Hot SEAL, Midnight Magic (SEALs In Paradise)

by Teresa J. Reasor

  “We employ forty people full time at Promises. That’s not including the two security guards per shift. And it doesn’t include the fifty artists who sell their work in the gallery and get paid. We’re supporting families there, too.”

  “That many?”

  “Yes.”

  He fell silent.

  “I want to come to California, Gage. But I have some things to take care of before I can do it.”

  He turned on his side to look into her face. “I’ll wait for you. I won’t abandon you again, Mia. I swear it.”

  She studied his beloved face through her tears as she closed the distance between them. “We can never get back what we lost, Gage. But we can build something new.”

  “I’m up for that, Mia. I just don’t want what we have now to end.”

  “I don’t either.”

  *

  It was later, while she was in the shower, that she thought about why she couldn’t say the words. They came so easily the first time. But she had paid dearly for leaving herself so vulnerable, and she wasn’t built that way anymore. He’d have to be the one to say it first this time.

  She put on jeans and a summer sweater and braided her hair into a long tail.

  Gage left after breakfast to see Mama and take her some books. Ten minutes later, when her door buzzer went off, she looked through the peephole to see who it was. Mason.

  He had never visited her at her college apartment, so he must want something badly if he was willing to meet with her face-to-face.

  She unlocked the door but stood in the opening so he couldn’t walk in uninvited. They just stared at each other without speaking. She had never noticed just how much he looked like Marc. He had the same tall, slim build, and thick, dark hair their father once had, and the shape of his face and the line of his jaw were similar as well. But his dark blue eyes were their mother’s genetic contribution.

  “I thought you’d want to know Dad is in the hospital here.”

  “I know. I’ve been to see him.”

  Mason adjusted his expression to surprise. “How is he?”

  “He’s dying. He has cancer.”

  “If that’s the case, I think we need to talk.”

  “About?”

  “We’re his only heirs. His wife is dead. And aside for a few distant cousins…”

  “He doesn’t know us, Mason. And just because we’re his children doesn’t mean he has to leave us anything.”

  His instant scowl almost amused her. “The person you should be more concerned about is Will Abney. I don’t know how intertwined your business dealings with him are, but you need to distance yourself from him.”

  He made an impatient gesture. “The projects we’re working on that he’s invested in are almost completed, and we won’t invite him to be a part of any others. Did Dad say anything to you about his will?”

  “What part of dying didn’t you understand, Mason? He’s very weak, and they have him in isolation because his immune system is so fragile. His hair is thin from chemo, and he’s in tremendous pain. Hounding him about his will isn’t going to help the situation.”

  “We need to know what he has planned so we can prepare.”

  “Prepare for what? You have money, a mansion, several cars, and a successful business that makes more money. What more could you possibly want?”

  “I want more, Mia. I want what’s rightfully mine. He owes us, Mia. He walked away from us and left us nothing.”

  “He paid mother eight thousand dollars a month child support for us, Mason. Four thousand apiece. Mamie told me. He paid for our education. And if the truth were really known, it’s no telling how much money Camille extorted from him in the name of supporting us. Maybe you should ask her and demand your share of that.”

  His mouth tightened.

  She folded her arms and leaned against the doorframe. “Neither of us went out of our way to invite him into our lives, did we? How many times have you gone to France or England to see him? How many letters have you written or phone calls have you made? Have you ever emailed him just to say hello?”

  “Have you?” he demanded. his cheeks taking on an unnatural reddish hue.

  “I’ve spoken with him on the phone every year or two. Returned calls when he left messages asking me to, if he left a number. But neither of us has earned anything he might give us. Neither of us deserves to expect anything. So there really isn’t any point in discussing possibilities that might not pan out.” She was almost having fun yanking his chain.

  Her phone signaled a text coming in, and she tugged it out of her jeans pocket. She remembered their planned trip to Mamie’s and thought she should lay the groundwork. “That’s Gage. He’s on his way back from visiting his grandmother and next we’re going to go out to Mamie’s to visit. He hasn’t had time to see her.”

  “How can you lower yourself to play the whore with him, Mia? Especially after he left you high and dry? I expected more of you.”

  Though she’d tried to build up walls against their insults, some still reached their target. “Is that what you call it when you make love with a woman, Mason? I imagine it is, since none of them would ever mean anything to you. How could they? The only woman you’ve ever been interested in is Camille. And that’s the way she wants it.”

  His blue eyes went almost black with rage and for a moment she thought she might attack her.

  “I know what you did to get rid of Gage. And I won’t forget or forgive it.”

  “Maybe you shouldn’t buy into everything your boy toy tells you.”

  “Maybe you shouldn’t act like Camille’s puppet. It won’t be her who pays the price if you get caught doing her dirty work. I’m surprised it hasn’t happened already.

  “Don’t come around here again, Mason. You’re not welcome.” She stepped back into the apartment, closed the door, and shot the dead bolt home. And leaned back against the door because she was shaking too badly to move. She listened for his steps going back down the stairs, but several moments passed before he left.

