Seal of Honor Page 3

  “No, I had fun. Honestly, I did.” She took his hand. “Beats what I used to do. I would work and then go straight home and hide because I figured I was being watched. I live in Oahu and I’ve only been to the beach once.”

  “Well, we are going to fix that,” Zack said. “You’re going to rest for a bit and then we’re taking a sunset stroll on the beach and maybe take a dip in the water. I read it relieves pregnancy pains if you’re buoyant in water.”

  “As good as that sounds, I can’t swim,” Jordyn admitted.

  He pulled her close and kissed her nose. “Don’t worry. I won’t ever let anything happen to you.”

  She felt her heart jump at his words. “Christmas on an island will be different. I mean, no snow and no lights. I’m accustomed to the big lit up trees and houses in New York.”

  “Oh, honey, there will be lights, just wait and see, and then there’s something special I have planned already,” Zack said.

  “You barely remembered Thanksgiving and you don’t really celebrate the holidays,” she teased. “How could you have something planned already?”

  He tapped his temple. “This machine right here works fast.”

  “Okay, Robo-SEAL.” She laughed and looked over as she heard talking. The sight that greeted her made her mouth drop open. “Um, Zack, your neighbor is sitting in the middle of a pineapple grove reading out loud.”

  Zack sighed. “Yeah, that’s Mrs. Pond. She is as fruity as a Christmas fruitcake. She reads to her pineapples.” Jordyn laughed and he shushed her. “Shh, if she hears you she’ll want to talk… Oh, too late.”

  The older lady waved and put down her book and came through the pineapple grove to Zack’s driveway. “Hey, soldier, who is this beautiful and very pregnant woman?”

  “Mrs. Pond, nice to see you. This is my wife, Jordyn Royale, now Hennessey,” Zack introduced her.

  “Wife and new baby. Zachary, what have you been hiding from me?” Mrs. Pond laughed. “Nice to meet you, new Mrs. Hennessey and by the looks of it you’ll be having this baby in the next few weeks.”

  “New Year’s,” Jordyn said. “Nice to meet you as well.”

  “Oh, honey, I’m a retired nurse. You are probably going to have that little one before then, he or she is riding low,” Mrs. Pond supplied. “When is your next appointment?”

  “She, and it’s December first. We will be doing the four-dimension sonogram,” Jordyn said with a smile. “A picture of her face for my baby book.”

  “You make sure to bring it by and show me. We’ll have a cup of mint pineapple tea and some sugar cookies.” Mrs. Pond smiled. “Maybe now this one won’t be a Grinch and he’ll decorate his house for the holidays.”

  “I’ll ask him nicely, and I’ll bring the picture for you to see,” Jordyn teased. “May I ask why you read in your pineapple grove? There are better shaded areas to sit and relax.”

  “Oh, honey, I’m not relaxing. I’m reading to the fruit,” Mrs. Pond explained. “They like a spicy romance once in a while. Bye, youngsters, go put her feet up.” Mrs. Pond walked back in the direction of the grove.

  “Told you…nutty,” Zack muttered and Jordyn elbowed him in the ribs.

  “Be nice. I like her,” she said.

  “I do too, but it’s still weird that she reads to fruit,” he said and steered her inside. “You go rest and I’ll forage for our dinner like a good man should.”

  “I could get used to this,” she called as she went down the hall.

  “I hope you do because I plan to do it a lot,” he yelled back to her and she laughed as she went into the master bedroom.

  It was so natural to kick off her shoes and slide into his bed like she was meant to be there all her life. She rubbed her belly as the baby flip-flopped while she got settled. “Shh now, Marianne, let Mommy sleep for a bit.” It seemed she had picked a name and it was completely off the list she had formed in her head. Sergei had given her the gift of life and in a weird way he sent her on the path she was on now. The plane ticket gave her the opportunity to meet Zack and now he was going to be Marianne’s daddy and somehow she knew Sergei would be happy for them and that they were protected. She fell asleep with her arms curved around her belly and a smile of contentment on her face.

