SEAL's Promise - Bad Boys of SEAL Team 3, Book 01 (24 page)

“It’s all right. You’re an all right dude, Mr. T.J. Talbot. I think you’re one of God’s warriors. And God’s warriors get to take special liberties with they language.” He smiled broadly and then swung his eyes back to the road.

He sucked in air as if he could create a vacuum in the old Chevy, then blew it out so hard T.J. thought the windshield might cave.

“Okay, here goes,” Travis started.

T.J. could already tell he was going to dig the hell out of whatever the man was going to say.

“I met this lady when I was twenty-five, over a decade ago now. We didn’t obey any of God’s commandments, in fact, I think this woman was hell bent on breaking jus’ about all of them.”

Travis stopped and threw out a throaty laugh, his belly rubbing against the steering wheel of his car. If it involved a woman, now T.J. was even more sure he was going to like the story.

“I’ve known a few of those,” he admitted to the preacher. “They don’t interest me any longer either, but man. I haven’t thought about those days for a while now, but that’s all I used to think about.”

“You was just finding your way, son.”

“That’s a fact. Not there though. It was never there.”

“No, it never is. And that kind of relates to this story. See, she and I, we got married. The woman was one of those who would get something into her mind, and then she’d never let up, you know what I’m sayin’? She was one wild child. I thought at first it was cute. I mean, at twenty-five, she was the most exciting thing to ever come my way, and I wanted excitement.”

T.J. remembered the hundreds of girls he’d slept with over the years. Luckily, most of his liaisons he couldn’t remember. He couldn’t even remember their faces. Maybe that was a good thing.

“Well, Mr. Talbot, that woman wanted excitement too. And when I was no longer her drug of choice, she moved on. And when I say she moved on, I mean she took it upon herself to sleep with anything that would walk, know what I’m sayin’?”

“I do.” T.J. felt sorry for the man.

“It cost me every penny I had, which wasn’t much, just to complete the divorce.”

“You married now?”

“Nope. Not looking yet, either. I’m still wearing off the effects of my last one. Some days, T.J., the sight of a woman scares me all the way down to my toes.”

“I understand.”

“When it was all said and done, I was left with two gold wedding bands. And that’s where they is,” he said as he tapped his gold tooth with his forefinger. “Right there so every time when I looks in the mirror I gets to remember I’m a survivor, and I’m never goin’ down that rabbit hole again. I gets to smile and look back in the mirror at the face of a free man.”

T.J. was smiling and he knew Travis was interested in hearing what he thought. He kept looking over at him as they turned off the highway and onto a small single lane country road. In the distance a small town took shape.

“You know, Travis. I think that some time soon you’ll meet the right woman, and she’ll want you to get that tooth fixed. I think the sight of her will light that golden path to heaven itself for you.”

“You think so?”

“I know so. Yup. I know so.” T.J. was feeling more comfortable with the preacher the more time they spent together. “I sure found the right gal.” He told Travis about the baby, about Frankie.

“You’re a good man, Mr. Talbot.”

“You know, I almost didn’t want to come here at all. It took a while to shed off all that dead skin. I was worried it would suck me right back into that angry place I grew up in. God, how I hated that man. And today, I just realized I didn’t hate him at all. I hated myself. I was exorcising demons.” He watched Travis’ face in profile. “You’ve done that too. So now you can give that to someone else, or rather, let someone else give that to you. You help everyone else. You tend your flock. Time to let someone tend to you, my man.”

“You could be right. I’d like to think you are.”

“And speaking of which, I need to give my intended a call.” T.J. dialed Shannon’s number and got her message. He dialed his mother-in-law and got the same. He double checked to see if he’d missed anything and found he hadn’t.

They drove into the little town with one stoplight.

“Kind of peaceful here. This a nice place to live?” T.J. asked.

Travis bobbed his head. “Yes and no. We got something strange goings on here. I notice it because I see the change in the prison population, which comes more from this area than any other. Lot of poor folks here. But a lot of angry folks coming in from other places. Big cities. I’m just one preacher at Riverbend. They’s groups here that send their guys in every day.”

