About twenty minutes later, he heard Dara’s shriek carry all the way out to where he stood outside the swinging doors. Turning, Matt saw her flying toward the door, waving a piece of paper in her hand, her radiant expression impossible to ignore. He opened his arms and she flew into them.
“I’m pregnant!” Dara cried, hugging him fiercely. “Oh, Matt! I’m pregnant!” She sobbed against his neck as his arms closed around her, lifting her off her feet momentarily. Tears of happiness spilled from her eyes as he slowly turned her around in a circle. His laugher reverberated through his chest and through her. She had never felt as close to him as she did in this moment. He gently deposited her feet on the floor, easing away just enough to kiss her long and hard.
Overwhelming joy washed through him from her. Matt framed her face with his hands, tears streaming from Dara’s eyes as she sobbed. He understood she was elated, and so was he. “You’re going to be a helluva mother, sweet woman,” he managed to say, his own voice strained with tears he was fighting to keep from spilling. Maybe he’d let them fall later. But not here in a busy hospital. Matt wasn’t going to cry in front of strangers. He caressed her loose hair, feeling her unfettered response, that luscious mouth of hers stretched into the biggest smile he’d ever seen. Her hands were busy gripping his shoulders, fully embracing him over her joy at carrying their child deep in her body.
“Oh, Matt!” She tried to stop crying and pushed the paper into his hand. “Look! It’s real! I’m really pregnant!”
He released her but kept one arm around her waist. Dara was like an overexcited puppy, moving from one foot to another. “I don’t know what I’m looking at,” he confessed with an apologetic grin. “But I believe you. I really do.” He handed the results back to her.
“I’m just so happy, Matt,” she said, wiping the tears from her cheeks. “This means so much to me … to us … I’ve wanted a family of my own more than anything else.”
“Well, you have one now.” He eased her forward. “Come on, let’s go home. I think you have a bunch of calls to make to your family and friends.”
Dara nodded, giving him a watery smile filled with such love that tears drove into his eyes as he led her toward the elevator. Matt sensed that with this shift in her life, she’d have half as much time to worry about his being over in Afghanistan. And he knew his mother would be over the moon about her pregnancy. The Turkish and Greek sides of their global family had been waiting years for the Culver kids to grow up and have children. Matt shook his head, grinning, as he led Dara into the elevator, tucked beneath his arm.
Dilara’s three brothers—Matt’s uncles—and their wives would rock into a weeklong celebration once they were told, he was sure. They would be ecstatic, because in June, he and Dara were marrying in Kuşadasi, Turkey, where they all lived. Matt could just see the wedding gifts they’d be given—all the aunts, who were stellar at knitting, crocheting, and quilting, would be busily making all kinds of wonderful booties, onesies, baby quilts, and God knew what else.
The elevator doors shushed close. Dara leaned her head against him, wrapping her arms around his waist, hugging him tightly.
“You’re going to be a father. Do you realize that?”
He grinned and kissed her temple. “Yeah, and I’m sure as hell going to need a lot of help, training, and guidance in that department.” He thought of how awkward and uneasy he’d been with what to say to Stacy. Matt had wanted to show his love to her, but she was so damaged that he wasn’t sure how to do it. It brought back starkly to Matt how unprepared he really was for fatherhood. He was hoping his father would be his mentor. God knew he needed one. Matt didn’t want to accidentally harm their own child with his ignorance. It would scar his heart forever if that happened.
“Oh,” Dara whispered, hugging him tightly and then releasing him as the doors opened, “you’ll do wonderfully, Matt. You’re a natural father. Look at Robert. He’s such a wonderful role model for you to learn from.”
“Yeah,” he groused, giving her a fond, loving look as he led her toward the main doors of the hospital. “I’m going to need a lot of training, Dara.” And then he gave her a reassuring look. “I’ll get there, so I don’t want you to worry about that, okay? I know you have motherhood nailed down.”