  * * * *

  The sun setting over the crystal blue water of the sea was breathtaking. The orange glow danced across the rippling, lazy waves. The color blended with the gray-green foam and the water droplets that looked like diamonds surged towards the soft sand. Her feet sank into the sand that was still warm from the sun of the day and the water ran across her feet. Zack held her hand and they talked in soft tones while they strolled. He’d given her a pair of his PT shorts and a tank shirt to wear in the water since she didn’t have a bathing suit. Jordyn thought she looked ridiculous in the clothes that were too big even though she was pregnant. But when Zack kissed her until her toes tingled and told her she was perfect, she no longer minded how she thought she might look. How could one man be so perfect? He was gentle, kind, passionate and lit a fire in her she thought never existed.

  She had loved Sergei, but he never made her feel the way Zach did. Maybe it was working towards that, maybe she didn’t know him long enough. She would never know. She recalled wishing for a prince charming when she was growing up, hoping for someone to whisk her away and save her from a life where she felt unwanted, a life in foster care.

  In high school she figured out really quickly that guys saw girls like her who lived in a government home as a trick, a quick lay but not much more. They’d whisper sweet words but then take the good girls to the prom and on dates. The foster home girls were the ones they tried to have sex with in the park. It happened to her once but never happened again, but when you’re eighteen and foster care turns you out on the streets, you find a place to keep warm even if it means sleeping on the couch of some stranger. Finding work was hard, saving up money was even harder just to try to get your own place and maybe go to community college. While on their walk on the beach, while digging their toes in the soft sand, she revealed it all to Zack and he did the same. They formed an even closer bond by sharing what they had gone through growing up. He had two homes now and fancy things, yet he had just as screwed up a childhood as she did.

  Jordyn steered the topic of conversation to a lighter one. “What’s your favorite color?”

  “Mint green,” he answered.

  She laughed. “Mint green? That’s very specific.”

  “It’s not as dark as hunter green and not a milky weird pastel,” Zack explained. “What’s yours?”

  “Rich dark red, think velvet royal drapes the color of deep red wine,” Jordyn said. “I saw the movie Anna and the King and fell in love with all those rich red tapestries. For a long time, I wanted to move to China and become an English teacher.”

  “Lucky for me that didn’t happen. I’d have hated to have roamed the world looking for you,” Zack said.

  She laughed. “You wouldn’t have known me,” she pointed out.

  “But my heart would’ve felt a piece of it was missing and I would have searched until I saw your eyes, then I would have known instantly you were the one.” Zack wrapped his hand around her shoulders and kissed her temple.

  Jordyn sighed. “You say the nicest things.”

  “I just tell the truth,” Zack said. “Okay, let’s swim before the sun goes down any further.”

  “I don’t know if this is a good idea,” she said hesitantly.

  “I’ll hold on to you tight, I promise. Trust me,” he said.

  The thing was that she did trust him and Jordyn followed him into the water and, true to his word, Zack held on tight. With her back to his chest, he put his hands under her arms and braced her easily while she lifted her feet. He helped her to float and all the while his hands were at her back. An hour later, they got out of the water and he wrapped her in a thick, warm towel and put one around himself. Jordyn had to admit he was right. The tension in her back from the pre
gnancy had eased quite a bit.

  They walked the few blocks back and were coming up the sidewalk talking when they noticed a car in the driveway. A black sedan with tinted windows. Fear instantly clutched at her chest. Zack slowed his steps and stuck her securely behind him.

  “Stay close to me, and if anything happens head up through the grove to Mrs. Pond’s, then call the police as well as the MPs on base. I programmed the number into your phone,” he said in a low voice.

  “Zack, I can’t leave you here!” she whispered urgently.

  “Do as I say, Jordyn. I can take care of myself, but I can’t if I’m worrying about you.” His voice was harsh even though he kept his voice low. He looked down at her for a moment and those ice blue eyes were deadly.

  Two men and a woman got out of the car. Jordyn recognized Sergei’s mother instantly. Zack moved toward them, but instructed Jordyn quietly to stay far enough away and facing in the direction of Mrs. Pond’s pineapple grove.

