by S. J. Smith
“Uh huh.” Jacob put the toy back into the case and buried it back in the bottom of the drawer. “Well you won’t need it any time soon.” He rolled onto Danika. “You’ve got the real deal for the next little while.”
*****
“I’m just the driver.” Jake Langdon stood on the front step with his hands out.
Jacob stared at his SEAL underling with curiosity. Jake was an excellent SEAL. Young. Dedicated. A complete freak in the field — the good kind of freak. “She has a meet with your wife.”
“Hi Marianne.” Danika came up beside him. He inhaled her fresh cocoa-butter-and-vanilla scent. “Come on in.” The two of them disappeared into the house behind him. He looked back to Langdon.
“You want a beer?”
“Absolutely.” He strolled into the house. “What the— fu—”
Jacob closed the door and turned in time to see Zachary and Sid withdraw from behind a wall and the twins stumble out into the hallway.
“What the hell is this shit?” Langdon pulled at a batch of silly string stuck to his face and shirt.
Jacob stared at the twins.
“We did it,” they said in unison.
“Uh huh.” Jacob picked them up and looked around the corner. Zachary and Sid now long gone. He set down the twins in the kitchen. “Go play.”
“Play?” Langdon came up behind him still pulling at his shirt. “What is this all over me?”
“Silly string.” Boy walked passed him. “They do it to everyone who comes in here.”
Langdon stared at Jacob who shrugged and picked up Daniella from within her carrier. “Beer’s in the fridge.”
Jake stared at Jacob. “You had another kid?”
“Looks like.”
“Fuck. You leave for a couple of months and —”
“All Hell breaks loose.”
Jake leaned into the fridge and pulled out a beer. “Don’t I know it. I came home and she was gone. Caught up to her at a motel. In bed with my brother so I don’t judge.”
Jacob opened his mouth then closed it. No, they were brothers and never judged.
***
“So I heard you had another a baby?” Marianne Kent sat down at the patio table.
“She’s four months.” Danika poured sweet tea into the set out glasses. “This community is so small. About as much privacy as a gold fish.”
Marianne laughed. “Oh so true. So so true. The reason why I’m here actually.”
Danika set the glass before her sorority sister. “Yeah?”
“I have a favour to ask. About your parents’ fellowship grant program. I just finished writing my Master’s thesis and want to pursue graduate studies in environmental studies.”
“That’s a great idea.” Danika sipped her drink. “And you’d like an in with the fellowship program?”
“Well, not an in per se. More like a leg up so I can put in the best possible application.”
“I haven’t spoken to my parents in a while, but I’ll certainly see what I can do.” She hadn’t really thought about her parents’ grant programs in ages. Once she married Jacob and didn’t pursue a career after graduation, she and her parents had parted ways, their disappointment in her choice complete.
***
The conversation with Marianne was still on Danika’s mind as she sat down at the table with Jacob.
“I know that look.” He set down the plates of food Max had left in the oven.
“I have a look?” She picked up the fork. It was after nine o’clock and the house was relatively quiet now that the boys were in bed and Daniella was asleep for now.
“Oh yeah, you do.” Jacob sat down and immediately shoveled food into his mouth. She watched him for long moments. “And I want to hear all about it.”
“But first you need to polish off your plate?”
He looked up sheepishly. “No.” He spoke around the food in his mouth. “I just —” He chewed and drank down half his bottle of beer.
“Do they not feed you in the Navy?”
“You know they do but —” He finished his mouthful as well as several others. “That stuff is shit and I like your cooking.”
“That isn’t my cooking, it’s Max’s.”
“Still better than rations.”
She shook her head as he cleared off the plate and sat back, looking at her expectantly. “Okay. Talk to me.”
She smiled. That was Jacob. He’d never change. He was finished one thing and was now focused on the next. Her telling him what was on her mind. Her perspective on everything that had come to pass over the past year. They had to have this talk. There was no avoiding it if they planned to move forward.
