SEAL's Baby (Navy SEAL Secret Baby Romance) (51 page)

“Yeah, I had a tumor.”

“Oh wow… God, I just feel so bad about my
stupid cousin.”

“Please don’t. It really is fine. The spot
back there now isn’t from the surgery. I’m having radiation treatments because
it was growing again.”

“Oh my goodness! Is it cancer?”

“No, it’s benign.”

“I’m so sorry,” she sounded so sincere. I
smiled at her again.

“It’s really okay. Let’s talk about
something else, something fun. No more tumor talk.”

She laughed. “Okay, no more tumor talk.
What do you do for fun, Kyle?”

For the next hour, we talked. She was an
only child and liked to ride horses and race dirt bikes of all things. She was
smart and funny, and for the first time in months, an entire hour passed that I
didn’t think about Amber. I had no idea where Greg had gone and I didn’t care.
I was the object of a beautiful woman’s attention – a thing I needed very
badly. I’m not sure where her “rude” cousin went either, but it was the Ghetto
Princess that finally interrupted us. “Callie are you ready to go?”

She looked at me and back at her cousin.
“Um, yeah, give me a minute. I’ll be right there.” The cock-block gave me a
disgusted look before she walked away. I guess it was the “bugs.” “Wow, I don’t
know what her problem is…”

I laughed. “Don’t apologize for her
again,” I told her. “I’m glad she shared you with me for a little while.” I
winked at her.

“Me, too.”

“Can I get your number, Callie? Maybe we
could have dinner or something sometime?” I got the feeling from talking to her
that she wasn’t the kind of girl who was going to come home with me tonight. As
much as my cock objected to that, I appreciated that there were nice girls left
in the world.

“I’d like that,” she said, “Can I see your
phone?” I handed it to her and she put her name and number in it. “Text me in a
bit and then I’ll have yours, too.”

“I will. Thanks, Callie.”

“Thank you, Kyle. It was nice to spend
some time with a guy who wasn’t falling down drunk and trying to paw me.”

The old Kyle sneaked in for a second. “You
don’t like being pawed.”

She stood up and grinned down at me. “It
depends on who’s doing the pawing,” she told me with a wink.
I’ve still got it.

CHAPTER
TWENTY

AMBER

“Amber! There’s someone here to see you!”
Joyce was yelling at me from the front. I was in the middle of a session.

“Busy!” I yelled back.

“Can you just take a little break and come
out?” she asked me, sticking her head in the back.

“Joyce…”

“Two minutes,” she said.

“Do you mind, Mr. Moyer?”

“No, Amber, my old hip could use a break,”
he said. “Just don’t forget me,” he said with a wink. He was a seventy-two year
old who had hip replacement surgery recently. He was a shameless old flirt, but
adorable.

“I could never,” I told him. I followed
Joyce out front, wondering what the hell could be so important. The largest
bouquet of flowers I’ve ever seen sat in a three foot tall vase in the center
of the lobby. They were tropical flowers and I could even smell them from where
I was standing. “Oh my gosh! They’re so pretty! Who brought them?”

“The florist dropped them off, but there’s
more, I’ll finish up with Mr. Moyer. You go out front. Take your lunch break.”

“I don’t want to just ditch him in the
middle of a session.”

“You do for this. Go.”

She was acting crazy. I grabbed my coat
and scarf off the rack in the lobby and pulled them on. I pushed through the
door and there was Dylan with a horse drawn carriage. Dylan was dressed in a
black sweater and jeans and new black boots and cowboy hat. He was clean shaven
– and he looked good enough to eat. Slowly over the past couple of weeks after
I forced Kyle out of my conscious thoughts, I was able to start seeing Dylan
the way I had when I’d fallen in love with him. “What is all of this?”

“It’s your birthday,” he said.

I laughed. “Yes, I know. I was there when
I was born. Those flowers in there would have been quite enough. Where are we
going on this guy?”

“You’ll see,” he said. He helped me up
into the white buggy and followed me in. The driver tipped his hat and as he
took off, Dylan covered me up with a thick blanket. The driver took us through
downtown and we ultimately ended up at White Rock Lake.

As the driver parked the buggy, Dylan
reached behind the seat and pulled out a picnic basket. “I brought lunch,” he
said with a grin. This was all so out of character for him, it freaked me out a
little bit.

“I can’t believe you did all of this.”

He slid down off the buggy and helped me
down. “It’s about time, don’t you think?” I just smiled and followed him over
to a plush spot on the grass and watched him spread out the blanket. When he
finished, he reached for my hand. I thought he wanted to help me sit down and I
didn’t even notice he was on one knee until he flipped open the little box in
his hand. “Amber, will you marry me?”

My mind was racing. I couldn’t believe he
was proposing. I couldn’t believe I had waited so long for this and now I was
just not sure. I couldn’t believe he went so far out of his comfort zone to do
all of this for me.

That was the bottom line. Everything he’d
done for the past four months had been for me, or at least, for us. I smiled at
him through the tears of confusion in my eyes and said, “Yes Dylan. I’ll marry
you.” He looked relieved. He slid the ring on my finger. It was a little big,
but it was gorgeous.

Coming to his feet, he said, “If you don’t
like it, we can exchange it.”

“I love it. Did you pick it out by
yourself?”

“Not really. My mom went with me.”

“Well, you both did well. I love it. Thank
you.” He took me into his arms and kissed me. It was a kiss like we used to
share in the old days, and it actually sent chills through me.

When he broke the kiss, he looked into my
eyes and said, “Thank you, Amber. Thank you for helping me clean up my life and
thank you for sticking by my side. I don’t know what I’d do without you and I
can’t stand the thought of ever having to find out. I love you.”

That was the longest speech Dylan ever
made in the history of our relationship. Things sure had changed…for the
better. “I love you, too.”