  “This is private property. I’ll ask you to leave now,” Zack said.

  The woman smiled before speaking in a heavy accent. “I’m sorry for the intrusion, but this is my daughter in law and she is carrying my grandchild. We’ve been very worried about her.”

  “I was never married to Sergei and is trashing my apartment how you show worry?” Jordyn said.

  “Oh, my goodness, your apartment was broken into? Oh, my dear, you should have come to me,” Sergei’s mother said. “You and my grandchild are my—”

  “First off, cut the crap,” Zack interjected harshly. “Let’s get things straight. This is my wife, and the baby she is carrying is mine. You have no claim on her, only the thought that the child may be your son’s. No court is going to hold that up. Secondly, you’re a dime bag mobster and, trust me, the cops and I know your name and the games you play.”

  “Really? Then you know the damage I can do. Hawaii is an island with few resources to stop me,” Sergei’s mother said. Her voice was now cold. “If you want her, keep her. She means nothing to me, but I will have my grandchild.”

  “You think Hawaii has few resources, huh, that it is just full of little islanders?” Zack smiled slowly, deadly. “Let me enlighten you. I’m not just some scared little immigrant you can terrorize. I’m Commander Zack Hennessey, United States Navy and a SEAL. What that means is that when I step into my house I’ll be calling military personnel and telling them of your little visit. They will in turn contact the Oahu special task force and then New York and then the ICE authorities.”

  The older woman opened her mouth to speak and Zack cut her off. “Shut up!”

  The two men stepped forward and he snarled. “Try it and see how hard I put you down. The thing about Navy SEAL training is that I’m trained for various types of warfare and, trust me, I have no problem crushing your skull into my driveway. I won’t hesitate for a second defending my wife from scum like you.”

  Jordyn looked up at Zack and his face was set like it was sculpted from stone. It was amazing that just a little while ago he was being so gentle with her, because right now the man that stood with his arm protectively blocking her was as dangerous as they come.

  “You’d keep me from my grandchild? What kind of man are you?” she screeched.

  “You’re as much a grandmother as Hitler was a nice guy,” Zack snapped. “You live a life steeping fear into other people for your gain. Instead of grieving and moving on, you threaten a pregnant woman and imply ripping the child—her child—from her womb. I’m going to tell you this, you may be stupid enough to come back or send your goons, but you will fail.”

  Zack stepped closer, not caring about her two bodyguards. His hands were clenched against his side, but he raised a finger to point at them. “My promise to you is this, if you ever come back here, if Jordyn so much as falls and scratches her knee, if our child catches a cold and I feel it’s your fault, I’m coming for you.

  “You don’t want to be on my scope because I’m trained not to be seen. I’ll find you, I’ll find your family's family and the family of that family and every extended person you have ever helped, gave money to or sat down to dinner with. I will inflict so much suffering on your house you’ll reel from it.” Zack turned his gaze to each of her bodyguards. “Starting with you two. I have the means to find and crumble your little organization, so think on that as you get the fuck off my property.”

  Sergei’s mother looked at him for the longest time, as if she was trying to gauge how serious he was. Jordyn noticed that Zack never blinked, his face never changed and his body stance never wavered. Whatever she saw in his eyes must’ve terrified the older woman because she visibly swallowed and when she fixed the scarf thrown over her shoulder, her hands shook.

  “This may not be over,” she said and stuck her nose in the air as she turned back to the car.

  “I think it is. Go home, Brighton Beach Dame, and know that you’re now on the radar of both military and government agencies.” Zack smiled coldly. “And even worse, there’s me.”

  She flicked her hands at her bodyguards and they hustled to get her back into the sedan. Zack watched them head down his driveway before his stance changed and his body visibly relaxed.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  Jordyn nodded. “What if they come back?”

  Zack took her hand and they continued up to his house. “She won’t be coming back. Man or woman, I’ve dealt with people like that and the ones to worry about keep my gaze. She told on herself, she looked away, she’s thinking on the possibility of losing everything she has and the people who could testify against her. She’ll go home and try to shore up her defenses and feel secure.”