T.J.’s attention was sparked. He had to ask, because they’d all been talking about it on the Teams. “Religious types?”

“Doing the conversions, yessir, but I don’t take my flock out and do no target practice. They have a big communal camp right here in this little town. News media says there are known camps operating, dozens of them, and we got one right here. Can you explain to me why no one is asking questions? And I see men I grew up with changing, becoming hard. Mostly I see strangers in this area where I used to know everyone’s name. So, if you ask me, T.J. I say no. Not any longer.”

“I’ve seen the bloody effects of fanatical groups overseas. A lot of people are getting killed. A lot of innocent people, and that’s just wrong.”

“Sort of feels like it’s all coming to this country, don’t it?”

T.J. knew for a fact it was.

C
ONNIE DROVE UP
just as Travis and T.J. were getting back in their car. They’d been standing on the porch, knocking on the painted old screen door of a bungalow that could have been in any small town in America. The birds were chirping, and there wasn’t any traffic noise or car horns blaring. A single airplane overhead made its way across the sky, leaving a white tail behind it.

She was holding a bag of groceries in one arm, shielding her eyes with her other palm. “Can I help you?”

T.J. figured she was about his age. He could definitely see a family resemblance to his own face.

“Holy Mother of God. Is that you?”

“I think so,” T.J. started. “You’re Connie?”

“Yes. Yes. I’m your sister. Your twin sister.” She set her package on the hood of her car and ran up to him, but stopped just in front. They both took a tentative step toward each other and embraced safely. She had lighter brown hair than his, but the same light blue eyes.

This was another surprise in a day of surprises. His father hadn’t mentioned anything about him being a twin, so T.J. was skeptical. “We came from the hospital, and I’m sorry to say, Dad has passed on.”

He expected a different reaction than the one he got.

“Well, that’s done, then.” She returned to the car, closed the door and picked up her packages. “Come on in, and we’ll toast to dear old Dad.”

As T.J. passed Travis, the preacher’s eyes got wide.

Over the next hour, Connie told him she’d been raised in Colorado and had been adopted into a good family. T.J. let her know his was quite a different path, but spared her the gory details.

“When my mother died last Spring I figured that would free me up to go looking for my birth parents. I got here just in time to see Mom before her passing, and I took care of her a bit in the end. She told me her father forced the adoption, and it was one of the biggest regrets of her life. I’m glad I got to tell her I had a good upbringing. Now I’m glad she never found out about yours.”

T.J. remembered what Kyle told him, about living with the hand he was dealt. He realized that that was the life he was supposed to lead, just like he was supposed to be Courtney’s father.

“She lived in this very house her whole adult life. Never married again. Never had any other children. And she never went to visit him, even though she was a couple of hours away all that time.”

“Wonder why?” T.J. pondered.

“I don’t think we’ll ever know. They weren’t married, you know.” She brought out pictures to show him what his mother looked like, and she gave him a smiling photo of her that was his favorite. “Here, so you can show your little girl, someday.”

“Funny how that happens. Now I have something physical to show of the past I never had. Thank you.”

Connie then pressed a small envelope into his palm. “Keep this too. Open this after you’ve gone.”

T.J.’s cell phone rang. It was Shannon.

Chapter Thirty-Two

‡

“O
H
G
OD,
T
.
J
.
It’s so good to hear your voice,” Shannon said. She’d told herself she would be strong, but upon hearing him, she lost all her composure. He began firing questions at her, and she lost the ability to speak all of a sudden. “You have to come home. Please come home now.”

“Is everything okay with you and the baby?”

“Yes. But almost no.” She told him about the afternoon’s events, explained that her parents took her home, and that Kyle had insisted a couple of Team Guys stay with her until T.J. could get home. “I know you said tomorrow. I need you here as fast as you can get here.”

Shannon was relieved T.J. headed straight for the Nashville airport where they determined he could catch a flight back to San Diego that would get him home near midnight.

Just over an hour later, he texted:

Made the plane. Taking off soon. Coming home to you. Get ready. Love you more than I thought possible.

