Los Angeles Class

EPILOGUE

She was gone.

Gordon had finally stopped roaming the empty house, finally accepted the fact that she was really gone. He'd returned to the living room, poured himself a drink, and sat now, trying to sort out his life. The hell of it was, Becca had left two days after Pittsburgh had sailed from Vallejo, taken the kids to Admiral Goldman's house, dropped them off, and left. The divorce papers were waiting when he returned.

Out of the blue. Out of the fucking blue….

She'd left word at the base, but Pittsburgh had been incommunicado at the time. It didn't matter. Even if she'd been able to send a Familygram, the base authorities might have censored it. They did that, in the case of bad news like a death in the family, so that a man's performance at sea wasn't adversely affected.

Admiral Goldman had been as shocked, as stunned as

Gordon was now. He was clearly torn between a desire to support his daughter, and his support for Gordon. What did you say at a time like this? What could you say?

He hadn't realized she'd hated Navy life so much. It was kind of obvious now. She'd been in the Navy, in a sense, all her life, growing up with Goldman as her father. Maybe she'd just reached a snapping point, been unable to face any more.

God, he was worried about her.

Had he been that bad a husband?

There weren't any answers, no easy ones, anyway. He'd known she'd been depressed, known how she hated his tours at sea. She'd needed him, and he'd let her down.

Was he willing to trade his command of a Los Angeles boat for her happiness?

What about his happiness?

Again, no easy answers. Married life was supposed to be a constant compromise, with each partner giving a hundred fifteen percent. But military service placed special demands on both partners.

Was it any wonder that so many military marriages ended in divorce?

Was it worth it? The duty… the sacrifice… all of it?

He'd taken an oath when he'd donned this uniform, to protect and uphold the Constitution of the United States. Duty… honor… and a fair measure of responsibility.

He'd brought all of the people in his charge home again… including young Tom Nelson's body. That was something.

Was it worth his marriage?

Well… maybe there was no point in making comparisons. He did know that for the past six weeks, there'd been two women in his life. One of them had left.

But he still had the Pittsburgh….