Expecting the SEAL’s Baby by Katie Knight
Twenty-Two
With the light on, Gina took her first good look at her brother. He’d probably dropped twenty pounds from his already lean form, making him a walking skeleton. The remains of bruises and cuts, some old, others new, were all over the exposed skin on his face, neck, and arms. She shuddered to think what she’d find under his shirt.
“Water first,” she said, handing him a canteen, but taking it from him when his hand shook too much, and the water spilled down his chin. “Let me.” She allowed him to drink a small amount of water only, worried that he’d be sick in his weak condition after the run through the jungle.
“Thanks,” he said, leaning back against the wall.
“Anything broken?” She began running her hands over him, checking for broken ribs. He winced when she fingered his left side, so she pulled up the edge of his shirt. A black and purple bruise two inches in diameter showed on his rib cage. “Definitely broken.”
“Probably just cracked,” he said, but he didn’t say how he’d come by that injury. She imagined it was the strike of a boot.
“An X-ray will show.” Next, she shone her penlight into his eyes, checking the pupils. Thankfully there was no sign of a head injury, but he was beat up, exhausted, and malnourished. Recovery was going to take time.
“Stop fussing, Gina,” Blake said. “I’ll be fine.”
“After about a month of recuperation and plenty of mom’s good cooking,” she said and got a smile from him. He’d need a full medical exam when they reached civilization, but, thankfully, there was nothing to worry her immediately about his condition.
“Are you well enough to talk?” Jeremy was beside her, looking down at his friend.
“Yeah, I think so,” Blake said, and Gina sat down with him to listen. From her place she could see Jeremy’s face as Blake began his story. “Several weeks before my abduction, I started to think that something was off on our team. I’d intercepted some strange communications, but I couldn’t track the source. Then, Nabi,” Blake turned to Gina, “he was an informant for me. Anyway, he reported that someone was amassing guns, storing them in a nearby cave. Nabi could be unreliable, so I didn’t jump on the information right away. I waited and watched, apparently for too long.”
“You left me a message,” Gina said, again wishing that she’d listened to it sooner or picked up the call. Would it have prevented all this from happening if she had?
“I wanted to talk it over with someone on the outside,” Blake said.
“Why didn’t you come to me?” Jeremy asked, making Gina wonder if that had been eating him up inside.
“I thought it was nothing at first,” Blake said. “To be honest, man, I was hoping I was wrong. I know how much you love the team and I didn’t want to put those ideas in your head until I was sure. I was planning to share my findings with you when we returned from that mission. I never got the chance. The firefight started, and we all scattered for cover. Next thing I knew, I woke up in a cave with my head aching. How’d they drag me out of there without anyone seeing?”
“It was a total shitshow, man.” Jeremy paced around the small hut. “Absolute chaos. Not that that’s an excuse. How long did they keep you in Afghanistan? Do you know?”
“Six days. I didn’t have much else to do but track time and listen,” Blake said. “I overheard enough of their conversations to know they were waiting for a leader to come and make the decision. He finally did and Percy was with him.”
Jeremy’s face showed surprise and then intense anger. “That son of a bitch. I knew he was involved, but I never would have thought he’d be so blatant about it. He wanted to rub it in that you’d been captured.”
“Not only that, he told me five guys had been injured, and you’d been blamed for the incident and tossed out of the SEALs, forced to retire because of it. Is that true?”
“It is,” Jeremy confirmed. “I’ll fill you in more later. What happened next?”
“They flew me out on a cargo plane that was loaded with stolen weapons. We landed here, and I was transported to that compound. It took me awhile to figure out I was in Colombia. I learned most of what I know by eavesdropping on the guards. I couldn’t understand at first why they hadn’t just killed me back in Afghanistan. Apparently, part of it was because they wanted to know if I’d clued in anyone else about my suspicions. They interrogated me—not very well. But when weeks passed and no one came along to shut them down, I guess they figured they were in the clear. After that, they only kept me around because they were worried about retaliation for killing a SEAL, afraid it would blow the lid off their operation.”
“So they found another way to stop your investigation.”
“Yeah, and they kept me around as some sort of insurance policy in case they needed it. They were planning to ship the weapons they’d gathered to the U.S. soon. After that I might have outlived my usefulness.”
