Protecting the Future (SEAL of Protection Book 8) (2 page)

A
labama Powers stood
next to her friend, Summer Reed. Summer held her sleeping daughter, April, in her arms and they watched Brinique and Davisa screeching and jumping in the playhouse they’d rented for the party.

“They seem to be doing good,” Summer said quietly.

“Yeah. For the most part they are,” Alabama said easily. “Brinique sometimes still cries at night and Davisa has the occasional nightmare, but they’ve eased up a lot over the last few months.”

“You’ve done an awesome thing, Alabama.”

Alabama shrugged. “I’ve always wanted children, but growing up the way I did, I knew there were tons of kids out there who needed to be out of horrible home situations. Adoption is really the only way I want to have children.”

“I love that Christopher didn’t even blink when you told him you wanted to adopt.”

Alabama smiled and looked over at her husband. He was standing by the bounce house watching his girls with a protective stance she knew would never really fade. “He didn’t. I brought up fostering to him first, and he was a hundred percent in from the get-go. I know I’ve told you this already, but the very first call we got for placement was for Brinique and Davisa. Their mom was a drug addict and they were left to fend for themselves most of the time.”

Alabama turned to Summer, getting worked up in her annoyance, repeating a story that Summer had heard many times. “When Child Protective Services showed up at their house for the first time, Brinique was only four and she was wearing a T-shirt of her mom’s because she didn’t have any clothes of her own. She stood over a naked Davisa and screeched, not letting the male officer get anywhere close to her.” Alabama shuddered. “I can’t stand to think about why, at
four
, Brinique felt she had to protect her three-year-old sister from a man.”

Summer laid her hand on Alabama’s shoulder. “Easy, girl. You’ve got them now. They’re safe.”

Alabama smiled at Summer and stated fiercely, “Yes, they are. And they’re gonna stay that way.”

The two women looked down at Davisa, who’d wandered over to where they were standing. She put her hand on Alabama’s pants and tugged lightly. Alabama immediately kneeled down so she was eye level to her little girl. “Yes, sweetie?”

“Can I hold the baby?”

Alabama looked up at Summer, who smiled. “Of course. Come on, let’s go sit over here.”

The trio moved to a ring of chairs that had been set up. Alabama helped her daughter sit in one and Summer gently put April in Davisa’s arms. “Hold on tight. I know she’s only six months old, but she’s heavy.”

The women watched as the five-year-old carefully held the baby. Davisa didn’t say anything for the longest time, she simply studied the infant carefully. Finally, she looked up in wonder. “She’s so pale.”

Summer supposed compared to Davisa, who had beautiful, warm chocolate-brown skin, April
was
very pale.

“Do you think my mommy would’ve wanted me if I was pale too?”

Alabama immediately kneeled down next to the little girl who was officially declared “hers” just that morning by the judge. Before she could speak, Abe was there.

He scooped up the little girl and the baby all together and sat in the chair and held the duo in his lap. Brinique had followed her dad over to the women and scooted up next to the chair as well. Summer stood back and watched one of her best friends in the world and her husband’s teammate have a beautiful moment with their new daughters, feeling as if her heart would burst.

Abe put one arm around Brinique standing at his side and held his daughter to him, being careful not to jostle baby April. “Your birth mother didn’t deserve you. And I’m not saying that to be mean, it’s the truth. She had two of the most beautiful daughters on the planet, who she didn’t take care of. She was selfish and only wanted to do what
she
wanted to do. Children are precious and parents have a responsibility to them to make sure they’re fed, safe, and loved.”

Abe looked his children in the eyes as he spoke. “You had a rough start to life, but you know what? You’re a Powers now. You’re mine. You’re Alabama’s, and you belong to every one of the men and women here today. We’re one big family. You’ll never be hungry again. You’ll never be neglected again.” He looked at Brinique. “You’ll never have to worry about scary men coming into our house and hurting you or your sister. We love you. You’re ours. Forever. I wouldn’t care if your skin was purple or green or that it’s darker than mine. It’s what’s inside that skin that I care about.”

“What’s inside our skin?” Davisa asked softly.

Without hesitation, Abe answered. “Your heart. Your blood. Your mind. You.
You
are inside your skin. And that’s why I love you. And that’s why Alabama loves you. And that’s why everyone here loves you. Got it?”