She slid her arm around his waist, leaning happily against his strong, powerful body as he led them through the doors into the cold morning. Snow had just fallen two nights earlier, and the naked trees were coated with white blankets of it, looking beautiful in the morning sun’s light, glistening and sparkling, reflecting how she felt right now. “You’ll be fine, Matt. I know you will!”
Matt wasn’t sure but didn’t pursue it. This would be their last day together. He had to leave out of nearby Joint Base Andrews at 1000 tomorrow morning. Today was Dara’s day. “Well, let’s just spend the day together. I’m sure your family is going to be really happy to hear from you.” Like his Turkish-Greek-American family, the McKinley family had also been pining away for children from Callie and Dara. Matt was sure she would be bathed in the love of her Montana family, and he was sure more happy tears would be spilled during those phone calls.
Wait until his mother found out! She’d probably start sending Turkish food over to Dara’s condo tomorrow. Matt was sure that the globe would explode with unabashed joy from his far-flung family. He was also sure, knowing his Turkish aunts and uncles the way he did, that all the aunts would take turns flying over to keep Dara company once they knew he would be in Afghanistan for nearly two months. They would not want Dara to feel lonely or unsupported during this important time in her life. They’d also be sending Dara flowers at her condo, and once an aunt arrived, she would cook Dara Turkish food to eat, to keep her healthy during her pregnancy. And Cousin Angelo and his wife, Maria, would probably send flowers and food from Greece, too. There was a bit of a competition between the Greek and Turkish sides of the family, but it was all in good fun. What they shared was the love of the family’s American children: Tal, Alexa, and himself. Matt knew that both sides would surely start immediately planning a baby shower for Dara. They were people of action, and they had the money and heart to literally shower Dara with so much love, attention, and support in his absence that she’d probably forget to worry about him while he was overseas. He grinned; his visiting Turkish aunts, who would care for Dara, were the best possible diversion for his worrywart woman.
Smiling as he settled into the driver’s seat and Dara put on her seat belt, he said, “What would you like to do first?”
Dara smiled, her eyes bright with tears. “Let’s drive over to your mom and dad’s home. I so want to share this with them in person.” She reached out, slipping her fingers around his black leather coat sleeve.
“Yeah, that feels right,” Matt agreed. And as he drove out of the freshly plowed parking lot, water gleaming here and there along the asphalt of the highway leading toward his parents’ house, Matt smiled to himself. This was the single most important time in his life, as it was Dara’s.
Matt would make a point of emailing her every day unless he was out on an op. He knew there would be a few, but not as many as there would be in the spring through the summer, when military activity increased markedly throughout Afghanistan. And he knew his visiting aunts would keep his fiancée busy. Dilara would also know the shortcuts to keep Dara occupied so that she wouldn’t have time to worry about him. Matt never underestimated the power of women.
But what would really keep her distracted was his Turkish aunts’ coming over, one at a time, taking turns, to live in the condo with Dara. His aunts had always promised that if Tal, Alexa, or his wife got pregnant, they would visit if they were alone and without the support of their loved one. The aunt would live with them to be a source of help and support, cook for them, and in general be the big, sloppy, happy Turkish family that they were. The aunts had taught them from childhood onward that the extended family should surround a newly pregnant woman and make sure she and the baby she was
carrying stayed happy and peaceful. She became the focus of the family and had plenty of love showered upon her, with the aunts cooking her special food to keep her healthy and the baby growing strong. Dara had no idea this tradition existed, but she would shortly.
Matt smiled again. When—not if—the Turkish aunts took turns flying over to live with Dara, they would keep her looking forward, give her company, and help her with their wise feminine knowledge. They would be there to support and mother Dara with their care and unabashed love.
Matt was sure Maria, their cousin Angelo’s wife, would eagerly volunteer to help, too. He wouldn’t be surprised if once his Greek side found out that each Turkish aunt was flying in to keep Dara company, Maria became a fixture in Dara’s life, too. Maria would enthusiastically cook Greek food; Dara would be in heaven over that. When he got home from Afghanistan, he knew his babysitting aunt would return to Turkey because he could then take over and be there as an ongoing support for Dara and enjoy her pregnancy. His mother would keep making and sending over that special Turkish food to them, however. Matt didn’t mind that at all. He knew Dara loved Turkish and Greek food, so it was a win-win for everyone.
