Zoe's dreamy look dissolved. "Your brother is opinionated."
"And Deke is, too. You just aren't seeing it."
"Does he have a brother?" Fiona asked.
"Two. Jacob and Jonah. Jonah is sort of a black sheep of the family."
"Yeah, what does he do?" Zoe asked.
"Since the family is Navy, being a Marine is bad. They give him crap about it."
Zoe closed her eyes. "Okay, wait, does he look like Deke?"
"Yeah, a little. He has brown eyes, though, like milk chocolate."
"Oh, God. Now, put the two of them together..."
"Ew, I see Jonah as a brother. That is just...ew, no."
Zoe laughed and opened her eyes. "I will happily keep that fantasy to myself."
"What are you going to do, Sam?" Fiona asked.
"Not sure. I think for the most part, I will just play it by ear."
"Wait. You are Samantha Walters, right? The woman who always has a plan? You didn't body snatch her, did you?" Zoe asked.
She smiled and shrugged. "I really don't have a choice, do I?"
"What do you mean by that?" Fiona asked.
"I didn't really plan on getting pregnant."
"No. But there is a bit to that in my way of thinking."
She glanced at Fiona. The most flighty of the three of them, Fiona always seemed to know things before they would happen.
"Well, maybe somewhere in your self-conscious, you wanted to get pregnant. Don't even think of telling us that you didn't want him back here with you."
She sighed. "There was always a part of me that wanted him back with me. Wanted him here, to be married again. I just didn't want it to be like this."
“Is Mitchell still mad at you?" Fiona asked.
"No. Well, sort of. This is not going to go over well."
"What do you mean?"
"Mitch didn't want me to tell him. Which I completely disagreed with, of course. But he thought that maybe Deke could be left out of the picture."
"That doesn't sound like your brother," Zoe said.
Sam and Fiona looked at their friend. Zoe didn't usually worry about defending Mitchell.
"No, don't read anything into it,” Zoe continued. “Mitch irritates me on some level I cannot even explain right now. But, that being said, he is a pretty decent guy."
"He always thought that Deke and I should never see each other again. I can't say that I disagreed with that at the time."
"And like a big brother, he wants to protect you," Fiona said. She had a soft heart for brothers since she had lost her own only two years earlier in Iraq.
"So, I have to figure out a way to tell my brother that my ex is here to live. But maybe I don't have to tell him any time soon."
As soon as she said the words, the front doorbell rang.
Sam looked at the door. "No. Karma doesn’t hate me this much."
Zoe shook her head. "You knew he was going to get worse with you pregnant."
"Today is a Friday."
"And you should have expected him to be off. He doesn’t go out to clubs when he has to work the next day," Zoe said. "You better figure out a way to tell your brother that your ex is here and naked in your bathroom."
Chapter Eight
Deke was shaving when his phone rang. Mal's face popped up to the sound of the Jersey Shore theme song.
"Hey, Chief. Recovered from the trip?"
He shaved the last bit of cream off his face. "A bit. Could probably do with a few hours of sleep, though."
"You'll get used to it, and guys your age need extra rebound time.”
“Fuck off.”
“Are you going into Honolulu today?”
“Might. Not sure. I figured today I would go meet the O-6 I’ll be working for. Let him know I have to find a place to live.”
“So, you aren’t in Honolulu right now?”
He rolled his eyes as he used a towel to scrub the rest of his face free of any traces of shaving cream.
“No.” Mal was pussyfooting around the issue.
“Did your lady-love kick you out?"
"Now why would she kick out the father of her child?"
There was a beat of silence.
"Father of her child?"
"Yeah. All those phone calls were because she was trying to tell me."
"Holy shit."
He heard a mumbled voice in the background, and he knew Kade was there. Deke rolled his eyes again. Kade and Mal were getting to be like little old ladies.
"Sam's pregnant."
"That's what I said."
"No, I'm telling Kade. So, it happened at Kade's wedding. Holy shit."
"You already said that."
