Sea of Dreams (The American Heroes Series Book 2) (25 page)

Blakesley gazed up at him, her head rather dwarfed by his big hand. “It was really strange,” she said. “Gina called me at the extended stay right a couple of weeks ago to tell me that your daughter was at her house.  Apparently, Lizzie had a big blow up with her mother and ran away. She took a flight down here, went to your townhome but you weren’t home, so she knew where Butch and Gina lived and went there looking for you.”

 “So what happened?”

“I went to Gina’s house and sat with Lizzie for awhile to try and figure out what was going on with her,” she said. “She’s such a sweet girl, Beck. She ended up coming back to the hotel with me and she’s been with me ever since.  My girls are enamored with her. I… I don’t want her going back to her mother.”

His brow furrowed.  “Why not?”

She put her arms around his neck. “You have to promise me you’ll stay calm. If you can’t swear it, then I won’t tell you.”

“You need to tell me what you know if it’s involving my daughter.”

“I understand that, but I’m saying this on Lizzie’s behalf. She came to you for comfort and your anger isn’t going to help her at all. She’s pretty traumatized.”

His concern grew. “Traumatized with what?”

Blakesley shushed him softly because his voice was growing louder.  “According to Lizzie, her stepdad made a pass at her,” she whispered. “He didn’t actually touch her from what I can gather, but Lizzie was so upset by it that she stole some money from her mother and bought a plane ticket down here.   The poor kid’s very upset by everything and it took me some convincing to get her mother’s phone number so I could call her and tell her where Lizzie was.  It’s just a big mess. Oh, and by the way, your ex-wife was really a bitch.  I told her we were going to have Lizzie for awhile and she didn’t like that very much.”

Beck sighed faintly, his hand moving from her jaw to her hair, stroking it. “Sorry,” he muttered. “Sharon was always kind of high-strung and mean at times. Her family was really well off and she just grew up with everything she ever wanted, so… well, it doesn’t matter, but I’m sorry if she was rude to you.  I’ll talk to Lizzie in the morning and then give Sharon a call.”

Blakesley watched his face, seeing how weary he was, now with the added burden of child issues.  “You’re such a sweet man,” she murmured. “How in the world did you end up with a woman like that?”

He shrugged. “Easy,” he said. “She got pregnant so I did the right thing and married her.”

Blakesley laughed softly. “So you have a history of women forcing you into marriage?”

He grinned, the hair stroking moving to her shoulder and arm. “You didn’t force me,” he murmured, leaning over to kiss her neck. “Besides, think about it; Lizzie just turned fourteen. I was married to Sharon for fourteen years and that ended four years ago. Sharon and I got married right away but she miscarried the baby.  It took her another four years to get pregnant with Lizzie but the doctor told her after that she couldn’t have any more kids.”

Blakesley closed her eyes as he nuzzled her neck and shoulder, peeling back the pajama top to get at her cleavage. “I’m sorry about that,” she whispered. “You’re great with kids. You deserve to have a dozen.”

He snorted softly, a hand cupping her left breast as he rooted around for a nipple. “I wouldn’t know what to do with them all,” he muttered. “We’ve got four girls between us. That’s good enough for me.”

“What happened to that baby brother? Still want him?”

“Sure, if we’re lucky enough.”

Blakesley shifted so she was wrapped up around him again, her legs around his waist, pulling him down on top of her. “Let’s practice, okay?”

He found a warm nipple and suckled hard, feeling her squirm beneath him. “Absolutely,” he breathed. “But I shouldn’t even be touching you right now. I’m filthy.”

Blakesley responded by grabbing his tee shirt and pulling it over his head.  He was dirty, sweaty, beaten and bruised, but she didn’t care.  She just wanted to feel him against her, in her.  In little time, they were naked between the sheets, practicing for that baby brother to balance out all of the girls.

They practiced most of the night.

Chapter Twelve

Beck woke up the next morning to a wriggling bed.  At first, he thought it was an earthquake until he heard giggling.  Earthquakes don’t giggle. Flat on his stomach, he peeped an eye open to see two big blue eyes looking back at him.  Charlotte squealed when she realized he was awake and suddenly, the bed was alive with giggling girls.

