Man of Honor (Battle Scars)
Page 23
“Hey.” His large hands are wrapped around one of mine. He squeezes gently, lifts it to his lips. As I stare up at him, I note that his eyes are bloodshot. I hone in on the scar by his left temple. His hair is falling over it, I brush it away. When I focus on his eyes, they’re pained. Tortured. But beneath that, they’re relieved.
“Where am I?” My voice feels like I swallowed a thousand rusty nails. And I want that damn beeping to stop.
Drake’s hand smooths my hair back and he leans his forehead against mine. “You don’t remember what happened?”
There’s the torture in his eyes again.
Wait…My grandparents’ house. Carlos.
“He grabbed the gun!” I jerk upright. And then pain blooms in my shoulder, forcing me to sink back down into the mound of flat pillows on my hospital bed. Because I know I must be in the hospital. I got shot. But it could have been worse…
“You landed on me.” It’s not a question; Drake launched himself on top of me and the bullet went through my shoulder. I have the pain to prove it. Where would the bullet have gone if…
“Mikah!” Urgency fills me with a rush of adrenaline. It courses through my body, racing through my veins and making me feel like I could stand up and run a race. “Where is he, Drake?”
Drake cups my face, stroking me softly with his thumbs as he stares into my eyes.
“Sweetheart…you need to calm down. The bullet that lodged in your shoulder just grazed Mikah. He lost consciousness from shock. He’s okay…but he’s going to have a lot do deal with.”
Relief. I close my eyes as a wave of exhaustion sweeps over me.
Baby…
My eyes fly open again. “The baby! Drake!”
My attempt to sit up sends pain slicing through my shoulder, and the previously steady beeping machines go haywire.
Drake pushes me back down, his hands gentle. “Mea! Calm down, please, sweetheart. The baby—our baby—is fine. You’re both going to be just fine.”
A nurse bustles into the room, shaking her head at me.
“You need to keep your blood pressure stable, my dear. Off to sleep you go.” She uses a syringe to insert medication into my IV.
My eyes lock with Drake even as they begin to droop. “I’m pregnant.”
His chuckle collides with his curse. “Yeah, baby. I got that.”
“You…happy?” I sigh as I lose the battle with my sleepy eyes.
His lips brush against my forehead, my cheek, my nose, my lips.
His voice is the last thing I hear as I drift away.
“Yeah, sweetheart. I’m the happiest man alive right now.”
Epilogue
Drake
Ten Months Later
The doctors in the hospital after Mea was shot told me that she and our baby are medical miracles.
That our baby shouldn’t have made it through that kind of trauma early on in the pregnancy.
That Mea’s loss of blood should have ended that precious little life.
But that didn’t happen.
I’m more than grateful as I stare down at my daughter.
Mea, sitting across from me at the sidewalk café in Savannah, smiles. “I can’t believe how good you are with her. She loves her daddy so much.”
The little raven-haired beauty in my arms stares up at me, clutching my finger in her tiny fist and gripping it hard.
“She’s so damn tough. Like her mama.”
My eyes meet Mea’s, and the searing need I have to protect this woman, to love her, to make sure she has everything she’ll ever need, still burns strong inside me.
It’ll never fade.
It’s like she can read my expression, because she leans across the table and kisses me. “Still can’t believe we’re meeting your real father today. You ready for this? You never used to talk about your family.”
I grab her hand, lacing our fingers together. Bringing it to my lips, I sigh. “I know. I didn’t know how to, after knowing about your past. I grew up with a mother who only cared about how drunk she could get at any given time. She drowned everything she felt with liquor. My whole life, it was up to me to clean up after her. Or to call around town looking for her. The people in my town knew what was going on; they helped me out whenever they could. But it was tough. She told me that my father left when I was still a baby, and she was alone after that. I don’t think she ever got over it, and drinking was the only way she could deal.”
“I know how that made you feel.” The little wrinkles in her brow that only show up when she frowns appear.
“But it’s not like that anymore. I found my dad. We’ve talked. We’ve Skyped. I’ve e-mailed my little half-sister. And now this is happening. We’re meeting them. And I get to show off my beautiful family.”
“Then I guess we better take a minute and breathe deep, just so we’re prepared.”
Rolling my eyes, I oblige. There’s no point in fighting her on the yoga stuff. We breathe deep for about a minute before I open my eyes.
“We good?”
“Drake?” The deep voice with a southern drawl matching mine causes both of us to look up.
There, standing beside our table, are Richard Walsh and his daughter, Phoebe.
My father. My sister.
I stand, passing my baby girl to Mea.
