Nerd and the SEAL

by Grady, D. R.

  Her mom looked worried, but hugged Treeny anyway. “Well, breast cancer fundraising is a good cause. And we’re tough,” she said cheerfully and the two laughed together. They sounded slightly guilty.

  Janine agreed; breast cancer research was invaluable. She stepped through the doorway and caught her first sight of the room. “Wow, this is a lot of pink.” She watched Treeny and KC’s lips curl up.

  “We wanted pastels, but this is what General Emma wanted.” Treeny indicated Ben’s aunt with an airy hand.

  “General Emma?” she questioned and they all surreptitiously indicated Emma. She nodded. “Ah, yes, I think I’ve been warned about her.” Someone had informed her that Aunt Emma was a force to be reckoned with. Observing the petite, silver haired lady now, she couldn’t imagine such a woman being commanding.

  “Right.” KC steered her toward a seat festooned with balloons and ribbons. Janine sat, since that’s what her friend wanted.

  “What?” Ben’s mother frowned when they directed her into another.

  “This is your chair. Where’s Stephanie, Julie, and Melanie?” Lainy called over the crowd. Ben’s three other sisters plowed through the crowd. They were all tempered by the relatives who stopped one or the other for hugs.

  Each of Ben’s other sisters were seated in specific chairs. Janine noticed their chairs flanked hers. What was happening? She must still be tired from her side-trip to Washington, D.C. No I have to say Atlanta, since no one knows I was at Walter Reed, she corrected in her mind. Still, whatever the reason for her befuddlement, she hoped it passed soon.

  Emma cleared her throat, and almost instantly received silence from the rest of the room’s occupants. “As you all know, Ben, my nephew, discovered he has a biological sister – Dr. Janine Morris.” She smiled as everyone started to cheer. Janine smiled, but worried at the terror that slid down her spine. She inched her way down the chair, trying to remain unobtrusive.

  Treeny smiled in compassion, but Janine still felt embarrassed. She couldn’t remember ever having so many eyes focused on her before. The sensation was disconcerting.

  “Of course, we’ve all been excited to meet Janine, but I think perhaps Heather was the most excited and impatient of the lot.” Laughter rippled through the room, and Janine breathed in a gulp of relief as the attention switched to Heather. “Followed rather closely by her other three daughters. Now we can enjoy a new member of the family. So, of course, since Heather has a new daughter, one she had to wait for,” Emma smiled at Ben’s mom, “longer than nine months, longer even than twelve, but she was still an expectant mother, nonetheless.”

  All restlessness in the room ceased. Every pair of eyes now remained on Emma. Each seeming to anticipate what she was about to say. Treeny appeared to be holding her breath, and Janine thought maybe KC was, too. What did they know that she didn’t?

  “We thought, therefore, the most fitting celebration to welcome Janine into the family would be via a baby shower. Even though she’s not a baby, she’s a new daughter to Heather and a sister to the girls...” Emma couldn’t go any further, because the room erupted into applause, laughter, and tears.

  Astounded, Janine turned to her new official mother, who simply opened her arms. Janine flew into that embrace, her heart in her throat. Already this woman had done so much for her. Had welcomed her as though she did consider Janine her daughter. Her life on the island where she’d grown up had been rife with loneliness and the uncomfortable feeling of not belonging.

  Her “sisters”, Stephanie, Julie, and Melanie all left their seats to share in the hugs. They had been as welcoming and excited as Ben’s mother and cousins. She detected no jealousy, no resentment, no anger from any of them.

  Instead, they all eagerly welcomed her into their family fold. As though she was truly a lost sister.

  Emma began talking again. The room quieted for her. “This is a celebration to make Janine’s addition to the family official.”

  Swallowing, she noticed she held the hands of her new “mother” and “sister” Stephanie. Janine had never been showered with gifts before, but now she and her new mother were piled with packages decorated with fuzzy yellow ducks and pastel bears. She found pictures inside. Pictures of Ben and her new sisters and cousins, all in various stages of their lives. Now she would have memories of their growing up years.

