Page 21 of SEAL'S Baby Surprise
The van’s fridge is small and used to keep things like milk and eggs. Meat Austin buys fresh and uses right away. It is his version of frugal housekeeping.
In the afternoon, when it is too hot to even go swimming, the three of us sit on Austin’s big bed and play Old Maid, Authors, andChutes and Ladders. Julia loves sending us down the chutes. But there is nothing malicious about it. The sweet child laughs just as hard when she lands on a chute and has to climb back up the ladders.
Austin takes us out to dinner and a movie. I am so nervous, absolutely sure that someone will recognize me.
But no one I know is likely to show up at an open-air theater where they serve baked spaghetti, unending baskets of bread sticks, and more lovely green salad.
The movie is some kind of weird oldie about a guy who watches over a native American reservation and a charity school that takes in orphans and rejected kids.
It doesn’t make much sense, but it doesn’t have to. The magic isn’t in the movie; it’s in sharing a meal with Austin and Julia,listening to Austin explain bits to Julia, and getting a tiny bit tipsy on a very ordinary sort of wine.
“Are you old enough to drink alcoholic beverages?” Austin asks.
“Duh,” I reply. “I’m twenty-six. I got my BA in fashion design a year ago.” Now why had I said that? The less he knows, the safer he is.
But I was kind of proud of it. And I did want Austin to know that.
The Bluebeard Bridegroom is not going to get his hands on Julia or Austin. I might have been stupid enough for him to get his hooks into me, but he isn’t going to touch anyone else.
I think about Kandis walking along beside Richard, her baby’s head on her shoulder. No, Mr. Bluebeard isn’t going to touch any of them. Richard doesn’t know about the depths of his depravity, and I’m going to keep it that way.
I’ll keep them all safe.
On the way home, Austin stops at the local grocery and goes back to the pharmacy section while Julia and I pick out fresh fruit. Then he adds some things that will be easy to cook on the grill and pays for everything.
I’m so ashamed. I should be helping to pay for things, but I don’t have any money. Worse yet, I’d interrupted his work this morning. Did he have to call in sick because of me?
Back at the van, I offer a hug to Julia, who gives me a big squeeze. “Thank you for asking,” she says. “Some grownups forget.” That reminds me that she’d been in foster care for nearly a whole year while her father had searched for her, and then he’d had to prove that he was good enough to have her with him.
“You’re welcome,” I say. “I will always remember to ask.”
She scampers up the short ladder to her loft, collects up the rag doll that always hangs over the edge during the day, and blows kisses to me and her father before settling down in her nest.
“May I give you a hug?” Austin asks me.
I am so grateful to him for asking, not taking. “Yes, please,” I say.
Because Julia might be watching, we don’t kiss, but he holds me close for a minute. “Will you be all right sleeping alone?” he whispers in my ear.
I nod. “I borrowedLittle Women,” I say. “It’s like myPilgrim’s Progress.”
He laughs softly. “Mine, too. But it wasThe Art of Motorcycle Maintenancethat I took with me. I didn’t want the guys in my unit to make fun of me.”
That thought makes me giggle.
“I’ll show you where to turn on the reading light,” he says. Then, when we are safely where Julia can’t see us, he whispers, “Would you like a good night kiss?”
“Yes, please,” I say, knowing this might be our last chance at a kiss. There, in the shadowed space between the driver’s seat and reclined passenger seat, we kiss long, deep and hard. It is the best kiss ever.
It warms me right down in the frozen depths of my heart, in places I hadn’t known were frozen up. It warms something else, too, creating a deep, heavy longing in my woman parts.
It must have done things for Austin, too, because he finally draws back. We hold each other, just remembering how tobreathe. “Oh, my precious mermaid,” he whispers. “Let’s let that be enough for tonight.”
It sounds like he’s saying it to himself, too. I bask in the delicious warmth from his body and let him tuck me up in my little bed. He shows me where the reading light is located.
“I’ll leave Ark with you,” he says. “Guard, Ark! He’ll take good care of you.”
Then Austin is gone, and I am left with his mother’s copy ofLittle Women, and a shaggy guardian dog who farts, snores and gives wet, sloppy dog kisses if you don’t shield your face soon enough.
