Epilogue
Hailey
It was a beautiful day for a wedding in Miami, and having a beach wedding was expected when you were in such a beautiful location. I had dreamed of getting married on the beach my whole life and couldn’t believe that it was actually happening.
Matt and Mandy, of course, were standing up for us and they were all that we needed by our side. We had talked a lot about the wedding and had decided together to take the plunge before we had the baby. I was four months along at that point, but due to my slim figure, I still wasn’t showing very much, so I was able to get the dress of my dreams and not cause the scandal that Caleb’s parents were worried about. People would eventually find out, of course, but by then we would be married for five months, and it wouldn’t matter so much.
Caleb had been right about his mother: she was just over the moon about everything. She was thrilled that her son had a partner who could tame his wild ways, and the fact that she had a grandchild on the way just tickled her pink, mainly because she was sure that we were going to have a little girl.
I was waiting in the beach house Caleb’s family owned, in a room set aside for me and Mandy. Our parents had flown in from Europe for the wedding and had been absolutely stunned to find out that I was getting married and having a baby with the Caleb Harris the famous pro-golfer. They were thrilled in the end after the shock wore off. I was doing well in my career, and well, who wouldn’t be happy to find out that their daughter was marrying a wealthy man?
I stood in my gown looking in the mirror when Mandy came in the room. “I have your earrings,” she said as she came over to me.
“Thanks,” I said, taking them from her.
“You look so beautiful, Hailey, and no one would ever guess you were pregnant.”
“Well, that’s a relief.” I was so happy, but I also felt jittery. I couldn’t believe that the day had finally come that I was about to marry Caleb. It was all just so hard to believe, but I was accepting my fate as a happy bride and soon-to-be mother.
“How do you feel?” Mandy asked me.
“I’m nervous.”
“Really? Well, you wouldn’t be the first bride to say that. Everything really is going to be okay. Caleb is a great man, mainly because he loves you so much. He would do anything for you, Hailey. That man will spend his entire life doing whatever he can to make you happy.”
I smiled as I glanced at myself in the mirror again. The dress was absolutely gorgeous. Vera Wang had done well for me, and she had been willing to do it during our massive time crunch. There were certainly benefits to marrying a celebrity. Or maybe I was a celebrity now, too. Just thinking about it made me smile.
“I know. I’m not nervous because I have doubts. I guess I just can’t believe it’s all happening so fast. It’s crazy you know?”
“Oh, I know. The baby part was truly shocking for me. I can’t believe you kept it a secret from me for so long.”
I laughed, “Well, I was pretty freaked out and didn’t know what to do.”
“It’s okay; it all worked out and now look at where you are. You are in love and about to embark on a pretty incredible life.”
“Yes, I am.”
Mandy looked down at the designer watch that hung delicately from her wrist. I had given it to her as a maid of honor gift. She looked up at me and smiled. “It’s showtime.”
Now, I was very excited. I was about to walk down the aisle and marry the man of my dreams and, oh, was he dreamy.
“I’m ready,” I said.
We left the room and made our way to the patio doors. I looked outside to all our guests seated in chairs facing the ocean. It just all looked so beautiful. The company that had decorated had done a magnificent job. I could see Caleb standing in the front with the pastor and Matt. He was just standing there, waiting patiently for me.
Mandy opened the doors and the wedding music started to play. I watched as she made her way down the porch and then eventually down the aisle. Matt met her halfway and then brought her to the front. They looked good together, and I hoped that their friendship would one day blossom into something else.
It was my turn now, and my heart was beating through my chest. I couldn’t believe this was happening to me. I was there at the beach house about to get married, and my little baby was right there with us. It was going to be the start of a whole new life, one that I had never even known of or dreamt of before. A few months ago, I would have laughed if someone told me that I would be married and have a baby that year. I had not even considered such things a few months ago – it hadn’t even been a thought in my head. But there I was; so much had changed in such a small amount of time that it was hard to keep up.
I made my way outside, and everyone stood up from their seats. I delicately walked down the stairs, careful not to slip. I made my way towards the aisle and then walked slowly down it. I looked at my guests as I passed and enjoyed all the happy looks around me. I faced forward and met Caleb’s gaze, and his never wavered from mine for a minute. He looked so in love with me, and I felt exactly the same way.
I walked to the front of the aisle and stood there before him, before the man I was going to call husband for the rest of my life. He came to my side and kissed me on the cheek. The pastor got into his speech, and all I could do was look into Caleb’s eyes and feel all the love that he had for me there. When it came time for us to kiss, he stepped before me and placed his lips gently against my own. But no, that would not be good enough for our first kiss as man and wife. I grasped his neck and pulled him in further, and our kiss grew more passionate. There were some hollers around us, and we laughed as we parted.
“I will love you forever,” he said to me.
“As will I,” I whispered.
And just like that, we were man and wife. We held hands as we made our way back down the aisle towards our future.
SEAL’S SECOND CHANCE
By Ivy Jordan
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2017 Ivy Jordan
Chapter One
Isaac
Take that, wind it back. Lil Jon got the beat to make your booty go clap!
