“Only if you consider having dinner with the incoming governor of this great state, and his family, boring,” boomed Patrick O’Leary as he walked up behind Amber. “I’ve reserved a room at a local restaurant for dinner this evening. I already spoke to the coach about allowing Steve to remain behind while the others travel back to Sparta on the team bus. He’s agreed, providing someone is willing to offer Steve a ride home. Would any of you consider doing me that small favor?”
“We will!” responded Gwen and Kate simultaneously, before breaking into laughter.
“That’s settled then,” chuckled Patrick O’Leary. “Now, will you ladies join me for dinner once Steve is dressed? I understand that Dr. Masters and Ms. Anderson are going to bandage him up one final time this afternoon. Hopefully that won’t take too long, and then we’ll meet for dinner.”
Gwen and her family and friends were standing near the locker room entrance when Jared White and a couple of other players strolled out. Seeing Gwen, he headed in her direction.
“I was going to try to talk you into forgetting Steve and going out with me, but now that I see your three sisters standing here, I don’t know which one of you to ask,” revealed Jared shaking his head sadly. “This is a real problem.”
“Three sisters?” asked Gwen as she followed Jared’s eyes. “I have two sisters. Who did you think was my other … my Mom?”
“Your mom?” replied Jared, as he tried to act surprised. “I thought she was your sister.”
“You guys are all alike! You’ve seen Mom at tons of school events. You knew she was my mother. You’re a smooth tongued devil, Jared! I’m going to have to warn Steve about you.”
“Just don’t tell your father,” chuckled Jared. “I almost forgot, the locker room is empty now. You ladies can tend to your ailing superstar. How one guy can attract so many babes is beyond me!”
The Anderson women, Angela Walker, and Dr. Masters all laughed as they headed for the locker room. Lisa’s two friends had declined the dinner invitation knowing the governor wanted to meet with the group from Sparta, and had gone back to their dorm. Steve sat on the bench in front of his locker when the group entered the room. He was wearing his sneakers, jeans, and a smile.
“I’ve missed you more than you’ll ever know,” stated Lisa, as she rushed to be the first to Steve. She carefully sat on his lap and gently touched his chest. Then she kissed him on the lips and stood up, wiping her eyes.
“When I watched that video of the river rescue, my heart was in my throat. We came so close to losing you. Gwen would’ve been destroyed. Kate and I wouldn’t have been much better. Thank God that Gwen was there and so determined to keep you safe,” cried Lisa quietly, before sniffling and turning to her family. “Now let’s get this guy trussed up so we can feed him.”
Paula had been surprised at the depth of Lisa’s emotions when she saw Steve. It had been obvious that Kate had a big time crush on her sister’s boyfriend, but Lisa surprised her. She was older and had gone out with quite a few boys over the years. Still, it was obvious that Lisa was drawn to Steve. If Gwen were not her sister, realized Paula, she’d be working to make Steve hers.
Steve had begun to stand up when Lisa had hurried up to him and dropped into his lap. He saw the concern mixed with sadness in Lisa’s eyes as she leaned in to kiss him. He knew that if he hadn’t fallen so fast and so hard for Gwen, Lisa would occupy all of his thoughts. She was sexy, smart, fit and amazingly beautiful. With the exception of Gwen, Steve had never seen Lisa’s equal, although Kate was rapidly getting there.
As Laura and Gwen worked on getting Steve bandaged, Kate decided to quiz him. “Did you tell the governor’s daughter that I was drop dead gorgeous? Did you mean it? Do you really think that, or did she make it up?”
Steve blushed a little, then smiled. “I did mention that Gwen had some attractive sisters. I don’t know if I used the term ‘drop dead gorgeous’ or ‘supermodel looks and figures’. I know it was one or the other, or maybe even both. Are you upset at me for talking about you, Kate?”
“Yeah, I’m pissed!” responded Kate. “I’d have your babies right now if I could!”
“Kate!” scolded her shocked mother. “Ladies don’t talk like that! You were way out of line. You’ve probably embarrassed Steve with that outburst.”
