SEALs of Summer 2: A Military Romance Superbundle (38 page)

Luci angled a
look out through the living room window after she heard the knock on the door. She’d just gotten dressed. She’d also indulged in the practice of sleeping in. She was enjoying her summer, and for the first time, declined to teach summer school. It gave her time to get used to her condition, and her new role as mother.

James, the handsome friend of Yellowhorse, was at the door. Alone. She hadn’t seen him in several months, ever since that day when they’d brought her mother home.

“Hi, Luci. Sorry for the intrusion, but can I come in for a minute?” He was glancing behind him in between words.

Luci stepped back, allowing him to enter, taking in his broad shoulders and slim waist. She halfway hoped he was coming to see her for personal reasons, but her hopes were dashed when she noted how nervous he was, especially when he looked down at her belly. Lucy smiled and rubbed her tummy which was just beginning to bulge under a loose shirt.

“You’re pregnant?”

“Yes, about five months now.”

“Congratulations. I mean, you’re happy about it, right?”

Lucy found his nervousness over her condition charming. “Of course, silly. And no, I’m not married or even getting married. You don’t need a husband to have a baby.”

“Does the father—”

“That’s another conversation, and you’re not a part of that. Now. Tell me what was so important?”

“You alone? I got something important to ask you,” he said in a whisper.

“Yes. What’s on your mind?”

A crease had formed in the middle of his forehead, extending from the brow of his nose upward nearly to his scalp. “Your Uncle Corwin has been approved for release. The appeal the District Attorney filed was denied. He’ll be here in less than two weeks.”

Luci became squeamish. Corwin was the last person on earth she wanted to deal with in her present condition. She appreciated the information, but knew he had something else on his mind.

“That’s not good enough to be headlines in the Navajo Times. Why the personal visit?” she asked.

“Look, I learned something about his intentions when he gets here.”

“George know?”

“Of course he knows. I think they’d made plans to meet up soon after he gets back here.”

Luci felt like she was going to be sick.

“So we have two weeks?”

“Yes ma’am. You need to take protective measures. Any way you can move off the reservation?”

“I’ve thought about that. And I’m trying. Just thought I’d have a little more time, like move after the baby is born.” She saw the look of fear on James’ face. “So, what’s eating at you, James? We don’t really pine over my uncle’s troubles or his future. What prompted you to come over here so early on a Saturday morning?”

James’ eyes softened. Could he be perhaps flirting with her?

But then Luci remembered what poor taste she had in choosing partners and decided it was all her imagination. Her feet began to hurt, something she recognized would be a new health issue for her. She turned and sat down on her mother’s rocking chair, pointing to the couch. James dutifully sat across from her, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, examining his fingernails. His mouth formed a thin line, partially scrunched up to the left as he nibbled on his lower lip. After a full sigh, he stopped his fiddling and looked up to her face.

“You gotta get out of here, Luci. You got to take Sarah and get off the res.”

“But this is our home—”

“They found another girl, this time not quite dead. She told them about some kind of human trafficking team working both sides of the res, turning girls into personal sex slaves for some of the lowlifes in Vegas. They think perhaps the origins of the group are a prison gang, one that your uncle might be familiar with.”

Luci’s stomach roiled as her palms got sweaty. Lack of major events didn’t mean they were safe. Things had actually gotten worse.

“I appreciate you telling me this, James. I have to ask you why, though.”

He began to check out his boots, adjusting the denim of his jeans to lie flat against the leather tooling. “Corwin told one of Yellowhorse’s brothers he had plans to make money off you. Both of you.” He stared at her belly. “Not sure this pregnancy of yours changes anything for him.” He gazed up at her before he continued. “Seems as though he figured if it didn’t work out, at least he could get even. He means you harm, Luci.”

“Oh, I definitely get that.” Her stomach churned again. “What I’m still unclear about is why you’re telling me all this. Or is there something going on I don’t know about?”

“I don’t like to see women abused. You find that so hard to believe? Do I really need another reason to warn you?” His curly light brown hair, held back with a scrunchie, and his greenish-blue eyes made him look a little younger than he was. If his hair had been clipped, he’d look ten years older. It occurred to her his appearance might be some sort of disguise.

“So how did you come by this information?”

“Just overheard Yellowhorse talking about it. I think Yellowhorse has been working for Corwin, on the outside.”

He was a curious combination of good looks but definitely showing up in a place he didn’t belong. She wondered what demons chased him.

“You want to stay for breakfast? My mom and Sarah should be back from Phoenix later this morning. She had to go in to the Indian Health clinic.”

He shook his head. “As much as I’d like to, it isn’t wise, Luci. I just wanted you to know, and to try to convince you to get out of Dodge—”

“I do have a gun for protection.”

“Luci, that may not be enough. You need to get away from all this.”

“Both my mom and Sarah know how to use it.”

“Then let’s hope they use discretion as to who they tell.”

He stood, walking back to the front door.

“James, you’re kinda acting like a cop or something. You don’t look like someone who would be hanging around Yellowhorse. You’re not Dine, and you don’t appear to know much about us. So what gives?”

He chuckled. “That’s ridiculous.” He left without explaining himself further.

Sarah and her
mother arrived just past lunchtime. Luci offered to prepare lunch for all of them. Sarah made a point to get her alone to whisper something private.

“She had me go see the doctor, too.”

“You okay?”

Sarah’s eyes widened. “I’m fine!”

“So why—”

“She wants me on the pill. Can you believe it? I’m a virgin and she wants me on the pill.”

