Sea of Dreams (The American Heroes Series Book 2) (27 page)

Crosby had her head on the dog’s back.  “He’s my best friend,” she said sincerely. “Mama, can Alfie have some lunch with us?”

Blakesley shook her head.  “Honey, he needs to eat his own food,” she said. “Remember what I told you? We feed him in the morning and in the night. That’s all he gets. And no treats for him; they’ll make him sick.”

Crosby wasn’t happy and she hugged the dog, talking silly baby-talk to him.  Beck was convinced she was trying to talk the dog into a mutiny against a treat-less existence when Blakesley got his attention.

“Baby, do we need to go?” she asked him. “You wanted to leave around eleven and it’s that now.”

He looked at his watch.  “Yes,” he said after a moment, sounding reluctant. “Are you ready?”

“I am.”

“I need to swing by my townhouse and change.”

“Then let’s go.”

Blakesley relayed instructions to Nikki, who was standing near the sink holding Charlotte.  Charlotte didn’t take too kindly to her mother leaving and started to whine.  Crosby, yelling her farewells, suddenly bolted through the kitchen and out through the back door with the dog running after her.  Cadee followed the dog and her sister, racing out to the backyard to play. 

It was sweet and normal, and a million times better than the hotel or a run-down old home with tunnels under the floor.  Blakesley knew now as she had known when they had moved in that it had been the right decision. She kissed weepy Charlotte, waved good bye to Lizzie, and quit the kitchen with Beck on her heels. 

He took her hand as they left the front porch and made their way down to his truck parked at the curb.  It really was a magnificent vehicle and Beck took a moment to inspect it again, grinning as he ran his hand over the chrome around the dark-tinted windows.  Blakesley stood there and watched him.

“I think you like your new toy,” she said with a grin.

He nodded sincerely and turned to kiss her as he used the key fob to unlock the door. “My new toy and my new girl,” he said, helping her in. “Thank you for everything, baby. I’ve never known anyone so thoughtful or generous.  I’m just really humbled by it all.”

“I was happy to do it. You deserve it.”

He smiled as he closed the door and went around to the driver’s side, climbing in.  He puffed out his cheeks as he went to engage the ignition.

“I feel like I’m driving the space shuttle,” he commented. “Did you know this thing has keyless ignition?”

“I do.”

“The dashboard talks back to me.”

She giggled. “I know,” she said. “I tried to get them to program it with my voice, but they couldn’t do it. Sorry.”

He snorted as he started the car and revved the diesel engine.  Pulling away from the curb, they headed off to the Martin Luther King Freeway about a mile and a half to the north.

“Did you and Lizzie talk?” Blakesley asked as she dug in her purse for her lipstick.

He nodded. “Thanks for giving us some alone time,” he said quietly. “I’m assuming she told you everything.”

Blakesley looked at him with some distaste in her expression. “Yes.”

He sighed heavily. “I called her mom while we were out getting milk.”

“And?”

“And I told her that Lizzie would be living with us from now on and that I was going to file charges against her stepdad,” he glanced at Blakesley.  “Needless to say, she was upset. She’s got a lot to deal with, having a husband who’s sleeping with underage girls.”

“How does Lizzie feel about everything?”

“She’s thrilled to be with us and not her mom. She loves the girls and seems very happy about the arrangement.  I’m just thrilled to have my baby girl with me, you know? I’ve hardly seen her the past four years.”

Blakesley smiled and touched his cheek sweetly. Then she touched up her lipstick as Beck started messing with the dashboard, the radio, and any other knobs he could find.  She watched him from the corner of his eye, grinning when he accidentally turned on the windshield wipers.  He was particularly fascinated with the satellite radio and he fooled with it until he found something he liked.  Alice in Chains blasted over the Bose speakers.

“God, this is amazing,” he settled back as the music played. “You have no idea how much this helps me face what’s coming. I mean, it’s not like you needed to do any of this.  Just to see your smiling face when I got back would have accomplished the same thing. “

She reached over and took his hand. “So you’re telling me that I didn’t need to spend a half million dollars to reel you in?”

