SEAL Of My Heart (31 page)

“Kate, this is Linda Gray.”

“Yes, Linda.”

“I’m afraid I have some bad news.” Kate’s heart stopped. Could anything worse be happening? “Kate? Are you there?”

“Is he really overseas? Is he really a SEAL on a mission? That what you’re gonna tell me?”

“I’m not sure I understand you. Of course he’s a SEAL. And yes, he
was
on a mission.”

The
was
grabbed a prominent part of her attention. Past tense,
was,
as in
is no more.
She began to shake. Tears streamed down her cheeks. Did she want to hear the words? Could she bear to hear those words? After what she’d suspected of Tyler?

“I’m afraid they’ve reported him missing, along with another SEAL. Kate, it isn’t looking good. They usually don’t call unless they want you to get used to the idea he might not come back. They have word he was injured, and critically, it appears. But he’s not in friendly hands as of yet, so they don’t know his condition but fear the worst. I’m sorry, Kate.” And then Linda began to sob.

“Oh, Linda, what are we going to do? I just feel like my whole world has come crashing down over my ears, and you must feel the same way.” Kate’s harsh breathing matched Linda’s. She did share Linda’s sorrow, despite all the confusing emotions swirling around. “I’m afraid I’m not going to be very good for you right now, and I’m truly sorry.”

“At least he got to do what he wanted to do. Of that I’m sure,” Linda said with a quaver.

Kate didn’t want to ask about anything to do with Tyler, not wanting to add to Linda’s pain. She was confused. And then Linda offered something else she wasn’t expecting.

“I got a beautiful letter from him this morning, Kate. Odd that it would come today, of all days. Of course, there never is a good time to hear about the fate of someone—” Her voice broke to a whisper.

“It’s okay, Linda. Go ahead and cry.”

“I feel like I need to tell you this. He wrote this beautiful letter, and all it was about was you. He told me he’d never met anyone like you, that the thought of coming home to you was what he was taking with him over there. He sounded so happy. So sure he was on the right path, doing the right thing. And you were so much a part of his life, Kate. I just thank you from the bottom of my heart. You made my brother’s last days here the best of his entire life. I’m going to mail you a copy of this letter. I think you should have it.”

Could this really be happening? The range of emotions battering Kate was making her seasick. After Linda hung up, Kate turned and ran to the bathroom to throw up.

The mailman delivered
mail through her door slot like he always did. The late morning sunlight still shone through the glass French door of her cottage. Somewhere someone was mowing a lawn with an electric mower. Birds twittered in the nest under her eaves.

There were three letters from Tyler. He’d promised that he’d write every day, back when the rosy glow of their new love was the only thing she knew. When she knew his promise was his bond. These letters were evidence he hadn’t disappeared after all. He had been on the mission overseas.

Did she dare open them? What if he was going to tell her he didn’t love her? Maybe his Sheila had been like her Randy. Maybe she’d trespassed into a territory she had no business being in?

She looked at the postmarks, but the dates were smudged. She opened all three of them. Tyler had, thankfully, dated each one. She smoothed over the paper on the one he’d apparently written before he left the country. It was a good place to start, she thought.

Dear Kate,

I am in San Francisco, waiting for my plane, and I already miss you so much. This will have to be a short letter. But I wanted to keep my promise. I said I’d write you every day, and, since today will be a long travel day for me, I’m guessing this will be my last opportunity.

When I think about coming home to you, all kinds of things happen to my body, of course. But, more importantly, what I love about you is what this does to my soul. You are the life partner I’ve been searching for, just never knew it. Yours was the face I wanted to see out there in my corner. Your love was what I was missing, even though I was happy, even though my carefree life was perfect. I was still missing you before I even knew I could miss someone so much, or love someone so completely.

Now that we’ve had such a brief time together, I’m hoping you feel the same way and that together we can figure this thing out. But if there is a God in Heaven, I hope he’ll let me have years and years to explore you, get to know you, love you the way I know I can.

Your love,

Tyler

Kate no longer feared Tyler was part of this sick conspiracy on the Heller family. Her new fear gripped her as she sank into her pillow and wept. She knew she would never get over loving him.

Tyler. Somehow you have to come home to me. Please come home to me. You promised.

‡

T
yler woke up
in a hospital room, but had no clue how he got there. He was relieved to hear people in the hallway and the little nurse who woke him up to take vitals spoke English.

English!

He’d never been so happy to hear English spoken in his life. Then he wondered about T.J. and Jackie. And the women and children. He didn’t have to wait long.

“There he is, the fuckin’ Lawrence of Arabia!” T.J.s banter was music to his ears.

Tyler tried to move and the pain in his hip nearly made him pass out. “How long have I been here?”

“Got here day before yesterday. Was touch and go for a bit. They did a first-class triage in Djibouti, but had to reset your shattered femur and remove the shit that was embedded there after you got stateside, not that your sorry ass knew the difference. You’re gonna walk with a limp.”

“No fuckin’ way.”

“Yes, my man,” Jackie walked into the hospital room. “The ladies are gonna like all this wounded warrior shit. You’ll get all the handmade pillowcases and invites to houses in Virginia and Florida. Oh yes, I think you will be very popular,” Jackie said with a smile.

“Where the hell am I?” Tyler asked.

“Reed. Where the hell did you think you were?”

“Last I knew, I was passed out in the back of a fuckin’ bus heading towards the Mars rover.”

“Oh, so glad you never got to see how we got you out, my man,” Jackie quipped.

“What?” Tyler looked between T.J. and Jackie.

“Dressed you up as a woman, a very tall woman, mind you. In labor. Messy bloody labor. Your dress was soiled and you were passed out.”

“No way. You put me in a burqa?”

