SEAL's Secret Baby

by Ivy Jordan

I nodded, breathed in hard, and then exhaled slowly to calm myself down.

  “What do you think she’s telling them?” I whispered to my friend without making eye contact.

  “It doesn’t matter. I’ve got your back,” Elijah boasted.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Maddie

  I was shaking as the officer asked me what happened. I was embarrassed, but I told him the truth, all the way from when I ran to Miami to get away from him and lost my memory. “I was coming home to jog my memory,” I sighed, leaning against the wall outside my apartment.

  “So, you were traveling with Isaac?” he asked.

  “Yes,” I admitted.

  “How did you end up with the assailant?” the officer probed.

  Tears fell from my eyes, and I began to shake. I wasn’t sure how to explain what happened without causing Isaac trouble. I didn’t want to see him in trouble, at least not after he saved me. I remembered we were friends, and I remembered his kindness, helping me get to Miami and away from Rob. “I started remembering, and I talked to Rob. He sounded so sincere, so desperate to see me, so I left Isaac and took a bus,” I explained.

  The officer seemed satisfied with what I said, not questioning anything about mine and Isaac’s relationship. “Once he picked me up, his tone started to change, and I remembered how awful he’d been to me. Isaac was told by the doctors to let me remember on my own, so he didn’t tell me about Rob,” I added.

  “Is he going to stay with you now?” the officer asked. I quickly shook my head. I didn’t want Isaac to stay, even though I hated the thought of being alone. He’d betrayed me, lied to me. I couldn’t trust him, not fully.

  “I’m fine. I just want to be alone,” I insisted.

  The officer explained that Rob was being taken to jail and would be held without bond until court in January. I was relieved that I didn’t have to worry about him coming back to harm me, and relieved that my memories were back, even if some were uncomfortable and made me sad.

  “If you need anything, just call,” the officer handed me his card. His eyes were dark and intense, his face chiseled and masculine. He was a handsome man, a kind man, and something about him reminded me of Isaac.

  “Thank you,” I said softly, walking back inside my apartment.

  Isaac and Elijah were standing near my couch with an officer by their side. I didn’t want to speak to him, not yet, and maybe not ever. My heart ached at the mere sight of him. I loved him. But, it wasn’t real. He tricked me.

  The officer patted Elijah and Isaac on the back and then moved towards me. “You okay here, ma’am?” he asked. I nodded and fought back my tears.

  “Do you want us to stay?” Elijah asked as he approached me. The officers were already gone, and the apartment was already feeling lonely.

  “No, thank you,” I mumbled.

  Isaac kept his distance, a few feet behind Elijah. His eyes penetrated into my soul, making me want to reach out, wrap my arms around him, and fall into his arms. “Are you sure?” Elijah asked again.

  “I’m sure. I need time alone, to process everything,” I explained.

  I waited until Isaac exited the apartment before following Elijah to the door. I wondered if he knew what Isaac was doing this entire time, and if so, why he’d allowed it. I smiled and shut my door, locking each of the locks and then double-checked that they were locked.

  I was alone in my apartment. I was totally alone in my life.

  My eyes scanned the room, taking in every single item. Some I remembered, some I didn’t. It wasn’t home, at least not yet, not now.

  Pictures of Rob and I were all over the place. I took each one from the tables, from the walls, and shoved them in a basket under my coffee table. I wished I hadn’t remembered him at all.

  It was late, and my eyes were heavy. I walked into the bedroom, pulled open each of my drawers until I found some comfy clothes, and quickly changed into them. I climbed into bed with my laptop and my phone that the cops retrieved from Rob’s pocket. I hadn’t turned it back on yet, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to. If Isaac tried to call, I wasn’t ready to talk to him, and it didn’t appear I had anyone else in my life.

  I browsed through my laptop, checking my social media accounts. I was a personal trainer, not a yoga instructor like Isaac told me. No wonder I didn’t find a connection with the exercises, but I did in the gym near his home.

