“Please, I have to see her.” Damon asked, but nothing was going to stop him from getting to Sloane.
The Admiral eyed him differently. More like a wary father than a ranking officer.
Mrs. Austen squeezed Damon’s arm and nudged him to get moving. “Come on, then.”
Sloane lay on her stomach while a nurse cleaned the cuts crisscrossing her back, looking more like shattered glass than skin. Her mother sucked in a breath and her father let out an agonized moan.
“She’ll be scarred, I’m afraid,” the nurse said. “But they will heal.” She pulled the light bed sheet up to cover her back and stepped away. “Not too long. She needs to sleep.”
Damon sat in an empty chair next to Sloane’s bed.
“You’ll have to wait, sir,” the nurse said.
They all turned to see Admiral Paulson standing in the doorway.
“I just had to see she was alive,” he paused, “and apologize.” Paulson stayed where he was, an expression of guilt morphing his features. “She didn’t give in, Thane. She’s as brave as her father.” He lowered his head. “You warned me not to go along with the General’s plans, that he had an ulterior motive. You were right.”
Admiral Austen’s features didn’t move a muscle, his glare able to turn the strongest man to ash.
“Sloane and Lieutenant Stone saved most of the men and women. Neither of them faltered.” Paulson’s gaze slid to Damon. “You proved the General wrong. You all did.” He shook his head. “I’m sorry you had to go through this.”
“Don’t tell my dad,” Sloane slurred weakly. “He’ll kill somebody.”
“We’ll talk later, Paulson” Admiral Austen said, and turned his attention on his daughter.
“Daddy?” Sloane’s lips barely moved.
“Hey, my girl.” The Admiral’s voice hitched in his throat. Approaching the bed, he glared and Damon moved over to allow her father room. “Mom’s here, too.”
“Mom.” She struggled to open her eyes.
Her mother kissed her cheek. “Rest. We’ll be back later with Adam. He’s at the base, but he’s worried sick.”
“Mom, where’s Damon?”
“I’m right here, Sloane.” She tried to lift her head but dropped it to the pillow again. “It’s over sweetheart, you’re safe.”
She nodded and a tear rolled down her cheek.
“Hey, it’s all right.” Damon swept the tear away with his finger, but he didn’t sweep away his own.
“Faith,” she whispered weakly. Her eyes sluggishly turned to seek out his.
“I know, sweetheart.” One small word she’d refused to say out loud, but it was more than a word. It’s what he held in his heart for her. She believed in him. A no-good SEAL. He swept his hand over her hair. “Faith. You and I will always find it in each other.” He leaned forward and kissed her. “I love you.”
He darted a look at her parents, and Mrs. Austen smiled warmly at him. The Admiral cocked his head and shot his wife a mysterious look.
“Come on, Ghost,” Snow White said, holding a hand out to her husband.
The Admiral hesitated.
“Thane, our girl is in good hands.”
The Admiral leaned over and kissed his daughter. “I love you, little pup. We’ll be back soon.”
“Dad.” Sloane’s voice quivered. “I wasn’t defeated.”
The Admiral’s eyes squeezed shut, pain and love tormenting his expression. “I know baby, just like your mother.”
“A warrior princess.” She smiled as more tears rained down her face.
A stuttered breath choked in the Admiral’s throat. “Yeah, a warrior princess.” He leaned in and rested his forehead against her temple. A gust of air escaped the legendary SEAL and his tears fell on his daughter’s cheek.
Damon watched in silence. This was a moment only father and daughter understood. Words from the past that meant something to them, and no one else.
Kayla rested her hand on the Admiral’s shoulder. He nodded. The last thing he wanted was to leave his daughter, but he pulled away.
“Damon?” Sloane’s fingers tightened around his hand and her eyes closed.
“Get some sleep. I’ll be right here when you wake up.”
The Admiral stopped in the doorway. His gaze slid from his daughter to Damon.