  Lots of photo albums and frames soon littered the area around her feet. Precious gifts. From a precious family who now considered her theirs.

  She could barely remember her birth mother; their time together had been cut short early. But she could call the Morrison family of Hershey, Pennsylvania, hers now. She had a true family for the first time in her life. Blinking back tears, she opened more pictures and frames. Some of the frames were empty. The notes on them said they were for future memories.

  She opened one that would make a perfect wedding picture frame. For some reason her eyes slid to Treeny. Smiling, she leaned over to her new mother, who had just opened one similar to the one she held. “For Treeny and Ben’s wedding picture, do you think?”

  Her mom smiled. “I was thinking the same thing. Although, I believe I’ll save this one for your wedding, love,” she said matter-of-factly, and Janine’s heart tumbled.

  Never before had she thought of marriage. Then she met a wounded operative who touched her soul. She was confident he would recover. Still, for a doctor to be thinking of her patient in such a way was disgraceful.

  Yet she couldn’t stop her eyes from flowing to his sister. KC stood near the back of the room, her daughter in her arms, tears in her eyes. She looked so happy, and Janine knew part of that happiness was for her.

  She had never felt so close to another individual as she did to KC Gilmore Morrison, and the Morrisons, just as KC had predicted, had tugged her, willing or not, into their lives. Now she not only had a best friend in KC, but she also cherished a new, huge, loving family.

  Would this family welcome KC’s brother into their ranks so willingly? How could a man who had been thought to be an outcast find redemption?

  She herself had only just been introduced and welcomed by them. What if they couldn’t accept the man who was the very first to touch her heart?

  By the time they cut the cake, Janine had met more relatives than she ever thought possible. And the hundred or so she met today were females. She didn’t have their men’s faces to add to the extended list of cousins and aunts she had been introduced to.

  “So, what do you think?” Treeny asked, plopping down beside her, a huge slice of cake in her hand.

  “How on earth can you eat a piece of cake that large and not gain weight?”

  Treeny waved a negligent hand. “I’ve earned this cake. We’ve been worked to the bone this week.”

  “I see.” Treeny’s bones looked fine to her.

  She laughed. “I promise. We’ve been quite busy. I’ve barely had time to miss Ben. Which, speaking of him, it’s sad he’s not here.”

  Janine smiled. “Do you really think he’d have come even if he was home?”

  Treeny cocked her head. “Well, when you put it like that, I doubt it. But we’ll have to take excellent pictures. He’ll want to see your official welcome into the Morrison family.”

  “Pictures will probably suffice,” Janine said dryly, as she forked up another bite of cake. A much smaller slice than the one Treeny worked on with greedy deliberation. KC sat down beside her, and Janine saw her slice was large.

  Treeny must have caught her look of disgust, because she hooted with laughter. “I’m telling you, we’ve been working hard this week.”

  KC snorted. “Hard? We’ve been lackeys to a supreme dictator.”

  “Don’t willingly offer to help General Emma,” Treeny cautioned.

  “Doesn’t matter whether you’re willing or not, you’ll still become a volunteer,” Lainy said, by now, Janine wasn’t surprised by the size of her cake as the weary looking woman flopped into a vacant chair.

  “I ne
ed another slice of cake,” Janine decided.

  Chapter 25

  “Gotcha,” Welby whispered, and Ben leaned forward to view what his friend had locked into his sights.

  “Got what?”

  “I’d say that’s the very last of our little terrorist group. And the FBI just nabbed the remaining three guys.” Exultation sounded in Sam’s voice and Ben grinned.

  “Go, us,” he said, happy they’d finished their job.

  “We’re brilliant, aren’t we?” Welby’s excitement infused his voice.

  “Well, your plan was brilliant. Now we can go home.”

  Sam frowned at him. “What’s up with you?”

  “What?”

  “Shouldn’t you be more excited about finishing up this assignment? You don’t seem quite like yourself, Morrison.”

  He shrugged. “I guess right now I’m more excited about going home and seeing Treeny.”

  “Yeah, makes sense.” His swim buddy shrugged.