And then I embrace my father.
Releasing him, I turn to Phoebe. “Hey.”
“Hey.” Her tone is awkward, and she glances down at the ground. At nineteen, she’s still young. This must all be totally weird for her. But after a second, she grabs me in a fierce hug.
“I don’t know how to be someone’s sister,” she whispers. “But I’ll try my best.”
Holding her at arm’s length, I shoot her a smile. “I don’t know how to be someone’s brother. But I’ll fuck up anyone who messes with you.”
“Drake!” Mea’s warning tone grabs my attention, and I turn to her.
“Richard, Phoebe…this is my fiancée, Mea.”
Mea smiles and waves one hand while cuddling our daughter with the other.
“And this”—I wrap my arm around her and gesture toward the cooing baby—“is my daughter, Graylyn. We call her Gray.”
And from the looks of joy and awe in my father’s and sister’s eyes, I know that my daughter is going to receive more love than I ever could have hoped for or imagined. Not just from me and my soon-to-be wife, but from my family as well.
It’s going to be a good life.
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About the Author
Diana Gardin was born and raised combing the coasts of southeastern Virginia. She is now a happy resident of South Carolina, as she married into an enormous Carolina-rooted family. She loves the beach; and even more than that, she loves to read while sitting on the beach.
Though writing was always one of Diana’s passions, she enrolled in college to become an elementary-school teacher. After eight years of teaching in both Virginia and South Carolina, she decided to stay at home with her first child. This decision opened her eyes to the fact that she still very much loved to write, and her first novel was born. Diana is the author of several works of New Adult romance, including the Ashes series, the Nelson Island series, and the Battle Scars series.
Learn more at:
DianaGardin.com
Twitter: @DianalynnGardin
Facebook: facebook.com/diana.gardin
Also by Diana Gardin
BATTLE SCARS SERIES
Saved by the SEAL
Last True Hero
NELSON ISLAND SERIES
Falling Deep
Ever Always (novella)
Wanting Forever
Also by Diana Gardin
THE BATTLE SCARS SERIES
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s country. Now he’ll fight for her.
Army Ranger Dare Conners has been through hell. He’s left combat behind, yet the memories that refuse to fade are proving just as dangerous. Ordered to take R&R, he joins his buddy for beaches, beers, and babes—if that can’t cure him, nothing will. But when he meets Berkeley, a woman who affects him like no one else, a new kind of battle begins…
An admiral’s daughter, Berkeley knows her life has been planned since birth. The right school, the right boyfriend—and now that she’s graduated—the right marriage. But after years of being right, Berkeley is ready to be a little wrong. And Dare Conners has wrong written all over him. The sexy soldier has a body built for sin and secrets he won’t share. What starts as a fling quickly grows into something more. But summer can’t last forever, and when the truth comes out, both Berkeley and Dare could be in for quite a fall.
He saved her life. She showed him how to live it…
When he sees a woman drowning, Grisham Abbot immediately leaps into action. The Navy SEAL forgets his training, his past, and the explosion that forever scarred his body and his mind. He can only remember what he was born to do. But saving Greta Owen is a complication Grisham is definitely not ready for. She’s stunning and gorgeous—like sunlight after months of darkness. Yep, Grisham is so, so screwed.
Greta knows that the smart thing to do would be to run from Grisham. He’s a wounded warrior, and his head is a big-time mess. The problem is that Greta wants to make him her mess. One kiss and she’s completely in over her head. And if this SEAL risked himself to save her, then she must find a way to bring him back to life…
THE NELSON ISLAND SERIES
Falling Deep
Ever Always (Novella)
Wanting Forever
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Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Welcome
Dedication
Acknowledgments
1: Drake
2: Mea
3: Drake
4: Mea
5: Drake
6: Mea
7: Drake
8: Mea
9: Drake
10: Mea
11: Drake
12: Mea
13: Drake
14: Mea
15: Drake
16: Mea
17: Drake
18: Mea
19: Drake
20: Mea
21: Drake
22: Mea
23: Drake
24: Mea
25: Drake
26: Mea
27: Drake
28: Mea
Epilogue: Drake
About the Author
Also by Diana Gardin
The Battle Scars series
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Newsletters
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2016 by Diana Gardin
Cover image © Shutterstock. Cover design by Elizabeth Turner.
Cover copyright © 2016 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at permissions@hbgusa.com. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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First published as an ebook and as a print on demand: August 2016
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ISBNs: 978-1-4555-9478-8 (ebook edition); 978-1-4555-9477-1 (print-on-demand edition)
E3-20160706-DA-NF
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