She stood. “I want you and Joanie to leave. This is not happening in front of the girls.” She reached down and spoke to them in a whisper, “Please go upstairs, and I’ll be there when they leave.”
The girls filed by their company one at a time, and as they were climbing the bannister, Tony blurted out, “Not so much as a hug or goodbye?”
Little courageous Angie was the only one to stop, turn to him, and say, “Goodbye, Daddy.” Then she ran up the steps to catch up with her sisters and disappeared.
Gretchen studied the way Joanie tried to calm him down, like a butterfly flitting all over the place. Gretchen knew she’d have to learn to become much more adept at coping with his anger, or she’d get the back of his hand eventually, like Gretchen did twice. She’d been a fool to not leave then and there. But all that was in the past. And it had been hard for the family to understand how emotionally weak Tony really was. The whole world looked at him like a celebrity, a super hero who could do no wrong. And in that environment, he never had to come to grips with the pain he inflicted on everyone around him.
Tony was nearly out the door before Joanie realized he was leaving. “I’m sorry, Gretchen. I don’t know why he had to tell you about his plans for the girls. This was supposed to be a special day, asking for his girls to be in the wedding. I didn’t know he was going to behave this way.”
“Joanie, you’re in for a very long row to hoe. It will never get easier. In fact, I think he’s gotten worse.”
“Maybe if we have a baby, it will settle him down.”
Gretchen couldn’t believe her ears. The woman standing before her was actually considering having a baby with that man. She was going to say something to her when they both heard Tony’s car horn.
“Be careful, Joanie. Take good care of yourself and watch your back. I mean it.”
Gretchen noted her surprised expression as Joanie fumbled for her purse, turned around, and then headed out the front door onto the porch and the stairs down below.
She was so glad she was out of that snake pit as she watched them drive off. But the looming storm clouds on the horizon and possible attorney’s fees, which she could not afford, worried her.
She checked and locked the downstairs doors and windows, removed the glasses from the living room, and then ascended the wooden stairway. The air had been sucked out of her lungs. She couldn’t even remember what it felt like to laugh or to be held, protected by someone who cared for her. Even Trace’s face blurred. Linda Gray had been right. She was so starved for that kind of affection after having been denied it for so long, she’d do almost anything to get it back.
But tonight she had a job to do. There would be no crying herself to sleep or reading a good book to take her mind off her troubles. She had three little angels to protect from this monster called their father. If she wasn’t clear-headed, she’d make a mistake that could cost them all dearly. She had to be brave and tough for them.
Her happily ever after would have to come later.
Chapter 20
Trace got back to Coronado just in time to walk into a SEAL Team 3 meeting.
Tyler gave him a shake and a slap on the back.
“Glad you could make it, Trace,” his LPO, Kyle Lansdowne said by way of greeting. “Everything right as rain?”
“One hundred percent.”
“How’s the little one doing?”
“Tough as nails, like her mom.”
Armando barked, “Uh-oh, she cut you off?”
“Didn’t mean it that way,” Trace tried to whisper, but the room erupted in shouts anyway.
“I’m sure you heard, but I’ll go over it one time for clarity. Their vacation was cut short by the kidnapping of Tyler’s niece. Trace, Coop, Armando, and Fredo flew to Portland and foiled what was going to be a botched ransom demand. Saved the little girl’s life.”
Appreciative nods and mumbling of praise sounded amongst the Team.
“Clover was—what?—fourteen?” Kyle squinted and cocked his head.
“Yup.”
“Okay, so show and tell is over. And we’re back to focusing on the really big shit.” Lansdowne paced the sanded concrete floor. “We need to start planning the next deployment, coming up very soon now.”
The room fell silent.
He stopped in front of Trace and barked, “You’re the newest guy on the team. We got no special favors just because you happen to have been a hero last week. We got a room full of heroes. You, my man, are in charge of the Team’s Honeypot.”
The room erupted into a roar.
