Second Chance SEAL(59)

First, he wanted to join the Military Police. Because of his exemplary service with the SEALs, his application was fast-tracked, and soon Gates found himself behind a desk.

He never actually said that he missed the field, but I knew he did. Sometimes I caught him standing outside in the back yard, staring out into the desert. We lived in Arizona, and our property backed up to a wide expanse of beautiful, pristine desert area. Neither of us every wanted to live in Arizona, but the military stationed Gates there, and we weren’t about to complain.

The desert grew on me. I liked how cold it got at night, and I liked how beautiful it was during the day. People imagined deserts as these places with no life, but that was completely wrong. Deserts were full of activity and life, from tiny mice on up to huge cacti.

Life was easy in that house together, or at least it was until I got pregnant.

Which leads me to the second thing Gates learned during his investigation.

Sandy looked up at me and smiled. I smiled back. “How’s it going, sweetie?”

“Good,” she said.

“She’s very good at coloring,” Gates said.

“I know. She’s an impressive girl.”

Sandy beamed. She looked just like her father, General Maron.

As soon as it was possible, Gates adopted Sandy. Nobody batted an eye when it happened, since Gates was already so protective of Maron’s orphaned daughter. I never thought I’d be taking care of a little girl, let alone a stranger, but I took to it pretty quickly. It helped that Sandy was such a nice girl, quiet and sweet, totally unlike her little baby brother.

Tyler didn’t bring trouble. He just was trouble. Like his dad, Tyler was a handful from the beginning.

And I loved it. I loved being busy. I had a good job, but when Tyler came along, I found that being a mother became my job. Not that I thought having a career was the wrong move, it just wasn’t what happened for me. Gates’s job kept him busy and supported us, and besides, I had Sandy to watch out for.

At night, Gates would keep me warn in our bed. And during the day, Tyler and Sandy would keep me busy, busy, busy.

And I loved it. I didn’t know that was what I wanted. I thought I wanted to read the weather on TV forever, and maybe I’d go back to meteorology. Maybe one day I’d figure out how to have it all.

I sat down with Tyler and bounced him, making faces at him. I hit play on my show and leaned back on the couch, playing with Tyler and watching TV.

This was the dream. This was my dream. It was more right than I could have ever imagined.

Ten minutes later, Gates came into the room followed by Sandy. She had a cute little pink bow in her hair and she was wearing her favorite yellow dress. Gates had a sandwich on a plate which he put down on the coffee table in front of me. He sat down next to me and took Tyler, smiling. Sandy curled up on the other side of me, resting her head on my shoulder.

“Second time’s a charm,” he said.

I picked it up and took a bite. It was absolutely delicious. “What would I do without you?”

“Starve,” he said, and laughed.

“I helped!” Sandy said.

“Of course, sweetie.” I kissed her forehead.

“Not as much as I did, though.” He grinned at me.

I kissed him and Tyler made a cooing laugh.

This was my family. This was my world. I didn’t want anything more than this.

Gates was never going to leave me again. I knew it was a hard decision, but he chose me over the military. I never imagined he’d make that decision, but I was incredibly grateful that he did.

I couldn’t wait to spend every second of every day with my son and my daughter and my gorgeous husband. I couldn’t wait to grow my family.

The horrors of the mafia chasing us down, the terror that Tony brought into my life, that was all gone. Gate swept it all away with his muscular, protective arms.

I had a new life with my amazing man. That was all I really needed.

I couldn’t stop smiling.





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