“You won’t send us back?” Brinique asked.

“No. You aren’t ever going back.”

“Even when we’re bad?”

Alabama leaned in and touched Brinique’s arm, picking up where her husband left off. “Baby, you’ll never be bad. You might misbehave. You might do something that isn’t right, but those are simply bad decisions. They don’t make you a bad person. And the bottom line is that you’re not going back. The judge today gave you to us forever. Your last name is now Powers. Just like mine. Just like Christopher’s.” She smiled at her daughter. “You’re stuck with us now.”

Brinique smiled hugely, showing off her crooked teeth. “I like being stuck with you guys.”

“We like it too.”

Davisa spoke up. “Does that mean we can call you Mommy and Daddy now?”

Alabama heard Summer sniff loudly from behind her, but she didn’t look away from Davisa. This was perhaps one of the proudest moments in her life, no way was she missing a second of it. “You can call us whatever you’re most comfortable with. Dad. Mom. Mommy. Daddy. Alabama. Abe. Christopher…whatever you want. But nothing would make me happier than having you call me your mom or mommy.”

Davisa nodded solemnly and looked down at the baby in her lap. “Okay. Mommy?”

“Yes, sweetheart?”

“I think the baby just pooped.”

Alabama laughed, loving how she’d just had one of the most emotional conversations she’d ever had in her life, and Davisa could move on without blinking.

“How about I take her then?” Summer asked from behind them.

Davisa nodded and Summer leaned in and gathered April in her arms.

“Can we go play some more?”

“Of course, but be careful,” Abe warned, helping Davisa off his lap.

“Okay, Daddy, we will,” Brinique said brightly, before she and her sister ran off toward the bounce house again.

“Come here,” Abe said to Alabama, pulling her into his lap.

Alabama settled in and sighed.

“You okay?”

She nodded. “Yeah, I know we’ve talked to them about what it means to be a foster kid and how we were working toward adopting them, but I didn’t realize they still had doubts.”

“Baby, hell, you had doubts when we met and you were an adult. They’ll adjust. We just need to keep telling them that we love them for who they are. We need to make them feel safe…they’ll be fine.”

“I love you, Christopher.”

“Love you too…now, when can we have cake?”

Alabama laughed and got off of her husband’s lap. “Why are you always hungry?”

“Because my wife is insatiable and I need to keep my energy up to satisfy her?”

Alabama playfully slugged Christopher on the arm. “Whatever. Go watch your kids while I get the table ready.”

Abe leaned over and picked her up until her feet dangled off the ground. “This has been one of the happiest days of my life. Besides the day you forgave me for being an ass, and our wedding, of course.”

Alabama put her arms around his neck and kissed him, hard. “Me too. Now put me down. I have work to do.”

C
heyenne waddled
over to where Summer was sitting with Fiona. Faulkner “Dude” Cooper, her very protective and attentive husband, had dropped her off before going to park the car.

“Hey, ladies.”

“Hey, Cheyenne, you look ready to pop!”

“Don’t I know it! Can you believe I have three more weeks to go?”

“It’s crazy. Every time we hang out I’m ready to bend down and catch that baby before it can hit the ground,” Summer teased.

“Hush. Don’t say that around Faulkner. He’s already super-protective. If he heard that, he wouldn’t let me go anywhere. As it was, I had to beg to be able to come today.”

“Beg?” Fiona asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Hush,” Cheyenne said while blushing.

Fiona didn’t hush. “Oh, I’m sure
that
was a hardship.”

Cheyenne had shared with all the other women her husband’s penchant to be dominant in the bedroom. But they all knew it worked well for the couple. “Yeah, well, I might have turned the tables on him a bit. He’s…reluctant to go too far with me these days, so I use it to my advantage as much as I can.”

Fiona laughed. “You are so in trouble once you have this baby and he can have his way with you again.”

Cheyenne smiled widely. “I know. I can’t wait.”

“You okay? Need anything?” Faulkner had come up behind them while Cheyenne was getting settled into the chair.

“No, I’m good, hon. Thanks for dropping me off.”

“Like I’d make you walk all the way from the parking lot. This place is packed. It’s like Abe and Alabama invited the entire base!”

There were indeed lots and lots of people at the park. Kids were running everywhere and the happiness could almost be felt in the air.