“Sarah, I’m so sorry. I’m sure she’s doing what she thinks—what she’d hoped her own mother would have done when Mom was a troubled girl your age. Don’t read anything into it.” But the words James had spoken echoed in her head.

“I don’t know. Luci, I don’t want to go places with her anymore. She’s just not thinking straight, and she drives funny. If they pick her up, what happens to me?”

“You have them contact
me
. You
always
have them contact me, Sarah. We hope we remain under the radar, okay?”

They heard Zelda approaching and separated, Sarah pretending to help with Luci’s salad.

“Luci, since I know your little sister has probably told you about what I insisted she do, explain to her why it’s a good idea.” Zelda pointed to Luci’s growing belly. “Sarah, I had the talk with Luci, I guess a little too late, though.” Her thin, penciled-in eyebrows had always accentuated her round face and large almond-shaped eyes. She was too heavy to have real cheekbones, but Luci knew even if she were thin, the roundness of her body would remain regardless of her weight.

“I’m still not so sure it was a good idea.” Luci briefly thought about her night with Danny, and the lack of protection which had caused her pregnancy. “She’s young, Mama.”

“You’re talking about me like I’m not in the room. I’m right here.” Sarah’s eyes shifted between Luci and her mother’s. “It was horrible.”

“I took her to a
woman
doctor.”

As if that made any difference.

Luci wondered if her mother ever thought about either of their feelings or anybody’s feelings but her own. The callousness of her mother’s behavior shocked even her sometimes. She’d heard a lot from the parents at the school and the administration. Rarely did she find something in her own family that was worse than what she’d experienced at work. But today, she found herself hating her mother with every fiber of her being.

Sarah ran to her bedroom, slammed the door, had difficulty locking it, and finally gave up.

If her mother were even a month or two sober, this would be the time Luci would have that heart-to-heart. She’d tell her about how she was losing whatever relationship she had with both her daughters. She’d tell her that Sarah needed a mother, not a slutty roommate. She’d tell her how she was putting her life on hold so Sarah had a chance to get out. And if, the woman who had given birth to her cared, cared just a thimbleful of how Luci felt about this upcoming baby, just maybe she’d begin to understand and find it in her heart to mend her ways.

But none of that was present when she looked into her mother’s eyes. Her focus was glassy and otherworldly, the expression on her face like she was being forced to sit through one of Mr. Carpenter’s boring geometry lectures.

Zelda didn’t have the guts to be a parent, a true parent, Luci thought. Maybe it was because Luci had stepped up to the plate and did so much of the mothering for her. But one thing was for sure. Her mother was waiting for recess. A nice, long recess.

Luci knew her wish would be granted, maybe soon.

In the intervening
months, as Luci’s pregnancy continued, she noticed a marked change in her mother. First, she broke off her relationship with Yellowhorse. Then she stopped her serial dating cycle, which ended her late nights in local bars, and eventually her getting help in some programs to end her drinking. The coming baby seemed to reacquaint her with a side of mothering she’d long forgotten. Even her uncle stayed away from them. It was said he relocated to Las Vegas to pursue his criminal enterprises there. James’ dire predictions were proving inaccurate, after all. Luci began feeling a little safer.

Luci prepared herself for the possibility she’d see Danny some day. Though he’d said he would never return, he still had family on the res and nearby. She mentally told herself that if he had been interested in a relationship with her, he’d have called, or sent word to her somehow. She learned he’d enlisted in the Navy, following in the footsteps of his cousin, Wilson, whom she didn’t know.

There had been days when she wondered how she’d feel if he did return. What would she say? Should she hope for that eventuality? Though she tried to put it out of her mind, she could not forget what it felt like being with him that one night. Why she wasn’t too surprised when she found out she was pregnant. The most difficult part of it all was that she knew deep down inside, she still harbored feelings for the Navajo man, and held a candle at the possibility of his return.

Luci began building a new respect for her mother. Even Sarah warmed to the woman’s changes. Without the interference of Yellowhorse and Corwin, the three lived in relative peace all throughout the winter months, looking forward to a new spring with the birth of the child.

The baby came one rainy day in late February. Zelda and Sarah both were at her side and took turns competing for Luci’s affection, as well as competing for time holding little Griffin. Luci felt Danny’s absence that day more than ever, but she kept her thoughts private and hid her tears. The three women continue to repair what they could of their family unit, for the sake of the baby. Luci took the balance of the school term with a leave of absence while continuing to apply for work in California.

Being home, Luci was around her mother for longer stretches of time than she could ever afford before. She accompanied Zelda to AA meetings, bringing the baby. Zelda had found her own reset switch and started dating a nice carpenter, not Dine, who lived in Phoenix.

It looked like everything would turn out closer to the picture book story Luci had always secretly wanted, but never dared to dream of, even if the story was minus one character.

Until the day Uncle Corwin inserted himself back into their lives.

‡

D
anny was looking
out at the waves and the long stretch of beach in front of him at Coronado Island. It was funny how natural this landscape now seemed after nearly a year stationed here. He would have never pictured himself basking in the sun, watching girls in swimsuits try to be eye candy for all the young sailors who happened to look their way. The parade was endless, and several times, some nice, tanned, long-legged, blonde girl would just make him stop breathing for a second or two. He’d never known this existed.

He heard his grandfather chuckle. He knew better than to look for the old man. The chats with Chester had been a daily occurrence now. He had started looking forward to them, no matter what he was in the middle of at the time.

“Still playing cowboys and Indians, little Ch’al.”

Ever since he’d passed the BUD/S training, Grandfather referred to him as Ch’al, or frog.