  “You think?” He watched his friend carefully.

  “Yeah. You’ve moved to the next phase of your life. Plus being a SEAL is something you’ll continue to do until you decide to retire or move up the ranks.” Sam’s voice was quiet.

  “You still upset about having to retire so early from the SEALs?” Ben thought he heard some unidentified emotion in Sam’s voice that might have been disappointment.

  Welby shrugged and ran a hand over his head. “Yeah, sometimes, when I know I’m not gonna be able to save one of my patients. I think, “Man, being a SEAL is easier than this” because you look into this kid’s eyes and know he’s not going to grow up to join the Navy. He’s not gonna see Christmas, much less be able to plan his adult future. That’s hard.”

  Ben couldn’t fathom that kind of pain. “How do you make it through a day? Why did you choose pediatric oncology?”

  “I didn’t choose it. I think pediatric oncology chose me.” He uttered a soft, sad laugh.

  “We need to find you a woman.”

  Sam rolled his eyes. “Not happening.”

  “Why not?”

  His swim buddy turned hollow eyes on him. “What woman wants a man who’s had cancer? Who could get it again? What woman wants a bald man?”

  “What’s up with you? I’ve never seen you like this before. What happened to Melissa, Michelle, what was her name?”

  “Mona. She realized I can’t have children. After considering everything, she decided to move on.” His buddy didn’t look at him, and Ben took that as a very bad sign. Sam Welby had stared death in the eyes and won. He didn’t back down from anything.

  “She sounds like a loser.”

  His friend bleakly shook his head. “No, she was a realist. I can’t have children, Ben. The chemotherapy killed any chance of that.”

  “Um, Sam?” Ben couldn’t help but think of the obvious.

  “What?” Sam still wouldn’t look at him.

  “Making babies and having children aren’t mutually exclusive.” He felt compelled to point out.

  “What are you talking about?” Welby looked suspicious. It was an improvement over the abused puppy look.

  “My mom and dad didn’t make me. Am I any less their kid? My biological sister is now a part of the Morrison clan, because I’m a Morrison. And I don’t care what anyone says, I’m a Morrison. Ian and Heather Morrison are my parents. Doesn’t matter that they didn’t contribute to my biological makeup.”

  “You got lucky.”

  “And so will your kids. Because you and your woman, whoever she may be, will want children, and some lucky kids will have parents who love them. That’s all you need in order to have kids. Love.”

  Welby’s lips started to twitch. “I don’t know if your being in love is such a good thing. You’re all sappy now.”

  Ben punched him, but he liked how his buddy would think over what he said. He couldn’t imagine a kid getting any luckier than to have Sam Welby as a dad. That thought made him start thinking about the type of woman who would interest Sam.

  His sister Janine came to mind. Yeah, Sam would need someone smart. “You have a woman in mind? Is that why you’re so depressed about this kid thing?”

  “No, I don’t have anyone right now. Mona’s leaving must have hit me hard. ‘Cause I realized no woman was gonna take a chance on me. Not a man who had cancer.”

  “You had cancer. You don’t have it anymore. Sam, you’re a cancer survivor. You’re a former SEAL – one who’s fit enough to be called out of retirement. You’re a successful pediatrician who saves kids from cancer every day.”

  “Not all of them.”

  “No, not all of them, but most. A basic principle is that you can’t save them all. In your case, you save most of them.”

  A shrug of those massive shoulders. “I try.”

  “That’s all you can do, buddy. Let’s go find lunch, I’m hungry,” Ben said as his stomach growled.

  Sam laughed. A lighter, freer sound. Ben was glad. The idea of Welby depressed didn’t sit well with him. All through his cancer treatments, he had rallied and pushed. Ben thought his friend sliding into depression now was a bad sign. But then, he realized how important children had always been to the former SEAL turned pediatrician.

  Hopefully his friend would consider adoption. Ben didn’t want to think where and what he’d be if his parents hadn’t adopted him.

