Till Death Us Do Part Read online

  TILL DEATH

  US DO PART

  Cristina Slough

  TILL DEATH US DO PART

  Copyright © 2015 by Cristina Slough.

  All rights reserved.

  First Print Edition: December 2015

  Limitless Publishing, LLC

  Kailua, HI 96734

  www.limitlesspublishing.com

  Formatting: Limitless Publishing

  ISBN-13: 978-1-68058-430-1

  ISBN-10: 1-68058-430-8

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to locales, events, business establishments, or actual persons—living or dead—is entirely coincidental.

  DEDICATION

  This book is dedicated to the man that I would choose in ten thousand lifetimes—my husband, Adam, and the life we created together—our son, Lucas.

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Prologue

  Mimi

  London, 2011

  Mimi had been dreaming of a storm. Heavy rain, violent claps of thunder, and lightning flashing simultaneously.

  She saw Joel reaching out for her, his body bloody and wet. She awoke in the darkened room. It was 2:17 a.m., 6:47 a.m. in Afghanistan, and the exact time she had woken up for three nights in a row.

  She slipped out of bed, her pyjama bottoms loose around her ever-shrinking waist. The air was freezing. She dashed across the room to wrap herself in the fleecy dressing gown her mother had just bought her for Christmas.

  Her stomach growled, begging for food. She couldn’t eat. She clicked onto her Twitter feed to check for more updates about the suicide bombing in Kabul which had claimed at least six. Two were American Marines.

  Mimi had contacted the Embassy several times, but nobody could tell her anything. The pain of not knowing was taking away her ability to breathe normally. The silence was too loud. She had tried to remember their last conversation. Did she tell him that she loved him? Words so quick to fall off the tongue to end a phone call. Love you, bye.

  Often she had felt like being the wife of a Marine meant she was holding a grenade. She was always waiting for a letter, waiting to hear his voice, waiting for news that he was alive or dead.

  She hadn’t known how deeply this war would affect her. She remembered the morning she first learned of the Gulf War in 1991. Mimi’s older sister, Larna, ran into her small bedroom in a complete meltdown. “Mimi, war has started!” She recalled the fear she felt. She was only eight years old. When she realised that the war wasn’t in England, she’d cried with relief.

  Somehow, throughout her life, Mimi knew war with the Middle East was going to directly affect her eventually. Her premonition was confirmed the day she met Joel Marcus.

  In the bitter silence, Mimi was left with nothing but her own whirling thoughts. Memories flitted in and out. Knots kneaded together in her stomach, its grip tightening. She was stuck on a waltzer of panic.

  “Why?” She had asked Joel many times. He had never met her gaze. He’d always change the subject in an effort to avoid giving her the answer she desperately craved.

  She needed to understand. What was the driving force steering the man she loved to the front line? Why did he choose to offer his life for a war that was never going to reach a peace treaty, a war full of bloodshed, a price too many lives had already paid with no signs of the bloodshed ending?

  Then, one day, as they watched an anniversary special of 9/11 at Mimi’s London flat, he asked her a question asked by so many before him when the subject of 9/11 was raised. “Where were you?”

  She had told him that she was at work. It was one of those moments in history that people knew just where they were and just what they were doing. She recalled her colleague had delivered the news to her. Mimi remembered going into the break-out area, watching the breaking bulletin, and wondering, was this really happening?

  She had recalled the images of that day. It was imprinted in her memory. She’d watched the play-by-play footage of the plane exploding on impact, demolishing at least six floors. Torrents of smoke appeared to be throwing out a backfire of orange fireballs. She remembered the very moment she saw a dark eerie shadow come into view. Then, when the second plane hit, it had occurred to her that what she was watching wasn’t some tragic accident.

  When Mimi’s colleagues started filtering back into the office, the question on everybody’s lips was, “have you heard…? Have you seen…?” Barnard & Millban, the company Mimi worked for, was American-owned. Calls were made to family members and colleagues overseas to ensure they were okay. Although the images were truly horrific, Mimi found herself hungry for more information. She wanted to know the ins and outs as to why such evil had been inflicted. And then…she wondered about the most morbidly, thought-provoking question.

  Jump or burn?

  Mimi understood why the people in the towers wanted to jump. She couldn’t even begin to imagine the heat in those buildings, the intensity of those fierce flames. For Mimi, jumping indicated choice, falling into a final act of hope.

  The next day, news of the terror attacks dominated the media. It was the first time Mimi had heard the name Osama bin Laden, the terrorist leader of Al-Qaeda. The papers printed a gallery of images of the doomed towers with the headlines: “War Comes to America,” “War on the World,” and then the Daily Mail’s photo of the dark, evil cloud of smoke with one word, one powerful meaning: “Apocalypse.”