She inhaled and started talking. Really talking to him, for hours and hours, and well into the night.
*****
Jacob immediately spotted Danika and the twins when he turned into the boys’ school parking lot. He looked down at Daniella beside him, asleep in her car seat after their swimming class. He’d never participated in swimming classes with the boys. He went to see them with Danika, but had never been the one to take them and get in the water. Ironic for a SEAL. Daniella wriggled her face and sighed, cradling a deep sense of contentment in Jacob.
His two weeks of leave was now at an end. Two weeks he’d spent at Danika’s new home, talking to her and reconnecting, working through their changes and finding a new emotional place for them to be. She hadn’t been dramatic or exaggerating when she said things had changed beyond her having Daniella. Something inside her had changed, grown or come about from the woman he separated from a year ago. It was like something that had always been inside her, hidden there, had broken open and grown. Finding a place for himself now was not going to be easy. But he would find a way. There was no other option.
Jacob pulled into an empty parking space and got out with Daniella.
“Thought that was your truck.” Danika waved him over to where she stood with a group of other parents at the pick-up gate. The twins immediately stood on his feet and wrapped their arms around his thighs. “Everyone, this is Jacob. My husband.”
A warm girly feeling washed through his body at Danika’s words. Fuck, he was such a pussy around this woman. He nodded to the other women who smiled at him with obvious curiosity. He shook the few other fathers’ hands before taking and holding Danika’s hand. These people were so not military, a rarity in these parts, but clearly what Danika needed to grow and separate herself from their old life.
He scanned the huge school playground to where the manicured grass met the open forest beyond. Children played everywhere, with teachers standing and supervising them from different vantage points over the yard. It almost reminded him of a war zone with so many things going on at once. He ran his eyes over each of the children until he knew exactly where Boy, Zachary, and Sid were.
“So swimming was okay?” Danika looked up at him then down at Daniella.
“Yeah, it was good.” He looked from his daughter back to the yard. “Wish I had done it for the boys, too.”
Danika smiled. “Just enjoy it this time.”
He looked down at her. No regrets. They had ended their last conversation about the past year with the decision to have no regrets, to only move forward. Jacob nodded to her then frowned when one of the children in the yard fell down. Not that children weren’t running and playing and falling all over the place, but this one boy jerked backward then went down. Jacob’s eyes ran to each of the teachers out there, but none moved toward the boy.
“What’s wrong?” Danika stared at him as he untangled his hand from hers. He watched some children approach the boy, one running to a teacher when another child dropped down like the first one had.
“What the —? Fuck!” More children kept falling, like they were being hit by gunfire, which was too crazy to — Teachers ran toward the children, talking on their walkie-talkies. The parents around them moved closer to the gate, watching as the teachers began to gather and direct the children back to th
e school doors. “Stay here.” Jacob ordered Danika.
“The twins.” She picked up Daniella’s basinet. “I don’t see the boys.” She rushed to the gate with the Daniella.
“Stay. Here.” Jacob pointed at the spot before her feet before he hopped the fence and ran into the growing frenzy in the yard, his eyes searching for his boys. When another child dropped down before him, he dropped down too and took the screaming girl into his arms. He didn’t see any blood or obvious injury as he picked her up but kept running toward the sandbox, his eyes searching every child that ran screaming past for his own boys. He came upon the twins, both clamoring their way out of the sandbox, being pushed and shoved by the other children trying to do the same thing. The girl in his arms was now limp. He tucked her under his arm and picked up the twins before sprinting back to Danika.
“Get to the car and stay there.” He thrust the children at her. “She’s okay just passed out.”
“The boys!” Her eyes darted from him to the yard in complete panic.
“I’ll get them.” He turned back to the fence. “Car. Now.” He glanced back before he jumped the fence, relieved to see her hoisting the limp girl in one arm, and Daniella in the other before herding the twins through the parking lot. “And stay down.”
