“Are you pre-approved for a loan?” the realtor asked.
“No, but it won’t be an issue.” He pointed to the price on the listing sheet. “I’ll do the loan application the day after Christmas at my bank. "
“You do realize it can take several weeks to a month for loan documents to be processed.”
“None of my coworkers have ever had an issue. They’ve gotten the thumbs up from our bank within days of their applications,” he said with a shrug.
“Excuse us for a second, please,” Donna said to the realtor. She pulled Rich into the living room. “Rich, their homes cost less than this one. Are you sure it won’t be a problem?”
He leaned into her and brought his lips beside her ear. “Donna, I could pay cash for this house if I wanted to, but I don’t. I’ll sell my condo to replace the funds I’ll use for the down-payment, butthe purchase won’t be contingent on the sale of it. Hell, I guess I could just pay cash and then take out the equity loan on it to keep it simple. My parents did that one time we moved.”
She stared at him in disbelief. “How do you have that much money saved?”
“I haven’t spent much over the years. I was in the Sandbox for several deployments, so I didn’t spend much then. And my mom helped me with investments that did really well over the years.” He shrugged again.
“You made that much money in the Marine Corps?” she asked.
“In addition to my base pay at my rank, I got hazardous duty pay and other deployment and hostile territory stipends. And Shepherd pays well, so yeah, I made that much.”
Donna was floored by that revelation. And then a feeling of guilt settled over her. He’d be spending all the money that he’d saved over the last decade or more on a home for her and her kids. “What had you planned to spend that money on while you saved it?”
He pressed his lips to hers. When he pulled back, he grinned. “A home for my family.”
Whiskey
Burke pulled into the parking garage beside the Shepherd Security Building. “We have a private parking area,” he said as he drove down the ramp that led to the two sub-basement levels. At the gate that separated sub-basement level one from two, he pressed his palm to the panel and entered his code. The gate rolled open. “As I’m sure you’d guess, we have tight security enacted.”
“I would think so,” Dorthea said.
Donna’s eyes went wide at the set of two security garage doors that came next. And when the minivan emerged into the small underground parking lot that was jam-packed with cars, she gasped aloud. “Just how big is this team dinner?”
Burke chuckled. “Well, it’s every team member and their families.”
“I guess I didn’t realize how big the agency is that you and Laura Lee work for,” Donna said, her gaze sweeping over all the vehicles.
Burke parked behind Wilson’s pickup. It looked as if he was one of the last to arrive. The parking area was full. As the elevator rose to the ninth floor, to where the party was located in the newly renovated multipurpose room on the secure side of the building, Burke noticed that Donna was quiet and appeared nervous. He knew once they were in the room, she’d be okay.
Outside the open double doors leading into the crowded and noisy room, several coat racks were positioned. They were overflowing with coats. Burke helped to hang everyone’s coats up on the only rack with a couple of hangers left. Donna dried her palms on her jeans, suddenly feeling underdressed for the dinner after seeing a few of the women inside who were dressed much nicer.
They made their way through the people, who all greeted them warmly, to a long table where Laura Lee and Brad sat. Standing beside the table were Jimmy Wilson and Rae. Seeing familiar faces helped to calm her anxiety about being in this room full of strangers. She watched Lilly and another little girl play with toys that were in the nearby corner of the room.
Upon seeing them, the two little girls ran right up to her kids as they approached. “Hi,” they both greeted her kids. “Want to play?” Just then, a little boy who looked to be about three or four years old ran up too. A much younger girl toddled behind him, trailed by a young blonde woman. She scooped up the littlest girl.
“Hi Elizabeth,” Burke greeted her. “This is Donna, Laura Lee’s sister, and their mother, Dorthea,” he introduced. “And her kids, Elijah, Jayden, and Jeriah.”
Elizabeth extended her hand first to the elder woman. “Mrs. Saxton, hello, it’s nice to meet you.” Then she repeated the greeting with Donna and all three kids. “My daughter, Olivia.” She held her little girl upright. “Also known as my little escape artist.”
The four adults laughed.
“We have a little play area set up for the kids over there,” Elizabeth said, pointing to the corner of the room where the two little girls had been playing. “Dinner is running about a half an hour late, so you might as well let the kids play for a bit. Having them all sit too long isn’t going to be good.” She laughed again.
Across the room, Donna noticed a Christmas tree and tables that were set up for the buffet but did not contain food yet.
“Do you guys want to play for a bit?” she asked her kids, who excitedly ran over to the play corner with the two little girls.
“I’ll be over there watching Sammy and Olivia. I’ll keep an eye on your daughter,” Elizabeth volunteered. “Not that there’s anything over there they can hurt themselves on.”
“That’s nice of you. Thank you. I’ll keep an eye on her from here as well and rush over if there're any issues. She playsindependently and gets along with most kids. Plus, the boys are used to keeping watch over their sister.”