  President Bush confirmed the terror attack. He called it “a mass murder.” He said the American military was prepared.

  There was a ripple of shock throughout the day. Many lives were changed forever. It was a day that changed history. The world was at war!

  After she had shared her recollection with Joel, he rested his hands firmly on her shoulders. He surprised her by giving the answer to the question she asked him so many times before.

  “Now you know why I’m doing this. It was all because of that day.”

  Chapter 1

  California, 2010

  Mimi’s legs rested on the dashboard of the white rented Jeep. She was now Mrs. Marcus. She liked how that sounded and how her engagement ring and wedding band complemented each other, dazzling in the brilliant sunshine. Beside her, Joel was humming along to a country song blaring out from the radio. They had left the buzzing city of San Francisco, having done all the touristy things like visiting Alcatraz and watching the sea lions lazing around the decks on Pier 39.

  Now they were headed to Yosemite National Park. Mimi felt nervous
as they drove up and around the tight, winding bends. She’d gripped the handle of the passenger door so much her tanned knuckles turned as white as snow. Joel shot her a sideways look.

  “Don’t you trust my driving?” he teased.

  “It’s not about your driving, darling. It’s that drop. We are six thousand feet above sea level!”

  “I love it when you call me darling. It’s so British.”

  “I am British. And I’ll be keeping your American ass in check.”

  “Don’t you mean arse?” Joel said in a terrible English accent.

  A few miles on, the road finally evened out. They pulled over. Mimi stepped out from the car in her flip flops and inhaled the fresh air, closing her eyes. Joel leant against the car, holding his camera against his chest. He said, “This place is amazing.”

  “It really is.”

  “Do you want to explore a little?” Joel asked.

  “I’d love to.”

  They walked through a trail off a beaten pathway. Mimi walked with caution, occasionally stopping to remove her flip flops and shake out some stones and gritty dirt.

  “Wow, look at that,” Mimi shouted over the pounding sound of a waterfall. There were flowers nearby that smelled like sweet honey.

  Joel removed his vest, his body lean and muscular. He had several tattoos and a couple of scars. One was from childhood. He’d fallen off his bike and cut the top of his left arm. The other scar was from boot camp, where he was trying to look impressive by climbing the wall too quickly. He’d fallen backwards and ripped open his shoulder.

  Mimi pulled her long dark hair into a ponytail. She watched Joel wander off.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Taking it all in,” he replied, stretching his arms out wide.

  Mimi dipped her toes into the bubbly water, which felt surprisingly warm.

  “Hold on to this memory. Right here, right now,” Joel yelled and smiled.

  She knew she had to listen to him and savour this moment because in just a few short weeks, he would be deployed to Afghanistan. It would be his second tour. Mimi felt that going for a second stint would probably be more dangerous than the first because luck runs out. The first time he was deployed, she hadn’t known him. She hadn’t loved him.

  I don’t want you to go. She would never ask him not to because, by doing that, she would be asking him to be a whole other person. Joel was a military man. It was in his blood.

  Joel had joined the US Marines when he was just eighteen in the wake of 9/11. He’d told Mimi that, at the time, he had been looking for a sense of purpose, somewhere to belong. Joel and his brother, Austin, had been raised by their mother. His father died in a ranching accident when they were both very young. Joel left in pursuit of saving the world, whilst Austin stayed to help his mother with the ranch.

  Joel said he and his brother were once close, but Austin felt abandoned when Joel left to join the Corps. A few years later, his mother died. After this, Austin made very little contact. His letters became shorter and eventually they stopped. Joel said he had tried to reach out to him but he couldn’t keep handling the rejection. The last time he had reached out to Austin was to invite him to their wedding, but Austin declined.

  Joel and Mimi had chosen a small beach wedding with only Mimi’s mother, father, sister, her best friend, Meg, and two of Joel’s best friends and military brothers, Danny and Eric. It had been intimate and meaningful. Neither of them wanted a big, lavish celebration, but they both wanted an adventurous, memorable honeymoon.

  “So, I need to ask you something,” Joel said, hopping over some pebbles as he moved back toward Mimi.

  “I’m listening.”

  “I know we have discussed this before, but you’re a military wife now. You have an entitlement to stay on the base while I’m deployed.”

  “I know, and my decision has not changed. I want to stay with my family in London.”

  Joel took a deep breath. “And when I come back, where do you want home to be?”

  “Where ever you are. The base, in the middle of a field—I don’t care so long as I’m with you. But when you’re gone, well, let’s just say the days are going to feel like years, and I know I’ll be counting the days ‘till you come back to me. I just can’t live in a place where I have nothing and nobody but time. Watching that clock, looking at the calendar on that wall…I swear that would kill me,” Mimi said, her eyes beginning to water.