“Yeah, well, those two precious girls deserve a huge party after everything they’ve been through,” Cheyenne commented.

“Agreed. I’m going to go and find the guys. Are you sure you don’t need anything?” Dude asked.

“I’m good. Fiona and Summer will take care of me.”

Dude leaned down and kissed Cheyenne, a bit longer and more inappropriately than the surroundings and company would merit, but Fiona and Summer were used to it. When he wandered off looking for his teammates, Summer adjusted April in her arms and sighed. “It seems like I’m always blushing when I’m around the two of you.”

Cheyenne laughed. “Me too.”

“How’s April doing?” Fiona asked, leaning over and peering down at the still sleeping infant. “Is she sleeping better?”

“Yeah, she can go almost all night now, thank God. When we first brought her home, every time she moved Sam was up checking on her. As much as I’ll miss the times when he brings her to me and watches fascinated as I breastfeed her, I’m looking forward to sleeping through the night again.”

“I can’t believe you agreed to name her April.”

Summer sighed. “I know. Sam loves my name, even though I sometimes think it’s ridiculous, but he was so proud of himself for thinking up the name April. I mean, I know her birthday is in April, but it still seems silly.”

“It’s not silly,” Mozart said from behind them. All three women jumped in surprise.

“Jeez, Sam, don’t sneak up on us!”

“I didn’t sneak, I walked up just like everyone else does.”

“No, you sneak. You SEALs think you’re walking normally, but it’s ingrained in you to be quiet and silent when you move. One of these days I’m putting a bell on you.”

Mozart only smiled. “As I said, April’s name isn’t silly. It’s beautiful, just like her mom. Now you and her have something in common. You were named after when you were born. I love it, and I love you.”

Summer tilted her head up and was rewarded with a kiss from her husband.

“Can I get you anything?”

“No, I’m good. Thanks. Can you see if you can find Jess and Kason though? I know those two babies of hers are probably slowing them down. I want to make sure she gets to rest when she gets here,” Summer commented.

“Will do. I’ll send them over as soon as I track them down. Love you.”

“Love you too, Sam.”

The women watched as Sam “Mozart” Reed walked away.

“He’s as good looking from the back as he is from the front,” Fiona commented dryly.

Everyone laughed.

“How are you healing? Are you really all good now?” Fiona asked. “April certainly did a number on your body.”

“Yeah, having that many stitches down there wasn’t fun, but I’m good. This will be our only baby though. I’m almost forty and while I love her, Sam doesn’t want to put my body through that again, and I can’t say I disagree. I also want to be able to raise her and then kick her out to go to college when she’s eighteen so Sam and I can enjoy our retirement…you know?”

“Yeah, makes sense,” Cheyenne agreed immediately. “Faulkner and I want lots of babies after this one, but I know I might change my mind once she’s actually here. But I’m also not even thirty yet, so I have lots of time to decide to have more, or to dissuade Faulkner.”

“Yo! How about some help here?”

Fiona immediately got up and waved off Cheyenne and Summer. “I got this. Stay put.” She hurried over to the duo. Jessyka was loaded down with one-year-old John in her arms and a bag over her right shoulder. Kason was walking next to her with their daughter in his arms and another, bigger bag over
his
shoulder.

Fiona went straight for Sara, the two-year-old, who was thankfully sleeping in her dad’s arms.

Jess was used to her friends wanting to get their hands on her kids rather than being more practical and helping her with what seemed like the ten bags she was always carrying. It didn’t bother her, she was happy they all shared her love for her kids. “I finally got her out of the house after two temper tantrums because she first wanted to wear her princess dress…the dress she wore at your wedding, Cheyenne,” Jess said as they arrived at the little group, “and then because she wanted to wear her plastic play-dress-up shoes instead of her sandals. She’s going to make me gray before my time.”

“She’s a little angel, how can you say that?”

Kason dropped the bag on the ground next to an empty chair. “You got this, babe?”

Jess leaned up and wrapped her free arm around Kason. “I got this. Go on, go have fun with your friends. Be good.”

Benny shook his head and rolled his eyes at his wife. “I’ll be back to check on you in a bit. Don’t let her sleep too long, she needs to run off some of her energy if we want to sleep at all tonight.” He leaned in close to Jess, “I have plans for later, and I don’t want to be interrupted by a toddler who can’t sleep because she’s too excited.”