The Soldier's Secret Child

by Lee Tobin McClain

  Should she say something? Walk back toward him? Tell him his battle scars didn’t affect her feelings toward him, except maybe to warm her heart that he’d sacrificed for his country?

  But instinct told her to treat him just as she always had. Meaning, how they’d all acted at the lake as kids, since they hadn’t been here together since.

  He’d reached the water’s edge now, and she grinned in invitation and flicked water at him with her hand. “Scared?” she taunted.

  “A little.” There seemed to be a double meaning in his words. “But I can play scared.” He took a few steps toward her. Suddenly, he dived underwater. A few seconds later, she felt a hand wrap around her ankle, and then she was under, giggling into the green water.

  She surfaced, shaking her wet hair out of her eyes. Hooked a toe around Vito’s ankle and pushed hard.

  He toppled backward and came up, grinning and holding up his hands. “Truce! Peace!”

  Their playfulness attracted Xavier and Charlie, who came splashing toward them. “Dad, gross—put a shirt on!” Charlie yelled loud enough for the whole beach to hear.

  And apparently, despite his hearing impairment, Vito could make out the words, too.

  Around them, a few kids and teens stared openly at Vito. One boy, a little older than Charlie and Xavier, said something that made the nearby kids laugh.

  A flush crawled up Vito’s face. “I never claimed to be a beauty queen,” he said to Charlie with a half smile.

  He was handling it well, but she ached for him. He’d earned those scars defending his country, and she honored him for it.

  Xavier studied him thoughtfully. “Kids used to tease me for being bald, when I had cancer. Mom said to ignore them.”

  Vito didn’t respond.

  Charlie went up and tugged his arm. “Hey! Are your hearing aids out?”

  Vito looked down at Charlie. “What?”

  “Can’t he hear?” Xavier asked.

  This was getting to be a little much, and Lacey decided to intervene. “Have you boys ever heard of chicken fights?”

  Neither had, so she knelt in the water and told Xavier to climb up on her shoulders. “Get on your dad’s shoulders, Charlie,” she said, deliberately speaking loudly. “The game is, try to knock each other off.”

  “Get down, Dad!” Charlie yelled into Vito’s ear.

  Vito grinned at her, kneeled and took Charlie onto his powerful shoulders. When he stood, he and Charlie towered over Xavier and Lacey.

  “Come on, Xavier. We may be short, but we’re fast,” she said, and went in low.

  They splashed and played for a while, with both boys getting thoroughly and repeatedly dunked. Lacey’s shoulders ached from carrying a heavy, wiggling boy, but she didn’t mind. The water was cool and she hadn’t laughed so hard in a long time.

  Most of the rest of the swimmers drifted away, except for a few kids who talked their parents into participating.

  Best of all, nobody was talking about hearing problems or scars.

  Finally, Angelica called the boys to come and rest, and when she offered up watermelon as an enticement, they splashed their way to shore.

  “Do you want to go get some?” Vito asked.

  She shook her head. “I’m not hungry.”

  “Swim out to the dock?”

  “Sure, and I’ll beat you!” Lacey plunged her face into the water and started swimming fast.

  It felt good. She seemed to have some extra energy saved up, a shaky excitement that made her want to move.

  She was starting to feel such a mix of things for Vito. Admiration. Desire to protect. Caring.

  Maybe even love.

  She shoved that thought away and swam faster. She couldn’t be falling in love with Vito, could she? Vito, her old friend and high school crush. Vito, the guy who’d always been around, always ready to lend an ear or a smile or a hand with whatever you were working on, be it figuring out algebra problems or speaking up against bullies or healing a broken heart.

  Was he spending time with her now just to help her get over Gerry? It seemed like, in his eyes, she’d been seeing something more.

  She reached the dock at the same moment he did, but touched it first. “I won!” she crowed into his ear.

  “You did.” He grinned at her as he hoisted himself out onto the wooden platform.

