Ryley, on the other hand, is excited for Cara’s arrival. She says with her here they can talk wedding stuff, and it’s something us men wouldn’t understand. She’s right, especially where I’m concerned. Penny and I were married in front of a justice of the peace with no witnesses other than the people who were there to get married after us. I promised her a real wedding, but she got pregnant with Claire and we decided to delay it until our fifth anniversary, which happened while I was deployed.
Giving her the wedding of her dreams is something I still plan to do, assuming she wants to be with me. I can understand if she’s moved on. I probably would’ve. It’s just hard to think of life being like that since this situation is no fault of ours. I now know she didn’t leave me, or choose someone else. I think she ran to protect our daughter. The question I have is did she know of the danger she was facing, or did she figure it out? There are so many unanswered questions that loom and pop up every day, and I’m afraid I’ll never have all the answers.
The loud knock on the door sends EJ screaming down the hall until he’s crashed into it. He swings it open and jumps into Nate’s arms. I glance at Evan and see the torment on his face. He has to know EJ loves him, but he isn’t going to forget that Nate was there when he should’ve been. I know he’s thankful, but the pain is still fresh. I pray that I’m not in the same situation as him when I see Claire. To find out your child loves another man as their father has to be the worst heartache ever—that and losing your wife.
“Rask?” Our teammate’s name falls from Ryley’s lips coupled with a gasp. My eyes land on Justin Rask, standing in the doorway with his bag slung over his shoulder and Ryley’s arms wrapped around him. Nate glances over his shoulder, smiling.
“I thought this guy looked a little lonely on base so I brought him with me,” Nate says, making Rask smile as Ryley disengages herself from his hold.
While we’ve all dealt with our own personal tragedies, his has been just as difficult and completely different. Rask was a year out of BUD/s when we deployed. He joined our team six-months before we left and was immediately brought into the fold. The bar-be-cues, bonfires on the beach, and birthday parties, he was a part of them from day one. He’s an only child, born later in life to his parents who were retired by the time he graduated from high school, so he chose the Navy to help pay his way through college and found the SEALs instead. All he has is us. In fact, we’re all each other has because our story is so outlandish no one wants to believe it can happen. Hell, half the time I’m pinching myself to wake up from this fucking nightmare.
“Rask, it’s good to see you.” Stepping forward, I pull him into a hug. He stalls before wrapping his arms around me. He did most of his growing up in Cuba while we were deployed and really needs a family. I’m happy that Nate thought to bring him here.
“You too,” he replies, patting me on the back. Even when we’d meet at Ryley’s backyard in San Diego, he never said much, but now that he’s had time to digest everything that’s been going on maybe he’ll open up more.
“Rask, you son of a bitch, it’s about time you left Coronado,” Evan says, pulling him into a quick hug.
“Yeah well this ugly mug finally told me to get my sorry ass off base and start exploring.” He nods toward Nate who shrugs and is still holding EJ.
“Well I’m happy you’re here,” Ryley says with a wink. “I didn’t really want Evan to hear the wedding talk with Cara, so with all of you here, you’ll be able to keep him busy.” She pushes Evan, who smiles.
“Where’s Cara?” Evan asks.
“Later flight, but she’ll be here. She has a lot to tell us.” Nate puts EJ back on the ground.
When Evan cocks his head toward the stairs, Nate and Rask both nod.
“We’ll be downstairs, babe,” he says to Ryley as he kisses her on the cheek.
We follow Evan down and into the back of the house. I haven’t seen this room yet, but knew there was something he was hiding. He punches the code on the door and waits for it to click. The lights come on as soon as the door opens, and when I step in I feel like I’m in the belly of a submarine.
“Ready for war?” Nate asks, as he looks around the room. There are monitors along one wall, all hooked up to surveillance cameras outside. One in particular faces the shipyard, showing us exactly what’s going on. Maps line one wall while the other wall is covered in pictures and notes of the people responsible for our deployment and the aftermath.
“It’s reinforced,” Evan explains. “If someone shows up, Ryley knows to bring EJ down here and lock herself in. This monitor here,” he points to one on the far left, “shows her who is at the door, so if someone is telling her it’s clear, she can see them. If the power is cut to the house, the authorities are alerted and come out regardless of being called or not.”
“Jesus, Evan, you’re planning for an apocalypse or for a nuclear bomb by the looks of it.” Nate seems worried, maybe even confused.
Evan nods and points to the monitor that’s trained on the shipyard.
“Chesley is across the Sound. Now, you tell me why someone like him is suddenly worried about the shipyard. You and I both know from growing up around here, no one pays much attention to this base. They send ships in, get repaired, and move them back out.”