He roared sleepily and grabbed Charlotte and Cadee, who happened to be closest.  He tickled them as they screamed, rolling over onto his back and yawning as someone ripped back the curtains.  Bright white light streamed into the room and he felt like a vampire trying to cover his eyes.   As Charlotte tried to tickle him back, he looked to his right to see Lizzie sitting on the edge of the bed.

He grinned broadly at his daughter, sitting up and throwing his arms around her. “Hi, baby girl,” he kissed the side of her head. “It’s so good to see you.”

Lizzie hugged her dad tightly. “Hi, Dad,” she murmured.

Beck let her go enough so that he could look her in the face; she was tall, blond and beautiful and looked more like him every day.  He opened his mouth to say something but Crosby charged him and wrapped her little arms around his neck as Charlotte jumped on Lizzie’s lap.

“Beck!” Crosby was yelling. “We made you cinnamon rolls!”

She was shouting excitedly in his ear and he gave her a squeeze, watching Lizzie laugh. “Thanks, baby,” he stuck his finger in his ringing ear. “I’ll get dressed and eat them.”

“No!” Crosby hurled herself off the bed. “We’re going to bring you breakfast here. You stay here!”

She flew out of the bedroom with Cadee behind her.  Charlotte stayed on Lizzie’s lap as Beck took a moment to drink in the sight of his only child.  There was such joyful chaos going on around him and although he didn’t want to ignore the little ones, he really wanted to focus on his daughter.

“You’re so beautiful,” he said wistfully. “I feel like it’s been years since I saw you last.”

Lizzie cradled sweet Charlotte. “It’s been four months,” she said, hugging Charlotte. Her smile faded. “I guess Blakesley told you why I’m here.”

Beck nodded. “She did,” he stared looking around the room. “I want to talk to you about it. But do me a favor, baby girl – step out for a moment and let me take a quick shower and get dressed.”

“Sure, Dad.”

Lizzie stood up with Charlotte in her arms. Beck watched his daughter cuddle Blakesley’s youngest.  It warmed his heart to see the sweet interaction.

“Hey,” he said softly. “It looks like you have a friend.”

Lizzie grinned, looking a good deal like her father. “They’re sweet,” she said. “I always wanted a little sister. I guess I’m going to have three.”

He wasn’t sure how much she knew but he didn’t want to insult her intelligence.  Since she had been staying with Blakesley for while, he assumed she knew almost as much as he did.   What she hadn’t been told, she could figure out. She was a smart girl.

"Are you okay with that?” he asked softly as she headed for the door.

Lizzie paused at the door, turning to look at her dad as Charlotte reached up and tweaked her nose. “Totally,” she grinned. “I like Blakesley, Dad.  She’s really awesome.  I know she cares a lot about you and you deserve that.”

“So you approve?”

“Yes.”

Beck smiled as she exited the room and closed the door behind her.   Tossing off the covers, he went into the bathroom with the big double sinks and turned on the shower.  He was still grimy and sweaty and filthy, dying to get clean.  He stepped into the big tiled shower, noticing that Blakesley had even set aside a ‘manly’ section of the shower that had green soap, man-scented body wash, a couple of disposable razors, and man-shampoo.  He grinned at her thoughtfulness and began to scrub down. 

The hot water felt spectacular.  He scrubbed himself from head to toe before standing there and just letting the hot water beat down over him.   He actually felt pretty good, happy that he was with Lizzie, Blakesley and the girls, trying not to let the horrific grief that had gripped him for days seep back into his mind.  Then he started to feel guilty that he was happy when Butch was lying in a pine box at Coronado.  He told Gina he’d go with her to claim Butch’s body at noon, thoughts of which began to drag him down into despair again.  But his thoughts were interrupted when Blakesley knocked on the bathroom door and let herself in.

She smiled broadly at him as she came into the bathroom. “Hi, baby,” she said. “I’m sorry the girls woke you. I tried to keep them out but it was tough. They were so excited to see you.”

He just grinned, leaning out of the shower so he could kiss her good morning. “No worries,” he told her. “I have no problem waking up every morning like that for the rest of my life. The only thing missing was you.”

She chuckled softly and it was then he noticed what she had in her arms.  She set a big fluffy towel on the counter by the shower but he saw that she still had more items draped over her arm.  She held up a pair of jeans.