I kissed him again and for a second while
I was kissing my fiancé, my mind flashed over to Kyle. I hadn’t seen him for
six weeks now. Every so often I thought about texting to tell him I hope that
he was doing well, but that would be like scratching off a scab for me. It
would start bleeding all over again and eventually form a scar. I left it alone
and now that I saw how happy I’d made Dylan, I was glad… For the most part.

*******

That night after work, Dylan went out to
his father’s ranch to drop off one of the horses for the vet to see. I held my
phone in my hand for a long time, trying to prepare myself for giving this news
to my mother, father, and sisters. I practiced it out loud…and then again,
adding:
“Please don’t say anything until
I finish.”
I knew at least one, if not all of them, were going to interrupt
me halfway through and demand to know what the hell I was thinking, so I
prepared a speech in my head about me and Dylan, how well he’s been doing, and
how well we’re doing as a couple… I was still scared. I finally pushed in
Marlene’s number and waited. She’d at least been around a few times and could
see how happy he’s made me lately.

“Hey, little sister, I was just about to
call you. Happy Birthday!”

“Hey, thank you. I got your Facebook
message, too, that was cute.”

“You’re welcome; are you having a good
one?”

“Yeah, it was really good. Dylan sent me
flowers at work and then took me in a carriage ride and for a picnic.”

“Hmm.”

I laughed nervously. “Really, Marlene?
Hmm… That’s all you have to say? That’s monumental for Dylan.”

“I’ll agree with you on that. He’s still
on his best behavior.”

“And, why is that not a good thing?”

She hesitated. “I’m just afraid it won’t
last.”

“You know, for a while after we first got
together I felt that way, too, but you really don’t know about anyone, do you?
I mean, anyone can change, right? Look at you and Steve.” Steve was Marlene’s
ex-husband who was currently battling her for custody of Nona. She hesitated
longer this time and said,

“Okay, I’ll give you that. I’m glad he
stopped showing his ass.” I laughed again.

“Well, I have more news…”

“What?”

“Dylan proposed to me today…and I said
yes.” I waited…and waited…finally I said, “Marlene? Are you there?”

She cleared her throat. I think she was
actually crying. “Amber, honey, are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

She didn’t have much to say after that.
She didn’t congratulate me and she didn’t mention the lunch date we had with my
mom, dad, and sisters this weekend at the ranch to have a family celebration
for my birthday. I didn’t call my mom or my other sisters. I decided I’d just
tell them this weekend and let them all tell me how stupid I am at once.

Instead of planning a big wedding, I was
already thinking that maybe Dylan and I should go to Vegas. Nobody in either
family was going to be overly happy about it. His family thinks I’m as much of
the problem as mine does him. None of them have even spoken to me since the
night I had him arrested. I’m surprised his mother was willing to help him pick
out a ring. My dad wouldn’t even allow Dylan to set foot on the ranch since
Marlene told him what he said that night about burning her house down. It was
all so depressing and the more I thought about it, the more depressed I became.

I sat there looking at my pretty ring and
felt sorry for myself. When Dylan came home, he found me sitting in the dark in
tears. I told him how I felt about our families as he held me and let me cry.
When I’d calmed down some he said,

“If you could get married anywhere you
want, where would it be?”

“I’ve always wanted to get married on the
ranch like Marlene and Steve did by the lake.” When I was a kid, my dad had a
lake put in on our property. Over the years, he’s had trees planted and grass
and flowers. It’s like a secret garden. My sister had her wedding there and it
was the most beautiful wedding I’d ever been to. I always imagined getting
married there, too. He pulled me in tighter to his chest and kissed the top of
my head,

“Then, that’s where we’ll get married.
I’ll go talk to your dad in the morning.” That made me cry harder. First of all
that he would do that for me, and second of all because I knew Daddy would say
no.

CHAPTER
TWENTY-ONE

KYLE

Callie and I sat in the waiting room of
the doctor’s office. I had finished my last radiation treatment two weeks ago
and today I’d had my scan. The radiologist was here, so he and Dr. Grant were
behind closed doors looking at it while we waited. Callie gripped onto my hand like
she was expecting the worst. It was really sweet of her to be here. We’ve only
been dating for less than a month, so it wasn’t like I expected her to come,
but she insisted. The only problem was that she was so nervous it was actually
worse than being here listening to Sarah complain about how long they’re taking
or how badly the office needs to be repainted.

“Kyle?” The nurse came out of the back.
“Dr. Grant is ready to see you now.” I stood up and brought Callie to her feet
with me.

“You want me to go back with you?”

“Of course. You sat here with me all day.
You get to hear the good news with me.”

She smiled. “Thank you,” she said, like I
was inviting her to lunch instead of the inner sanctum of my oncologist’s
office.

Dr. Grant and Dr. Bromfield, the
radiologist, were both waiting for us. I introduced Callie as we sat down. Dr.
Grant had the MRI in front of him, and he handed it to me. I stared at it for a
minute and then said, “I really don’t know what I’m looking at.”

“Well, son, you are looking at a clean
bill of health right there. The radiation didn’t just shrink it. Can you see
the difference in this one?” He lay the picture of my last MRI down next to
this one. The only difference I could see was a spot that looked lit up, like a
little nightlight in my head.

“The light is gone,” I said as I pointed
to it.

He smiled. “The light, as you call it, was
the tumor. The contrast picks it up on the MRI as light. When the tissue is
dead or gone, there’s no light. After your surgery, the part we left because of
the blood vessels still lit up on the scans. Once it began growing, the light
got bigger. No light now means all dead tissue.”

I smiled as I processed what he was
saying. There wasn’t any left like last time. It was all gone. “Really?” I
finally asked. I felt Callie clamp down on my hand.