The Other Side of Midnight

"When are you going to feed me?" she demanded. "It'll be time for dinner soon."

"Sit tight," Fraser replied. "I'll be with you in a minute."

Five minutes later, he buzzed her and said, "There's a call for you on line one."

Catherine picked up the phone. "Hello?" She heard a crackling and a swell of sound like the waves of a distant ocean. "Hello," she repeated.

A male voice said, "Mrs. Larry Douglas?"

"Yes," Catherine said, puzzled. "Who's this?"

"Just a moment, please."

Through the receiver, she heard a high-pitched whine. Another crackling sound and then a voice saying "Cathy?"

She sat there, her heart pounding, unable to speak. "Larry? Larry?"

"Yes, baby."

"Oh, Larry!" She began to cry and unexpectedly her whole body was trembling.

"How are you, honey?"

She dug her fingernails into her arm, trying to hurt herself enough so that she could stop the hysteria that had suddenly swept over her. "I'm f--fine," she said. "W--where are you?"

"If I tell you, we'll be cut off," he said. "I'm somewhere in the Pacific."

"That's close enough!" She began to get control of her voice. "Are you all right, darling?"

"I'm fine."

"When will you be coming home?"

"Any second," he promised.

Catherine's eyes flooded with tears again. "OK, let's sy--synchronize our watches."

"Are you crying?"

"Of course I'm crying, you idiot! I'm just glad you can't see the mascara running down my face. Oh Larry...Larry..."

"I've missed you, baby," he said.

Catherine thought of the long, lonely nights that had stretched into weeks and months and years without him, without his arms around her, without his strong, wonderful body next to her, without his comfort and protection and love. And she said, "I've missed you, too."

A man's voice came on the line. "I'm sorry, Colonel, but we're going to have to disconnect."

Colonel!

"You didn't tell me you were promoted."

"I was afraid it would go to your head."

"Oh, darling, I--"

The roar of the ocean grew louder, and suddenly there was a silence and the line was dead. Catherine sat at her desk staring at the telephone. And then she buried her head in her arms and began to cry.

Ten minutes later, Fraser's voice came over the intercom. "I'm ready for lunch when you are, Cathy," he said.