He couldn’t tell from his response what Mal was thinking. Deke didn’t know why it mattered so much, but it did. The friendship the three of them had forged through the last few years, and especially after the mission where they lost Forrester, had made these two men like brothers to him.
"What are you going to do?" Mal asked.
"I don't know. We haven't discussed much. Apparently the pregnancy isn't going that well. Sam can't seem to keep any food down and has lost a bunch of weight. So I didn’t push her last night."
"You're going to have to talk to her about that."
"I know. I was fucking tired last night and needed time to think."
And he had thought. Now he was pretty sure the plan he had in place before he flew over here would work. It was just that he had to hope that it would work for their sake and the sake of the baby.
He heard voices in the other room. The three women were talking, and there was a man’s voice. One he unfortunately recognized.
“Listen, I have to let you go. I’ll give you a call tomorrow.”
Before Mal could respond, he clicked off the phone. The pounding on the door started. “Open up, dickhead.”
“Do not call him a dickhead, you dickhead,” Sam said.
Deke rolled his shoulders and opened the door. Mitchell stood in the doorway, anger rolling off him in waves. Sam slipped in between them, but Deke didn’t let her talk. He grabbed her and put her behind him. Mitchell wouldn’t intentionally hurt her, but he had a wicked temper—especially where Deke was concerned.
“You bastard,” he said as he lifted his fist. Being a Seal, he reacted instinctively. He blocked the punch and delivered one of his own. He hit Mitchell square on the nose. The crack of bone filled the room and blood spurted.
“Fucking hell!”
Mitchell stumbled back, and Sam screamed.
“Shit, sorry,” Deke said.
“What do you think you were doing?” Mitchell yelled.
“I was defending myself, you asshole. Don’t you know better than to try and hit a damn Seal?”
Zoe came forward. “Lean your head back, Mitchell.”
He gave her a nasty look. “They say not to do that anymore.”
“I know they do. I am an RN, so I kind of know, but you’re bleeding on our fucking carpet. Bathroom, now.”
She tugged him in the other direction. Once they were alone, he turned to Sam. She had her face covered, and he was worried she was crying.
“Oh, baby, I’m sorry. I didn’t even think. I’m not trained to when I’m attacked.”
She finally looked up, and she was crying, but it was from laughing. “Oh, Lord, that was funny.”
She was snorting.
“You think me breaking your brother’s nose is funny?”
“Yeah. He has been a pain in the ass. And I will let you in on a little secret—I did the same thing to him when we were in middle school.”
He felt his lips curve. “Is that right?”
She nodded and sat down on her bed. “Mitchell told me that I didn’t have the right to play baseball in middle school because I was a girl and girls were weak. So I popped him.”
He chuckled. “Of course you did.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t have time to tell him you were here.”
“Would
you have told him?”
She frowned at him. “Of course I would.”
“Okay.” He grabbed a T-shirt and pulled it on. “I have to talk to your brother, then I have to get dressed to meet my new supervisor. Do you want to go with me?”
She hesitated then shook her head. “I don’t have an id card.”
“I can sign you on, you know that.”
She didn’t look too sure. Being an ex-brat, wife, and sister of a military man, she knew the rules, so he knew that she didn’t want to do it. Normally, he would push her, but maybe they needed space. But only for a few hours.
“Okay, you stay here. Do you mind going out with me later if you feel up to it?”
She smiled. “Yeah. Just not in the early afternoon. While I am out of school, I’ve been napping then. I do better if I get a little rest.”
He nodded. He quickly finished dressing. “Get some rest and make sure you eat.” He gave her a kiss, just a nibble on the lips, but she slipped her hands up his back and he lost himself. Heat exploded between the two of them in an instant. It took him a second to realize he had his fingers slipped under her shirt and was pulling it off her.
With a groan, he pulled back. Her lips were swollen and her eyes heavy lidded. He curled his fingers into his palms. Damn, the woman was dangerous.
“I gotta go.”
