Page 25 of Guarded By the SEAL
He grinned, the expression changing his entire appearance from strong and intimidating to warm and kind. It was a breathtaking transformation, and one that didn’t bode well for her mental health on the rest of this journey.
“You’re welcome.” He drove to the restaurant and parked the truck.
Teslyn moved to open her door, but his touch on her other arm stilled her. “What?” she asked.
“They’re looking for a woman and a girl. I’ll go in with her.”
Teslyn nodded, feeling silly for not thinking of that herself.
Wyatt got out and opened the back door for Ivy.
“Can I get alittleroot beer?” the girl asked. “Just a small one?” She hopped out of the truck.
Teslyn laughed to herself, watching the pair as Wyatt took the girl’s hand and headed inside. “Not a chance, buttercup.” He held the door for Ivy, making Teslyn wonder if any man had ever done such a thing for her little sister before. Men like Wyatt weren’t a part of Teslyn’s life with Marilyn, and she doubted they were part of Ivy’s, either.
The black and white of a cop car in her peripheral vision had her gasping with alarm. She looked back at the entrance to McDonald’s, the door just closing behind Wyatt as the same officer from the plaza pulled into the parking lot.
“No, no, no…” she chanted, sinking lower in her seat as the patrol car passed the truck and pulled into a spot on the other side of an empty blue sedan.
He was close, too close, and he would damn sure find it strange if she and Wyatt suddenly had a five-year-old girl with them who hadn’t been there before. She stayed low, her eyes just high enough to watch him exit his vehicle and head inside.
A string of curses came out of her mouth. “Please, God, please, don’t let him see Ivy.” She fervently promised to be a better human being if her sister escaped the fast food restaurant unrecognized. “I don’t know about church, God. You know I’m not big on church. But I could try if it was really important to you…” She was blabbering nonsensically, her eyes trained on the exit. They’d come all this way only to be arrested in a parking lot under a pair of golden arches. And what would happen to Wyatt? Would he get arrested too, for aiding and abetting a fugitive, like he said?
The door opened, Ivy emerging first with a small white cup in her hand and a giant smile on her face. Wyatt was talking to her, ushering her to the truck quickly.
He got her root beer?
Wyatt opened the back door for Ivy. “That policeman is inside right now!” she hissed.
“We know,” said Wyatt. “Get down, Ivy. Hurry up.” He closed her door and opened his own, climbing in beside Teslyn. “We were walking out when he was walking in. I turned around and got Ivy a root beer. Don’t worry, she promised not to drink the whole thing.” He backed out of the parking spot and took the entry ramp to the highway. “You can get up now, sweetie.”
The sound of a drinking straw sucking air echoed through the truck cab. Teslyn sighed. “As long as she’s not going to finish it, I guess it’s okay.”
Wyatt chuckled. “At least it kept us away from Barney Fife.”
“That’s true.” She turned to peek at Ivy. “Put your seatbelt on.”
“I’m sorry, Teslyn. I like root beer.”
“That’s okay, honey.” She turned forward, suddenly exhausted. “How much longer to your house?” she asked Wyatt.
“An hour and a half, maybe two.”
“If you don’t mind, I might close my eyes.”
He picked up the red plaid shirt on the seat between them and handed it to her. “Have at it. I’ll wake you when we get there.”
She rolled the shirt up and used it as a pillow. It smelled like him, something spicy and uniquely Wyatt she’d already learned to identify. The rhythm of the tires hitting the seams in the roadway was hypnotic, pulling her quickly toward sleep like a weight tugging her to the depths of the ocean.
Her last conscious thought was that she felt safe for the first time in her life—at a time when she and her sister were anything but—and that the feeling had everything to do with Wyatt.
CHAPTER13
The closer Wyatt got to his house, the better the weather became. His property was on a lake, and he imagined Ivy jumping off the dock with Jett. It was difficult for him to imagine what Ivy had been through—Teslyn too, for that matter—but Teslyn was an adult who had control over her own life, while Ivy had only known life as Marilyn’s daughter. The paternal side of him wanted to take her to Disney World and buy out a toy store to make up for the crappy hand she’d been dealt.
If only it were that simple.
The fact that Teslyn was still struggling with the wounds of her childhood was testament to their lasting nature, but he sincerely hoped Ivy was young enough that a better life from here on out might temper the blows she’d already experienced.