“I got photographs to prove it,” T.J. said. “When they were cutting off your clothes, they found some interesting things tucked into your T-shirt. Very interesting,” T.J. winked.

Tyler shook his head. He could hardly remember. Oh, yeah, he’d put the DNA in there, and the lavender deodorant, and his cell. “My cell. Where’s my cell? Maybe there’s—”

“There is, and it’s plugged into the wall over here getting charged up. All in good time.” T.J. stood. “I’m supposed to check in with Kyle and the rest of them now that you woke up. Before I go, wanna see what you look like in a dress?”

“Who needs to see that?” Tyler spat.

“Weep, my man. This is payback for all the dumb shit you pulled on me over the past few weeks. I’m putting this on the team bulletin board unless I get your complete undying cooperation.”

“T.J., you’re a fuckin’ asshole.” Tyler hit his forehead with the palm of his right hand, except it nearly toppled a drip. “Ow. You said you learned to drive a bus while being chased by cops in Texas. Tell me that story.”

“Much later, Ty. Now you rest. Then you call your person, there.” He pointed to the cell phone on the stainless steel stand. “But you can have this back if you want.” T.J. lobbed the lavender deodorant stick in Tyler’s lap. The top of the stick was crusted with dried blood and caked red clay. Putting it up to his nose, he discovered it still smelled glorious. Just like Kate.

“Jackie, what about Malalai and the others?”

“Safe for now. Djibouti, working on some translation for our forces and some housecleaning. Seems as though helping you and T.J. get out of there was something good to put on their resumes.”

“They must have family looking for them.”

“Not any more, my man,” Jackie said solemnly. “Afraid everyone else is gone or…you know.”

“Sorry to hear it. I’m glad Malalia’s safe.”

“Thanks. Owe you. All you guys.”

T.J. and Jackie left to inform Kyle and the rest of the Team who had stayed behind. They’d elected to stay on the East Coast until Tyler was out of danger.

Tyler buzzed for a nurse to bring him his cell and she refused until he started swearing, trying to be as soft as he could. The young man next to him in the room must have just come out of surgery, because he was out cold and never said a word.

“I know my fuckin’ rights and I demand to have that phone, right now.”

She passed it to him, withdrawing it at the last minute. “You get one call, and then I’m putting it away until someone else tells me you can have it. One.” She held up one forefinger to emphasize the point.

Tyler punched the divot in the plastic front and swept his fingers across it to unlock the screen. A message was waiting like he’d seen before. It was a text from Kate’s phone.

Hope you’re well. I’ve moved on and changed my plans. Please don’t try to contact me as I won’t pick up your calls. I’ve met someone else. Kate.

Tyler’s head hit the pillow with such force it nearly flipped the bed. He was going to throw his phone when he decided a well-placed “piss off” would do him a world of good. He’d wait and think of something really good to say. To have come this far, to have thought she was there waiting for him, that she felt the same way, only to find out he didn’t mean to her what she’d meant to him, was beyond tragic. It was epic.

He read the message again. Same message. No other messages but the ones he’d read already, professing how much she missed him.

He hurled the phone and heard it hit the wall behind the ceiling-mounted TV with a splintering crash, sending bits of plastic parts all over the doorway and out into the hall.

Immediately the nurse popped her head in the room with an orderly at her side. “We have to restrain you, Special Operator Gray? You destroying U.S. Government property?”

“Fuck the U.S. Government.” His big forearm was over his eyes so they wouldn’t see his tears.

Tyler rejected the chaplain. He threw his lunch back at the sweet young volunteer who brought the green tray. But when Kyle and Cooper and the rest of the team showed up, he allowed them entrance.

“You’ve been behaving badly, Tyler. One would think you’d be more fuckin’ grateful those Marines pulled you out.”

“I’m grateful to be alive, Lannie. Don’t push it.”

“You’re a pussy,” Nick said.

“You watch it. I’m so hopped up on stuff I’d kick your sorry ass and strangle you with this shit,” he rattled the tubing stuck into his arm and the wires attached to his chest. “In fact—”

Kyle and Cooper both jumped on Tyler, stopping him from pulling out all his tubes and electronic monitoring leads. He struggled a bit against them, but he was no match for both of them, with the state of his emaciation from the desert.

“We read your fuckin’ message earlier, and no way did that come from Kate,” Nick said. “We were going to tell you that now.”

“Well, if I had it here, I’d show it to you. Said Kate right on the fuckin’ screen.”

“And I’m telling you no way. Devon had dinner with her three nights ago. She was on board, champing at the bit to jump into your life big time. Tyler, wise up, man. Even you don’t work that fast.” Nick looked at him as if he had sprouted a purple horn between his eyes.

“So how do you explain—”?

Cooper jumped in, “Someone else sent the message, Tyler. Someone who wanted you to get it. Got any enemies out there near her?”

Tyler remembered Sheila. “This girl that worked with her. We knew her, man. Remember that blonde we couldn’t get rid of?”

“That hot pants frog hog? Shit, she even jumped Fredo’s bones.”

“Well, that’s because he thought she was a professional,” Kyle added.

“She’s probably the one who stole all the money from where Kate works, too. Devon told me all about it.”

“Shit, guys. I gotta get out there,” Tyler said and started again to unhook himself, which set things buzzing. If the Team had let him, he’d have walked right out with them.

“Let the police handle it.”

“No, you don’t understand, this lady’s really bad news. I’ve got all my faculties now. We’re wasting time. I gotta go. You know if they don’t strap me down, I’ll escape and go do it by myself somehow. Help me. Help me get outta here.”

Within the hour Kyle had acquired a full release for Tyler by making nice with the pretty Navy doctor who’d been eyeing T.J. They pitched in for a night she’d never forget. Soon after, he was wheeled to the transport plane for a straight flight to San Francisco from D.C.