She smiled at him. “Okay.”
His belly clutched. Damn, she looked so sweet, but he knew he had to go check out the new work situation. And he needed to talk to Mitchell at some point today.
“I’ll be home—I mean back—before lunch.”
She nodded, and he gave her another quick kiss. When he stepped out into the living area, Zoe and Mitchell were gone. Fiona was cleaning up the kitchen. He realized then he’d left a mess.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Fiona.”
She smiled at him and shook her head. “Naw. You cooked. Someone else cleans. And Zoe will bully Mitchell.”
He nodded. “Can you be honest with me?”
She turned the water off and faced him. “Yes.”
He was struck by just how truthful she was being in that short answer. There was something so direct but otherworldly about Fiona. She was short and round, like a cocoa-skinned Madonna. And he thought for the first time, if his heart wasn’t taken, he would definitely ask the woman out. She was downright stunning.
“Sam’s doing okay? She isn’t lying, right?”
She gave him a maternal smile, which was odd because he was sure he had at least ten years on her. “She’s fine. I think the stress of not being able to get ahold of you sort of bothered her a little bit much. And, you have to remember, Samantha loves a plan. This sort of wasn’t planned.”
He felt his cheeks heat.
“Oh, you have nothing to be embarrassed about. Fate.”
He shook his head, wondering if he had missed something. “What?”
“Fate. It has her way with mortals. She wanted you together, and now she has bound you together.”
“Uh, okay.”
She laughed. “You’ll get used to me. Everyone does. Just know I will keep your secret.”
That had him frowning.
“What?”
She leaned forward and patted his cheek. “You have secrets, and I know some of them. Just make sure you treat Sam and the love she has for you with respect. It will all work out.”
Before he could say anything, she turned and went back to cleaning the dishes.
“She always says stuff like that,” Mitchell said from behind him. Deke turned and tried not to wince. Mitch’s nose was swollen, and his eyes were already starting to turn black. He deserved it for what he’d done, but it didn’t make Deke any happier about doing it. Well, not much.
“Sorry about that.”
Mitchell’s scowl turned darker. “It’s okay.”
“Yeah?”
“No, but I’ll find a way to pay you back.”
It had been three years since he’d seen Samantha’s brother, and Mitch had grown into his height. He was over six feet tall and the skinny frame was now what would be termed as lanky. Deke wondered if he even fit in the cockpit of the fighter he flew.
“I have to head out.”
“Why don’t I take you?”
Deke eyed him suspiciously. “Are you sure you aren’t going to dump me somewhere?”
“No. I would be stupid to drop a Seal somewhere and leave him to die.”
Deke rolled his shoulders. “Okay.”
“Besides, I try to stay on my sister’s good side, and leaving you stranded here in Hawaii would set her off.”
He eyed his brother-in-law. “Yeah? Since when are you afraid of your sister?”
“These days, there isn’t much about her that doesn’t frighten me. She’s either yelling at me or crying. Either way, I am always the bad guy.”
“So, you’re ready to let me be the bad guy?”
He grabbed his keys off the counter and smiled at Deke. “Yep. And I am going to love it.”
* * * *
Samantha stepped out of her room dressed and feeling a bit better. She looked around and didn’t see anyone until she spotted Fiona on the lanai. She was sipping her morning tea and taking in nature. Sam wished she could be more like her friend. Fiona had always been a woman who could handle anything life threw her. Sam could, too, and had in more than one way, but Fiona never seemed to deal with the unexpected. Even before Fiona had gotten the word of Brett's death two years ago, she had known. She had called Samantha in tears, and normally she would have brushed it away, but with Fiona, Sam had learned not to do that. She had been at Fiona's little apartment in California when the news arrived of her twin's death.
It was the only time she had seen Fiona fall apart.
She stepped out onto the lanai. The sun was shining, with just a little fog clinging to the mountains.
"Hey."
"Hey, yourself. Feeling better?" Fiona asked.
"Yeah."
