Page 16 of Fall of the Trident
Now she really felt like an outsider.Could she fake a headache and get away with returning to the car?
“Daddy,” an excited female voice called from close to the hostess stand.
A male hand appeared far above the crowd waving them to come forward.“Dad, we already have a table.”
When Trevor pushed her forward, Marta almost stumbled and fell into the crowd in front of them.“Excuse me,” he said in that commanding voice.
“Sir,” the man in front of them stepped back and drew his children to his sides.A glance at the young man was all it took.She could pick out a sailor in a stadium filled with military, but he wasn’t a SEAL.She could instantly tell that difference, as well.Others quickly followed suit, and they were next to his children in seconds.
“Come on,” the handsome young man who looked like a younger version of his father gestured for her to follow the pretty young woman with blonde hair curled in spirals down her back.“We’ll do introductions at the table.”
Marta took a deep breath and reminded herself she didn’t have to impress anyone.She was who she was, and she was comfortable being Marta Merkel.
Chapter6
Trevor wasnervous for the first time in…he couldn’t remember when he’d ever been this unsure.Was he doing the right thing by bringing Marta to lunch?
Sure.She had to eat, and he certainly couldn’t leave her in the car while he enjoyed lunch with his children.That would be beyond rude.And the restaurant was on the way to the airport.
Then why the hell did this feel like he was sixteen years old and brought a girlfriend home for Sunday brunch?
As a young SEAL officer, many times he’d led his platoon deep inside enemy lines to rescue a high-value target, or eliminate one, and he’d never felt this unsure.When he was a lieutenant commander, he’d been responsible for forty lives every time he sent his troop into combat with complete confidence.As a SEAL Team commanding officer, and U.S.Navy commander, three hundred men depended on him to make the right decision and he’d never been this apprehensive.That number multiplied tenfold when as a captain he’d commanded Group 2 without being this anxious.
When it came to his job, he’d always been in control of the situation as well as his emotions.
His heartbeat had increased.He was hyperaware of everything around him and extremely tuned in to his children’s reactions.Had Linda walked more stiff than usual?Was Levi’s smile forced?Were Sam’s lips pressed together in a straight line?Did the other people in the restaurant believe they were family?
Then there was Carol.There had always been Carol.
After the love of his life, his wife of twenty-five years, passed away too quickly, he’d bound up his heart to fill the hole she’d left.As though it were bleeding, he’d wrapped layer after layer around it in hopes to stop the pain.It had worked for years, but since he’d moved to California, everything had seemed different.
Carol had made him promise that he’d move on.She’d been so strong, especially at the end.Trevor, my love, if you were truly happily married to me, and I believe you were, then find someone else who makes you happy.I’m sorry I won’t be there to grow old with you.My greatest fear is your loneliness.I want you to find a wonderful woman who makes you happy just to be around.You need a woman in your life.Promise me you won’t stay single for very long!She’d demanded his response.
With tears running down his cheeks, he promised her.At the time, it felt like a lie.He couldn’t imagine his life with anyone else but Carol.
As she lay in that hospital bed, looking so small, seeming so frail, he would have promised her anything if it would have removed one ounce of her stress.She needed every grain of fortitude to fight the losing battle.They’d acknowledged from the moment of the pancreatic cancer diagnosis that her days were limited.
Carol had known him better than he’d known himself.He missed being married.He missed having someone to come home to, someone to talk with other than the men and women he worked with all day.Someone to touch other than his children.It had taken a long time, but damn it, he missed sex.
He glanced at the woman beside him with dark brown hair waving over her shoulders, silver strands glinting in the midday sun streaming through the huge picture window overlooking the water.Maybe she was a steppingstone.Maybe she was his rock.He wouldn’t know until he took that first step.
“Marta, I’d like you to meet my children.”His cheeks twinged from all the smiling he’d been doing lately.“This is my oldest son, Levi, and my twins, Linda and Samuel.”He was such a proud father when his children leaned across the table to shake her hand.
“We’ve met,” Levi chuckled.“I was just a kid when Dad was stationed on the West Coast.I think we were in the big office getting new ID cards.If I remember right, we’d only been there a day or two.”He looked to his father for confirmation.
“Could be.”Trevor shrugged.“I’m sorry, son, I don’t remember.”
“Mom was busy wrangling the twins and Dad was dealing with the paperwork.You had all kinds of pretty rocks on your desk, and I had to touch them.”Levi smiled as though it was such a fond memory.
Marta’s hand flew to cover her mouth.“Oh my gosh.I remember that.You were fascinated by the amethyst geode.”
His son’s smile grew even larger.“You gave it to me.”
“Yes, I did.”Marta went on to explain, “John, my husband, used to bring me home rocks from every mission.Sometimes it was just a pretty pebble he’d found God knows where.A few times he purchased semi-precious stones from street vendors.”
Her gaze met Trevor’s.“He bought me that malachite egg that still sits on my desk when he was in Africa.”Her attention returned to Levi.“Although we have amethyst geodes in the United States, that one came from Brazil.The stones were his way of letting me know he thought about me while he was away.I can’t believe you remembered that.You must have been six or seven years old.”
“I remembered everything you told me about the rock and took it to class for show and tell the first week of school.It was always hard being the new kid, but I had the pretty purple rock.”Levi seemed extremely proud of himself.