“A long time ago,” he paused and roughly swiped a residual tear from his jaw, “I lost my faith in the jungles of Panama, the fields of Asia, and the sands of Afghanistan, but one woman gave it back it to me. Whenever I forget, all I have to do is look in my wife’s eyes.” He nodded sharply. “Thank you, for choosing my daughter, Lieutenant.”
Chapter Twenty-seven
Sloane strode across the parade square and stepped over one of the recruits humping through his pushups. Damon corked the grin wanting to spread across his face. The woman was as incorrigible as they came.
Shooting a look at the BUD/s instructors, he saw them watching with interest. He wasn’t on the Grinder with the recruits anymore, but instead running the department. Today, however, he was checking on their progress, amongst other things.
Sloane walked straight up to him and thrust her hands onto her hips.
“Ensign Austen,” he growled at her. “You realize you’re interrupting my class?”
“Yes, Commander Stone, I do. But I received your urgent message and I’m reporting as requested. ASAP.”
Almost a year had passed since their nightmare on Palomar Mountain. General Northcott occupied a prison cell with a string of offenses against him including manslaughter, treason, and a few more that would keep him there for the rest of his days.
Admiral Paulson had done his best to keep the story under wraps from civilian media, but it had spread as the top story in every newspaper across the US and many other countries. Sloane’s perseverance was debated on TV and radio for weeks, and the uproar still hadn’t eased in the military community.
The other women involved were also seen as heroines. In Damon’s humble opinion, he agreed.
There was no doubt pride shone in Admiral Austen’s eyes for his little SEAL pup. Sloane truly was her father’s daughter. They loved each other and drove each other crazy. Damon only knew that because, thankfully, Sloane had changed her mind on dating a no-good SEAL, and he took every chance to prove that he wasn’t a mistake.
“On your feet,” he yelled over her head at the recruits. A Phase Two class of BUD/s recruits donning brown t-shirts, signifying they made it through Phase One and Hell week, hopped to attention. “Seaman Royston.” He addressed a recruit standing near him in the first row.
“Yes, sir!” the young man barked.
“Do you know who this woman is beside me?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Who is she, Royston?”
“Ensign Sloane Austen, sir.”
Damon crossed his arms, glancing at Sloane, who raised a brow at him.
“Wrong answer, Royston.” He dropped his arms to his sides. “She’s a brave and beautiful heroine with a constitution made of steel who didn’t give in, even when death came to take her away. You think you’ll be that kind of warrior one day?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Are you married, Seaman Royston?”
“No, sir.”
“That’s good, you’d make a shitty husband.”
“Yes, sir.”
Sloane smothered a laugh and shook her head.
“I used to be like you, Royston. Thought I was pretty fucking hot stuff. You know what squared me away, Seaman?”
Royston hesitated, his eyes darting toward them. His brow crinkled with worry, not wanting to answer incorrectly.
“SEAL’s gotta have a tongue, Royston.”
“Ensign Austen, sir?”
“First right answer today, Royston.” He turned to Sloane, who gazed at him with curiosity. “I had to earn this woman’s respect and her love. That’s the difference between a man who has nothing,” he softened his tone and crossed his fingers, “and a man who has ever
ything.” Damon dropped to one knee in front of Sloane. “I’m a man who wants everything, and that everything is you.”
Sloane’s eyes widened and her mouth gaped open when he pulled a small, black velvet box from his pants pocket and popped it open.
“Ensign Sloane Austen, will you marry a no-good SEAL?”
Sloane broke out laughing. He’d made a huge ass out of himself the first time they’d met, but today he was making amends. Rising to his feet, he gazed into her eyes and waited for her answer. She cocked her head, then glanced at the class. In her unabashed style, Sloane jumped him and kissed him in front of their audience.
“Is that a yes, sweetheart?”
“That’s a yes, Commander.”
“Hooyah.” He laid a long, hot kiss on her lips, drawing her against him and off her feet while the recruits cheered. “I love you, Sloane. Stand beside me forever.”
“Kiss me again, SEAL.”
“My pleasure, ma’am.”
* * * *
“You go in first,” Sloane said, pushing on her fiancé’s backside.
