Page 29 of Spring UnVeiled
“Are you ready to eat?”He held open his arms.“Or hugs first?”
She stepped into his arms.“I don’t know what I would’ve done without you.”
Just then, Ian started to cry.
“I’ll get him if you’ll dish up.”Before she could argue, Evan was halfway up the stairs.By the time he changed the baby and brought him downstairs, Genevieve had a bottle prepared in their meal served.
Memories of feeding Kylie and eating quickly came back.He remembered how he would hold her in the crook of his arm with a bottle in one hand and feeding his face with the other.
Halfway through the meal, Genevieve asked, “Before I made the call, did you tell me that you needed to go to the office tomorrow morning?”
“Yeah, if you don’t mind handling Ian all morning, I’ll take care of him in the afternoon.I’m sure there are things that you need to do.”
“Matter of fact, I need to go into my classroom and work with the substitute, showing her how to perform the science experiments the kids are supposed to do this week.”She grimaced.“I think I’ll wait until after school is out, if that’s okay with you.I don’t want to confuse the children.”
“No problem.”Evan glanced at the refrigerator.“I’ll have supper waiting.Take your time.After we finish supper, can you put him back to bed?I need to run over to my temporary quarters and grab a clean uniform and something to sleep in.Do you have extra sheets for the couch?”
“I do.I’ll have it made up for you by the time you get back.”
Tired, but with four straight hours of sleep, and another three interrupted by diapers and bottles, Evan felt pretty good when he approached Ms.Merkel’s desk.Before he could ask to see the vice admiral, the vivacious admin stood.
“How was the first night with the baby?”
“It went well,” he admitted with a grin.“We’re just glad to have him home.”He changed the subject.“I wanted to personally thank you for everything you’ve done to help us with all the arrangements.”Evan shrugged.“There’s really nothing we need to do until Thursday, so I decided to come in and see if I could get some work done.”
Ms.Merkel looked uncomfortable.“I hope you don’t mind, but yesterday when Genevieve and I were looking at pictures, I grabbed a few for your office.I also took a couple of Ian and framed them.”
His grin grew into an appreciative smile.“That was very thoughtful of you.All my pictures are still in the moving van.”
“You’re very welcome.”Marta sat back down and picked up her desk phone.A minute later, he was given permission to enter the vice admiral’s office.
“Captain Hubbard, what the fuck are you doing here?”His mentor said as soon as the door was closed.
“After the stack of papers you handed me yesterday, I figured I could get a jumpstart on the new job.Genevieve is watching the baby this morning, and I’ll take over diaper duty this afternoon when she goes into her classroom.”
“I could tell yesterday that something was on your mind.Talk to me.”The vice admiral leaned back in his tall chair.
This was one of the many reasons that Evan enjoyed being under the command of Vice Admiral Maddox.The man could read him well.Their leadership styles were very similar.
“I want to make a statement to every single SEAL, and even the sailors and civilians in support roles.”
The senior officer nodded his approval.“You never got the typical change of command where speeches were expected.”
“Sir, although I’d like to address the entire Group at the first opportunity, I want tomakea statement.”At Evan’s grin, Vice Admiral Maddox started to nod his head up and down.“A hard slap.I want every SEAL taken out in shackles who is involved in the human trafficking that Commander Brenner brought to our attention.”
“I fucking love this idea.”The vice admiral reached for the phone.Within five minutes, Commander Brenner entered the office.After brief greetings, the admiral nodded to Evan.
“Since your chiefs brought the information about the human trafficking to us, I wanted to give them the first opportunity to help us take it down.”Evan held the commander’s gaze.
“Undercover work here in the U.S.A.?A secret mission?”Commander Brenner smiled.“They’d love it.My men were appalled by what the seamen apprentice told them.”He hesitated.“If they are going to go into the parties, they would be expected to partake of the offerings.”He shook his head side to side.“Everyone on that team is either married, engaged, or has a serious girlfriend.They wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize those relationships.Besides, they’re on leave until next Sunday.By the sounds of it, you want someone to get in there immediately.”
“I do,” Captain Hubbard admitted.“Maybe they can get involved by arresting people.”
Commander Brenner smiled.“They’d love that.”
After the commander left, Evan asked, “Do you have another suggestion?”
Picking up the phone, Vice Admiral Maddox simply smiled.
