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It seemed hours passed before any additional information was released, and then the names of the injured were read Neither Jeff nor Rush were listed Lindy didn’t knohether to be happy or terrified The only choices that reically escaped the explosion or were a those listed as dead

Steve was at Lindy’s side aswhat he could One look at her brother told Lindy he suspected the worst As much as she could, Lindy tried to be positive If Rush had died in the explosion, she reasoned, she would have felt it Deep within her heart, she would have felt a part of herself die She wouldn’t be this cal

People milled around everywhere Wives, children, parents Rather than sit and worry, Lindy– sometimes all three at once

It hen she turned to find Steve at her side that she kneord had finally coh She looked up to the brother she had always loved, the brother who had shielded her from whatever pain he could, and Lindy smiled She realized at the time how odd that was

Her brother slipped his arrief and pain

"Rush is listed as "

Chapter Thirteen

"What do you ?" Lindy asked "Rush couldn’t have just disappeared" It astonished her how cal so as mundane as the tide tables or what to fix for dinner

"Lindy, I think you should prepare yourself for the worst"

"That would be silly," she said, turning back to the little boy she’d been talking to and purposely ignoring her brother, "Rush is fine I know he is There’s been so to be furious when he learns the way the navy has everyone so worried about him"

"Lindy…" Steve hesitated, and his brow creased in thick folds of concern and regret "I hope to God you’re right"

"Of course I am"

Steve left her then and Lindy sank into an empty chair Her hands shook so badly that she clenched the crescents of pain into her pals, until her whole body felt as if it were consumed by uncontrollable spasms

Susan took the chair beside Lindy and wrapped her oeater around Lindy’s shoulders Susan held it there until so seeped away and a steady warmth invaded her limbs

Lindy tried to smile, failed, and whispered one word "Jeff?"

"He’s fine"

Lindy nodded once "Good"

"They’ll find him, Lindy," Susan said, her voice thick with conviction, although she was struggling with her own fears "I know they will Jeff won’t let anyone rest until they do"

"I know" Lindy remembered how Susan had once told her that she didn’t worry so much about Jeff at sea because she always knew Rush would be there to watch out for her husband The truth of what Susan was telling her noas the only slender thread Lindy had to hang on to Jeff would turn hell upside down until he learned what had happened to Rush

Soon the other wives joined Lindy, scooting their chairs and for No one tried to build her up with false hopes No one suggested she try to eat or get soht into the information center for those ished to stay Lindy insisted the other wives go back to their families, but each one in turn refused They were special sisters, bonded together in ways that were thicker than blood

"No one’s leaving until we find out what happened to Rush," Susan said, speaking for theht in the cots provided Lindy tried, but couldn’t Every tih her mind, and she was convinced she could hear Rush cry out in torment As the hours slowly, methodically ticked away, Lindy sat and stared into space In the darkest part of the night, surrounded by silence, she tried to prepare herself to accept Rush’s death, but every ti pain stabbed through her that she shoved the thought frohtht in the followingand the others ate, but Lindy kneould be i down

Susan handed her a glass of orange juice "You didn’t eat anything yesterday Try this," she said softly, insistently "You’re going to need your strength"

Lindy wanted to argue with her friend but hadn’t the fortitude "Okay"

Another eternity passed, a lifetied like weeks, seconds that could have been days And still they waited

"He’s dead," Lindy sobbed to the others late that afternoon, although just saying the words aloud nearly crippled her "I know it I can feel it in one"

"You don’t know it," Susan argued, and her own eyes shone brightly with unshed tears Her hands tre a silent prayer

"Don’t even say it," Sissy cried, her face streaked with ers with her own and knelt in front of her, her gaze holding Lindy’s "He’s alive until we know otherwise Hold tight to that, Lindy It’s all we’ve got"

Lindy nodded, her eyes so blurred with tears that when she looked up to find her brother standing over her, she couldn’t read his expression A powerful netic force drove her to her feet