Course, her father didn’t know he was her fiancé, yet. The annual BBQ was tomorrow and they planned to tell everyone, but more importantly her father, while surrounded by a crowd of people so he couldn’t make a fuss.
Sloane loved her dad to the ends of the earth, but he’d become even more protective since Operation Skirt’s Down ran off the rails. He respected Damon and his career, but when it came to his daughter, her father wanted him to back off until she was older. Since she wasn’t planning on becoming a rocket scientist or the next president, she could achieve anything she wanted and still be Mrs. Stone.
Damon’s hand hovered over the front door handle of the Austen residence. “No, I think you should go in first.”
Sloane laughed, then said, “Chicken-shit.”
“I resemble that remark.”
“Hey, what’s the holdup?” Kelsey asked, walking up the path behind them with her arms filled. “These groceries are heavy. Give me a hand.”
Damon relieved her of most of the bags.
“He’s stalling.” Sloane winked at her pseudo sister.
“For what?”
The door flew open and Adam filled the space wearing a wide grin. “Sir, nice to see my little sister hasn’t run you off.”
Damon chuckled. “She tried, but our type doesn’t give in.”
Adam stepped aside and swung his arm, inviting them to enter, asking, “Ready to face the firing squad?”
She and Damon peered at him warily.
“Firing squad? I didn’t do anything.” Sloane turned a narrowed eye on Kelsey, who offered a cheesy grin in return, but no clarifying information, which worried her.
Damon shrugged and entered the house, and Sloane followed.
“Hey, gorgeous. Miss me?” Adam asked Kelsey.
“No. Should I?”
While Sloane toed off her shoes, Adam took the bag Kelsey held in her arms.
“Think you should stop lying and admit you couldn’t wait to see me again,” Adam joked.
“Rather endure a B-grade movie then spend the evening with you. But I’ll put up with it since you’re family.”
“Not yet, we’re not.”
Adam’s brow arched, then he offered his charming smile. The one that all Sloane’s girlfriends fell for in high school. Now that he was all buffed out from lifting weights, he looked more and more like her father when he was younger. Her brother liked to tease Kels, but she also saw a glimmer of desire in his eyes. Gross!
With her thoughts on her brother, Sloane nearly walked into Damon when he halted at the entrance to the living room. “Ah, hey, everyone!” he said.
She couldn’t see with her muscle-bound boyfriend blocking the view. Stepping around him, she didn’t expect the faces of her entire family, including her SEAL family sitting, standing, or cross-legged on the floor, grinning up at them. Mom and Dad sat in the middle of the couch with Uncle Greg, her Godfather, on one side and Aunt Mattie, her Godmother, on the other.
“Hiiiiiiiiiii,” Sloane greeted carefully.
Her father looked like the chief of a tribe, sitting tall with his arms crossed. “I believe Lt. Stone has something he wants to ask me.” Dad grilled Damon with his brilliant blue eyes.
“Ask all of us,” Aunt Nina corrected loudly.
“Shit,” Damon mumbled under his breath.
Now, she understood. You could depend on a telephone or a telegraph for communications, but there was nothing faster than telling a SEAL to spread the word. Since Damon proposed publicly, her parents probably knew before she’d even accepted. She slid her hand into Damon’s and they approached her mom and dad as a united front.
“Yes, sir,” Damon began. Sloane glanced at him to see a smile perking his lips. He’d figured it out as well. “This afternoon, I asked your daughter to marry me. I thought about asking you first, but as much as I respect you both, Admiral, Kayla, the only ‘yes’ I needed to hear was Sloane’s. I love your daughter.”
Her father rose from the couch.
Her mom rolled her eyes. “It’ll be fine, honey. Just let him have his say.”
“Too many men have stood on my threshold,” her father said, ignoring her mom’s comment. “When you have children of your own, especially a daughter, you’ll understand that only a rare man could ever be good enough to protect her. Provide for her. Stand beside her.”
Damon gnawed on his cheek. “Yes, sir.”
Her father paused and lowered his chin, surveying him from beneath his brow. “You remember Hell Week?”
Damon cleared his throat. “I do.”