  ***

  Treeny caught Janine wiping away the last of her tears. “I can’t believe you all did this for me,” she said again. Treeny suspected she had murmured the same thing a few times now. Janine appeared to be as touched by the shower as Heather and the girls. She decided to declare General Emma’s shower a hit.

  “I take it you liked the party?” KC quipped as she hurried by with her daughter.

  Janine gurgled with laughter. “You could say that.” She tried to take Macy from KC.

  “You can have her after I feed her,” KC offered and Treeny shook her head at the two. She had never seen two women form such a fast, close relationship as this pair. Neither woman excluded anyone else, they were just super close.

  Of course, Max and KC were pretty close too. For certain he was KC’s very best friend, but Janine seemed equally as special to KC. Thinking about that, she realized she also felt pretty close to Ben’s sister. That had to be a plus, since she was dating the woman’s brother.

  She also loved Ben’s other sisters. But there was something about Janine she especially trusted, just like KC. Perhaps part of the reason the three of them were so close was because they had all chosen the same career.

  Even though she technically wasn’t family, at least not yet, she was still drawn into the Morrison ranks. Missing Ben wasn’t quite so bad these days because his family enveloped her in love and understanding. The ladies especially all rallied around her. Lainy had spent a year waiting for Mitch. KC had spent eight months away from Max and her little boy. Why couldn’t she wait? What made her so special that everything had to be perfect or at least exactly how she wanted it?

  Part of the reason why she fought so hard against the waiting was because the unknown scared her so much. Yet she wasn’t the person leaving all she knew behind. Thinking about Pete, Treeny shuddered at the thought of how difficult it’d be to leave her dog behind, much less a child. Pete wouldn’t understand her being gone, and might not notice either, but a child? How had Max and KC explained his mom’s absence to Ryan?

  Thinking of their child made her think of future children. How would she explain Ben’s absences if they had kids? His schedule was anything but disciplined. Their world would be turmoil all the time. Thinking of some of the kids she knew, though, Treeny had seen firsthand how adaptable they were. In some cases, more so than adults.

  They would get used to their father’s schedule and life would go on for them. With a sigh, she realized perhaps the kids wouldn’t be the problem. Instead, their mother, she, would have the most difficulty adjusting to daddy’s schedule.

  What if
she had to explain his death to their kids?

  But what if she was searching for problems that didn’t exist? Ben might not even want kids. What if he didn’t want her long term? Treeny didn’t believe she was a brief fling for him, but their current relationship might not last. The huge piece of cake in her stomach rolled ominously.

  ***

  Ben waved goodbye to his team and hopped into his truck. They had completed a successful mission. Beaumont and a SEAL from their team had nailed the traitor with little difficulty. Their SEAL squad and the FBI snagged the group who had killed O’Riley’s operative.

  Mission accomplished. The whole thing had been as close to anti-climatic as possible. He wasn’t buzzing with a job well done as he usually did from a successfully completed mission. Not that he felt let down. That wasn’t the truth either.

  Had the mission been so humdrum he almost couldn’t be bothered? No. It had been great working with Welby again. Together they caught the danger to their teams and country, just like old times. Maybe what was bothering him was the lack of adrenaline. Sometimes their work ended up with all the pieces falling into place with ease. Part of that was probably because of Welby. He wouldn’t allow anything else.

  Still, Ben decided not to fret about it.

  Instead, he’d go home and see Treeny. Something he had been looking forward to since he left. He also couldn’t wait to see Janine.

  What did that mean? His conversation with Welby left him with a few questions and an unfamiliar unsettledness. Now that he thought about life and these two women was he beginning to think about a completely job? Because Treeny had accompanied him all through this assignment, and then there was Janine.

  Would he be better off transferring to something else within the Navy? Something with regular hours? Or should he leave the Navy altogether? Had he worked so hard only to discover he wasn’t satisfied with what he had?

  Ben loved his job, even after jobs like this one that produced no adrenaline. But he loved Treeny and Janine too. Who would protect them when he wasn’t available? Janine seemed perfectly capable of handling her own protection. She was a trained military professional. He suspected some of her skills rivaled his own.