’ Matilda breathed against her husband’s chest, and had to bite her lip to stop her from weeping. ‘It’s been so long, two years Erick since an...one has seen you. I didn’t know if you were dead or alive, or if you were ever coming home. Then Anika got the letter from Cal that you may be back in a few weeks, and –and I…’ She was crying now, her sobs tore through her, even as Erick’s hands smoothed over her back, soothing her ragged breaths. ‘I have been unable to come back before now Matilda. The. Karin’s reproof of my behavior had caused me to try to think of how my decisions would affect others, and I’d learned an abject lesson about that when I’d made the arrangements with Anala. Arrangements that had, in one single act, nearly wrecked every relationship I had. I’d done my best to rectify that, and I was determined to never let it happen again. I wanted to get my thoughts down immediately, so I turned on my computer to write in my journal.I had been writing about fifteen minutes when. “Ready to get our men back, Emily?”Emily was smiling, and I could tell she was as excited as I was, “I can’t wait to have them home for the summer. I really miss that brat of yours.”“I miss them both for different reasons. Now I want you to behave yourself in the back seat with Brian. I don’t want a repeat of last year.”Emily didn’t sound a bit repentant, “Was it that bad?”“No, I guess not, but I would like to get home before taking our panties off this year.”The boys had not been home for over. "Two of the fire control radars are shifting target." Jamming systems just went active on the torpedo," came Hamilton's voice a second later. "They've got it." Hopefully that'll detract their attention from us," Brett said. "Hammy, light up the engine on the torpedo. They know its there now, might as well push it a little faster." Lighting it up," he responded.On the view screen they watched as the huge thermal plume of the torpedo's rocket engine made itself known. It began to close the range.