He wasn’t sure, but he guessed it was the Team’s stash of porn that traveled with them wherever they went.
“Is it any good?” he asked. He heard ripples of laughter.
Armando answered him. “So when you hear Trace is taking too much time in the bathroom, you’ll know what he’s doing.”
“Don’t feel bad, Trace,” Ollie added. “Most the magazines are light on account of the pictures being torn out you actually don’t have much to pack.”
“Then I’ll add a few of my favorites.”
Everyone laughed.
“Okay, listen up. We’re going to be heading to the Caribbean this time, but this ain’t no picnic,” Kyle started. “We’re landing at an old church campground on St. Croix the US Government recently bought for these types of ops. We’ll be building things as part of our “training,” and our cover is that we’re a bunch of Seabees setting up a military training camp. That also gives us the excuse to explore the island and not carry heavy weapons, but trust me, we’ll have them. Don’t want anything like what happened to us in Mexico last time.”
“So that’s the job? Don’t we have a target?” asked Tyler. “And any idea how long we’ll be gone?”
“Oh, we got a target all right. We got a dude living on a houseboat, but it’s not like anything you’d see in the swamps of Louisiana. It’s a converted small cruise ship. His own private paradise, flying a pirate flag. He entertains, has a casino, and lots of babes, but he rents rooms. Like a floating hotel. It’s sort of a loss leader for him. He’s looking for the big guys to buy his drugs.”
“He’s American?” asked T.J.
“From St. Croix. We also think he runs girls. He comes into port one day, and several girls go missing the next, never to be seen again. We aim to take him down, eventually. This is the first part. Set up the base camp.”
After the meeting broke up, Trace followed some of the other Team Guys over to the Rusty Scupper for some beers. He learned one of the Team’s “retired” SEALs was going to make a run and try to come back.
“It’s been done before,” said Lucas. “That tat guy did it. Was out ten years and then went back.”
“Yeah, Kirby North,” nodded Fredo. “Helluva guy. He ran with the Angels during those ten years. Can you imagine that?”
Trace had heard of this guy and vowed he’d like to shake the man’s hand. It would mean that he would be coming back to the teams ten years from now. That took a lot of guts.
The group broke up and called it a night. Trace called Gretchen, but didn’t get an answer. Then he looked at the clock, and it was past ten-thirty before they left the Scupper.
Should have called her earlier. Damn.
“Hey, Gretchen, got here safe and sound and had to hightail it to the Team building for our Com report. Tyler says hi, by the way. I’ll call you in the morning. Hope I didn’t wake you.” He hesitated, but ended the call with, “Missing you already, baby.”
When he returned to his apartment, he dropped his bag inside the door and stared at his sorry place. He had a beat-up leather couch he’d bought at the local Crossing Jordan store, and it looked like hell. His big screen TV was on a stack of five pallets, which took up a lot of space, but since he didn’t have any other furniture in there, it was no problem. The colorful part was the nudie posters. He’d collected his favorites over his five years of bachelorhood. The parade of fleshy and flimsy stuff extended into his
single bedroom. His king-sized bed was the only truly awesome thing in his place.
One of the guys had asked him why he didn’t have more stuff, since he’d been married. He told them he’d let Shayla take everything. And what she didn’t take, he threw away. He didn’t want anything left to remind himself of her in any way, shape, manner, or form.
But the inside of his apartment, where he didn’t spend a whole lot of time, mimicked the insides of his love life. At least until a week ago, when he’d met Gretchen in Hawaii. Oh, yes, it had been fun to buy those magazines at the book store in Portland, but those were tame compared to the ones he had piled up beside his bed and stuffed into shelves in his coat closet.
But now he had a real coat to hang there. She’d let him take the Navy pea coat, which he removed and put on a lone, bent wire hangar. He took out a stack of magazines and set them in the hallway outside his door. The teenagers in the complex would find them before the janitor did.