  All of my accounts seemed to be for business, except Facebook, which seemed to only have pictures and Rob and me together. I started deleting them one by one and then blocked his name from my accounts. I changed my password and looked through my friend list. My memory started to come alive as I looked through each of their pages. A knot formed in my gut as I realized there was no one I was close to. My page was filled with acquaintances, and a few friends from school and from college that I knew I’d lost track of.

  I stared at my grandmother’s dolls sitting in the chair near my bed and let the tears fall from my eyes. I missed her badly. Having her memory back was like losing her all over again. “What happened to me?” I sobbed. “When did I become this person that allowed someone to control me?”

  My eyes grew heavier and heavier as I slid into my bed. The comforter was heavy but soft and my mattress so fluffy that I sunk into it like a bed of feathers. All I wanted to do was sleep, to remember, and to forget.

  There were no bad dreams, no nightmares of being hurt. There were only dreams. Dreams of Isaac. I couldn’t push him out of my mind, no matter how hard I tried. I could feel his touch, taste his kiss, and smell his cologne. I tossed and turned, my heart aching for him as my body squirmed beneath the heavy comforter. It would take time, but I’d forget him.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Isaac

  “You sure it’s a good idea to stay?” Elijah asked, his small travel bag in hand.

  I’d spent the night at the hotel near Maddie’s apartment and I had no intention of leaving until I knew she was okay. “I’m sure,” I replied.

  Elijah patted me on the shoulder before leaving the hotel room we’d shared the night before. I still wasn’t sure what Maddie told the police, or completely convinced I wouldn’t be arrested if I showed back up at her apartment. It was a chance I had to take.

  Her phone was still turned off. I tried calling twice the night before and once already this morning. It went straight to voicemail.

  With Elijah gone, the hotel room felt empty and lonely. I sat on the edge of the bed with my travel bag next to me. Maddie’s wallet was inside, the excuse I was going to use to see her, but there was also something else I’d bought for her, for her birthday. I wondered if she realized that I’d lied about that as well, if she knew, in fact, that today was her birthday.

  I made so made mistakes, but I knew in my heart of hearts that I made them for the right reasons. I grabbed a clean outfit and moved into the bathroom. My arm was stiff and sore as I reached for the faucet in the shower. I undressed, climbed inside the small tub, and pulled the curtain closed as the water rushed over my aching body.

  Images of Maddie on the floor with Rob atop her floated in my mind each time I closed my eyes. I didn’t want to think of what he was about to do to her, what he would’ve done if I hadn’t gotten inside.

  I lathered up the hotel washcloth with the tiny bar of soap and ran it over my body. There were bruises on my right arm, my ribs on the left side were sore and tender, and my back felt like it had been stretched beyond its capabilities. I quickly rinsed, shut off the water and grabbed the small towel hanging on the rack near the shower. I wasn’t sure I was ready to have Maddie turn me away. My heart ached at the thought of her hating me as I dried off and dressed.

  What am I going to say? I had no idea.

  My phone rang, causing me to flinch as it blasted into the silence of the room. I rushed towards it, hoping to see Maddie’s name on the screen, but it was Beth. She was calling to tell me ‘I told ya so’ no doubt.

  “Hey, Beth,” I answered, rea
dy for her lecture.

  “Isaac, Elijah called and told me everything. Are you okay?” her voice was filled with concern.

  My defense softened as her voice carried through the phone to my ear. “Yes, I’m fine,” I replied.

  “I just want you to know, I’m proud of you,” her words shocked me. Proud of me?

  “I know how much you love her, and I’ve seen she loves you too. I can’t imagine what would’ve happened to her if you hadn’t stayed so close.”

  My eyes were welling up with tears. I swallowed hard and cleared my throat to keep my emotions intact. “Thank you, Beth, but I really messed things up for us,” I choked out.

  “Elijah told me you stayed behind; what are your plans?” she asked.

  I didn’t have any. My pause was long, and I could hear Beth sigh on the other end of the phone as she waited for my response.

  “You have to have a plan,” she said softly.

