Man of Honor (Battle Scars) (22 page)

T
he doctors in the hospital after Mea was shot told me that she and our baby are medical miracles.

That our baby shouldn’t have made it through that kind of trauma early on in the pregnancy.

That Mea’s loss of blood should have ended that precious little life.

But that didn’t happen.

I’m more than grateful as I stare down at my daughter.

Mea, sitting across from me at the sidewalk café in Savannah, smiles. “I can’t believe how good you are with her. She loves her daddy so much.”

The little raven-haired beauty in my arms stares up at me, clutching my finger in her tiny fist and gripping it hard.

“She’s so damn tough. Like her mama.”

My eyes meet Mea’s, and the searing need I have to protect this woman, to love her, to make sure she has everything she’ll ever need, still burns strong inside me.

It’ll never fade.

It’s like she can read my expression, because she leans across the table and kisses me. “Still can’t believe we’re meeting your real father today. You ready for this? You never used to talk about your family.”

I grab her hand, lacing our fingers together. Bringing it to my lips, I sigh. “I know. I didn’t know how to, after knowing about your past. I grew up with a mother who only cared about how drunk she could get at any given time. She drowned everything she felt with liquor. My whole life, it was up to me to clean up after her. Or to call around town looking for her. The people in my town knew what was going on; they helped me out whenever they could. But it was tough. She told me that my father left when I was still a baby, and she was alone after that. I don’t think she ever got over it, and drinking was the only way she could deal.”

“I know how that made you feel.” The little wrinkles in her brow that only show up when she frowns appear.

“But it’s not like that anymore. I found my dad. We’ve talked. We’ve Skyped. I’ve e-mailed my little half-sister. And now this is happening. We’re meeting them. And I get to show off my beautiful family.”

“Then I guess we better take a minute and breathe deep, just so we’re prepared.”

Rolling my eyes, I oblige. There’s no point in fighting her on the yoga stuff. We breathe deep for about a minute before I open my eyes.

“We good?”

“Drake?” The deep voice with a southern drawl matching mine causes both of us to look up.

There, standing beside our table, are Richard Walsh and his daughter, Phoebe.

My father. My sister.

I stand, passing my baby girl to Mea.

And then I embrace my father.

Releasing him, I turn to Phoebe. “Hey.”

“Hey.” Her tone is awkward, and she glances down at the ground. At nineteen, she’s still young. This must all be totally weird for her. But after a second, she grabs me in a fierce hug.

“I don’t know how to be someone’s sister,” she whispers. “But I’ll try my best.”

Holding her at arm’s length, I shoot her a smile. “I don’t know how to be someone’s brother. But I’ll fuck up anyone who messes with you.”

“Drake!” Mea’s warning tone grabs my attention, and I turn to her.

“Richard, Phoebe…this is my fiancée, Mea.”

Mea smiles and waves one hand while cuddling our daughter with the other.

“And this”—I wrap my arm around her and gesture toward the cooing baby—“is my daughter, Graylyn. We call her Gray.”

And from the looks of joy and awe in my father’s and sister’s eyes, I know that my daughter is going to receive more love than I ever could have hoped for or imagined. Not just from me and my soon-to-be wife, but from my family as well.

It’s going to be a good life.

Diana Gardin was born and raised combing the coasts of southeastern Virginia. She is now a happy resident of South Carolina, as she married into an enormous Carolina-rooted family. She loves the beach; and even more than that, she loves to read while sitting on the beach.

Though writing was always one of Diana’s passions, she enrolled in college to become an elementary-school teacher. After eight years of teaching in both Virginia and South Carolina, she decided to stay at home with her first child. This decision opened her eyes to the fact that she still very much loved to write, and her first novel was born. Diana is the author of several works of New Adult romance, including the Ashes series, the Nelson Island series, and the Battle Scars series.

Learn more at:

DianaGardin.com

Twitter: @DianalynnGardin

Facebook: facebook.com/diana.gardin

BATTLE SCARS SERIES

Saved by the SEAL

Last True Hero

NELSON ISLAND SERIES

Falling Deep

Ever Always
(novella)

Wanting Forever

Army Ranger Dare Conners has been through hell. He’s left combat behind, yet the memories that refuse to fade are proving just as dangerous. Ordered to take R&R, he joins his buddy for beaches, beers, and babes—if that can’t cure him, nothing will. But when he meets Berkeley, a woman who affects him like no one else, a new kind of battle begins…

An admiral’s daughter, Berkeley knows her life has been planned since birth. The right school, the right boyfriend—and now that she’s graduated—the right marriage. But after years of being right, Berkeley is ready to be a little wrong. And Dare Conners has wrong written all over him. The sexy soldier has a body built for sin and secrets he won’t share. What starts as a fling quickly grows into something more. But summer can’t last forever, and when the truth comes out, both Berkeley and Dare could be in for quite a fall.

When he sees a woman drowning, Grisham Abbot immediately leaps into action. The Navy SEAL forgets his training, his past, and the explosion that forever scarred his body and his mind. He can only remember what he was born to do. But saving Greta Owen is a complication Grisham is definitely not ready for. She’s stunning and gorgeous—like sunlight after months of darkness. Yep, Grisham is so, so screwed.

Greta knows that the smart thing to do would be to run from Grisham. He’s a wounded warrior, and his head is a big-time mess. The problem is that Greta wants to make him her mess. One kiss and she’s completely in over her head. And if this SEAL risked himself to save her, then she must find a way to bring him back to life…

Falling Deep

Ever Always (Novella)

Wanting Forever

For as long as I could remember, I was the girl with the plan. Good college, good medical school, good career. I would save lives instead of standing by helplessly, watching while they slipped away.

That was before my father called for the first time in fifteen years to tell me about the terminal illness stealing his life—an illness that might be stealing mine, too. It was before he gave me the name of a doctor and a plane ticket to Italy. Before I flew across an ocean. Before I realized how brilliantly bright life could be. Before I met Lucas.

He’s everything I’ve always wanted, and the timing couldn’t be worse. I can’t do this to him—he deserves so much better. My head tells me I can’t afford to fall in love with Lucas, but my heart won’t listen. Lucas is fearless about the future, while I’m not even sure I have one. There’s only one way to know what’s ahead, and it’s waiting for me at home inside a plain, white envelope.

All I have to do, is open it…

He is a trained professional—but nothing can prepare him for the hottest mission of his life. Assigned to protect his boss’s daughter, British former SAS operative Malone Garrett breaks the first rule of covert surveillance—don’t make contact. And especially don’t take your mark out to dinner, then agree to a rooftop quickie. But now that Mal has Abby in his arms, he has no intention of ever letting her go.

Abby Baston told herself it was a hit and quit, a one-nighter with a hot, handsome stranger whose hands were trained to take action. Working undercover for the CIA, she can’t risk anything more. But when an international crisis ignites, Abby must make a call: trust Mal with her secret—and her heart—and partner up, or lose everything in a split second…

To Casey, Montgomery Prep isn’t just DC’s most prestigious private school—it’s her alma mater, the place where her fondest memories were made. It’s also her current employer and the target of a dangerous cyber criminal. But even more shocking than the crime is the sexy FBI agent who comes to investigate…

With his six-plus frame and gym-sculpted body, no one would suspect FBI special agent Sam Cooper was once an awkward teenage computer geek—no one, that is, except Casey, the gorgeous girl who captured his heart on the first day of high school and held it for the last fourteen years. When a hunt for a hacker brings Casey back into Sam’s life, his long-denied desire becomes impossible to ignore. He knows just how to make her forget the boy he was…and show her the man he’s become.