He walked around the room and ripped the posters off the wall, some twenty of them. It wasn’t that he’d changed, really. He was moving on. Just like in his marriage to Shayla, he didn’t want anything to remind him of those lonely years being heartbroken.
He brought his duty bag into the bedroom and took out a pair of his boxers. It was too warm in Coronado for the long pajama bottoms he wore in Portland. Slipping off his clothes, he tossed them in the closet with his other dirty clothes and took a long, steamy shower.
He wanted a beer, although he’d had more than a couple at the Scupper shooting the shit with the other guys. But the refrigerator was bare, and he didn’t feel like getting dressed and visiting the convenience store down the street. He decided it would be best to just go to bed.
Caribbean. Wow. He’d been there several times when he and Shayla could catch those cheap direct flights. Loved all the bright colors and the white beaches. Hawaii was lush and old school beautiful. He wanted to go back and thought perhaps Gretchen might like a second vacation, since the first one had been marred by the kidnapping.
But the Caribbean was some place he never thought he’d go as a SEAL. There had to be some government angle going on to bring in the SEALs. Perhaps some Senator’s daughter got caught up with this cretin or something. More would be revealed, no doubt. Why would the US Government want to disrupt a crazy guy selling drugs off a houseboat? Wasn’t that something for the locals and, closer to home, for the Coast Guard?
But sure, he’d take the blue waters and steel drum music. He’d take his share of rum, too.
He turned off the bedside light and settled down when his cell rang.
“Sorry I missed your call, Trace,” Gretchen said, breathless like she’d been running. “I was reading to the girls and then doing laundry. Hope it’s not too late.”
“No, sweetheart, your timing is perfect. Just tucked myself into bed, and as a matter of fact, I was thinking of you.”
He knew she was smiling.
“I had a rough encounter with Tony tonight. Don’t want to get into it, but just needed to hear your voice again.”
“What happened?”
“It’s too much to go into right now. I’m exhausted. We were all upset. In a nutshell, though, Tony is getting married in June and has asked the girls to be in the wedding.”
“Okay.” Trace wasn’t sure why this would cause so much upset, unless Gretchen harbored more feelings for Tony than she let on.
“And he’s visiting his rights as a future married man, as far as the girls go. He’s thinking of taking me to court over it.”
“Oh, damn. That’s totally fucked. What an asshole.”
“We’ll sort it out. I’ve talked to my mom, and she gave me the name of a good attorney who specializes in custody cases. I just hope he’s not too expensive. But I’ll be fine.”
“And who knows? He spends a couple of weeks with all three of them, Tony’s likely to send them back home. At least that’s what I imagine him to be like.”
“It isn’t anything to do with the girls. It’s about punishing me, taking them away from me.”
“Gotta hope a judge would see right through that.”
“Except for one thing, Trace. Tony is a Portland icon. Nobody would ever believe me if I told them how he treated me and the girls.”
“Have more faith, Gretchen. Wish I could go with you to the wedding, as your backup, but I’ll be on deployment.”
“I was afraid of that. When do you leave?”
“Not supposed to say, but we’re not sure, anyhow.”
“Will you be far?”
“Can’t say that, either, sweetheart. Sorry. But more than likely I’ll be gone in June and probably July as well. I’ll be in phone contact, though, occasionally.”
“At least we’ll have that.”
The silence between them was awkward, so he told her to get some rest and plot everything out she needed to do in the morning when she felt fresh.
“Already done that.”
“You work fast.”
“When things are jumbled, I obsessively plan. It’s a weakness, I guess.”
“Hell no to that. That’s a strength here on the Teams. Planning is everything.”
“Well, I’ll let you get some rest, and I promise to double check all my lists in the morning when I’m fresh. I’m going to miss not cuddling up to you tonight.”
“Me, too, baby. You call me anytime. Anytime you need to talk. And don’t worry about anything. It will all turn out. I’ll give you a call tomorrow if I can. But I’ll definitely call you before we leave.”