The song replayed in my head over and over again like a damn broken record. My eyes were fixated on the perfect apple-shaped bottom bouncing in front of me. It was obvious she worked out, that she worked out a lot. Damn!
I kept pace with her, only a few feet behind, but I was beginning to show signs of distress that I hoped she wouldn’t turn around to see. One year after retiring from the Navy, this private detective SEAL was tired as hell. I didn’t realize how soft I’d gotten; to look at me, I was in great shape. Fuck.
Time to get serious again, Isaac. Women like this don’t like soft men; they like em’ hard, strong, and ready to serve.
And I wanted her.
Damn, I’d like to serve her any way she wanted.
Thank God, a light. I stopped, resting my hands on my knees, bent over like an old man, not the twenty-seven-year-old ex-Navy SEAL that I was. My chest lifted and fell hard a few times until I caught my breath. I looked up, still hoping she hadn’t turned to watch my disgrace. My eyes lifted to her round ass, bouncing as her legs began to run across the street, giving me the strength to go on.
Suck it up, Isaac; you used to run forty miles in a day. You seriously gonna let this city girl show you up?
A growl rolled out of my throat, pushing past my lips with a tickling vibration. My right foot came off the curb, landing on the street where all the cars seemed content to wait for such a beautiful ass bounce by.
A couple large strides and I was behind her, almost beside her, and then the sound, the awful sound of screeching tires filled the air.
My heart beat hard in my chest, not only from being overworked the last four miles, but from the fear of knowing the thud that followed the screech would be her as I looked up.
Long, beautiful, strawberry-blonde hair spread across the ground, and the beautiful figure that had been my inspiration to get back in shape was lifeless just a few feet from a black Nissan.
A man jumped from the car, a few pedestrians rushed towards her, but I just stood there, frozen, and in disbelief for seconds that felt like an eternity. My feet finally broke free from their spot, and I ran towards her, hoping to see her smile, to say, ‘How silly of me,' or something, anything.
“Someone call for help!” the tall, gray-haired driver from the Nissan screamed.
I knelt down, touching her silky hair, begging her to please get up, to say something, to smile. Nothing.
Someone from the crowd must’ve listened to the man, because red lights filled the street, causing cars to move to the side, creating a path for the ambulance.
This wasn’t happening; this couldn’t be happening.
I stood from her side, glaring at the driver of the Nissan. My blood boiled, and all the training I received rushed through my mind. I knew twenty ways to kill him with my bare hands, and as I contemplated which way would bring him the most suffering, his eyes welled with tears. “I’m so sorry,” he pleaded. “Is this your wife?”
My wife? A police car pulled up from the north block, beating the ambulance driver by a few seconds. My heart pounded hard again, this time with pure panic. My eyes scanned the scene, stopping on a little black wallet and part of a pink phone. I moved away from the man I knew I couldn’t kill with so many witnesses, and quickly scooped up the items, sliding them into my shorts pocket.
The ambulance stopped, unloading two EMT’s who rushed to her side. I watched, hopeful, but scared, as they worked to bring her lifeless body back to life.
“Is she dead?” the gray-haired man sobbed as some stranger put her arm around him, consoling him. Consoling him? What about me?
“Can you tell me what happened?” a strong male voice caused me to turn. It was an officer, young, maybe twenty-two, still with pimples on his freckled cheeks. “Sir, can you tell me what caused the accident?”
“She-we, were running. The traffic was stopped, he ran the red light and slammed into her,” I pointed angrily at the sobbing man.
“You were running together?” the officer inquired.
I nodded, finally feeling the overwhelming pain of possibly losing her hit my gut. She wasn’t moving. If she was dead, it was all my fault. Why didn’t I stop her?
My body took over, lunging me towards the gray-haired man, ready to kill him, witnesses or not. “You fuckin’ dumbass,” I snarled as my fingers clenched around his scrawny neck. I could feel his veins bulging from his loose flesh as I squeezed a little tighter.
Zing! “Fuck!” I growled at the incredible tingle rolling through my spine. Someone fucking tazed me.
Everything went black, and then bright colors danced from the inside of my eyelids. This wasn’t my first time being tazed, so I knew not to fight it, to just fall. Someone caught me, saving my head from bashing into the ground; for that, I was thankful. Whoever it was, wasn’t strong enough to hold me. Their grip loosened, and my body slowly slid to the asphalt.
Commotion was all around me: chatter, sirens, honking horns from commuters with no empathy for the woman lying lifeless in the street. Fuck. They have dinner to get to, shuffleboard tournaments, affairs. Assholes!
“I got a pulse,” I heard a voice not far from me say.
I opened my eyes. Damn, they still burnt like hell. No change. She was still lifeless, but alive.
The nerves in my body began to slowly unravel, allowing me to regain some control. The officer that questioned me earlier extended a hand, helping me to my feet. As I stood, a fucking tazer rested in his holster where his gun would be if he were a real fucking man. Seriously? This little douche-bag tazed me?
