Chapter Three
Two years had passed since Diesel had made love to the beautiful fairy princess with no name. He’d often dreamed of her, but the SEAL missions he was sent on kept him busy deployed to the middle east, and one year had slid into two, until he’d thought of her less and less. She was now a fond memory and a good dream when she showed up in his dreamtime.
This week he was back in town on base and his father was visiting. It was great seeing his dad and showing him around, introducing him to the guys. His father wasn’t getting any younger, and the pride in his eyes said everything to Diesel.
Ben Taylor was enjoying the visit with his son but it would soon be at an end.
His son had been called in for a meeting and would be shipping out soon. Since they couldn’t have lunch together today, Ben decided to pick up lunch somewhere and take it to the park to enjoy the great weather. Too soon he’d have to go back home where the weather wasn’t as nice. Sitting on a park bench, he watched as a little boy about two years of age played in the park.
Something about the boy drew his eye.
As the boy got closer, Ben blinked twice to clear his eyes and then rubbed them, but nothing changed and the sense of déjà vu could not be blinked or rubbed away.
The boy playing in the park had dark wavy hair and dark brown eyes, and his voice sounded just like Tanner when he was two years old.
Ben could have stepped back in time to be looking at his own son. The boy resembled Tanner so much it was uncanny.
As he spoke, the boys voice took Ben back twenty-six years. He had to be Tanner’s. His gaze went immediately to the mother. She was young, with long brown hair, and green eyes. She wasn’t wearing a ring.
Was she a single mom? Had she dated Tanner?
He had to find out. He didn’t want to alarm the woman or make her think he was some kind of creep trying to get close to her for nefarious purposes.
How could he ask the questions pressing on him that he wanted to ask?
Ben watched mother and child walk to the parking lot, holding hands and then he stood up, gathering his half eaten sandwich and wrapper. Following them, he dropped the rest of his sandwich into the trashcan that he passed on the way. His appetite was gone.
Mother and child moved toward an older model blue Chrysler with a red door. It had obviously been in an accident. He hoped neither of them had been hurt.
She opened the car door and put the boy into his car seat. Then she buckled him in and closed the door. Getting into the drivers seat she closed the door and turned the car ignition over.
Her car wouldn’t start. He could see the frustration on her face.
A grin crossed his face. Good thing I’m a mechanic, he thought. I can fix this and maybe learn more about her and the boy.
He walked over to their car and said, “Having car trouble? Can I help?”
“It won’t start.”
“Pop the hood and I’ll take a look at it.”
She popped the hood.
He went around to the front of the car, lifted the hood and looked inside. Then he came back around to the window and said. “I see your problem. Let me show you.”
She got out and checked on her child in the back seat in his car seat before walking around to the front of the car with him. The boy was starting to doze off.
“It’s getting close to his nap time,” she said.
“He’s a cute little tyke. What’s the boys name?” Ben asked.
“His full name is Marcus Benjamin, but we all call him Ben.” She smiled. “He seems too little to be a Marcus, or even a Marc.”
Ben had frozen when he heard the boy’s name. If Tanner was his dad, then his mother had named the boy after his grandfather. His emotions threatened to overtake him and rare were the times in his life that this had happened. He blinked away a tear, focusing on the car again, redirecting his mind with a firm control. “Here’s your problem,” he said. “See all this corrosion on this battery terminal?”
“What corrosion?” She asked.
“See this salty looking white stuff?”
“Yes,” she said.
He grabbed the negative terminal and the loose wire came right off. “It’s loose. That’s what’s causing this.” He pulled his Leatherman multi tool out of his pocket.
“That looks like a big Swiss army knife.”
He pulled out the blade and scraped as much of the corrosion off as he could. Then he put the wire back on the terminal and took a pair of pliers and tightened the nut. “Now try it,” he said.
She got back in the car and tried the ignition again. It started right up.
He closed the hood with a bang. “You should be good to go now, but you might want to get this checked out by your mechanic. I don’t have my other tools with me. It would be a good idea to have a good mechanic go over this car. Cars this age need good maintenance to keep them running.”
“Yes, I should probably do that. Thank you. Are you a mechanic? I don’t have one.”
“Yes, but I live in another state. My son is also a mechanic and a Navy SEAL. If you need some work done, I’m sure he’d be willing to help you when he’s not off on deployment. His name is Tanner. Tanner Taylor. ” He watched her face but not even one iota of change came over her, when she heard his son’s name. So he tried again. “But all his SEAL buddies call him Diesel.” Again, she showed no reaction. Ben wasn’t sure what to think now. His gut was telling him that the little boy, who was now dozing in his car seat, had to be Tanners. “I’m Ben Tanner.”
She held out her hand. “I’m Pippa. It’s nice to meet you. Thank you again for fixing my car.”
“You’re welcome,” he said. “Well you’d best be getting the little fella home, to sleep in his own bed.”
Soon Pippa and Ben were on their way home and Ben had the information he’d wanted. She was a single mom. The boy was two. And his name was Ben.
This irony was unbelievable to Ben Taylor.