  “I’m going to return her wallet,” I stated firmly without mentioning my plans to give her a birthday gift. “I can at least see if she hates me,” I added.

  “She’s probably really confused, and yes, angry, but I doubt she hates you,” Beth advised. “Call me if you need anything,” she added, and then hung up once I agreed.

  My stomach growled from hunger and fear. I have to do this before I lose my nerve. I grabbed the items I planned to give to Maddie and rushed out of the hotel room. The elevator was slow, as if trying to detain me from what I planned to do. The rental car still had Maddie’s address in the GPS, but I didn’t need it. I could find my way to her with my eyes closed. My heart would lead the way.

  I parked in the same spot I’d been in the previous night. My little black rental car was right below her window. In the daylight, it was hard to tell if lights were on or not. There were no shadows in the window like before, and I feared the possibility that she’d left, found a friend to take her in, protect her, and not lie to her like I had.

  The round man with thin black hair that had let me inside the night before walked out of the front doors. I climbed out of my car, quickly greeting him as I walked towards the apartments. “Thank you again for your help last night,” I extended my hand.

  The man shook my hand, a smile smeared all over his face. “Maddie is a good girl; we are all just glad to see that monster out of her life,” he said.

  So am I.

  He strolled on down the sidewalk, to where, I had no idea. To me, the man was my savior, a saint, and the only reason Maddie didn’t end up raped, or worse at the hands of the man who proclaimed to love her.

  I went inside the building and started up the three flights of stairs to Maddie’s apartment. No wonder she was in such great shape; it was a long, upward walk to her apartment door. I chuckled to myself at the thought of all the hamburgers I’d eaten over the last several weeks, and how Maddie warned me they would make me sluggish and weak.

  I made it to her door. I stood there in front of it, my hands frozen to my sides, and my breathing starting to calm from the climb. What was I going to say to her? What if she took her wallet and closed the door in my face? Beth was right; I needed a plan. I didn’t have one.

  My right arm lifted, and my knuckles beat on her door with the same rapid pace as my heart. I couldn’t hear anything on the other side of the door, just silence. I knocked again, this time a little harder.

  After a couple seconds, I heard someone inside. The peephole slid over, scraping against the metal of the door as I assumed she was getting her first peek at who stood at her front door.

  “I have your wallet,” I said, holding up the designer wallet for her to see.

  Chains unlatched, deadbolts unlocked, and then the door opened. My heart raced as her angelic face appeared. She didn’t have an expression, no fear, no anger, no excitement to see me: nothing.

  “I wanted to give this to you,” I mumbled, holding her wallet in front of me. Her hands were trembling as she took the accessory I’d lied about being lost. “Can we talk?” I choked.

  Her eyes were dark and cold, but she widened the door and let me inside. The hairs on the back of my neck stood stiff from nerves rolling through my body. I handed her the wallet, which she immediately started going through. She pulled out her license, her credit cards, all with the name Maddie Stewart, not Maddie Grubbs. “I’m sorry. I was trying to protect you,” I mumbled.

  Her eyes lifted to mine, so wide, so beautiful, even though darkened by sadness, confusion, and what I feared may be hate. “I changed your name, your birthdate, everything so the hospital or police wouldn’t be able to identify you to Rob,” I explained.

  “You tricked me to get me into bed,” she snapped, her eyes starting to well with tears.

  “Maddie, I never meant to trick you. I swear to you my only intention was to protect you. When you were in that hospital bed, all I could think about was losing you. I’ve loved you my entire life, and when you came to Miami, I thought it was my chance to prove to you that you deserved better, to show you how you should’ve been treated,” I pleaded.

  Her eyes softened and started to brighten as she let one solitary tear fall from her left eye down her cheek. “You could’ve told me,” she hissed.

  “I should’ve. I thought you might forget him, about how he’d treated you. You were so frightened, so scared when you arrived, you fell into my arms sobbing. I knew what that man had done, what he was capable of doing if he found you. When you finally opened your eyes, I’d been there the entire time, and my heart had never felt lighter than it did at that moment,” I reasoned.

  “You were my friend,” she gasped.

