have read the confusion in her eyes, because she added "I act as a liaison between the co, come to me"

"Wonder Woman here will take care of it for you," Sissy commented and sh"

"I’m not completely sure I understand," Lindy adh Steve had been in the service fifteen years, as long as Rush, Lindy had little technical understanding of the way the ive you an exaainst her lips while she thought "Let’s say you get sick and need to go to the hospital when Rush is on a cruise, and there’s some kind of screwup there and they won’t take you"

"Call Joanna" Seven voices chimed in unison

"I see"

Joanna playfully cocked her head and slanted her h "Mainly my job is to be sure that no one feels they need to face a problem alone When youto the navy now just as ot a problem there will always be soood to know" Lindy hadn’t thought about it before, but what Joanna said e that so sense of belonging Although she knew Susan was her friend, Jeff’s wife had been her only contact with Rush’s life

"When the guys are around there aren’t that ether and help each other," Sissy added, and a couple of the others nodded their agreement

"What do you uys around?" Mary, a slim redhead, cried "I don’t suppose anyone happened toresponsibilities and…"

"Hey, the poor girl just gotjust yet"

"No," Lindy interrupted "I want to know"

"It’s just that we –ives – are left to handle the domestic situations when the men are at sea It’s not as if we have a whole lot of choice in the ot to do it But then once our husbands sail home we’re supposed to return to the docile role of wife and mother and automatically let the men take over Soine it would," Lindy said thoughtfully, and sighed inwardly Briefly she wondered what probleht about the shifting roles they’d need to play in their fa, but she’d only been a bride for a month and didn’t want to anticipate trouble