Romancing the SEAL: The Complete Box Set (SEAL Military Romance Series Book 4)

by Abigail Austin

  He’d been mad, he’d gone insane for a weekend and now he would never be able to take it back. He looked around himself. What was so difficult about getting her a drink from the fridge too? Ty felt sick. He was sick with himself. He understood personal responsibility, probably better then anyone he’d met. He understood it from a soldier’s perspective. You are responsible for your actions and denying that fact could lead to death. Death was something you really never came back from.

  He’d been blinded from that, he’d been stupid and swung wildly from what he knew to be true. Now he was sitting in his living room, drunk, and alone. Léonie was out in the world, probably making her plans for her new life without him. Plans to move back to Paris. She hadn’t even told him about the original job offer. She’d made a huge sacrifice and hadn’t even told him. Most people would want credit for that sort of thing. But she hadn’t. She’d cared about him. She hadn’t wanted Ty to feel bad. She’d assumed that he was as good a person as she was. Somehow she must have gotten the idea that if he knew about the job offer he would insist they go, that he would feel guilty or bend backwards for her.

  She’d misjudged him. He was not that good of a person.

  Ty stared at his carpet for another half-hour until his phone buzzed.

  Dr. Fournier, His phone read, with a photo of Léonie in her scrubs, white jacket and stethoscope. Léonie was calling him. He cleared his throat and stood up.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, Ty?” A man’s voice was on the other end. A British man’s voice. Leslie was calling to yell at him, to tell him that Léonie was now his.

  “Yeah,” Ty said slowly trying to process the voice on the other end and what it could mean.

  “This is Leslie, we met on Saturday. I’m Léonie’s friend?”

  Ty paced forward, “I know who you are.”

  “Sit down for a sec,” Leslie said. Oddly, there was some quality about Leslie’s voice that made Ty sit down.

  “I’m sitting,” Ty said into the phone.

  “Léonie’s been in a car accident. She was coming this way and is now in the ER.”

  “Is she ok?” Ty’s heart felt like it had stopped.

  “Yes, for now. I think,” Ty heard emotion welling up in Leslie’s voice. “I think so but we can’t know yet.”

  Ty nodded to himself. “I’m on my way,” Ty hung up the phone and immediately called Deacon.

  The drive to Hopkins was a solemn one. Ty barely said a word to Deacon and found his face wet without knowing that he’d shed a tear. When they pulled up Ty jumped out while Deacon went to find parking.

  “I’m here to see Léonie Fournier,” Ty said to the intake nurse. The waiting room didn’t look too bad to Ty. There were a few people patiently waiting, a few with family members, a few in pain.

  “Name?” The nurse looked up.

  “Ty Forrester, they’re expecting me.”

  The nurse looked down at some notes in front of her, “Dr. Fitzpatrick is waiting for you, straight through those doors, bed number five.”

  Ty nodded and walked immediately in the direction the woman had pointed. He walked back to the bed five and there in his scrubs and white jacket was Dr. Fitzpatrick, Leslie.

  “Come on in,” Leslie moved to the outside chair so Ty could sit closest to Léonie.

  “How is she?” He moved to her bedside. She looked asleep.

  “She’ll be fine, everything is turning out ok, the tests look ok, and I think she’ll be fine.” Leslie stood next to Ty. “She’s been drugged up with some pain killers so she’s out right now, but she’ll come to and you can talk to her before she gets another dose.”

  Ty nodded, processing the information. He felt a tear rip loose from his eye again.

  Leslie sat down on the chair next to her, “I didn’t want her to be here alone—I’m also a bit of a control freak and it helps me to see her charts and x-rays for myself.”

  “Good, I’m glad.” Ty nodded. “Were there other people involved in the car wreck?”

  “Yes, so far we have one fractured femur and fractured ankle from a driver who got hit from his left. Some head trauma from the other driver but I don’t think it will be anything serious. Léonie has a cracked rib and a tailbone fracture. It looked like she might have some internal bleeding at first, possible cranial swelling, but we’ve put that to rest.” He exhaled slowly. “Thankfully everyone was wearing their seatbelt. It’s almost certain that if any of them hadn’t been, they would be in the basement instead.”