His text thrilled her. She ached for him, missed him now more than before. With giddy relief that he was finally going to be home tonight, she texted back:

Ready? All I can think about, sweetheart. Safe travels. I might never let you out of the bedroom. Ever. Love you too.

She got the little ping that told her she had a return message:

Hmmmm. That sounds yummy. I don’t belong anywhere else. See you in a few. Kiss Courtney for me. All my love.

The Moore’s settled in the third bedroom, while the two new SEAL Team 3 members were given pillows and blankets to sleep on the couch. Shannon had wanted to go to the airport to meet T.J., but knew it was not wise. Ollie, one of the young SEALs, would go while the other one would stay behind and keep watch.

She dashed into the shower, wrapping her stitched hand in a plastic bag, the plastic covering her abdominal stitches. Anticipation was boiling in her stomach as she carefully changed the sheets, placed fresh candles all around the bedroom. She tried to eat the food her parents had prepared, tried to make small talk with the young SEALs while they all waited, but in the end, she was so distracted by anticipation of T.J.’s homecoming, she couldn’t focus on anything but what it would feel like to be wrapped in his strong arms. He was coming back home to her, and that made her feel giddy as a school girl. Seven hours was waaaaay too long to have to wait.

Courtney was demanding a feeding, and this eased her nerves. She lit a candle in the bedroom and leaned into the soft pillows of their bed, nursing her, telling her about her daddy.

“He’s tall and handsome, and he loves you so much. He’ll shower you with kisses and you’ll love falling asleep in his arms.”

She placed her little finger close to Courtney’s waving hand and fingers. The baby grabbed it like the lifeline it was, and they rocked together on the bed by candlelight.

“Little strong Courtney,” she said, and kissed her.

A few minutes later, she put the baby to sleep in the portable sleeper by her bed, covered herself up in the quilt the SEAL Ladies had made for her, and let herself fall asleep.

W
HEN
S
HANNON’S CELL
phone pinged with another text, she awoke to a darkened bedroom. The screen on her cell glowed on the night stand.

Just landed. Found Ollie. We’re headed home, sweetheart.

She returned his text with hearts and flower images.

The baby began to fuss, so she changed her, nursed her again and then put her back down. Just as she stepped into the hallway she heard Ollie’s truck, and knew he was home. Her heart was racing as she saw the front door open, and there he was. Her parents flocked to him immediately while his brothers stood nearby. Ollie leaned forward and peered down the hallway at Shannon and gave her a wink.

He hadn’t taken his eyes off her since walking through the doorway. Dropping his bag, he ran to Shannon, pulled her inside the bedroom and slammed the door behind them. She could hear a generous serving of chuckling coming from the other side.

Alone in the darkened room with the candles lit, T.J.’s honest face danced in the glow of candlelight. He wrapped his arms around her waist and hoisted her up off the ground as she felt the urgency of his deep kiss. She could feel his chest expand as he inhaled her, gave her that gravely groan from deep inside.

“God how I missed you,” he whispered through his kisses. “Shannon, I’m so sorry for all that’s happened, and for not being here.”

She placed her fingers over his mouth. “Shhh. No talking now.”

“But seriously,” he insisted. “Is everything okay? Are you both okay?”

She showed him her bandaged palm. “Just five stitches and maybe some surgery later on, but I was lucky.”

He unwrapped the gauze outer wrapping and then peeled back the adhesive tape to examine the work. She watched as he calculated its adequacy and saw the slight nod, giving approval. He pressed the wrapping back down, securing the bandage and then carefully wrapped it back in the gauze, kissing her palm gently, kissing every layer of the wrapping. “Does it hurt?”

“Just a little.”

“And here?” he placed his palm on her belly.

“Better now that you’re here.”

He smiled. “You need anything for the pain?”

“No, sweetheart. All I need is right here.”

The baby stirred, so T.J. let Shannon slide down his frontside, drawing her over to the crib. “She’s beautiful. God, I’m a lucky man.”

“We’re the lucky ones,” she said. The tenderness she saw in his face for Courtney filled her heart to capacity. “We were so lucky they’d taken her away before the—”