  “I’m coming back, you know.” He cupped her face and looked into her eyes.

  “You better.”

  Mimi fell into his arms, stroking her hand against his dark shaven head.

  “This…it’s another life,” Joel said with earnestness.

  “I know,” Mimi whispered.

  “Not yet you don’t, Mimi. There will be days, weeks even, when I can’t contact you.”

  “Joel, I know. I don’t want to make our honeymoon about you leaving. Actually, I don’t want to talk about it. Take a look around.” Mimi spun on her heel in a full circle.

  “I see.”

  “You see with your eyes, but try to see it from within.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I’ll quit talking about leaving. You’re right, Mimi. Let’s head to the hotel. My wife is waiting for me, ready for me to give her some lovin’.”

  “Better not disappoint her.”

  “Sergeant Marcus never disappoints!”

  Later, after they’d checked into the hotel and showered, Mimi climbed onto the bed next to Joel. The sun had just set. The only light in the room was from the small crack of the bathroom door.

  Joel smelt of mint and soap. She rested her head on his shoulder, making a small circle on his arm with her fingertip. There was no talking; they were happy enough to feel close to each other without the use of words to explain what they were feeling.

  ***

  Mimi struggled to pull herself up any further. She’d considered herself to be above average in fitness. She had the hard, toned muscular body to prove it, but climbing was taking her body to places it had never been. She couldn’t seem to meet the challenge of the strength and the endurance required for this task. On the plane to San Francisco, she had tried to read as much as she could on basic mountain climbing, but a book was never going to teach her what she needed right now.

  She shifted her weight, but she could feel herself slipping. The heat of the sun was burning her neck. She tried to stay focused on the large rock jutting out above her. If she could just make it onto that, she’d be on the home stretch. Beads of sweat popped up on her forehead. She could almost hear her pulse thudding in her ears.

  Keep calm.

  “Shift your weight!” Joel yelled.

  “I’m trying.”

  “Mimi, move your body to the right.”

  “I can’t do this. I hate it.”

  “Yes, you can.”

  “No, I can’t. I really can’t.”

  Finally she pushed forward and made it to the top. She was once again on flat ground. She allowed her body to fall forward. She grabbed her knees, dropped her head back, and looked up to the perfect arena of the blue sky above her—not a cloud to be seen. The orange vest that she wore rode up, exposing her smooth, ripped stomach.

  Another group of hikers walked past. They sounded German and attempted to ask Mimi and Joel for directions, but the language barrier was too great. They shrugged and walked away, annoyed.

  Mimi and Joel continued to walk, aiming to find a shortcut. Halfway through, Mimi had to sit down and take several sips of water. She felt like a flushed, sticky mess.

  She remembered when Joel told her there were points during his vigorous training that he had to prove through his mind to his body that he could push himself further than he thought possible. There were even moments when he thought he had reached his limit, but then he powered through to go above and beyond, smashing that limit.

  Although he was with Mimi here on their honeymoon, sometimes he would
become detached from their immediate surroundings. Joel had told Mimi, more than once, that the Corps wasn’t just a job. He didn’t clock off at five in the afternoon, driving home and leaving it all behind. With conviction, he told her the Marines engineer their training and way of life to become a big part of who you are, who you will always be.

  Mimi was a hardworking university graduate with a short-lived career in law. She had a lifelong passion for art, used her creativeness in the world of marketing, and didn’t fall into the trap of becoming a starving artist, although painting was her dream.

  Mimi and Joel met in London’s Regent Park. They were both running in different directions. The collision of their bodies had knocked Mimi to the ground. Joel had extended his arm and given her his sweaty palm. The next day, they met again, but this time on purpose. They had breakfast at a small Italian café near the American Embassy in Mayfair. One expresso, two lattes, and two plain au chocolates later, it was clear there was chemistry between them.

  They met again for dinner the very next evening. Joel wasn’t looking for any romance during his time in London, but there was something about Mimi. He learned her father was a born and bred cockney Londoner called Simon who started out as a plumber in the East-End and eventually started his own business. Her Thai mother, Kanchana, meaning “gold,” had immigrated to England as a child. Mimi and her sister, Larna, were raised in a modest three-bedroom semi-detached house in Finchley, North London.

  In the year that followed, Mimi and Joel decided they wanted to take their breakfast dates, weekly serpentine swims, and Sunday lunches at the greasy spoon café to the next level, so they got married.

  ***

  It was the first time that Mimi was about to jump out of a plane. It had been an ambition of hers for years. As the plane ascended, she watched the ground beneath them change into a sketchy landscape, like Google Earth view. The instructor teased her, pretending the straps tying her to him were loose. His dry sense of humour succeeded in making her relax and even laugh.