Page 53 of Savage SEAL's Virgin
Part 4
Blyss
We had to hand it to Tatum’s grandparents—they’d done a fantastic job raising her. She was sweet, respectful, kind, and up for anything. That included kindergarten, something Troy and I were afraid she’d hate.
We’d made her home a virtual paradise after all. We doted on her as if she was a real princess. Hell, all of us did. Troy’s parents were also over the moon about the new member of the family. Tatum had only been with us for two months, but it seemed like she’d been a part of us forever.
It also seemed like I had been a part of that family forever. The memories of my youth were fast disappearing as Troy, Tatum, and I made new ones to take the places of all the humdrum and negative memories I had.
Troy and I would take her to school each morning and pick her up every afternoon, then go get an ice cream cone before going back home. Tatum always made sure to go show her grandparents what she’d done in school that day. Mr. and Mrs. Sandoval were happy with how well Tatum was doing with her new family. They often said how glad they were they’d made the decision to let Troy know about his daughter.
They also said how he and I should have a baby before Tatum was too much older. It would be nice for her to grow up with a sibling or two, in their opinions. Troy agreed. I wasn’t ready to make that commitment yet, which was hard to explain, since we had a fake marriage instead of a real one.
I wasn’t about to have a child without being married. It was just one of the many issues I had from being dumped as a newborn. I wanted things to be perfect before I brought a child into the world.
If there was such thing as perfect!
I’ll never forget that day at the end of September. Troy and I were riding in the Tetris. It was the safest car he owned. Since Tatum had come along, he’d only allowed her to be transported in that car. In his own words, his little princess was priceless and should always be treated that way.
We were on our way to the school to pick her up when his cell rang. It was a ringtone I’d never heard. The way he looked at the phone had me feeling worried. His eyes shifted to it as it was lying on the console between us. His lips bowed into a frown as three deep lines creased his forehead.
“Who is that?” I asked him.
His eyes cut to mine, then cut away. “My captain.”
“That sounds ominous.” I bit my lower lip as he picked up the phone.
“Masterson,” he answered the call.
My heart was pounding. My head was spinning. And I could tell by the way his face was going blank that he was going to have to leave us, at least for a little while. That was the one thing that loomed over us. Nothing else threatened our happiness. Well, maybe me not agreeing to marry him, but nothing other than that threatened what we’d found. Only the Navy could hurt us.
It took no time for the call to be over. I watched as Troy’s broad shoulders slumped. I took his hand and gave it a little squeeze. “Is it bad?”
He shook his head. “No. I don’t want you to worry. It’s top secret. I can’t say a word about it.” He cut his eyes from me before he turned into the school’s parking lot. “Let’s not say anything about this in front of Tatum.”
I nodded in agreement. “I won’t. Can you tell me when you have to go and how long you’ll be gone?”
“Tonight. And it shouldn’t be that long—a day or two.”
I knew it had to be dangerous as hell if it was such an impromptu mission. Some really bad guy must be in the perfect position to be taken out or something. In my mind, that meant the danger was at an extreme level, and the love of my life was heading straight into it.
Tears burned the backs of my eyes as I blinked to keep them right where they were. I didn’t want to cry. Not when we were about to pick up Tatum. “What are we going to tell her, Troy? What reason are you going to give her that you have to go away for a few days?”
“I’ll say I’m needed on base in San Diego. As far as anyone knows, that’s right where I’ll be. Don’t worry. I see it in your eyes.” He parked the car, then took me by the chin, running the pad of his thumb over my cheek. “I’ve been well trained, baby.”
All I could do was nod. My throat had a boulder in it. We got out of the car and went inside to get his daughter, who I was beginning to think of as mine. She was like the glue that was holding us together.
Troy and I hadn’t argued at all since she came to live with us. And he’d even backed off the whole real marriage thing, most of the time, anyway. There were occasions, especially when we were making love, that he’d ask me to marry him. But it didn’t make me anywhere near as mad as it had before she came. I had no idea why that was, but it was that way.
We held hands as we walked up the sidewalk, then I made a little sobbing sound. He ran his arm around me, pulling me close, and kissing the side of my head. “It’s okay, Blyss. It’s going to be fine. I’ll be gone a few days, tops. I only have eight more months of this, then I’m up for re-enlistment, which I won’t be doing. Hang in there, baby.”
I still couldn’t talk. I had to swallow it all down and keep it locked away. Tatum couldn’t see me that way or she’d get upset too. Something I had learned from years of shoving my fears down when I was a kid cropped up in me and I managed to lock my emotions down. The tears stopped burning my eyes and the knot in my throat slowly went away. I could hold it together for our little girl.
I had to.
Later, I sipped on a soda as Tatum and Troy ate their ice cream cones. My tummy wasn’t having any more than that. Tatum was chatty, talking away about her day at school and how they were going to have a field trip next week where her whole class was coming to the winery for a tour.
“I think that’s ‘mazing,” she said, then licked her ice cream. “Don’t you, Daddy?”