"I think we should do some reiki on you later."
She nodded. "Have you seen Mitchell, or did Zoe keep him in her room?"
“He's with Deke."
"What?" Samantha jumped up out of her chair, but Fiona took hold of her hand.
"Sit down. They will be fine. They need to work some things out. These two men are very important in your life—in more ways than the one they are now."
Oh, God, Fee was talking in riddles again. She respected Fiona because she did seem to have an intuition that made Radar on M*A*S*H look normal, but sometimes she just would like to ignore her.
"Okay, but they could hurt each other."
"They won't. You need to sit and enjoy, Sam. You have only a few months left for quiet mornings."
She sighed and knew that Fiona was right. She settled into her chair again.
"Did Deke say anything about how he felt about the baby?" Fiona asked.
She shrugged. "I kind of stunned him, then he yelled at me for not telling him sooner."
Fiona nodded. "He felt guilty for not answering."
She shrugged. "I guess."
"I guess you didn't get to talk more about the plans?"
She shook her head. "No. It's the same, though."
"It isn't the same, Sam. There is a baby involved here."
Fiona wasn't admonishing her. That wasn't her way. Her way was to help someone get to where they needed to be emotionally. It was a gift that Sam always wished she had.
"I wish I could tell what he was thinking."
Fee snorted. "Probably that he wants to have sex with you."
"That sounds like something Zoe would say."
She gave her a smile. "The way he looks at you...very sexy. He loves you so much. And I see the same in you. Make sure you don't mess that up."
She chuckled. "Maybe he'll mess it up."
"He could, but he's been warned. I think he will listen.” Fee glanced over at her. "What are you afraid of?"
Of course, she knew Sam was a
fraid. "That he'll leave."
"He won't."
"He's a Seal. He'll leave."
"Being a Seal is his job, but it isn't who he is with you."
She sighed, wishing for once that Fee wasn’t so direct. She had Sam thinking of things that were better ignored. "You don't understand."
“I do, but I don't think you do."
She frowned at Fiona. “I’m getting tired again.”
Fiona laughed. “Okay, with the rest of the world, he’s a Seal. But with you…he’s just a man. He might just be figuring that out.”
Sam sighed. “We’ll just have to wait and see.”
Fiona grabbed her hand. “I told Deke it would work out. Don’t worry. Now I have to get ready. I have a few clients later and there has been much to muddy my aura today.”
With a light squeeze to Sam’s hand, Fiona left her to her thoughts. But she couldn’t really think. So much was going on, so much turmoil. She pulled her feet up and rested her head on her knees. Life before now was easier, so much easier.
And now that Deacon Berg was with her forever, come hell or high water, she was going to have to figure out just what to do about him.
Chapter Nine
Deke glanced over at Mitchell. “So, you didn’t kill me.”
Mitchell flashed him an evil smile as he pulled onto H201. It was almost identical to the one Samantha gave when she had a really good hand at poker. He knew to fold as soon as he saw it. Still, Deke hated to admit that he was kind of happy Mitchell had shown him around. He sort of knew his way around the island, but he hadn’t spent much time on the bases. It had been much easier to go with his brother-in-law.
“I might have been an ass this morning, but I should have known better than to come at you head-on. You’re old, but you are a Seal. If I kill you, it will have to be something really shady.”
Deke snorted. “Consider me warned.”
Mitchell nodded as they stopped at a light. “Listen, I know I was an ass, like I said. But…you have to understand—”
Deke held up his hand. “Say no more. If it were AJ, I would have the same reaction. I completely understand.”
In fact, he had a little more respect for Mitchell. He was a bit overbearing, but he understood that brotherly love a little more since his sister had started dating several years ago. There were quite a few years between his sister and his brothers, being that she was his parents ATMB or After the Military Baby, as they liked to call her. Although Deke wondered if his baby sister would ever tell him she was pregnant until it was much later. Like when the kid was graduating. She had learned to keep things from her brothers being the youngest and the only girl.
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