The Seal's Secret Child. Elisabeth Rees

her gaze on him. She was impossible to read.

      “Everybody calls me Blade these days,” he said when he reached her. “Edward is who I used to be.”

      “Well, whatever you call yourself now, we have a lot to discuss,” she said flatly as he reached the door. Her defensive posture clearly let him know that any physical contact would be unwelcome.

      He looked at the police officer standing on the front lawn. “I didn’t realize your situation was so serious,” he said. “What happened?”

      She ushered him inside and closed the door. “That’s not important right now. What’s important is introducing you to your son.”

      Blade put a hand over his belly, which had exploded with butterflies. “So it’s true? The child is mine?”

      Josie’s arms remained crossed. “His name is Archie,” she said. “And, yes, he’s yours. He’s with my dad in the kitchen. I wanted to explain things to you before you met him.”

      Blade walked into the living room, feeling the need to sit in one of the large wicker chairs. He rubbed two hands over his face, now stubbly since he hadn’t been able to shave for the past twenty-four hours.

      “Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked, looking at her imploringly. “Seven years have passed, and I had no idea my son was walking this earth without his father.”

      She let her hands drop to her sides, and he noticed that she was digging her nails into her palms. “When you came back from your mission in Afghanistan, I was already ten weeks pregnant, but I didn’t want to tell you the news while you were undergoing intensive medical treatment to try to save your leg.” Her eyes flitted to his left pants leg, under which was a carbon fiber prosthetic limb encased in flesh-colored plastic. “So I waited.”

      Blade stood up. “I had a right to know. You should have told me immediately.”

      “That’s not fair!” she shouted before dropping her voice again. “I had no idea you were about to run out on me. After you had the leg amputated, I thought you’d recover, we’d get married and our family would be complete. But you had other ideas, didn’t you?” Her eyes were blazing now. “You just vanished and nobody knew where you were, not even your friends. I had no choice but to move back home to Sedgwick and raise Archie with the help of my parents.”

      Blade sat heavily in the chair. Her criticism of him was justified. He had behaved in a cowardly way, but he had a good reason for leaving like he did. Or so he’d thought at the time.

      “I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “When I lost my leg, I was devastated.” He looked up at her. “I assumed I couldn’t be a good, strong husband for you. I knew I’d be medically discharged from the SEALs, and I had no idea how I’d earn a living. I didn’t want to rely on VA disability compensation to provide for my family. I felt useless, and I thought you’d be better off without me, so I decided to disappear.”

      She sat on the chair opposite him. “You left me a note,” she said in a whisper. “That’s all. If you’d broken off our engagement in person, I could have explained I was pregnant, but you didn’t give me the chance.”

      “I’m sorry.” It was all he could say, but it was hopelessly inadequate. “I thought it was for the best at the time.”

      She regarded him with steely eyes. “You broke off contact with everybody in your life. Why did you do that?”

      Blade hated thinking about this part of his life. It was a dark time. He had no strong family connections, so cutting himself off from distant relatives was easy, but abandoning Josie and his friends shamed him.

      “I was grieving,” he said. “I didn’t want to be reminded of my old life, when I was strong and able-bodied. I just shut down.” He held his hands up. “I know it was selfish, but it was the only thing I could do.”

      Josie put her head in her hands, letting her hair envelop her fingers. “I tried to stay in touch with your old SEAL buddies so that I would know when you resurfaced, but over the years, I lost contact.”

      “I’m guessing you never told any of them you were pregnant,” he said. “Otherwise they would’ve let me know.”

      Josie twined her fingers together. “I didn’t want you to hear the news from a third party. I assumed I’d find a way to contact you, but before I knew it, I was all out of leads.” She raised her head and locked eyes with him. “I would never intentionally keep your son from you. I prayed so hard for an answer.”

      He smiled weakly at her. It looked like she shared his Christian faith now. It was comforting. “After I left Virginia, I went down to Florida and lived there for four years, working for a motor mechanic business. I was just bumming around with no direction and no hope. I wanted to drop off the radar. But then I met an athlete who competes in the Invictus Games, and he turned my life around. I started training with him, and I learned to be proud of myself again. I got back in touch with my SEAL buddies through the military support unit, and I moved back to my hometown in North Carolina.” He felt himself welling up. “But this is all irrelevant now.” He looked at the doorway that he assumed led into the kitchen. “What I really want to do is meet my son.”

      Josie stood up, wiping her moist palms on her skirt. “Archie says he saw you on the news and contacted you through the station. Is that right?”

      “That’s right,” Blade replied. “Do you remember my old buddy Tyler?”

      She nodded.

      “I helped him catch the leader of a meth gang in Missouri recently. He’s a sheriff there. It’s a long story, but a national news station came to interview me about it. When I got back to North Carolina, there was an email waiting for me from Archie. He’d recognized my name and gotten my email address from the news station.” He smiled. “He’s a smart kid.”

      “Yes, he is,” Josie said. “But why didn’t you contact me when he sent you the email? Surely that would have been the best option. And then I could’ve been better prepared for this moment.”

      “I tried,” Blade replied. “But your number isn’t listed, and Archie wouldn’t tell me what it was. He thought you might try to stop me from coming. He said you were in trouble and needed somebody to protect you. I just had to get here right away, so I hopped in my truck and drove through the night.” Every moment that passed was another moment without his son. “Please, Josie, can I meet Archie now? I’m dying here.”

      “Of course,” she said, extending her hand toward him. “Can I help you out of the chair?”

      He briefly hung his head and sighed. So his most important question had now been answered. Josie did see him as a weaker man. And he was bitterly disappointed.

      “No, thanks,” he said, standing with ease. “I’m good.”

      She walked briskly to the doorway and closed her fingers around the handle. “Are you ready?”

      Blade’s heart began to hammer. Would he ever be ready for this moment? “Absolutely.”

      With that, Josie opened the door. “Archie, your dad is here to see you.”

      * * *

      Josie’s emotions ran rampant as she watched Blade kneel to the floor and hug his son for the first time. She saw a tear fall down Blade’s stubbly face, and she fought hard to suppress tears of her own. The instant love that her ex-fiancé felt for his son was clear to see, and his embrace was fierce yet gentle. It made her think of a father bear cradling a cub. But at the same time, Blade’s presence here caused her chest to ache with regret and pain. Could she ever forgive this man for abandoning her when she needed him most?

      Archie, meanwhile, took this profound moment in stride.

      “Hi, Dad,” he said, as if it were an everyday occurrence to hug his father. “I knew you would come.”

      Blade pulled back. “Thank