“Don’t say that.” Gina had been silent throughout, but she couldn’t hold back anymore. The matter-of-fact way he talked about his own death made her skin crawl—especially when she considered how close they’d gotten to that point.
“You got here in time, and what the hell are you doing here?” Her brother’s gaze was focused on her.
She gave him a little smile. “I convinced Jeremy to let me come along.”
Jeremy snorted. “Convinced isn’t the right word. Strong-armed is a better choice.”
She eyed him, sensing his annoyance with her. “I had skills you needed. It was a mutually beneficial agreement.”
“Which you’ve violated more than once, like tonight,” Jeremy said. “Why were you running through the jungle toward gunfire? What did you think you were going to do when you got there?”
Did they have to have this conversation right then when her brother had just been rescued? But since Jeremy seemed to want to call her out for her actions, she was forced to respond. “I heard the helicopter and gunfire so I—”
“Ran straight for them,” Jeremy finished her sentence.
“I told you I don’t like being left behind and not knowing what’s happening. You might have needed me. Besides, it all worked out, didn’t it?” Gina questioned, rising to her feet with her fists balled on her hips.
“Whoa, you two,” Blake said, holding up his hands. “Take a step back. I owe you both a debt I can never repay. I hope you haven’t driven each other too crazy in the process of finding me.”
They had driven each other crazy, just not in the way Blake had thought. Gina sat back down, her shoulder rubbing against her brother as she tried to curb her emotions. Part of her was angry at Jeremy for his highhandedness, but that would pass. The rest of her was wondering why they weren’t being honest with her brother about their relationship. What would he say if he knew she and Jeremy were lovers and were having a baby together?
She could say it, make an announcement, but the timing didn’t feel right with the amount of tension flowing between her and Jeremy. She would tell Blake everything, but not now. She needed a chance to talk to Jeremy alone first because they had stuff to sort out, and her brother needed to recover from his ordeal.
“I owed it to you to find you,” Jeremy said, filling the silence. “And I needed to clear my name, too.” Jeremy told Blake what he’d figured out about his informant in Afghanistan and the details of his forced retirement. He shared things that he hadn’t so far with her.
“They’ll be begging you to come back,” Blake said when Jeremy had finished talking.
“That’s what I’m counting on.” Jeremy met her gaze for just a second before looking away. That was definitely one of the unresolved issues between them.
She closed her eyes, feeling uncertainty about their future. A few days before she’d been sure that they could and would build a life together for their child. But was that possible if he was planning to sign back up? He’d be overseas on an extended mission in no time. Would he even be home for the birth of their child? The thought that he wouldn’t ate at her. She knew she had to talk with him about it.
So maybe it was for the best that they kept the details to themselves and didn’t tell Blake everything that had happened between them. Eventually, she’d explain about the baby. If she had to, if Jeremy didn’t want what she wanted and they ended up going their separate ways, she’d put a different spin on what they’d had and claim she and Jeremy had been seeking comfort from each other. Or that it had been part of the adventure of finding Blake and just one of those things that happened.
Whatever she said, she’d make sure her brother didn’t know how hurt she felt at that moment. Life would return to normal, or almost normal, and she’d go on no matter what part Jeremy decided to play in it.
The sound of a helicopter drew Jeremy’s attention to the door. “Our extraction team’s here. We need to be ready to move out.” He didn’t direct his words at either of them, which she thought was telling of their relationship. He was already removing himself from the personal with her.
“Jeremy Quinn?” A man with a medical insignia on his chest appeared in the doorway of the hut five minutes later. Jeremy stepped outside and talked with him before returning to her and Blake. “The rescue crew said the compound has been seized and arrests made. It’s going to take some time to clean this mess up, but it looks like they won’t be dealing in weapons any longer.”
“Good, those bastards deserve whatever happens to them,” Blake said. His voice was raspy, indicating his exhaustion.
“Agreed. They’re ready to fly us to where they’ve got a full medical team standing by. We just need to walk to the landing site. Think you can make it?” he asked Blake.
“If one of these two will let me lean on them.” Blake got to his feet and swayed slightly.