He cocked an eyebrow at her but he was grinning. “You reeled me in the day I met you – you know that,” he was almost scolding her but not quite. “It’s just like I told you earlier – I’ve never had anybody be so generous towards me.  It makes me feel like maybe I’m something special.  I still feel like I’m going to wake up tomorrow and this will all have been a dream.”

“It’s not a dream,” she squeezed his hand. “Maybe you just never let anybody get close enough to you to be generous.  I just want you to be happy.”

“I am happy,” he looked at her. “Happier than I’ve ever been in my life. You did that the night you let me barge in on you over at the Del and have dinner with you.  That was the luckiest night of my life. Now, the question is:  are you happy?”

She sobered. “I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t,” she said softly. “Can I tell you something?”

“Anything.”

She sighed and turned to look at the passing urban-scape as they took the onramp to the freeway.  It was a bright, beautiful day outside as if unaware of the sad thing they were about to do.

“When I saw that story about the accident and the dead S.E,A.L.’s, I cried all night,” she said softly. “It made me think so many things, but it mostly made me realize that life is short and you can’t put things off.  There may not be a tomorrow. I had already purchased the house at that point and mailed the picture to you at the base, but it just made me realize that you’re such a special guy. I need to show you how much I love you every single day because you could deploy tomorrow and I’d never see you again.  So I bought the truck, and the dog, because I wanted to make a home for you.  Does that make any sense?”

He nodded, squeezing her hand. “Sure it does,” he murmured. “Butch’s death made me realize a lot of things, too, the same things you realized.  Life is very short and we need to make the most of it while we can.  That’s why the first words out of my mouth when I saw you were going to be a marriage proposal. You’re the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with and I don’t want to waste any more time. I’m yours, body and soul, and not because you bought me a really cool truck.”

She laughed softly as he winked at her.  “So you’re really not freaked out by all of this?”

He shook his head. “I’m flattered and touched that you would think enough of me to do it,” he said. “I can’t tell you enough how much I love it, or you, which brings  me to something I was thinking this morning- what are you doing to do with your house? What’s going on with that?”

Blakesley sighed.  “That’s such a big mess,” she breathed. “The City came in the day after you left and basically declared the entire thing unsafe and off-limits until they can determine the extent of the tunneling.  Then the State of California came in and told the City to get their hands off it because it was a State Historic Landmark, so the State of California has taken it all over and the entire thing is being roped off and studied. It’s turned into a pissing match between the City of San Diego and the State of California.  They can’t give me a date as to when I can resume restoration much less when I will be able to move into it, so that’s why I bought the old Victorian. I wanted some place for all of us to live.”

He took the off-ramp that lead up the Coronado Bridge. “So what happens when the house is restored? Do we move out of the Victorian?”

She shrugged. “I’m not sure,” she said. “I really like the Victorian and I love the way it’s so kid-friendly.  I’m not sure about the Earp homestead anymore.  It… it’s almost like that curse old Mike talked about just hovers over it.”

“Have you seen old Mike since all of that started?”

“No,” she shook her head. “Not at all. I’m kind of worried about him.”

“Why?” Beck wanted to know. “He can take care of himself.”

She just shrugged, looking out over the bay as they traveled up and over the bridge. “Because he’s an old man living in a cave,” that’s the best she could do to describe why she was worried. “Oh, well, I guess it really doesn’t matter. The State of California has probably already found him and kicked him out.”

“Have you been out to the house lately?”

“I try to go every day. They’re coming up with some pretty fascinating stuff from the tunnel.” She turned to look at him. “Did you know there was a body down there?”

He scratched his chin, hoping she wouldn’t become upset with his answer. “I saw it,” he said quietly. “I didn’t want you to see it, which is why I herded you out of there so fast. Don’t you remember?”

She shrugged. “Not really,” she said. “Anyway, the people from the state said it’s got to be a hundred years old.  They have no idea who it is.”

“Maybe it’s that Mexican guy that Mike told us about, the one that old Ben Earp held for ransom.”

She wriggled her eyebrows. “Could be,” she said.  Then she shook her head sadly. “He sounds like a really bad guy.  I’m kind of ashamed to be related to him.”

