SEAL's Baby (Navy SEAL Secret Baby Romance) (9 page)

  
There was something irresistibly seductive about her and I could
barely take my eyes off her. She didn’t have on any makeup, giving her soft
features a youthful glow that made her seem years younger. She had kept her
hair long even after all these years and I was thankful. I had always loved her
hair; it was like a waterfall made of fire.

“How have you been,
Dylan?” Maddie said coming forward and giving me a hug.

“Doing ok, Maddie,” I
replied distractedly, as my eyes kept flitting to Lizzie.

  
Only when she spoke did I realize that she and Tyler were there as
well. I had completely forgotten about their existence the moment I had laid
eyes on Lizzie. She came forward after Maddie and I took a step toward her. We
hugged but I could sense how rigid her body was against mine. I remembered a
time when she had fit perfectly into me, as though we were made for each other.
Now I could sense something between us, blocking the comfort and the passion
that had once stood there.

  
The embrace was all too short, as she pulled away sooner than I
had expected. I had no choice but to drop my hold on her and watch as she
backed away.

“It’s been awhile,” I
said.

“Too long,” Maddie
nodded. “We were just reminiscing about your fifteenth birthday actually.
Remember your parents hired dirt bikes and Tyler crashed one into your dad’s
car?”

“I remember,” I smiled
trying to resist the urge to glance at Lizzie. I noticed she was being
extremely quiet.

Aunt Brenda interrupted
the conversation. “Tyler, dear,” she called. “We need your help with
something.”

  
Tyler nodded and followed her back into the house, leaving the
rest of us standing there. Maddie looked between Lizzie and I for a moment. “I
think I’ll go see if Tyler needs some help,” she said smoothly and disappeared
into the house leaving Lizzie and I alone.

  
I could feel eleven years of distance stand between us, but I
pushed aside the awkwardness and looked out towards the lake. “Let’s go down to
the water,” I said, praying she wouldn’t make an excuse and turn me down.

“Ok,” she said simply and
we started walking down towards the lake.

  
We picked the spot that was shaded by large trees and sat down by
the edge so that we could dip our legs into the water. This was what we did as
kids on cool afternoon days armed with juice bars and silly conversation.

“How are you doing?”
Lizzie asked.

I looked out at the
calming expanse of water. “I think I’m still coming to terms with it,” I
answered honestly. “I can’t quite believe he’s gone.”

“Me neither,” Lizzie
replied. “So I can’t imagine how it must be for you and Tyler.”

“I wish I’d had more time
with dad,” I admitted. “I feel like we never spent as much time together as we
should have.”

“Don’t do that to
yourself, Dylan,” Lizzie said softly. “Just appreciate the time you did have
together.”

  
I fell silent, reflecting on how much better I felt in Lizzie’s
presence. I realized it had always been that way between us. Whenever I felt
angry or frustrated I would go to Lizzie and vent. She would sit and listen to
me, sometimes she would speak and other times she simply held my hand, it
didn’t matter what she did, I would invariably feel better. She had always been
able to calm me down.

“How have you been, Lizzie?”
I asked.

“I’ve been fine,” she
said vaguely.

“No really,” I said
stressing the point. “I want to know how you’re life’s been.”

“I’m divorced,” she said
after a moment of hesitation.

“I heard,” I admitted.
“Paul Kapke huh?”

“Yes.”

“How did that happen?” I
asked, unable to contain my curiosity.

“I was young and he was
charming … at the time at least,” she replied. “It’s behind me now.”

  
There was a note of bitter sadness in her tone and I knew it was painful
for her to think about her failed marriage, but a selfish part of me couldn’t
help but be happy about it. I hated that she was hurting and I hated what she
had been through, I was just glad that there was no other guy standing in my
way.

“You’re still as
beautiful as ever, Lizzie,” I said sincerely.

She looked embarrassed by
the compliment. “How long will you be in town for?” she asked.

“I mean it,” I said
deftly ignoring her attempt to change the subject. “You were always the most
beautiful girl in the room to me.”

Her eyes went dull with
sadness. “Didn’t stop you from leaving though did it?”

  
I was taken back by her response. There was no anger or accusation
in her tone, she stated it simply, as though it were the unequivocal truth.
“When I think back now, I really don’t know why I left in the first place,” I
admitted. “I don’t know what motivated me to leave town.”

She smiled and shrugged.
“You don’t have to explain, Dylan. It was a long time ago. You moved on and so
did I.”

  
The way she said it made it seem like we were done with each
other, but looking at her now, I knew I wasn’t done. It was easy to forget when
you were on the other side of the world, training six hours a day and trying to
figure out the best way to stay alive. But sitting there, under the shade, in
front of the lake, and opposite Lizzie, it was impossible to think that the
passion and tenderness we had shared all those years ago was behind us.

“Maybe once the funeral’s
over and things have settled … maybe we could do something fun,” I suggested
terrified that she would turn me down. “We could go bowling or something?”

  
She regarded me with those brilliant, blue eyes and just when I
thought she was on the cusp of turning me down, she nodded. “Ok,” was all she
said, leaving me to wonder if she was actually enthusiastic about the plan or
if she had simply accepted me out of pity for my loss.

  
We sat there, falling into a comfortable silence. I kept stealing
glances at her, drinking her in as though she were the sun and I was a blind
man who had just been given back his sight. She burned so brightly that I
couldn’t for the life of me understand what had happened between us all those
years ago.