“Since I couldn’t move your stuff in while you were gone unless I wanted to break into your condo, I winged it by getting you a few things to wear just until we can get your stuff,” she said. “Gina and I guessed that you were about a thirty-two waist, so I got you a pair of jeans that I think might fit you.  I also got you some underwear, some pajama bottoms, and a couple of shirts.  If you don’t like them, that’s okay, but I wanted you to have something to wear until you could get to your clothes.”

By this time, he had turned off the shower and grabbed the towel, drying his muscular frame as he looked at the items she had laid out on the bathroom counter.   He fingered the jeans with great interest.

“You did this?” he asked, almost incredulous.

She was uncertain. “Yes.”

He looked at her. “Just for me?”

“Of course.”

He looked back at the clothing. “Baby, that’s about the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me,” he said sincerely, giving her a sweet kiss. “That was really thoughtful of you.”

She was relieved as her smile returned. “I just wanted to make sure you were taken care of,” she said. “I also got you soap and razors and stuff.  If you don’t like any of it, I can get you something else or....”

He bent over and kissed her again, mid-sentence. “Baby, seriously, that’s the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me,” he said again. “Thank you.  I love everything, even the soap.”

She was flattered and pleased. “I hope the jeans fit,” she said, gathering everything back up and carrying it out of the bathroom, back into the bedroom. “The shirts are out here.”

He dried off completely and wrapped the towel around his waist before following her out into the bedroom.  In the light of day, he could see just how gorgeous the bedroom was with its white walls, white bedspread and wrought iron bed frame.  Black and white pictures with gold and pale green accents lined the walls strategically. It was the most gorgeous bedroom he had ever seen and he wriggled his eyebrows when he saw the flat screen television bolted to the wall across from the bed.  He hadn’t noticed it until this moment and he suddenly looked at her, torn between delight and exasperation.

“Look at this room,” he began to point.  Then he stopped pointing, grabbed her hands, and set her down on the bed next to him.  “Baby, we need to talk about this before we go any further. Last night you said you bought the house.”

Blakesley thought he seemed upset. “I did,” she nodded. “I offered them four hundred and forty two thousand for it and they took it,” she said. “Your friend Kevin did the deal for us.   Because the house was empty and I paid cash, they closed escrow in two weeks.  It was just a matter of completing the paperwork.  We only moved in five days ago.”

He stared at her. “You paid cash?”

She nodded.  “It was a good investment and I had the money,” she winced when she saw his expression. “You’re not happy about this, are you?”

He shook his head. Then he nodded. “Of course I am,” he said. “But I guess I’m just a little hurt.  I wanted to buy it for us.”

“It is your house,” she said softly. “I’m transferring the title to you. It’s a gift.”

“I don’t want you to give it to me,” he tried to explain without hurting her feelings. “I wanted to buy it myself.”

“So you can buy it from me, then. I’ll give you a good deal.”

He didn’t know what to say. As he watched, she stood up and walked to the French doors that faced outside to the big backyard with the perfect landscape.  She pointed.

“I got you that, too,” she said as if she wasn’t sure she should tell him.

He didn’t see what she was pointing at until he stood up and went to the door.  Parked outside on a big cement area was a brand new Ford 2012 F-350 Lariat Super Duty crew-cab pick-up truck, complete with massive chrome accents, after-market chrome wheels, jet black in color with dark tinted windows. 

It was the most beautiful truck he had ever seen and he just stood there at the door like an idiot, gaping at it.  He also noticed a very big dog lying next to it and when the dog shifted, he could see that it was a German Shepherd.  Off to the right against the fence that ran along a small alley, he could see a brand new doghouse painted just like the big house.  His gaze inevitably moved back to the truck. He was stunned.

“Do you like the truck?” Blakesley asked hesitantly.

He looked at her as if she had lost her mind. “Do I like it?” he repeated. “You seriously bought that?”

“For you.”

“For me?”

“Yes,”

“Why?”

She shrugged, looking back at the truck. “Because I was feeling bad after we left the house the first time we saw it,” she said softly. “You were trying to do something so sweet for all of us and I was stubborn about it.  I just wanted to do something nice for you. Plus, your truck is several years old and the brakes grind. I thought you needed a new truck.”

Beck was speechless.  He looked around at the house, the clothes laid out on the bed, the new truck in the back yard, and just shook his head.   It was like a perfect life, a perfect house, all packaged up for him.  It was something he had dreamed of his entire life.