The Seal's Secret Child. Elisabeth Rees
know all about parakeets,” Archie said, already climbing the stairs to return to his cool new room. “I can teach you.” He continued speaking even as he rounded the bend in the stairs and disappeared from view. “Boy budgies talk better than girl budgies. That’s why I got a boy.”
Josie pulled her cashmere cardigan tightly around her waist as she stared up the empty staircase. “He sure loves that budgie,” she said in a faraway tone. “It’s his best friend.”
“Are you okay?” Blade asked, going to stand next to her in the wide hallway. “Do you like the house?”
Josie glanced absentmindedly around the brand-new family home still smelling of fresh paint. The house was set in a recent development on the outskirts of Wichita, where every home was almost identical: large and detached with a perfectly clipped lawn. Inside, the overwhelming presence of the color beige created an insipid and characterless interior, broken up only by the occasional potted plant. But it was comfortable, with big fabric sofas and a wide-screen TV. Blade wouldn’t have cared if Detective Sykes had taken them to a barn in a field. As long as he was with Josie and Archie, this was all that mattered.
When Josie didn’t answer his question, Blade put a hand on her arm, and she shrank away from his touch.
“It’s nice,” she said, shivering slightly. “A little cold, perhaps, but the thermostat just got switched on.” She walked to a heating vent in the wall and leaned against it. “There are a lot of stairs, so maybe you’d like to choose one of the downstairs rooms as your bedroom.”
“Stairs are no problem for me,” he said.
“Are you sure? I’m sorry. I didn’t think to ask about accessibility.”
“I said that stairs aren’t a problem for me,” he said, injecting a little annoyance into his voice. She was trying to be helpful but failing miserably. “I might sleep on the first floor, anyway,” he continued. “I’d like to stay close to all the points of entry.”
Josie fell silent. Something else was bothering her.
He tried to catch her eye. “What’s up?”
She took her time to respond. “I’m not sure that this is a good arrangement.”
“What do you mean?” Was she asking him to leave?
Josie clearly struggled to contain her tears when speaking. “I don’t think it’s safe for Archie to be with me right now. It’s not fair to him. What if that crazy man finds me here?” She pointed to the front door. “You saw what happened on the drive over here. This guy doesn’t care who gets caught up in the cross fire. Archie could end up...” She couldn’t finish the sentence, and put a hand over her mouth to stop a cry from escaping.
“A detective will be stationed here twenty-four hours a day,” Blade said. “And there are panic buttons in every room. Plus, I’ll be here around the clock. I promise to protect our son with my own life if necessary.”
She looked him straight in the eye, her green irises glinting like jade. “School starts back next week. What are you going to do then? Sit with him in class? Stand guard in the school yard at recess?”
Blade heard the hostility in her voice, but he knew it was caused by fear. “Archie is in first grade,” he said. “He can take a couple of weeks off school, surely? We’ll homeschool him for a while. Between the two of us, plus your dad, I think we’ve got all bases covered.”
She sighed heavily. “We can’t keep him cooped up in this house all day every day. He needs to see his friends. He needs to be a normal little boy.”
Blade began to wonder what Josie was skirting around. “What are you suggesting we do? It seems like you have a plan already but are shy about sharing it.”
“I think he should go stay with my aunt in Nebraska for a while. It seems like the safest option.”
Blade didn’t like this option at all. “How is it safer? He’ll be unprotected there.”
“Don’t you see?” Josie replied. “My attacker isn’t interested in hurting Archie. He’s only interested in hurting me. And if he finds me here, he might target Archie to get to me. So it makes sense for us to be separated.” Her voice cracked slightly. “As much as I can’t bear to be parted from my little boy, I have to be sensible.”
Blade could hear Archie and his granddad talking upstairs, their voices intermingled with the chirrups and whistles of Sherbet. They sounded relaxed and happy in their new environment.
“I understand your reasoning,” Blade said quietly. “But I happen to think that the best thing for Archie would be to stay with his mom. You’re a family, and families should stick together at times like these.”
She stood up straight. “Are you thinking of what’s best for Archie or what’s best for you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you met your son only this morning, so I’m guessing you don’t want to be parted from him.” She eyeballed him, challenging him. “You don’t want to send him to Nebraska because you want him here with you.”
“Of course I want him here with me,” Blade said, his voice rising slightly. “You’ve had six years to get to know our son, and I’ve had barely six hours.” He put a hand on his heart. “It physically hurts to think of all the time I’ve missed out on.”
“That’s not my fault,” Josie retorted.
“I’m not blaming you,” Blade said, feeling the need to calm the situation down before they began a blazing argument. “The time I’ve missed with Archie is all my own fault. When I came back from Afghanistan, I should’ve realized there was a chance you could be pregnant. I should’ve talked to you instead of leaving in a hurry. I was in a bad place, and I shut you out. I’m sorrier about that than you’ll ever know.”
Josie leaned against the vent again. She seemed pacified by his apology.
“You’ll have plenty of time to catch up with Archie and get to know him after the trial,” she said. “For now, we need to focus on how to keep him safe. I’m going to call my aunt today.”
Blade tried to contain the frustration that was creeping into him. “So my opinion doesn’t count?” he asked. “Am I a father in name only?”
Josie’s shoulders sagged. “I don’t want to fight with you, Blade, but I think it’s too dangerous for Archie to stay here.”
“At least I can keep an eye on him if he’s close to me,” Blade said. “A father should be allowed to protect his son, right? There’s no way I can relinquish that authority to anybody else.”
She looked resigned to Blade’s fierce argument. “Okay,” she relented. “Then I’ll ask my aunt if you can go stay with her, too. She has plenty of space, so I’m sure it won’t be a problem.”
Blade ran a hand down his face in exasperation. “I need to be able to protect you, too, Josie. I’d rather you and Archie were in the same place, so I can keep you both safe.”
“I never asked you to look after me, Blade,” she said coolly. “I have police detectives to do that. That’s what they’re trained for.”
Blade raised his voice slightly. “That’s what I’ve been trained for, too. I know how to detect danger, evade capture and protect the innocent. And I probably know how to do it way better than a Wichita detective.”
“But...” she began, before stopping.
He crossed his arms. “But what?”
“You’re not a SEAL anymore. You were medically discharged, remember?”
“I’m still the same man.” He looked down at his legs. “Physically there’s a little less of me now, but I have the same heart I always did.”