He jumped into the frenzy of children and teachers, scanning the lines of the children along the wall of the school until he found Zachary and Sid together, Boy in another line. Thank fuck. He dropped down to where a teacher was crouched over two boys on the ground.
“I don’t know what happened. They just fell. There’s no blood, no … allergies —” She looked up. “Everyone along the wall!” She pointed to the children who stood around them. The children all ran away to where all the other children were lining up against the wall and going into the school. Another body fell into Jacob with a shriek. He caught the girl and laid her down, frowning at the multiple red marks on her upper chest and shoulders. He looked back over the parking lot toward the houses that surrounded the school.
That’s when it hit him. Sniper. He scanned the houses, the windows and rooftops. “Get these children inside. All of them,” he ordered the teacher and ran toward the houses, focusing on the one where the glint of a scope reflected sunlight. He pulled out his cell phone as he ran, punching in the codes for an active shooter and activated his personal GPS.
He’s gotta be using fakes or plastic. None of the children had bullet wounds. No blood.
Jacob darted through the parking lot, staying low, knowing whoever was up there could see him, so he made himself look like just another panicked parent running across the street. He ducked and weaved through the cars on the street and driveways until he slammed backward against the house. He crept around the house until he found an open window and climbed inside, immediately hearing a woman’s muffled cries and a man’s sharp voice, as he made his way to the highest point in the house.
***
“Shut the fuck up!” A man’s voice roared.
Jacob did a microsecond peek around a bedroom corner. Sniper at the window. Woman tied to a chair facing the window. Mouth gagged. Crying.
“You want to fucking leave? You won’t be going alone! We’re all going together, bitch!” The man yelled this as he slid another bullet into the rifle’s chamber. “Is this the one? Real or fake, honey? Can you tell? Come on, you’re a sniper’s wife. You should be able to.” He finished loading, then took aim again out of the window. “Watch me now. You’re seeing some of my best fucking shots since Iraq. Are you watching? FUCKING WATCH!” he leaned over and dragged her head toward the window.
“Whoa, buddy.” Jacob came around the corner, hands up. “You need to lay down that weapon.”
Both the sniper and the woman turned. The sniper rolling off the bed to come up with the rifle pointed at Jacob. “Who the fuck are you?”
“Jacob.” Jacob looked at the woman. Face red from crying. Eyes swollen above black circles. Shaking. She was wrecked. And completely unable to move. Rope was strung from neck to ankles. “No one’s died yet, buddy. You can come back from this.”
“Fuck you. Get the fuck out.”
“Not going to happen.”
The man narrowed his eyes. “You fucking her? That what you doin’ here? You the reason she’s trying to leave me?” His eyes widened.
“No. Never saw you two before.” Jacob heard a sound outside the door.
“Who the fuck is that?” The sniper’s eyes flicked so quickly to the door and back, Jacob wasn’t sure he really saw them move. “You got skinnies out there? That what this is?” He dug into his pocket, but kept his eyes on Jacob.
“Well I got something for skinnies.” He pulled out a handful of bullets, some falling to the floor.
“Calm down,” Jacob kept his voice even. “There are no skinnies. It’s just us. Here. Now. We can resolve this. What’s your name, soldier?”
“Mike. Hey. No. What the hell? Who are you? Some kinda cop or something?” The barrel of the rifle was now pointing directly at Jacob’s heart.
“Do you mind pointing that somewhere else, Mike? My name’s Jacob. I’m here to help.”
“Help? HELP? What can you fuckin’ do? You got no idea what I’ve been through.”
Holding out his hand, palm up, Jacob took a step closer to Mike. “Just give the weapon to me and it’ll be all over. Just like that. We can get you help.”
Mike laughed. “Ya think I’m stupid or something?”
“Not in the slightest.” Keeping his eyes on Mike’s, Jacob took a step closer. “I know what you’re going through, buddy. I know.”