The boy had to be Tanners. And it was time he had a talk with his son.
****
The next day Ben took Tanner out for breakfast. On the way he’d been quieter than usual so it was a relief to Diesel when they ordered and Ben finally said, “Son, I asked you to breakfast because I have something serious to tell you and I wanted to do it early, before you have to go to the base and have other things to focus on.”
“Are you all right dad?” Tanner grew serious. “Is it your health?”
“No, no.” Ben waved that away with his hand. “Nothing like that.”
Tanner sat back in his chair, relieved. Whatever his dad had to say, everything would be fine.
Nothing to worry about.
As long as his dad’s health was good, everything would be okay. His dad had no idea of the things Diesel had seen and had done under orders. Things a civilian might worry about were easy, compared to those life or death situations the SEAL’s lived in and around. He took a sip of his coffee, ready to listen.
“You’ve slept with a lot of women, according to your brother, Andy.”
“A few.” Diesel wondered where this was going. Was his dad going to ask him about sex? Or picking up women?
“Locally too, I imagine.”
“Yes, a few live here.” Diesel hoped his dad didn’t want to be fixed up with a local woman he’d dated. He hoped it wasn’t that because he wasn’t okay with that.
Ben cleared his throat. “Good.” He took a swallow of his coffee and then continued. “I was in the park the other day and saw a young woman with a small child who was playing.”
Diesel nodded, wishing his dad would get to the point and stop dragging his feet with whatever he had to say. Out with it dad is what he wanted to say, but instead he just nodded, giving his dad the time and respect he deserved.
“Her little boy is two years old and he looks and sounds just like you. So much he could be a clone of you at that age.”
“Really?” Diesel frowned and tried to think back two years to remember if he’d been dating anyone local that year.
“Yes. And I want you to take this seriously.”
Diesel nodded. He had slept with several local women, but not in that year. They all wanted to chase you into their beds, so they could brag that they’d slept with a SEAL. He’d enjoyed it at first, but it had gotten old real quick. So he’d stopped dating the locals.
“I wasn’t dating anyone local that year.” He sat, thinking. “I shipped out Nov first and before that, I was dating an a woman who lived in Las Vegas. We broke up at the end of August.”
“Did you go out with anyone local that year? Even for one night?”
“No, I didn’t…” his voice trailed away as his thoughts churned. “Wait. There was a Halloween party. And a beautiful girl who wouldn’t give me her phone number. But that was just one brief evening event.”
“So you didn’t sleep with her?”
“We uh, got together dad, so technically, yes.”
“Then technically, I would say that this Pippa is the same girl and her little boy is your son and my grandson.”
“That’s crazy.”
“No. It’s not. And you need to talk to this girl Pippa and meet the boy.”
Their food came and Diesel was suddenly starving. “Let’s shelve this for now and dig in,” he said. He didn’t want the topic to ruin his meal. He’d deal with this later. He needed to eat and then get back to the base and work.
****
Full of boundless energy and the smile and face of a Gerber baby, Pippa often looked at little Ben, lifted him into the air, and looking into his eyes said, “You’re a handsome boy, just like your daddy.”
If only she knew who and where his daddy was. He was missing out on seeing this beautiful child grow up. This child, who was now her whole world. There were only so many SEAL’s in the world. She just didn’t know how to find hers, or if he’d even want to be found. What if he didn’t want anything to do with Ben?
****
Stan Nitty was finally out of prison. He collected his personal belongings and walked out a free man, after serving three years. Now he was going to find Joyce. It was time he got his wife back. He’d been inside the joint a long time without a woman and he wanted to sink into her softness again and take what was his.
The search only took him a week. Joyce hadn’t been very careful, even though she’d changed her name. Pippa. What a ridiculous name.
His cellmate knew a guy who could find anyone. Everyone left an electronic trail of some kind. It took him just two days to find Joyce, now calling herself Pippa, now lived in San Diego and worked at a grocery store there.
Maybe she thought he couldn’t find her after he was sent to prison. Or maybe she thought he’d give up. But he would never give up on taking back what was his.
Now that he’d found her, he couldn’t believe his eyes. She was there in the park with a toddler, around two years of age. A little boy with dark curly hair and brown eyes. The boy that looked nothing like him. And anyone who could count would know that the child couldn’t possibly be his.
So the bitch had spread her legs for another man. And now she had a baby. A boy. She’d let some other man fuck her and then had a son that should’ve been mine. How dare she. I picked her out especially to be mine. She’d been young and beautiful and untouched. A virgin. She should’ve been popping out sons every couple of years to carry on the Nitty name. Little Stan juniors I could teach to hunt and fish. Now she’s tainted herself.
He was so angry he couldn’t see straight. When he got his hands on her, he’d make her pay. Before, he would’ve tried to woo her. He’d day dreamed of that and of keeping her naked in the bed to please him. But all that was over now. She wants to behave like a slut, and then she’ll be treated like one. And she’d just given him the best way possible to control her. Because he knew his wife like the back of his hand.
She’ll do anything to make sure nothing happens to that boy.