A Soldier’s Triumph
An Eagle Security & Protection Novel
Beyond Valor 3
Lynne St. James
A Soldier’s Triumph
Copyright © 2017 by Lynne St. James
ISBN # 978-1-68418-552-8
Cover Art Copyright © 2017 by Lynne St. James
Created in the United States
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.
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Dedication
For all the spouses and families who are patiently waiting for their soldier to come home.
As always, for T.S. I love you!
A Soldier’s Triumph
An Eagle Security & Protection Novel
Threatening the wife of an Alpha male is a huge mistake.
Wounded in action, Alex Barrett is stuck in a wheelchair. But it won't stop him from protecting the love of his life. Come hell or high water, he'll find a way to keep Lily safe.
Devastated at how close she came to losing her husband, Lily Barrett will do anything to protect him— even if it means not telling him when her life is threatened.
When Alex finds out, he enlists the help of some old teammates who run the Eagle Security & Protection Agency. Will these ex-military men be able to help Alex save his wife before it's too late?
Table of Contents
Dedication
A Soldier’s Triumph
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Epilogue
About the Author
Books by Lynne St. James
Prologue
Seven months earlier…
It had to be a nightmare. Except she couldn’t make it stop. Even before the phone rang, she’d known. She’d been watching Frozen with Lexie and Bella for what had to be the fifteenth time in two days when she doubled over from a crushing pain in her chest. Sweat beaded on her forehead and an image of Alex lying in a pool of blood flashed in her mind.
As if she’d somehow summoned it, the phone vibrated on the coffee table. Staring at it with detached fascination, she couldn’t move. Lexie looked at her then back to the phone.
“Aren’t you going to answer it, Aunt Lily?”
The sound of the child’s voice snapped her out of whatever fog she’d been in. “Yes, of course.” The screen offered no answers. A blocked number. Dread churned in her stomach.
“Lily Taggart.”
“Mrs. Taggart. Captain Durant here. I am sorry. I have to inform you that Alex has been wounded in action…” He continued to speak, but after he’d said Alex’s name and wounded all she heard was blah, blah, blah. “Mrs. Taggart? Lily?” He must have asked her a question. What the hell was it? Searching her mind, hoping her sub-conscious could recall the words, she came up empty.
“I’m sorry. Can you repeat that?” Expecting impatience, she was surprised when he sounded almost fatherly.
“Alex has been seriously injured in an explosion. He’s in surgery. That’s all I know for now.”
“All you know, or all you can tell me?”
The sigh traveled the thousands of miles very clearly. “I’m sorry. He’s in surgery and as soon as there is more…”
It wasn’t enough. They all knew it was standard procedure, but it didn’t make it easier. “What am I supposed to do?”
“Right now, nothing, ma’am. You’ll be contacted as soon as there’s an update. I’m very sorry.”
After taking a deep breath and forcing down the bile that threatened to spew from her mouth, she choked out the words, “thank you.”
Without thinking she dialed Chloe. Her best friend and the mother of the two girls sitting on the couch staring at her like she’d grown a second head. Had she? Maybe she should check? She got up to look in the mirror in the front hall. Nope, only one head, but there were tears sliding down her cheeks. As if watching a movie, she reached up and slid her fingers through the wet trails. When did that happen? No wonder the girls were staring at her.
“Hello?”
“Chloe…oh my God…” It was all she could get out before the tears started in earnest. Gasping for breath, she doubled over from the pain squeezing her heart.
“Lily? What happened? Is it the girls? Are they hurt?”
Forcing herself to take slow breaths while trying to get control of the pain, she struggled to answer Chloe. “Why would you ask about the girls?” Lily checked, they were still watching Frozen. Why would she... Shit. “No, I mean yes. Fuck. They’re fine. I’m sorry. I…I don’t…”
“What’s wrong? You’re not making sense.” Lily knew she wasn’t, and she was trying her best to get her thoughts organized to force them out of her mouth. But it wasn’t working. The sick feeling permeating her being had struck like a bolt of lightning. Hearing Captain Durant’s voice only sealed the deal.
“Lily? What’s going on?”
“It’s Alex…” It was all she could get out.
“He’s not…”
“Wounded in combat. I don’t know what to do.” She tried to hold it together, she did, but it was a losing battle. The girls didn’t need to know what was going on it would only scare them. “Can your mom come and get the girls? I don’t…”
“Of course. I’ll call her now. We’re coming home. I’ll be there as soon as I can. He’s tough, he’ll be fine.”
Lily nodded, then realized Chloe couldn’t see it. “I hope so,” she whispered, every word like a prayer. He needed to be okay. He was the love of her life, and she couldn’t lose him.