  The basement was where they kept the morgue, Ty thought.

  “Thank you, for telling me all this, for making sure she’s…safe.” Ty touched Léonie’s hand and pulled her fingers into his. “We were fighting,” Ty felt all his defenses begin to crumble. “She left and I didn’t even try to stop her.”

  “It’s ok, Ty. She’s alive, everything is going to be ok. We all got lucky this time.” Leslie patted Ty on the back.

  “We were fighting about you. At least that’s how the whole thing started.”

  Leslie nodded, “I got that impression Saturday. But don’t worry about it. Ok?”

  “I thought you were a girl,” Ty turned to Leslie quickly. “Because of your name.”

  “Happens all the time,” He listened patiently.

  “I didn’t know she was spending so much time with another man,” He admitted. “So, it felt like, I thought maybe…that you were having an affair or something.” Ty shook his head.

  Leslie nodded, “Except—”

  “Except what?” Ty turned to him. Was Leslie about to contradict him, tell him that they were having an affair? That Léonie was about to break it off with Ty anyway?

  “Well, I couldn’t be having an affair with Léonie,” Leslie looked at Ty then nodded a bit. “I’m gay. I’m not in a relationship right now, but I… I would never sleep with Léonie. I don’t spread it around the hospital but Léonie is just a very good friend. I feel lucky to have found her.”

  Ty stared at Leslie then shook his head, “No. That can’t be right. She would have just told me that right away instead of letting this turn into a big fight.”

  “I think,” Leslie sighed, “that she was mad about Saturday night. Mad about your reaction and she might have decided that she wanted an apology before she told you.” Leslie waited but Ty just stared. “You were the reason we became friends really. She talks about you all the time and I’d heard your story. I had a tiny crush on you.”

  “On me?” Ty said, flattered by the compliment of Leslie’s crush even though he was straight.

  Leslie nodded.

  Ty turned and stared at Léonie then sat on the chair next to Leslie, “Fuck.” He gently tapped the palm of his hand against his forehead. “I am such a jackass. I totally ruined Saturday night, didn’t I?”

  “Maybe a little, but we all had a really good time anyway,” Leslie sat down next to Ty.

  The two men sat in silence for a while, listening to the beeps of the heart rate monitor, and the drip.

  “Oh,” A nurse flipped the curtain open and was stopped in her tracks by the sight of Leslie and Ty sitting in the way of her equipment.

  “Sorry we’ll just get up,” Leslie said.

  “Are you the husband?” The nurse was young and seemed to disappear inside of her scrubs.

  “Yes,” Ty said, deciding it would be safer to say yes. He didn’t want to get kicked out of the ER because he wasn’t technically family.

  The nurse nodded, “Could you tell me how long your wife has been pregnant?”

  There was a loud silence in the room.

  “Excuse me?” Ty said cautiously.

  “Wait just a moment,” The nurse walked back out of the room, either worried that she’d released confidential information or checking that she had the right patient in the right room. Leslie and Ty just started at the curtain until the tiny nurse reappeared. She walked over to Léonie and picked up her wrist then looked at her chart. “Did you know that your wife is p
regnant?” She looked up at Ty again.

  “No,” Ty’s voice shook the slightest bit and the nurse nodded.

  “We’re just going to change her pain meds,” She said to Leslie who agreed.

  When the little woman left the room Leslie put a hand on Ty’s shoulder.

  “Are you ok?”

  “Did you know?” Ty asked.

  “Nope, they must have just brought the blood work back,” Leslie shook his head.

  Ty nodded, “I think it just needs to set in.”

  Leslie stood, “I’m going to give you some time alone, to process. I’ll check in on you in maybe five minutes or so. Unless you need me to stay?”

  Ty shook his head, “No. I’ll be ok.”

  Leslie stepped out of the curtained area and Ty moved his plastic chair all the way up to the bed so he could easily hold Léonie’s hand and touch her face.

  “Léonie,” He whispered. “It’s me. Ty. I hate seeing you like this—” He looked over her, taking in all of her features. “I’m sorry. I cannot tell you how sorry I am. You mean the world to me, more then that. The universe. Can we just forget tonight? The whole weekend? I…” He trailed off.