His whole life had just been turned upside down in the best of ways. As Matt drove through the wet streets of Alexandria, heading for the Culver home on the outskirts of the city, he shared a smile with Dara. She gripped his hand in her lap, the joy radiating from her face and her tear-filled blue eyes. Yeah, there was nothing better than this moment. Their time in Oahu had been a key turning point in their lives with one another, a very special, heart-centered moment.
Matt gently squeezed Dara’s hand, feeling happiness wash through him in tsunami-like waves. He’d never seen her so happy. There was so much to look forward to. So much.
THE BEGINNING …
Don’t miss the novella Dream of Me
Only from Lindsay McKenna and Blue Turtle Publishing.
Available wherever you buy eBooks. Paperbacks are available through CreateSpace/amazon.com, and audiobooks through Tantor Media!
Read the sneak peek of Dream of Me!
Excerpt from
Dream of Me
by Lindsay McKenna
“Going on a hike was such a great idea of yours, Gage,” Alexa Culver said, her spirits high as she looked back at him as they hiked a trail deep in the Virginia woodlands. Around her, late September leaves were turning red, yellow, and orange. Some drifted down toward them, creating a picture-perfect fall morning. They had just reached the top of a large hill above their recently purchased 1850s farmhouse.
“Anywhere with you is always a great idea.” Gage grinned as he picked his way along the steep, rocky trail covered with crunchy, dry leaves. The eighty-degree morning breeze swirled playfully around them as he caught up with Alexa, watching as she absently tucked her auburn hair behind her ears.
Today, Gage was wearing fitted jeans that emphasized his lean, tall body. Alexa always appreciated his lithe energy: like a cougar, he prowled rather than walked. She recognized this was partly from his training as a Marine Corps sniper, but it was also an inborn quality that had served them both well recently.
Even when they’d met last November at the Bagram Army base north of Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, she’d been aware of the powerful, undiluted sexual chemistry between them. But she had never imagined that in a few short days, Gage and his SEAL team would rescue her and eight other women from the Taliban. Since that time, they had grown even closer to each other, and were now back home in the States working for Artemis Security. It was the hidden branch within the largest global charity, Delos.
But those terrifying, life-changing events had been indelibly burned into Alexa’s memory. She tried to bury them by working longer, harder hours—in fact, she was in the office seven days a week, and found that when she was focusing on being director of Artemis’s Safe House Foundation, she could crowd them out. Whether she could ever completely heal from those two devastating days, during which she had endured verbal abuse, assault, beatings and nonstop sexual humiliation, no one could guess.
Now, Gage slowed his pace, his long fingers wrapped around the red shoulder straps of the large knapsack he carried on his back. “You look as if you belong out here,” he said, leaning over to brush her smiling lips with a kiss. His body, as always, hungered for Alexa. He’d missed making love to her, but because she’d been so devastated by her capture by the Taliban, he’d told her he would wait until she was ready to be intimate again.
Gage never kidded himself that he could read a woman’s mind, but he did know Alexa well enough to read her body language. Today, she looked particularly attractive in her white shorts and a sleeveless cotton tee the color of her auburn hair. She was free of makeup, and he saw the light sprinkling of girlish freckles peeking out across her cheeks.
He loved her. Gage knew her so well that he could read her moods from her eyes. He had learned that when the brown flecks in her eyes were prominent, she was emotionally upset about something. But if the green and gold were front and center, she was happy and at peace.
“Look at this,” he said, leaning down and capturing a red leaf at their feet. Holding it up, he brought it up near her ponytail lying on her right shoulder. “The colors almost match,” he said, placing the recently dropped leaf next to her hair. Gage drew in her scent, which made his growing erection harden even more. Alexa gazed down at it, a playful look on her face; both were aware that they’d had no sex together for five days.