  “I am your friend. I didn’t trick you into falling in love with me; you did that on your own. I’ve always loved you,” I said, reaching into my pocket for the ring I’d bought her in Miami. “Here, I wanted you to have this on your birthday.” I extended the small velvet box to her.

  She held it in her hand, tears falling down her face freely now. “Today’s my birthday,” she sobbed. I nodded, fighting back my own tears. How could I have hurt this woman? I love her with everything inside of me, everything I have.

  Her eyes lit up as she opened the box. The beautiful tanzanite ring stared her in the face. “This is the ring I tried on,” she gasped.

  “Yes. You loved it, and I wanted you to have a ring that was meant for you, so you could get rid of the one you were wearing,” I said, glancing towards her finger where Rob’s ring no longer occupied her finger.

  “Thank you,” she said softly.

  “Nothing between us was a lie. Even though I did lie to you about some things, you and I were never a lie,” I said, hoping it was enough to soften the hate she must’ve had for me in my heart.

  I started to leave, but my feet wouldn’t move. Her eyes were locked onto mine, and something inside of them told me the hate, if ever there was any, was gone. She reached for my hand, her skin so soft and smooth it made my entire body tingle from just that single touch. “I don’t like that you tricked me. But, I do appreciate you taking such good care of me, and…” her voice trailed off as she swallowed audibly. “I know my love for you is real,” she exhaled.

  My heart jumped in my chest, and without planning, thinking, or any self-control, I pulled her into me, kissing her with the same passion I’d had the first time our lips ever met.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Maddie

  All of the pain and anger I felt melted away in Isaac’s arms. I’d thought about him all night, about how close we were, about how he’d taken such good care of me, and how much I truly loved him. I knew he did things the wrong way, but I also knew he did them for the right reasons.

  Our tongues entangled in a passionate embrace as his hands roamed up my body, sending arousing chills to my spine. He pulled away gently, letting his teeth slightly graze my bottom lip, tugging it delicately from my mouth. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t,” he stammered.

  I giggled; watching him apologize for something I wanted
as much as he did was amusing. “Don’t be sorry,” I replied, lifting to my tippy toes to reach his mouth with mine.

  I knew I’d run to Miami for more than a safe haven to hide from Rob. I’d run to Isaac to profess my love for him. All those years I’d always dreamed of there being more, but the timing was never right. He was in the military, I was in college, he was with his first love, and I was with Rob. When I decided to leave, when Rob became violent, I knew there wasn’t anything for me in Portland anymore. The only one for me was Isaac, and that life would be in Miami.

  His strong arms wrapped around me tightly and lifted me from the floor. He scooped me up, carrying me like a child as he made his way to my bedroom. My heart raced, and my body tingled as his soft lips pushed into mine. My arms loosely hung around his neck as my body melted into his.

  One swift toss and I was on my mattress, my back bouncing as my eyes locked onto Isaac’s. He worked quickly removing his shorts and exposing the toned, tan flesh to my eyes. I watched as he kicked off his shoes, let out a squeal as he ripped his belt from the loops of his pants, and then gasped as he unleashed his hard cock. He didn’t fumble with the condom, but instead slid it on with such grace, such skill that my mouth watered.

  His hands reached for me, gripping my hips and pulling me to the center of the bed as his eyes pierced into mine.

  My body squirmed beneath him, loving every touch as he slowly pulled my tank top over my head. The loose sleep pants I wore didn’t put up a fight when he tugged at them, and the fact I hadn’t wore panties to bed left me instantly vulnerable to his disposition.

  Isaac gripped my left leg, holding it upward from the bed as his mouth pushed against my ankle. His kisses were soft and quick, like tickling butterflies on my skin. I gasped as his mouth traveled down my leg, to my knee, to my thigh, and then stopped at my center. His hot breath pushed the fine hairs on my pussy, tickling me as they swayed with his breathing.

  My back arched, my ass lifted from the mattress, and I pushed myself into him, forcing his mouth to touch the soft, wanting flesh of my cunt.