“Lily?” No answer. The house was eerily silent as if no one was home, but Chloe knew her friend was there, if for no other reason than her car was in the driveway. She went from room to room until she found her lying on the bed curled into a ball hugging a stuffed teddy bear. She remembered it, it was the one Alex had brought home at Christmas. Lily clutched it like a lifeline.
“Sweetie, I’m here now. Can I get you anything?” She wasn’t sure she’d get an answer. As she neared the side of the bed, she saw tears rolling down Lily’s cheeks, but she wasn’t making a sound. “Lily?”
“I’m okay.”
“No, you’re not, and that’s okay. I’m not either. Please come back to my house. I don’t think you should be alone.”
“I can’t leave. What if Alex comes home?” Chloe sucked in a breath. Not quite sure what to say.
“He won’t be home
tonight. He’s in surgery, right? That’s what you told me.”
“But I have to wait for him. He might show up.” Shock, denial, all the things they were told to be prepared for if the worst happened. Chloe sat on the edge of the bed and pulled Lily into a hug. They rocked back and forth their tears mingling for a long while.
When Lily’s tears finally slowed, Chloe got up and packed her a bag. No way was Lily staying there by herself. She couldn’t believe they didn’t know more yet, even Logan, Chloe’s husband Alex’s best friend, hadn’t been able to get any further information from the captain. Or if he had, he couldn’t tell her. Sometimes being a military wife sucked donkey balls.
Chapter One
Present Day…
They’d been home a week, and Lily was already pulling her hair out. Alex had a long road ahead of him if she didn’t kill him first. She’d thought what they’d gone through at Walter Reed was tough, but this was a thousand times worse. In the hospital, there’d been a buffer between her and his pain and moodiness. The doctors, volunteers, nurses, and therapists, had been in and out of his hospital room. Now that it was all on her, she was worried she couldn’t be the woman, the support, the wall, he needed her to be for him.
Sheer terror and worry about losing him had morphed into the overwhelming joy that he’d survive and she wouldn’t lose the man of her dreams. Since they’d met, somehow, she’d known he was her destiny. Not one to believe in love at first sight, she fought it, but eventually, they both gave in after they got past the friends to lovers’ phase. And she’d never looked back.
The reality of his recovery and the agony he faced daily shredded her heart. If it hadn’t been for her best friend, Chloe, she’d have lost it long before now. Even with a new baby and her young daughters, Lexie and Bella, she’d taken every one of Lily’s calls. Listened to her as she sobbed her heart out for countless hours after leaving Walter Reed National Military Hospital every evening.
Not that the military hadn’t offered tons of support. From being able to stay at the medical complex in one of the Fisher Houses, to the counseling and the comradery of the other families going through the same thing, it should have made things easier. Should being the operative word. Lily had never found it easy to share her feelings. She’d tried. It hadn’t been easy, but by the time Alex was released, she’d made some new friends and helped a few other wives—at least she hoped she had.
Many of the other wives seemed so much stronger, and most even had children to deal with. Seeing their strength made her feel weak. So many tears she’d shed for the life they’d envisioned and now seemed lost. Her pain wasn’t just for Alex either, which made her feel even worse. Her dreams of a family might have to be put away forever. All her focus needed to be on helping Alex, the rest didn’t matter. But she wasn’t going to lie to herself either. She was worried she wouldn’t be strong enough to be his rock.
After three surgeries and countless hours of physical therapy, they told him he should be able to walk again—eventually—but not how painful the process would be. He’d been standing near the truck when the bomb exploded and been thrown over ten feet by the blast. Shrapnel had carved through his uniform and sliced into his body. Most of the pieces had been removed, and the cuts had healed. Lily didn’t care about his new scars. As far as she was concerned, he was still the sexiest man in the world and no scar would change that. Too bad he didn’t believe it. Besides being confined to a wheelchair for now, and she was convinced it was only ‘for now,’ the part of Alex that had been affected the most was his self-confidence.
Alex had always been the life of the party, it didn’t matter if the jokes were politically correct or not, he was in it for the laughs and his friends knew it. He’d offended some along the way, but they realized most of the time the jokes were directed at himself. Now everything was changed because of a two-inch chunk of shrapnel resting against the edge of his spine. Surgery was too risky until the swelling went down, and how long it would take was anyone’s guess. The doctors sure as shit didn’t have a clue. That left Alex in pain and restricted to the wheelchair. It’s not that he was paralyzed, he wasn’t, and Lily thanked God for that. Although to listen to Alex he might as well be. The doctors insisted he needed to give it time and take it easy, but those words weren’t in his vocabulary.