“They have her stable. If you want to ride along, I’ll meet you at the hospital,” the officer offered with a weakly apologetic tone.
“Yes,” I blurted, eager to be by her side.
“I’ll get all her information then,” he nudged me towards the EMTs, who were already loading the beautiful, lifeless body into the ambulance.
One of the EMTs stayed in the back of the ambulance, while the other took his position at the driver’s seat. The sirens sounded loudly, and without hesitation, we were off, full blast towards the hospital.
“Your girlfriend?” the EMT asked as he started an IV in her hand.
My eyes glared at the diamond ring on her finger, “Fiancée.”
His eyes saddened, as if to apologize for her condition. She is going to make it. She is going to be fine, right?
“I’m so sorry,” I sobbed, gripping her hand in mine.
They were tiny, and cold, but so beautiful. “What’s her name?” The EMT asked.
“Maddie,” I blurted before I was able to come up with anything else. I didn’t want them to know her name. I didn’t want anyone to know her name.
The ambulance pulled into the hospital, stopping at a wide set of white doors. Doctor’s rushed to the entrance, holding the doors open wide as the EMT unloaded Maddie from the truck. Her long hair hung over the bed, her eyes remained shut with such relaxation she looked as if she were simply taking a nap. If not for the blood, the dirt, and the scrapes, I could imagine her resting, not struggling to stay alive.
“Female, twenties, jogger hit by a car, vitals are weak, but present, Maddie is her name,” the EMT spouted as he handed her off to the doctors at the door. “This is her fiancé,” he added, looking at me with question.
“Isaac,” I gave him my name, and then he patted my back, smiled, and moved towards the passenger side of the truck.
I followed behind the stretcher that carried her, praying that she’d be okay. “You’ll need to wait here,” a tall, blonde, female doctor instructed. Her finger pointed to a small waiting room next to a nurses’ station and soda machine. I didn’t want to wait there. I wanted to be by her side.
The female doctor and two others wheeled her away as I stood frozen on the white tiled floor of the emergency room. Nurses quickly followed, pushing carts into a small room, where if I stretched, I could still see inside. “She’s in good hands,” an older woman wearing purple scrubs assured me. Her chunky hand gripped my forearm, pulling me towards the waiting area as the curtain closed.
I sat down in one of the blue leather chairs as instructed by the older nurse. The leather was obviously fake, squeaking as I pushed back into the seat to find comfort. My neck stretched outward, trying to see or hear what was going on in the small room, but not quite far enough.
Nurses and doctors rushed in and out of the curtain Maddie was hidden behind, none with faces that offered reassurance. “Sir,” one of the doctors, a stubby man with no hair and thick eyeglasses, said as he walked towards me. I quickly stood, fearful of the news he planned to deliver.
“You’re the fiancé?” he asked. I nodded. Brace yourself, Isaac. “Are there any family members we can contact?” he questioned.
My chest tightened, and my knees began to buckle beneath me. “No,” I sighed.
“No parents, children?” he questioned.
No, fuckin’ no; just tell me!
“She has swelling on the brain. We’d like to take her to surgery right away, but would need consent if at all possible,” he explained.
Relief fell over me like rain on a hot summer’s day. “Yes. Will that fix her?” I asked.
“There is no guarantee it will. But, if we don’t perform the surgery soon, she will not survive,” he instructed.
I nodded, unable to speak. He pushed a clipboard towards me with a form attached. “Sign here,” he pointed to the authorization. I scribbled my name and then watched as his stubby finger pointed towards the top line on the page. “We just need you to put her full name and birthdate at the top.”
My hand shook as I gripped the pen, slowly lifting it to the space at the top of the page. I ignored the fact that her ID said she was Maddie Stewart, born on December thirtieth, nineteen ninety-two, and wrote down Maddie Grubbs, born November eleventh, nineteen ninety-three. I didn’t want anyone looking for her, or worse, finding her. Especially the one guy that didn’t deserve her. I would keep her safe and make sure she had everything she needed until she woke up.
The scribblings satisfied the doctor enough for him to nod, and then turn back towards the small room. I followed behind him, determined to see her once more. “Sir, you can’t come in here,” the female doctor ordered as soon as she noticed me enter the curtain.
“I want to see her before surgery,” I insisted, not stopping until I reached the side of her bed.
Her body looked so frail, so tiny under the white hospital sheets. They’d stripped her out of her clothes, which they’d bundled up beside her on a small chair covered with plastic.
“It’s a good thing you were with her. She didn’t have any ID on her,” one of the nurses informed me.
I leaned in, brushing Maddie’s strawberry-blonde hair from her forehead and letting my finger graze across the small scar just between her eyebrows. It was a characteristic that most would’ve missed, but not me.
“I love you, Maddie,” I whispered in her ear, and kissed the scar.
“We have to go,” the blonde doctor demanded, pushing the bed away from me as I stood there, tearing up, scared, hopeful, and unsure if I was doing the right thing.