He lifted her hand, kissing it as the bridge dumped them out onto Coronado Island.  Beck continued driving straight for about a mile until he came to G Street and hung a left. It was a tree-lined street clustered with townhomes and condos, and Beck eventually pulled up next to a well kept series of buildings about half way down the block.   He turned off the truck.

“Welcome to my former home,” he said as he opened the door. “Come on in and make yourself comfortable.”

She opened her door but he fast-stepped it around the car and helped her exit.  He couldn’t keep his eyes off her lovely legs, looking great in the high-heels, and the silky wrap-around dress showed every curve.  He put his arm around her, possessively, as he walked her back to his townhome.

He had a unit about mid-way down the building.  He opened the door and ushered her inside. It was dark, the blinds closed, and Blakesley looked around as her eyes adjusted to the darkness.  Beck opened up a couple of blinds and white sunlight streamed in. It was a Spartan place with just the bare necessities, neat with its carpeted floors and blue-fabric couch, but it didn’t looked lived in at all.  As she looked at the pictures of military men on the walls, he called to her from the stairs.

“Come up here with me, baby,” he said.

Gaze lingering on the picture of a very young and very handsome Beck in his academy graduation photo, she followed him up the stairs.  There were two bedrooms on this level, a master bedroom with a bath and a smaller bedroom and bath. She trailed after him into the master bedroom.

The master bedroom wasn’t much better than the rest of the house. There was just a big bed, a television and a chest of drawers.  Blakesley stood in the doorway and looked around.

“How long have you lived here?” she asked.

He was in the big walk-in closet. “About twenty years.”

“It looks like you haven’t spent twenty minutes here.”

She heard him snort. “Sharon took pretty much everything when we divorced,” he said.  “Couches, beds, furnishings, that kind of thing. I just have the bare necessities. I’m on base so much of the time that it really doesn’t matter.”

“What are you going to do with it now that we’ve got the Victorian?”

“Rent it out or sell it,” he said. “You’re the real estate whiz. What do you think?”

She looked around some more, inspecting the bathroom. “You could rent it out and glean the income,” she said. “You said you don’t have that much more to pay off.  Why not just rent it out? Property on Coronado demands a premium. You could make a nice chunk of change monthly.”

“Good idea.” He suddenly came out of the closet with his arms full of clothing. He tossed it on the bed. “This can all go back to the house. I don’t have any boxes to put it in.”

She went over to the bed, shrugging at the pile. “We can just carry it down and throw it in the truck.”

He nodded, hands on hips as he studied the clothes. Blakesley studied them, too, until she looked up and noticed he was only wearing a pair of dress khakis.  His bare chest looked magnificent and her gaze drifted over him with appreciation. He made her feel all hot and bothered.

“Are you going like that?” she teased.

He had no idea what she was talking about until he looked at her and noticed what she was referring to.  He looked down at himself, half-dressed.

“Would you like me to?” he teased back.

She grinned and ran her hand across his chest, sensually, before falling into his embrace. “You better believe it,” she purred.

He wrapped her up in his arms and went in for a big kiss but she stopped him. “You’ll mess my lipstick,” she said, putting her hand over his eager mouth. “Besides, you need to finish dressing. We have to go.”

The smile faded from his lips and he sobered.  “I guess,” he let her go and went back in to the closet. “I’m really not looking forward to this.”

She sobered as well, sorry she had put a damper on things. She sat on the bed next to his clothes.

“I know, baby,” she said softly. “I’m so sorry. I know he was your friend.”

Beck didn’t say anything.  She could hear him moving around in the closet and when he finally emerged, it was in his service dress khaki uniform.  He looked quite impressive but Blakesley wasn’t sure if she should tell him. He was getting dressed up for a somber occasion and she wasn’t sure flattery would be well met.

“I’m not sure if it’s appropriate to tell you that you look great, but you do,” she said softly. “You do that uniform justice.”

He smiled weakly at her as he went to his dresser, opened up the drawer, and pulled out a box which he took over to the bathroom with the big mirror.  Looking at himself in the mirror, he began pinning things on his crisp khaki shirt, bars and stars and other colorful things.  As she sat and watched, he just kept pinning more and more on his chest, on his collar, and then he pinned on what looked like two medals.  Everything was neat and orderly as she watched, entranced.