  “You what?” Léonie’s lips moved slowly. They were chapped and her voice was groggy, as if she were incredibly drunk. Her eyelids looked stuck together and she slowly unpeeled them to look at Ty.

  Ty looked at her and smiled as he tried not to cry.

  “How much did you hear?” He looked over her face.

  “I heard something that sounded like an apology.” Her voice was low and throaty. “But I can’t be sure,” She smiled weakly. Her face was pale but she was talking and smiling. She was alive.

  “You’re right,” Ty began. “I need you to forgive me.” He felt his chest clench. “I’ve been so stupid. So stupid… I love you more then anything. More then anyone has ever loved anyone else. When you left I felt like my world had ended. I never thought… I can’t even imagine what my life would be like without you in it.”

  Léonie nodded, “I will forgive you, but you’ll have to forgive me too.”

  “Forgive you?” He lifted his face into a question. “Forgive you for what?”

  “I should have told you that Leslie is gay,” She waited for a reaction from Ty.

  Ty pointed in the direction that Leslie had just gone, “I know. He just told me.”

  “Ah,” She nodded. “I had no idea that things would go so far. I was being obstinate and not seeing anything the way you might see it.”

  “I forgive you for that.”

  She licked her lips, “I should have told you about the Paris job in the first place as well. I don’t want to keep secrets.”

  “I should have moved us closer to Hopkins like I said I would.”

  She smiled then her face started to melt and she was serious looking at a picture in her mind, “When my car went and that first car hit me,” She shook her head, “I thought I was going to die.”

  “But you didn’t,” Ty grabbed her hand.

  “When I thought I was going to die, all I could think of was you. How I wanted to say how much I love you before I went. How I wanted to spend one more good day with you.”

  “Well, now we have thousands of days,” Ty reached down and kissed her hand. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking.”

  Léonie squinted at him, “Yes?”

  “I think Paris is a good idea. I think you should take that job.”

  Léonie’s face froze, “No. I don’t want to leave you. I don’t want to live without you—here or there.”

  “You wouldn’t go alone. I would go with you. I would have to figure out my job somehow, but maybe I can nose around. Something will work out, I can feel it.” He squeezed her hand. “Sometimes maybe you just jump.”

  Léonie smiled, “We’ll think about it some more, together, ok? We don’t have to make any decisions tonight.”

  “I also know that I don’t want to spend one day of my life without you.”

  She smiled at him her mouth lacking the energy to make it all the way up.

  “I want you to marry me,” Ty lifted her hand closer to his face.

  Léonie squinted at him again but didn’t say anything. She took her time looking him over before she spoke. “I think we should wait until the my near death scare calms down a bit, don’t you?”

  “No, I know how I feel and that’s all I need.”

  Léonie bit her lip.

  “There is one other thing that might change your mind,” Ty said. He tipped his chair forward so his face was just in front of hers. “We’re pregnant.” Ty’s eyes roamed over her face.

  She stared at Ty then shook her head, “No, I don’t think so. I’m normal. Everything has been normal.”

  “Not everything I guess, your blood tests came in and the pregnancy…sign? Whatever it is, it showed up, our future showed up.”

  Léonie’s eyes began to water, “You’re not fucking with me?”

  Ty laughed, “I am not fucking with you. I wouldn’t do that to you over something so serious.”

  Léonie nodded slowly and the tears began falling easily down her face.

  Ty watched for a minute, “Are you upset? You don’t want to have a baby now? Is it your career or—”

  “Shut up—” she laughed with a hiccough. “I am not upset. I’m just—I’m so happy. This has been the worst day of my life and somehow I am getting the best ending. I don’t know how to believe it.”

  Her large blue eyes looked up into Ty’s. He pushed her hair behind her ear.

  “I guess you’d better just get used it. If today is any indication of things to come, then we are going to have an amazing life together.”

  Léonie nodded, “I was thinking the same thing.” Then she rethought her answer, “Fewer car accidents and fights, but everything else…”

  “Yes,” He kissed her, “everything else.”

  -The End-