Her father nodded slowly. “Well, that’s gonna seem like a walk in the park compared to marrying my daughter.”
Chuckles from all her favorite relatives echoed through the room.
Her father, the man she respected and loved all her life, put his attention on her. “Sloane.”
She wrinkled her nose at her dad. “Yeah, Pa?” He hated it when she called him that.
He broke into laughter. “Come here, young lady.”
She crossed the floor quickly and slid into her father’s arms. No matter how many years she and Damon had to share, she always knew the first arms that ever held her and would always be there for her, belonged to her dad. “I don’t think you can scare him away, so you better say yes, Dad.”
Her mom rose and kissed her on the cheek. “Until the moment we take our last breath, we will love you and the man you’ve chosen to marry.”
“Thanks, Mom.” She looked into her father’s eyes. They’d misted over like her own, knowing her mom had given the answer for both of them. “Love you, Dad.”
His gaze strode to Damon. “I still have my doubts—” Her mom elbowed him. “But you have our blessings.” He held out his hand and Damon stepped forward and accepted the handshake.
“Thank you, sir.”
Kelsey sniffed and swept a tear from her cheek. Sloane wasn’t surprised to see Adam wrap his arm around her shoulder and draw her to his side. For a change, she didn’t send a barbed comment his way, but instead rested her head against his shoulder.
Stitch, Damon’s uncle, stepped from the crowd of onlookers and hugged them both. “I think it’s time we celebrate. Damon, I’m going to call your father. He’d love to be here too.”
“Thanks, Uncle Caleb. Think that’s a good idea.”
A loud “Hooyah” erupted from her SEAL family as most of them scattered to the backyard to get their unexpected engagement party started. Within minutes, the BBQ was piping out the delicious aroma of grilling steaks. Lawn chairs formed a big circle on the patio and coolers filled with beer were on standby to be emptied.
Sloane strode to the French doors and watched her family gather in the backyard. A family of blood and a family woven together by service. Damon stepped up behind her and wrapped his thick arms around her.
“You’re a lucky young woman,” he murmured, watching the hive of activi
ty. “Your parents love you. There aren’t many people who have adopted aunts and uncles who would put everything on the line to make sure you’re safe.”
She squeezed his forearms tucked gently around her. “I know they’ve all faced insurmountable odds. Growing up in this family, I understood early in my life that war has a dark side, but it also brought together a group of exceptional men who formed an unbreakable bond.”
Damon rested his head against hers. “War usually does that, but I think your family has something more than just a bond.”
She nodded. “The women they chose to love stood beside them through it all. They’re my family, but they also taught me, especially my parents, that every moment of life is precious. Mom told me about a speech Dad gave a long time ago, and to this day, I remember those words.” She turned to face the man she intended on spending the rest of her life with.
“What did he say?” Damon asked.
The wounds on her back had healed but the scars would remain for the rest of her days. She had expected her dad to help her with the nightmares after her experience, but it wasn’t him. Over coffee and a quiet house when no one else was around, her mother reminded her that believing in something or someone sometimes brought suffering. That afternoon, her mother, who’d always been the stoic figure in their family, finally cried. Mostly for her daughter, but Sloane understood some of the tears were also for her mom’s early years.
Sloane sighed and gripped Damon’s hands. “When that soldier whipped me, I clung to Dad’s words to remind me that I would survive and could endure the pain. I heard his voice say, ‘Living—comes with a price, as does freedom. The sons and daughters, friends and soul mates surrounding us today, offer their lives as a shield against dark things, giving peace a fighting chance. There is no greater irony, and only those who protect a nation can understand the paradox. Whether by some crinkle of fate or man’s eternal flaws, struggle is a part of life, but so is hope.’” She smiled up at Damon. “So I clung to hope and my father’s words with every lash.”
Damon’s brow wrinkled tight. “He’s an exceptional warrior.”
Sloane rose to her tip-toes and kissed him. “So are you.”
Aunt Nina shouted from a clutch of chairs where her other aunts and mom had mustered. “Get your little ass over here, Sloane. We have a wedding debrief to work through.”
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