  He had just as long a memory as she did. He wouldn’t forget what she said. And once he found out about the will… He’d get back at her any and every way he could.

  *

  Gage stepped into Mamie’s arms and hugged her.

  “You’ve grown since I saw you last,” she commented.

  “You haven’t,” he retorted. In fact, it seemed she’d shrunk, though her personality filled the entrance foyer when she laughed.

  Six years seemed an eternity as he looked down into her face. He pressed a kiss to her forehead and gave her one more squeeze. “It’s good to see you, Mamie.”

  “I wish it could have been sooner.”

  “Me, too.”

  “Come in. I have lunch set. Or would you rather go up and see your father before we eat, Mia?”

  “I’ll do that while you and Gage catch up. Give me twenty minutes.”

  As Mia disappeared up the stairs, Mamie tucked her hand in his arm and tugged him down the hall past the dining room and kitchen to a screened-in back porch she called the solarium with her usual snarky humor.

  When he used to do yard work for her, she told him she grew up in the two-story house, but after marriage had moved to the mansion. When her husband died, she moved out, left the mansion to Camille, and came home. She once said there wasn’t enough room in the mansion for two women, and the big house appealed to Camille more.

  Mamie settled in a wicker chair, and a breeze rustled through the porch encouraged by two big overhead fans, so the temperature was comfortable. And Gage could see violets were still her hobby, because the wicker tables were cluttered with violets of every variety and color.

  Gage looked out into the yard. The flowerbeds were still manicured with not a weed in sight. The bushes and grass were trimmed in picture-perfect fashion. He remembered how much work it used to be.

  “You look healthy and strong,” Mamie said.

  “I am. I train a lot to stay in sha
pe.”

  “Betty Jo kept me posted on where and how you were and what you’ve been doing.”

  “I thought she might. It took me some time to adjust and find my way.”

  “It did Mia, too.” She drew a deep breath. “I wish she’d never come back to New Orleans. I think she felt she needed to for me.

  “And please believe that I didn’t know what Mason did until Mia graduated from college and came back to start building the business. Camille made a comment one day about how her daughter was finally following in her footsteps. She said she’d done the right thing getting rid of you so Mia could live up to her potential.”

  Gage controlled the quick flash of temper with an effort. “I would never have stood in her way, but Camille would have if you hadn’t taken steps to help her.”

  “I know. She wanted her under her thumb where she has Mason. It eats at Camille every day that Mia’s successful and completely out of reach.”

  “I know how much you love Mia, Mamie. But I’m trying to convince her to come out to California with me. She can start a branch of Promises out there. Or set up a nonprofit to distribute her father’s money where it will do the most good. With today’s technology, she can work from anywhere. You can come with her if you want to.”

  Mamie laughed. “I’m not going to be a third wheel in my granddaughter’s home. Besides, you two might cramp my style. I have a few gentlemen friends here who take me out for dinner and dancing now and then. And I’m too old to get out and hunt up more to take their places.”

  Gage chuckled. “I’ll take you out dancing.”

  “Better yet, take my granddaughter. She never sowed her wild oats in college. All she did was study and work, and the two men she dated for half a second were boring as hell.”

  Gage laughed out loud. “That was my good fortune, Mamie. Otherwise she might have married one of them.”

  She shook her head. “She never trusted them enough.”

  *

  Mia bent to adjust the strap on the oxygen cannula so it lay flat against Marc’s skin. His breathing seemed more labored than the day before, and in just twenty-four hours his condition had worsened significantly. Perhaps he really had been holding on just long enough to take care of his affairs and say goodbye. He was slowly slipping away, and she really, really wished he wouldn’t. She had a feeling that they could have been close if they ever had time to form a true father-daughter relationship.

  The guest room had been transformed into a hospital room with all the medical paraphernalia needed to care for him.

  “I wish we had more time, Mia,” he said mirroring her thoughts. “I shouldn’t have spent so much time working and instead spent more time caring for the people in my life.”

  She didn’t want him to dwell on those regrets. “You’re spending time with me now, Dad.”

  His fingers gripped hers with delicate pressure, and his emotions rushed in before she could block them…regret and sorrow and love blended together with such intensity it took her breath and tears burned her eyelids.

  “When you were little and I got home from work, you’d run to me to be picked up and then sniff me like a puppy.”

  “I loved your cologne. I had a thing about Mamie’s perfume, too.”

  “Do you still have a thing for it?”

  “They say the sense of smell triggers the most memories. So I guess I do. Mamie always smells like Chanel. So any time I smell it I end up swamped with thoughts and memories of her.”

  “What kind of memories do you have of me?”

  “I was four when you moved out. I remember you being there one day and just gone the next. I remember you explaining to me why I couldn’t come see you when I was ten.” It was then she’d begun to realize how vindictive and cruel her mother could be. “When I was twelve you sent me a whole set of books by my favorite author.”

  “Your grandmother called to tell me what you were interested in.”

  “I remember the cashmere sweater you sent me one Christmas when I was fourteen. I felt so grown-up when I wore it. And I still have your note. I remember you called on my sixteenth birthday. You’d sent me a bracelet and tickets to a concert I wanted to attend, and I snuck out to go because mother didn’t want me to.”