  She found the ladder and climbed up, narrowing her eyes at him. “Wait a minute. Did you try your hardest?”

  “Let’s just say the D’Angelos are swimmers. And gentlemen.”

  “You did let me win!”

  He didn’t admit to it, but he flashed a grin that took her breath away. Standing above her dripping wet, his teeth flashing against dark skin, his eyes laughing, he looked like a hero from some ancient, epic tale.

  She couldn’t seem to move. She just knelt there transfixed, halfway up the ladder, staring up at him.

  He extended his hand toward her. “Come aboard, milady,” he said, and helped her to the dock.

  She needed the help. She couldn’t seem to catch her breath.

  They lay side by side, faces toward the blue sky, the sun warming their wet bodies. Beside them, a little railing shielded them from those on the beach, though their shouts were still audible. Lacey was exquisitely conscious of Vito, the warmth of his arm close to hers, the even sound of his breathing.

  She couldn’t understand what was going on inside her. This was Vito, her old neighbor, comfortable and safe. Vito, who’d always seemed out of reach because he was older.

  Yet he was someone else, too, someone new. The things he’d been through had forged him into a man of strength and valor, a man she couldn’t help but admire. It was starting to seem like she both wanted and needed him in her life.

  “Do you remember coming out here as kids?” he asked unexpectedly.

  “Sure.” She watched a cloud laze across the sky, and then turned so she could speak into his ear. “Buck and I came with Dad pretty often when we were little.”

  “How come your mom never came? Was she...sick, even back then?”

  “I don’t know. She never wanted to do family things. Always busy with her dreams and plans, I guess.”

  Vito didn’t answer, but he reached over and patted her hand, warm on the dock beside her.

  “I don’t know when she started with the pills.” Lacey followed the swooping path of a dark bird, thinking about it. “I think she was okay when I was real small, but then she just started going in her bedroom and shutting the door.” As she said it, she got a visceral memory of standing outside the closed door, hand raised to knock. She’d tried not to do it, knowing that Mom didn’t like to be disturbed, but she hadn’t been able to stop herself from knocking, then pounding on the door.

  Where had Buck and her father been? Why had she been there alone for so long, with just her mother?

  “If I had a kid,” she said, still speaking into his ear to help him hear her, “I just hope I’d have more sense than to leave her to fend for herself like Mom did to me.”

  “You would. You’re great with Charlie.”

  His automatic, assured response touched her. “Thanks, Vito.”

  “It’s not about having the sense, it’s about heart,” he said with a shrug. “And heart, you’ve got.”

  His words surprised tears into her eyes. “I appreciate that.”

  He propped himself on one elbow to look at her, shading the sun. He was all she could see. “I can’t say enough about you, Lacey. You were always sweet, and likable, and cute...”

  She snorted. “Cute like a little brat, you mean.”

  He cocked his head to one side. “No, not exactly. I found you...appealing, as you grew up.”

  “You did?”

  “Uh-huh.” He reached
out and brushed back a strand of her hair.

  “Why didn’t you ever, you know, ask me out?”

  His eyebrows drew together. “You were three years younger! That wouldn’t have been right.”

  She laughed up at him. “You’re such a Boy Scout.”

  His eyes narrowed. “If you could read my mind, you’d know that’s far from true.”

  “Then, or now?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Are you talking about what was in your mind then, or now?” Something, some magnetic force field, drew her to reach toward his chest, the thick, luxuriant mat of hair sliced through by scars.

  He caught her hand, held it still. “Don’t.”

  “Why not?”

  Shaking his head, he continued to hold her gaze.

  “Because of this?” She tugged her hand away from him and traced the air above one of the multiple fault lines on his chest. Almost, but not quite, touching it.

  He sucked in a breath, his eyes still pinning her. “Do you have any idea of what you’re doing?”

  “What am I doing?”

  He caught her chin in his hand and let his thumb brush across her lower lip.