Now, she stepped forward and pressed her breasts against his chest, and, unable to resist, Gage pulled her to him and captured her mouth, now soft and willing beneath his. Reluctantly easing away from her, drowning in those green-flecked eyes that showed how much she loved him, Gage breathed in the scent of almond oil in her hair, a fragrance that always aroused him.
Alexa’s mother, Dilara, who was Turkish with a bit of Greek, put a few drops on her own hair every morning to make it shine, and her daughter tended to follow her mother’s example—from her high-fashion clothing to her perfect makeup to her skillfully arranged coiffure.
“Wow,” Alexa laughed. “That’s quite a match.” Her eyes crinkled with humor as she examined the leaf. “Hey, are you calling me a dried up old leaf, Hunter?”
He chuckled. “Not hardly, Ms. Culver.” His heart swelled. It was rare, since her capture and rescue, that the Alexa he’d met and fallen in love with had resurfaced. And the wicked smile on those beautifully shaped lips, combined with the dancing glint in her eyes, boded well.
Gage silently congratulated himself on having dragged Alexa kicking and screaming away from the office for this noontime hike up into the hills. She had been getting ready at nine a.m. on Saturday to drive into work, but her face reflected the strain she was under. Gage had avoided telling Alexa what to do since her ordeal with the Taliban, whenever possible urging her to take control of her activities. But this time, he was damn glad he’d coaxed her into taking this five-mile hike into the Virginia hills above their farmhouse. Already, the strain and smudges around her eyes were gone. The young woman standing before him right now was the Alexa he’d met at Bagram, and he couldn’t feel more grateful to have her back.
“It’s beautiful up here,” Alexa breathed, gesturing around the hilltop crowned with colorful trees. The sky was a deep marine blue with a few fluffy clouds drifting overhead. Breathing in deeply, she leaned against him, her hand on his chest, looking skyward. “I love the smell of autumn leaves, Gage.” Turning, she gazed at his ruggedly handsome face, his light blue eyes warm with love.
“Do you wish you were flying your Stearman biplane instead of being chained here to the earth?” he teased, lifting his hand to graze her rosy cheek with his thumb. His touch always aroused her, and he watched her pupils grow larger, her lips part. He fought his desire to take her right there. They had been together for five days, and it hadn’t been the right time or place to resume their steamy connection.
“I don’t know
,” Alexa murmured. “It’s a perfect day to fly. But right now”—she smiled as she moved her hips suggestively against the thick bulge beneath his jeans—“I like being earthbound with you.” Alexa saw how Gage’s expression changed from loving to lusty, and it made her inner thighs dampen even more. She grazed his recently shaven cheek, feeling completely loved and cared for as he tightened his arm around her shoulder. Slowly moving so their hips touched, she pinned herself against him. “I can’t really pilot the Stearman and make love with you at the same time.”
The Books of Delos
Title: Last Chance (Prologue)
Publish Date: July 15, 2015
Learn more at: delos.lindsaymckenna.com/last-chance
Title: Nowhere to Hide
Publish Date: October 13, 2015
Learn more at: delos.lindsaymckenna.com/nowhere-to-hide
Title: Tangled Pursuit
Publish Date: November 11, 2015
Learn more at: delos.lindsaymckenna.com/tangled-pursuit
Title: Forged in Fire
Publish Date: December 3, 2015
Learn more at: delos.lindsaymckenna.com/forged-in-fire
Title: Broken Dreams
Publish Date: January 2, 2016
Learn more at: delos.lindsaymckenna.com/broken-dreams
Title: Blind Sided
Publish Date: June 5, 2016
Learn more at: delos.lindsaymckenna.com/blind-sided
Title: Secret Dream
Publish Date: July 25, 2016
Learn more at: delos.lindsaymckenna.com/secret-dream
Title: Hold On
Publish Date: August 3, 2016
Learn more at: delos.lindsaymckenna.com/hold-on
Title: Hold Me
Publish Date: August 11, 2016
Never Enough: Delos Series, 3B1 Page 13