“Lean on me,” Jeremy said, getting between them. “Gina’s been through a lot herself.”
She almost smiled at his phrasing and half expected him to announce her pregnancy to Blake, but he said nothing as they made their way to the helicopter. For her brother’s sake she was glad about the medical team, and she hoped that they’d have the equipment to check the baby to put her mind at rest.
* * *
Blake and Gina rested against each other on the rescue chopper. Jeremy saw Gina take her brother’s hand in hers as they talked in low voices. Jeremy sat across from them, not understanding that kind of sibling relationship. He’d known nothing like it with Dean, even if his brother had been on standby with help in the current situation. In any circumstances, Jeremy couldn’t imagine snuggling up with his brother and exchanging confidences.
Jeremy wondered what Gina was saying to Blake. She’d had the opportunity back in the hut to tell him about the baby but hadn’t. And he didn’t think that she was conveying it now. He’d kept his mouth shut, too, following her lead. It felt wrong to keep it a secret, but he relied on her to know best. Maybe she didn’t want to overwhelm Blake. There would be plenty of time to share it once they knew he was on the road to recovery.
“We were deep in the jungle,” Blake was looking out the window when he spoke loud enough for Jeremy to hear him. “How’d you guys find me?”
“I guess Gina and I make a good team,” Jeremy said. Her eyes briefly met his.
Blake laughed. “Sure, I’ll bet that’s it. Last I checked, you two were famous for picking fights with each other, not working together.”
Gina stayed silent, not mentioning how their relationship had changed. Was she worried about Blake’s reaction? Jeremy had to admit to some reservations on that same score himself. If his best friend found out that Jeremy had gotten his sister pregnant, would he see it as a betrayal of their friendship? Given how protective Blake was of his little sister, it was a very real possibility. And Blake wouldn’t be wrong to feel that way. Sleeping with Gina had definitely been a violation of the “bro” code.
Jeremy knew that Gina was supposed to be off-limits to him. That had been surprisingly easy to ignore when they were together, but now that Blake was back in the picture, things got complicated. He thought Blake would be happy for them, eventually, but there might be words and punches exchanged before that happened.
He’d worry about that when it later. For now, he was more concerned about what was going on in Gina’s head. He wasn’t able to read her mood at all.
Thirty minutes later, they landed at a camp, nestled between mountains and jungle. A medical team boarded the helicopter and took Blake away with them, promising to provide an update on his condition soon. Jeremy shouldered his bag and disembarked, waiting for Gina. He put a hand out to help her when she came down the steps of the chopper, but she didn’t take it.
“Gina, we need to talk,” he said, wanting to confront the problem between them head-on.
“I know, but not now. I’m…” She looked toward where Blake was being taken into a building with a red cross painted on its side.
“I get it. You’ve got other worries,” Jeremy said, “but I thought you’d tell Blake about the baby at least. Why didn’t you?”
“I will, just not yet.” Her face was pale again. Was it just exhaustion or something else? “He’s got enough to manage without me adding to it.”
“I don’t want to keep this from him for long. He’s too important to both of us.” And then something else occurred to him. “Are you worried that the baby isn’t okay?” She’d assured him that the cramps were gone, but what if they’d come back—or some other problem had emerged? She’d been through so much. The stress alone couldn’t be good for her.
“I think she is, but I don’t know. I can’t be sure,” she said, and he noticed she was trembling slightly.
“You’ll tell me,” he said.
“I will, I’m just…”
A female orderly came and lightly touched Gina’s arm. “I was told to take you for a medical assessment, miss.”
“Thanks,” Gina said to the woman. “I’ll see you soon, Jeremy. Try not to worry and get some rest.” She walked away without a touch or a backward glance, leaving Jeremy feeling bereft and confused.
Had she reached some sort of decision about them during the past hours? It seemed that she had, but what conclusion had she reached? Did she see raising a baby with him as being too stressful? And if that was the case, was she going to cut him out of her life—and out of their baby’s life?
He didn’t want to think about that. He needed some sleep. It was nearly dawn, twenty-four hours since he’d last slept. Exhaustion was clouding his judgment, or at least, he hoped that’s what the problem was.