  She drew in a sharp breath, staring at him. Every nerve felt alive, every sense awake.

  “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do this.” He leaned closer, studying her face as if trying to read her thoughts, her mood, her feelings.

  “Do what?” she asked, hearing the breathy sound of her voice.

  “This.” He slid his hand to the back of her head and pressed his lips to hers.

  * * *

  The next Saturday, Vito’s head was still spinning.

  Kissing Lacey had been the sweetest and most promising moment of his life. Now he just had to figure out what was next.

  He’d been busy with his new job for the past couple of days, and Lacey had been taking up the slack, spending extra time with Nonna and Charlie. She hadn’t said anything about their kiss, but she’d given him some secret smiles that burned right into his soul.

  He had to talk to her, and soon. But this morning, to give her privacy and time to get some detailed renovation work done, he’d taken Nonna and Charlie out for breakfast at the Chatterbox.

  Now, seeing Charlie wave to a friend, hearing Nonna’s happy conversation with a woman at a neighboring table, he felt full to the brim. His new life in Rescue River was working out, and he had a lot to be thankful for.

  “Hey, Dad,” Charlie said. “Am I still seeing Mom on Tuesday, now that you’re working?”

  “Yes. I’ll drive you, and then we’re going to see if the social worker can bring you home. If she can’t, I can take off early.” He’d explained his commitment to Charlie’s schedule during his job interview, and his new employer was willing to be flexible.

  “Mom said maybe she could drive me, only there’s a lady she doesn’t like in Rescue River.”

  “That’s nice of her to offer, but your mom isn’t allowed to transport...” All of a sudden Vito processed what Charlie had said and his heart skipped a beat. “Did she say anything about the lady?” he asked, carefully keeping his voice even.

  “I think it was because of my dad. My other dad,” Charlie clarified around a mouthful of pancakes. “Hey, Rafael asked if I could go to the park and play basketball, and they’re leaving now. Can I?”

  “Um, let me talk to his mom.” His thoughts spinning, Vito slid out of the booth and made arrangements with Rafael’s mother, forcing himself to focus. Charlie’s social skills were improving rapidly enough that he felt okay about letting the boy go play some ball without him—after a stern warning about sportsmanship and manners.

  Once that was settled, he paid the check and escorted Nonna out of the restaurant.

  As they walked slowly toward the guesthouse, Vito wondered what Krystal had said to Charlie. If she was talking that openly about the past—what did it mean?

  He took Nonna’s arm when the sidewalk got bumpy. Quite possibly, it meant the whole truth could come out soon.

  The woman in Rescue River whom Krystal had told Charlie she didn’t like—and who was connected to Charlie’s other dad—could be no one else but Lacey.

  But Krystal didn’t know Lacey, did she? Was there a chance she’d say enough that Charlie would put it all together?

  He looked over at Nonna. “What if there were something you needed to tell the truth about, only you’d made a promise not to?”

  “Ah, difficult,” she said, looking at him with sharp, curious brown eyes.

  Clearly she was waiting for him to say more, but he didn’t. If he was going to tell the truth, it had to start with Lacey. So he focused on watching a couple strapping twin babies into a double stroller.

  A pang of envy swept through him. He wanted what they seemed to have. A happy, uncomplicated relationship of raising children together.

  “Have you prayed about this problem?” Nonna asked.

  Had he prayed? He nodded slowly. He’d sent up some urgent, brief pleas to God, for sure.

  “And listened to the response?”

  He blew out a breath. “Not really. I guess I need to.”

  They reached the guesthouse in time to see Lacey hauling a big load of trash to the curb, struggling a little. Vito jogged over and took the boxes out of her hands, earning a smile.

  Lacey went to Nonna. “Are you going around the block another time? I can walk with you if Vito’s got things to do.” Lacey didn’t look at him, but her cheeks were pink and he didn’t think it was just the exertion. There had been a tentative, sweet promise in their interactions since their kiss earlier this week.