  He clicked his tongue at her. “I’m so glad to know you had a little rebellion in your soul.”

  If he only knew. Gage went with her that night. He said it was for security reasons. But he kissed her for the first time that night. A sweet, careful, chaste kiss on the lips for her sixteenth birthday that set her heart afire.

  “I started working after school and weekends after that, until I started college.” So she could escape her mother and have her own money, her independence.

  “You called on my eighteenth birthday and sent me keys to the car I’m still driving, and then called to congratulate me when I graduated from college and told me how proud you were of me.”

  “I am proud of you, Mia. I tried to remember the important milestones.” Marc moved his legs restlessly and his breathing hitched. He pushed the button on his IV to release the pain medication.

  “You did remember, Daddy.”

  Marc’s eyes closed and he drifted off.

  The large, strong hands she remembered were all bone, tendon, and skin. The veins showed through his skin, like roads on a map. She continued to hold his hand for a few more minutes.

  “He’ll sleep for about two hours if you want to come back.” the nurse said as she checked his pulse.

  Mia went and sat at the top of the stairs, just to have a few minutes to shore up her composure.

  He wanted forgiveness for being an emotionally negligent parent. She freely gave him what he needed because there was no way either of them could change the past. She hoped he forgave her neglect in return. She should have called. She should have tried harder. She tried to take comfort in knowing she’d never rejected his calls and had always answered his notes and his letters.

  Gage appeared from the rear of the house and looked up at her. She gripped the wooden railing and heaved herself to her feet. When she reached him, he didn’t ask how Marc was, he just opened his arms and held her close. She breathed in his scent. Soap, laundry detergent, and him. Just him.

  The tension dissolved. This was what she needed.

  Gage cupped her face and kissed her gently. “Come eat something.”

  CHAPTER 21

  ‡

  Gage’s phone rang at six while he was putting on the coffee. The moment he saw the number he knew. “Hey,” he breathed into the phone.

  Mamie was composed, but there was a nasal quality to her voice that told him she’d been crying. “He passed away this morning at five. The funeral home has already been here and taken him. He’ll be cremated later today. It was what he wanted.” She sucked in a deep, shuddering breath. “He divorced my daughter twenty-two years ago, but he remained my son-in-law always.”

  Yesterday over lunch, Mamie shared far more about Marc Blanchard than Mia had ever known. And told them about some of their conversations and about his work. An engineer by trade, he used to design aircraft of many kinds, and invented fuel and aeronautic systems and helmed several businesses that produced those systems, which were now widely used.

  He called Mamie fairly often to check on Mia and Mason and just to talk. He’d been rebuffed by Mason too many times to try again, but Mia was more open to him. Without the closer connection of seeing her in person, it had been difficult for him to break across the barrier of polite conversation into a more relaxed affection with her. But he wanted it.

  “I’m so sorry, Mamie.”

  “I am too. So much time was lost for them. Camille managed to do the same to the two of you. Don’t waste any more of it, Gage.”

  “I don’t plan to.”

  “Tell Mia the arrangements have all been made, since he left detailed instructions. His ashes will be interred in his family’s crypt in Metairie Cemetery on Sunday. He didn’t want a service, but I
thought we could take flowers at two, after Mass.”

  “I’ll tell her.”

  “I’m so glad you’re here for her.”

  “I am. I promise.”

  He closed out the call and went into the bedroom and got back into bed with Mia. He snuggled against her back and put an arm around her to spoon.

  She moved and yawned, then groaned. “I have to work today. Halloween is officially tomorrow, but we’re celebrating it today. We’ll have hundreds of people coming in because we have a twenty percent off sale going on to celebrate. And we’ll be giving out candy to the children. all day We’ll need all hands on deck.”

  “I can come down and work the floor for you if you need extra help.”

  She seemed to mull that over for a second. “If you wear your muscle shirt and shorts, we’ll get more sales.” She teased.

  “Anything to help.” God, he hated to crush this playful mood. “Your grandmother called a few minutes ago.”

  Her body went taut as though she was steeling herself against a blow. “He’s gone?” Her voice was barely above a whisper.

  “Yes.” He wished he could spare her this.

  “I knew last night before we left.”

  “It’s okay, Mia. You treated him with respect and kindness. And he was proud you were his daughter. You have nothing to regret.” He tightened his hold on her. “Your grandmother said he made all the arrangements himself, and everything is taken care of. There’s nothing for you to do until tomorrow.”

  She remained silent for several minutes, but he could tell she was struggling to control her emotions. “I’m glad it’s over for him. He was in so much pain.”

  As much as he wanted to, Gage couldn’t shield her from this.

  “I wish he could have seen Promises. I wish I could have seen some of the planes he built.”

  “Maybe you will. One day you’ll travel to France and England and visit all the places he did.”

  He ran a soothing hand up and down her arm.

  “I think I have to get up. I need to do something so I don’t have to think about this.” She threw the comforter back.