Chapter Ten

Elizabeth

  
I was impressed by how well planned the funeral was, especially
considering that Tyler had been the one responsible for everything. The wreaths
he had chosen were simple and pretty, they suited the old-fashioned rustic feel
of the church.

  
I walked down the aisle towards the pulpit, feeling sadness at my
heels. I was staring at the coffin when my mother up behind me. “Elizabeth,
honey,” she whispered as she wrapped a hand around my waist. “You’re here
early.”

“I’m playing the piano
today,” I admitted.

  
The nerves were starting to get to me. I would have loved the
chance to practice a little more first, but I didn’t own a piano. I had gone to
the resident music store in town and Gary, the sales clerk, had been nice
enough to let me stretch my muscles a bit. Still, I felt as though I knew
enough not to make a fool of myself but not nearly enough to give Mr. Thomas a
great send off.

“That’s wonderful,” mom
replied. “I didn’t know you were playing again?”

  
I turned to my mother. She was a small lady with dark-brown hair
that she had been dyeing since her forties. We didn’t look much alike, and in
my teens that had bothered me. Within a year of my parent’s divorce, my father
already had a new family and it felt as though there was no room for me in his
life anymore. I figured if my father wasn’t interested in me anymore, then I
wanted no part of him, including his looks. After mom had gotten wind of this,
she sat me down and looked me in the eye.

  
“Forget your looks,” she had told me. “I’d rather you have my
character than my features anyway.” And after that, it hadn’t bothered me
anymore.

“Tyler asked me,” I told
my mother. “And I couldn’t say no.”

“That’s good,” she
replied. “That’s right. The Thomas’s were always so fond of you; I’m sure Derek
would have loved that you’re playing today.”

“I can’t believe he’s
gone,” I said. “It doesn’t feel real.”

  
“Death often feels like that,” mom replied. “It only becomes real
once the person has been buried and the mourners have cleared away. When it’s
just you and your empty house … that’s when it becomes real.”

“I can’t imagine how Mrs.
Thomas is going to get through this.”

  
“She has her children,” mom said simply. “That’s enough for any
mother.” I leaned against my mother, taking comfort in the familiar lines of
her body. “I heard Dylan was in town,” she said after a moment.

I nodded. “He is,” I
replied. “I met him a few days ago when I went over to the house to drop off
the food.”

“I see,” mom said
knowingly. “And how was it, seeing him again after so long?”

“It was strange,” I
replied honestly. “But it still felt the same somehow.”

  
I knew I was contradicting myself but that was genuinely how I
felt. Seeing him that day had been such a mix of emotions that I had had a hard
time keeping up with them. There had been a jolt of some current that had
surged through my body as I saw him.

  
He looked amazing. He had the kind of body that you would normally
see on the cover of a fitness magazine. He was all broad shoulders and hard
muscle. His hair was cut short and shaved close to his scalp, which only
heightened the attractive sharpness of his features. I’d forgotten how
beautiful his eyes were. They were blue like mine, but his were subtle, soft,
and held all the colors of the ocean.

  
A selfish part of me had wished that he hadn’t turned out quite so
good looking; it would have been easier for me to deal with his presence in
town. I thought back to our adolescence and I remembered how bright we had
burned together and I knew that I was only kidding myself. His looks had
nothing to do with it. It would have hurt either way.

“I know that doesn’t make
much sense,” I said to my mother.

She smiled at me. “It
makes sense,” she said. “Are you planning on seeing him again after the
funeral?”

“I don’t know,” I
replied. “I don’t think that would be such a good idea.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t think getting
involved with Dylan again is a good idea, mom,” I said. “He’s only in town for
a month; it can’t go anywhere.”

  
She didn’t say anything; she nodded and wrapped her arm around me
again. I knew she wouldn’t push it; she knew how hard it had been for me to get
over Dylan. Our conversation was put to an end when Tyler approached me. He
looked calmer than I had seen him in days.

“Elizabeth,” he called.
“Are you ready?”

I took a deep breath.
“Yes,” I nodded.

  
Tyler led me up to the piano that was placed on the side of the
coffin a short distance away. I sat down and I felt a tingling in my fingers. I
knew that everyone’s eyes were on me but I didn’t dare look up. I hadn’t seen
Dylan yet and I didn’t want to at that moment. He would only make me more nervous.
I tried to steady myself as I poised my fingers above the keys.

“This is it,” I whispered
to myself. “Don’t screw it up Elizabeth.”

  
Then I started playing. It was a little shaky at first and I
almost lost the tune a couple of times, but I willed myself forward and once I
had got into the song, I managed to find a level of comfort that got me through
the songs that Mrs. Thomas had personally requested. I concentrated on nothing
but the keys and the music and when I finally finished playing, I noticed Dylan
walk up to the microphone.

  
He was wearing a dark suit that made him look like a model
straight out of a perfume ad. I noticed that his gaze was on me and I gave him
a small smile. He thanked everyone for coming, he introduced himself, and then
he started talking about his father, about the kind of man he was and about his
time in the Navy.

  
“People knew how important that uniform was to him,” Dylan said. “They
understood how proud he was to have been in the navy and that formed his
identity. But he was made up of more than that; he was more than a soldier. He
was a husband and a father. He loved his wife and he loved his children. And if
you had asked him which one he identified with more, he would never have
mentioned the Navy. He would have talked about my mother, who was the love of
his life. He would have talked about my brother, whom he was so proud of. And
he would have talked about me.”