  Nonna put a hand on Lacey’s arm and another on Vito’s. “I’ve had enough for now. Why don’t you two walk?” She gave Vito a meaningful look, and when Lacey turned away, she mouthed “Tell her!”

  How had Nonna guessed that his secret had to do with Lacey?

  Was he supposed to tell her now?

  As soon as they’d gotten Nonna settled on the porch with her latest large-print library book, Vito and Lacey headed out, strolling toward the park. Behind them, Wolfie barked a request to go along.

  “Should we go back and get him?” Lacey asked, clearly unaware of Vito’s inner turmoil. “He’s about to break through the fence again.”

  “Not this time. I put another nail in it yesterday.”

  “Thanks. I’ll have to get somebody to do a real repair soon.” Lacey lifted her face to the sun. “I’ve been inside all morning, painting woodwork. The fresh air smells good.”

  “I’m glad you could come.” He wanted to put his arm around her. He wanted to build a family with her! But the wretched secret stood between them.

  Should loyalty outweigh love? He pondered the question, watching a jogger and his golden Lab loping across the park.

  “We haven’t had a chance to talk since you started your new job,” Lacey said. “How’d it go, really? Did the kids give you a hard time?”

  The cowardly side of him was grateful for the distraction. This was territory he could handle. “It went well. The kids are a challenge, for sure, but I liked working with them.”

  “And your scars didn’t make one bit of difference, did they?” She was smiling smugly, obviously sure she was right.

  And she was right. “The kids made a couple of comments, but it was no big deal. I didn’t overreact and the whole discussion just went away.” He hesitated, then added, “You’ve helped me feel okay with how I look, especially because of...of how you responded to me the other day, at the lake.”

  She stared down at the sidewalk, but the corner of her mouth curved up in a smile.

  He needed to tell her the truth about Charlie. He was going to tell her.

  “I admire your being able to
handle a big group of kids like that,” she murmured, so quietly he had to lean down to hear her.

  Thinking about how he could break the truth gently, he gave a distracted answer to her comment. “I like big groups of kids. In fact, that’s my dream—to have enough kids of my own to form a baseball team.”

  He was about to add “with you” when she stopped still. The smile was gone from her face.

  “You know what,” she said, “I just realized I left something cooking on the stove. I need to run back and get it. You keep walking, okay? I don’t want to interrupt your morning exercise.”

  She turned and hurried back toward the guesthouse.

  Vito looked after her, puzzled by her abrupt departure. His morning exercise? And he was surprised to learn she had something cooking when she’d been painting woodwork.

  He’d been about to tell her the truth. Was that God, letting him know it wasn’t the right time yet?

  And if so, why had Lacey suddenly started acting so weird?

  Chapter Thirteen

  Numb from Vito’s comment about wanting a large family, Lacey stirred canned soup on the stove and tried not to think.

  If she didn’t think, maybe it wouldn’t hurt so much that she could never, ever give Vito what he wanted.

  “Miss Lacey! Miss Lacey!” Charlie barged through the screen door, letting it bang behind him. He threw his arms around her. “Guess how many baskets I made today in one-on-one?”

  She clung to him for a minute, relishing the feel of sweaty boy, and then resolutely untangled herself from his arms and stepped back. Charlie was getting way too close to her, given that she’d just learned she and Vito should never, could never, be a couple.

  “Maybe you and Dad can come watch me play,” he continued, unaware of her turmoil. “And Dad said sometime we could go see a real live Cavaliers game, all three of us!”

  There is no “us.”

  She needed to be truthful. That was kinder in the long run.

  Wolfie whined at the back door and Lacey let him in, figuring the dog could comfort Charlie in the face of what she was about to say. “I don’t think that’s going to happen,” she said, crossing her arms, deliberately keeping her distance. “You and your dad are going to move out soon, and then we won’t all see so much of each other.”