“Thanks, Trace.” After a pause, she said, “Good night.”
“Good night, Gretchen.”
They hadn’t said the “L” word yet, so the sign-off felt a bit abrupt.
But that’s just the way it is.
As he watched the patterns of light flash across his ceiling, he wondered what kind of man could father three precious girls, and care so little for their welfare. The man didn’t deserve the gift he’d been given.
He was also clear about something else. It wasn’t his place to step into the man’s shoes. The dynamics of this family, although he cared about them all, was not something he should get involved with. Good or bad, the girls had a father. He wasn’t going to steal the man’s chance to redeem himself and make a fresh start.
No matter how unlikely it was.
Chapter 21
“Mom. Does Daddy love us?” Angela asked her.
“Of course he does,” Gretchen explained. “He shows it differently than I do or Grandma does, than just about everyone.”
She could have the talk about his being selfish with Clover, but with Angie and Rebecca, she’d risk one of them saying something to him, and that could set him off.
Clover said nothing about their interchange. When the girls weren’t invited to Tony’s weekend game, which had been the custom, they all relaxed. Gretchen wasn’t looking forward to another confrontation. Every day the mailman came, she was nervous to perhaps find a Summons.
The attorney that Tyler’s mom used dealt with intellectual property rights for artists. Heather had some choice words to describe Tony’s outburst, especially doing so in front of the three girls.
“The guy’s had everything handed to him. He’s a freak of nature. But that doesn’t hold any standing with me. He could do with less muscle mass and more common sense,” Heather Gray told her.
“I’m hoping he’ll get so involved in the wedding that he’ll forget the whole thing,” answered Gretchen.
“You really think so? Seems to me he wants what he wants and doesn’t matter who it cuts across. Poor Joanie. I hope you warned her, discretely, of course.”
“I did. I’m not going to tell you what she said as a response.”
“You have to tell me now.”
“She thinks if they have a child together it will settle Tony down.”
“Oh God, one of those.”
“Don’t get me wrong, children are a blessing. Bu
t to use them to patch up a flawed marriage? It’s not fair to the child. I was so naive and so enamored with Tony’s charisma I didn’t see all that.”
“You’ve done a great job, Gretchen. I’ll think about a referral, ask around. In my crowd, though, most everyone is grandparents. But I’ll keep asking. You want a pit bull.”
Gretchen laughed. “That’s for sure. If you have a pit bull on Tony’s ankle, doesn’t matter how tall he is.”
Later in the week, she managed a phone conversation with the attorney her mother recommended in Palo Alto.
“Is there any dispute with the paternity?”
Gretchen was taken aback. “Excuse me?”
“Well, could any of these girls not be his daughter?”
“Of course not!” She looked into the phone as if it had been crawling with ants.
“Just had to ask. So both of you acknowledge Tony is the biological father.”
“Yes.”
“And he’s not paid any child support, even though he’s an NBA star?”
“I refused the money. I told him instead to put it in a fund for their college, which he’s done.”
“You could go after him for back child support,” he suggested.
“But that doesn’t solve the problem of the custody of the girls. I’m not interested in making him mad. I just want to keep the girls, and I don’t want them spending lots of time over there. It isn’t a good environment. Joannie’s inattention led to my daughter being kidnapped!”
“A judge might not agree with you. Think of the things Tony can provide that you cannot. I’m not agreeing with this at all, but you can see how someone on the outside might construe it differently.”
“They don’t need to live in a palace and be driven to school with a driver to have a normal life. They need love and care. A parent who will spend time with them.”
After the discussion, Gretchen was worried. Tony had deeded the house over to her, such that she could make the payments on her own. They’d put over fifty percent down, from one of Tony’s bonuses. And in exchange, she didn’t take any money from him for support, because of pride. She’d been discarded, traded in on a new model. And before this week, he’d never seemed interested in maintaining a relationship with the girls.
SEAL My Love: A SEAL Brotherhood Novel Page 13