“How could you poss— Wait a minute. I know you, don’t I?”
“We know each other now, Mike.” Keeping his voice calm, Jacob asked, “Where do you know me from?”
Mike squeezed his eyebrows tightly together. The rifle barrel descended. “You ever deployed in Iraq? Any chance of that?”
“I’m heading out to that neck of the woods again very shortly.” Jacob was now right in front of Mike, within grabbing distance of the rifle. “At least that’s the plan.” He didn’t dare glance over at the woman but thanked fuck that she wasn’t causing any kind of fuss. All was quiet in her world right now. Jacob reached down, grasped the barrel of the rifle with one hand, pointed it toward the floor near the far wall, then placed his other hand on the stock of the rifle behind Mike’s. “Easy. Easy, Mike.”
The rifle was now under Jacob’s control and he tossed it out through the open window, heard it clatter when it bounced against the porch roof below, then again when it hit ground. He put his arms around Mike and held him close as Mike sobbed against him.
Boots in the hall then behind him told Jacob that the SWAT team had arrived. There should have been no more need for him to stick around. He could just leave and go be with his family but he couldn’t just walk away from this man. He had to let him sob it out.
One of the cops on the SWAT team slapped a strong, gloved hand on Mike’s shoulder and began to pull him away.
“Give us a minute,” said Jacob.
The SWAT guy must have seen something in Jacob’s eyes because he nodded and backed away respectfully. “You got it, man. Take all the time you need.”
***
Jacob searched the crowds of people, ambulances, police cars and other emergency vehicles that surrounded the school until he found Danika and boys huddled near her car.
Daniella was out of her car seat and in Danika's arms, a twin on each leg with Boy, Zachary and Sid at her sides. That was his family. His. And he'd almost lost them. Not only to a family break up, but to a disillusioned shooter going through the same issues as him.
Jacob jogged through the people, needing to feel Danika in his arms. He could have been that shooter. Easily. A few weeks down the road, a pending divorce, Danika gone and their children with her. Any of those things could easily make him snap, and have him with a weapon in hand completely bent on destruction.
"Thank fuck, baby," he wrapp
ed Danika in his arms, Daniella between them, wide eyed and smiling, the boys firmly wrapped around their legs. "Thank fuck." He drew back and stared into Danika's eyes as he kissed to top of Daniella's head and brought each of the boys close.
"Don't ever do that again," Danika scolded him, her eyes filled with tears. "Run off like that—someone shooting—"she gripped his arms. "I know that's what you do but—don't ever do it again." She dung her shaking fingers into his muscles.
"It's okay. We're all okay." He held onto her to stop the shaking. "I won't leave you again. I won't. This was a wake-up call I can't ignore." He drew back and stared at her. "That was my last deployment. I'm finishing out my year and then taking the job training newbies."
"What job, what are you talking about?" Danika wiped at the tears falling down her face.
"We never got a chance to talk about it. I was coming home to figure all this out, but—I got your package of papers and everything just went off track but—" He wiped at her tears with his thumb. "I'm home to stay. No more deployments. No more maneuvers. Think you can stand to be married to a total stay home family man?"
Danika blinked then tucked herself completely into his arms. "Yes! God yes."
"What about you guys? Think you can stand to have daddy home all the time."
"Yeah!" The boys all started to jump up and down. "Daddy's home!"
Jacob held onto Danika and looked at the chaos that surrounded them and sighed. He was home. Reunited with his family. He would treasure and protect this until his dying day.
THE END
Bonus Story 37 of 40
Highland Arrangement
Scotland, 1376
“An arranged marriage? Tha's preposterous.”
“T’ ye, perhaps. You get t' choose yer bride. I have no such say.”
Duncan Blair sighed and shoved a hand through his chestnut hair, then planted both of them on his hips. Half a second later one hand found the hilt of his broadsword. It rattled gently in its scabbard as he loosened it.