  “But she isn’t going to be able to do that, is she?” Jordyn prodded. “I feel so sorry for the people she has under her thumb in New York.”

  “Hell no, I’m not letting her go back to being a terror in New York or anywhere else. Her organization will fall. The cops and other law enforcement will start building a case against her. Surveillance insider people who are brave enough will talk. Trust me, we’ll be seeing her on the news in handcuffs before the end of next year.”

  “God, that’s good. Sergei said she was a really bad woman. If her son was afraid of her, imagine everyone else,” Jordyn said.

  “You don’t have to worry anymore, sweetheart. You and I, we’re going to be just fine, I swear it.” Zack pulled her into his arms and looked down at her. “Do you believe me?”

  “More than anything in the world.” Jordyn smiled. “I’m glad you walked into the coffee shop, Zack.”

  “Wanna know a secret?”

  Jordyn nodded.

  “I never went to the Java Hut before. I usually got my coffee on base, but that morning I was running late and just stopped in for a quick fix.” Zack grinned. “But when I met you, I forgot about Starbucks and stopped in to see you every day.”

  “Then I’m glad you cheated on Starbucks with the Java Hut,” she teased. “You’re a coffee floozy.”

  “To be with you, I’d be anything,” he said. “Now, let’s get showered and have some ice cream.”

  “Zack, promise me this will work out. I’ve had so many tarnished princes that I don’t think I could deal with another.” Jordyn sighed as he unlocked the door and walked her down the hall. “Maybe it’s me. Maybe I just ruin it all by myself.”

  “Don’t you say that, sweetheart. I can promise you I’m spending forever with you in my heart,” Zack said. “I’m a man of my word and as a SEAL I promise on my honor.”

  “That’s good enough for me,” she whispered and impulsively stood on her tiptoes to kiss him. He took her kiss deeper until they were both breathing heavy.

  “Go take a shower, baby. If I keep kissing you like that I may not be able to stop myself from taking you,” he growled. Without waiting for an answer he left her at the master bedroom door and went into a bathroom down the hall.

  “Don’t hold back on my account,” she whispered and smiled as arousal
made her sex throb.

  She’d ask some questions at her doctor’s appointment to make sure intercourse was safe for her. She wanted to be his wife in every sense of the word.

  Chapter Four

  Thanksgiving dinner was served outside on his patio. It was just him and Jordyn since neither of them had family to invite. She was raised without any and he had a mother he cared not to remember. But it was just as special as if they had a house full of guests. They made a meal of turkey, dressing, and green bean casserole together and she baked two pumpkin pies from scratch. The breeze was cool and soft off the sea while they ate. Later, in the evening, they sat in his gazebo under the stars eating pie with whip cream. They were happy, but he couldn’t help his wandering thoughts. Her skin gleamed in the moonlight and he wondered how her naked skin would feel against his or what making love to her would be like. He wanted his wife in the worst way.

  “You know, we still have to turn the bedroom across the hall into a nursery,” Zack said.

  “I don’t do Black Friday shopping no matter if I’m in the city or on an island,” Jordyn said. “The crowds are insane.”

  Zack chuckled. “I’ve been to war a few times and even I’m scared of Black Friday shoppers. How about after your doctor’s appointment on the first?”

  “Um, we can get a few things. I get my latest check from the Java Hut that same day and I have some savings,” Jordyn said. “I haven’t worked there long enough for maternity leave, but we can get a crib and stuff.”

  Oh, this woman. Zack gave an inward sigh. “Jordyn, honey, we’re married now. This house is yours as well as mine and I can buy things for her as well.”

  “I can’t ask you to do that—”

  “Jordyn, I didn’t marry you for shits and giggles. I want to be a husband to you and a father to the baby. Speaking of which, you said you picked a name a few days ago and didn’t share with the class. Honey, I know you’ve been alone and you have been accustomed to holding it down—Jordyn the warrior princess who takes care of it all on her own—but I’m here now. Lean on me, depend on me, use my back account. Ask me to get up at three a.m. to feed the baby. I want her to call me Daddy but that won’t happen unless you see me as your husband and her father.”