And that led them to now. She’d just stepped out of the shower when she heard it. Damn it. Last night she’d forgotten to put the mugs on the counter when she’d set up the coffee to auto-brew. It was the first time she’d forgotten since they’d gotten home. If the crash and yell were any indication, he’d tried to reach them on his own, and it hadn’t ended well.
She was exhausted and overwhelmed, but it was no excuse. She needed to make sure he was taken care of and protected. Wrapping the towel around her, she ran down the stairs to the kitchen, praying he hadn’t been burned by the scalding coffee or worse.
“What happened? Are you okay?” Her words trailed off as she saw Alex, in his wheelchair next to the kitchen counter. The floor surrounding him was covered with bits and pieces of porcelain. Thankfully, it was dry, so he hadn’t gotten as far as the hot coffee and wasn’t burned.
“I fucked up. I was trying to get a damn cup of coffee. Instead, I managed to create another mess for you to deal with. I’m a waste product now, I tell you.”
“It’s just a mug,” she said as she took a deep breath and tried to calm her racing heart. She meant it. It was a coffee cup. They could buy hundreds more. But Alex? He could never be replaced. Why couldn’t he see it?
“I wanted a cup of coffee without having to ask for help. I hate being an invalid.”
As she poured coffee into another mug for him, she chewed her lower lip. What could she say? He’d always been so strong, so self-reliant, but all of that changed in a heartbeat—at least for now if the doctors were to be believed. With a cheerful smile plastered on her face, she handed him the coffee and poured another for herself.
“I’m sorry. I forgot to put them down last night. But Alex, this is just temporary, right? You’ll be walking soon, and this will be a bad memory like a childhood nightmare you can push to the back of your mind. In the meantime, I’ll rearrange the kitchen to make things easier, I should have done it already.” His jade-green eyes met hers, and for a second she saw her old Alex, but it didn’t last. As he took the cup, they hardened into blocks of marble, filled with the rage he’d barely held in check since they’d gotten home from Walter Reed.
No use arguing with him, she thought, as she bent and picked up the broken pieces while holding the towel in place. His eyes bored into her back. Remembering how he’d stared at her as intently last Christmas before he'd dragged her into the living room, and they’d made love for hours. If she let the towel drop would it distract him? Or just piss him off? He’d been in so much pain they hadn’t been able to do much more than hug and kiss. Not that his kisses didn’t light the fire they always had, but knowing if they went further how much pain he’d be in, stopped her from pushing it.
This Christmas wouldn’t be filled with long walks on the beach at sunset, making love in every room in the house, and trying to make a baby. Nope. The tree was still in the attic, and there were no decorations to be found. She sometimes wondered if he even remembered that it was Christmastime. He was strung tighter than a guitar string, she didn’t want to make it worse by reminding him of earlier years.
Pain and sadness etched lines on his face, he had deep grooves at the corners of his mouth that weren’t there last Christmas. He did his best to hide his pain behind anger, but every muffled grunt squeezed her heart. He didn’t want anyone’s pity or sympathy—especially hers. How did she prove to him that his survival was the best gift ever, even if he never walked again?
Tossing the remains of the mug into the trash, she turned and flashed him, hoping he’d pull her into his lap and kiss her into oblivion. Staring into his eyes, she had a moment of hope. His pupils dilated as his gaze slid over her curvy
body, but that was it. He didn’t reach for her. Didn’t pull her into his lap. He just turned away.
As much as it hurt, she understood. She did. She knew him well enough to know he was proud and hated that he felt weak and helpless. That he couldn’t take care of her. And that was the hard part for her. How was she going to get through that thick skull of his? “Give me a minute to get dressed, and I’ll be back down to make us some breakfast.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m not hungry, and I know you have a ton of work to do. I heard you tell Chloe you had deadlines this week, right? You might as well get to it.”
“Yeah I do. But when did that ever stop us from having to eat? You have pills to take, and I need to have something other than coffee if I’m going to be creative.”
“Since when did you start eating breakfast?”
He had her there. She’d never been one for morning food. Did she risk telling him that the doctor said she should eat better since she was trying to get pregnant? Especially now? But what the hell else could she say? “It’s Chloe’s fault or at least partly. When the girls are here, and I make them breakfast, Bella won’t eat unless I eat too.” It seemed like a good excuse as any and he appeared to be buying it, and he even laughed. Holy shit!
“That’s classic. A kid is getting you to do what no one else could? Can I rent her for a while?”
“You know if you asked Logan he’d probably be happy to unload one of them for a bit. Chloe has her hands full.” Their banter was like the old days and some of the sadness clouding her heart cleared like fog lifting, at least until his next comment.
“Yeah, well that wouldn’t work. You already have a two-hundred-pound man to take care of, and work. I think you’re over-allocated.”
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