“This is quite a family unit,” laughed Laura. “It’s a good thing your daughters are so close to each other or there’d be hell to pay. This guy’s managed to cast a spell over three gorgeous sisters. Normally, that’s a formula for disaster, but I’ve seen how Lisa and Kate stick up for Gwen, and how proud they are of her. That puts this whole thing on a different level. It’s quite touching, actually.”
Steve had been surprised at Lisa’s emotions, and was stunned at Kate’s declaration. Kate had made no bones about her feelings for him, but his talk about treating her like a sister should have solved that situation. He realized that he had to always be careful to not mislead Lisa or Kate. He’d do anything for them, but Gwen was the sister for him. Of that, he was certain.
“Okay, Steve you can put your shirt on now. Sorry, ladies,” grinned Laura. “Let’s get to dinner so we can all find out how it happens that Steve’s on a first name basis with the governor-elect and his family. Maybe he’ll fill us in during the ride to the restaurant? No, scratch that idea since Angela will be driving her car, and she won’t want to miss this soap opera.”
Steve had no illusions of keeping anything from the Anderson’s and friends any longer. Amber had given him enough time to talk to Gwen. As it turned out, Gwen had seen Amber and Steve having dinner that evening. That caused her to be less than eager to be alone with him. It was only in the last couple days that Gwen showed signs of forgiving him for a sin he didn’t really commit, but which had upset her greatly.
Patrick and Janice O’Leary greeted them warmly as they entered the private room he had reserved. “Thank you all for coming! I’m so excited to meet all of you. Steve has really done well for himself. That’s no surprise. He’s made some wonderful friends in a relatively short time. Of course, he did have a lot of promotion. Dancing and swimming with the lovely ‘Lady in Red’, saving small children from a watery grave, leading his football team to the state championship, and shattering all sorts of records in the process will garner more than a little attention.”
Steve had been warmly greeted by Amber again as she hugged him hard and then kissed him on the lips. He was a little surprised at how warmly Janice O’Leary greeted him. She was a very attractive woman approaching fifty, with red hair and fair skin, like her daughter. After hugging him, she also planted a very friendly kiss on his lips and then hugged him again.
This did not go unnoticed by the Anderson party. Paula and Lisa exchanged glances while Angela Walker worked to conceal her disapproval. Gwen simply reached out and took Steve’s hand and squeezed it, signaling to the other women in the room that he was her man.
“I see that you can tell that both Janice and Amber are fawning all over Steve. You’re wondering about it, so I assume that Steve didn’t find the time to tell you about our trip to Afghanistan last year. Please be seated. We’ll order our meal and then you’ll get to hear a little story that should clear up quite a few questions you may have,” promised Patrick O’Leary.
Once the orders had been given, the future governor began his story. “I was a Congressman last year at this time. I was on a congressional committee that has oversight on matters concerning foreign relations. Along with several other Congressmen, I was scheduled to visit Afghanistan to view firsthand the progress our forces had made there. Somehow, Janice and Amber convinced me to take them along.
“In my defense, I did ask the state department if it would be safe and I was assured that it would be. Several other Congressmen also brought some family members. We landed in Kabul on a Tuesday afternoon and were scheduled to tour north of the city the next day. The state department advised that it wouldn’t be wise to take any of our family on that trip, as it was an ‘unsettled’ area.
“To demonstrate how well the Afghan forces were doing in their training, a couple dozen were assigned to protect our families while we were touring the northern area. It happened that we ran into Bill and Steve Hammer while we were there. Bill was a Navy Seal Commander and Steve was his son. They had just returned to Kabul on a flight from Germany. Janice, Amber and I had the great pleasure of dining with them the evening we all had arrived.”
Kate had gasped when she heard that Steve’s father was a Navy Seal. The rest of the group managed to keep their reaction under check. Steve had told them that his father had died in combat over a year ago. Now they were hearing that the O’Leary family had met Steve and his dad in Afghanistan.
“Steve was a big kid, even a year ago. He was well over six feet tall and well muscled, as I’m sure you ladies have noticed. His dad was an older version of Steve. One had only to look at Bill once, to know that he was a very capable man. We shared stories over dinner, including the fact that we were going north the next day and leaving our families in the capable hands of the Afghan military, along with four American Marines.”