Page 122 of Beast

“Simple, and it won’t cost you a penny. Stay the fuck away from my wife and son. If I hear you so much as text her, I’ll come after you. I’m not sure if your wife is in on this, but if she reaches out to Annie, that’s fine. I’m making this easy on you. Tell Annie you can never accept me as her husband and make her choose between you and me. She’ll choose me. The only reason I’m not telling Annie the truth is to protect her, not you. It would crush her, and she’s been through enough. I refuse to add to her pain. I’m deploying soon, but Annie will be safe here with my buddies. If I find out you try to hurt her or Gabriel in any way, you won’t live to regret it. Understood?”

He nodded but wisely remained silent.

“Good talk.” I walked out of the room. Annie’s mom was talking to her about throwing a wedding reception.

“Come on, Annie. Let’s go.”

“Already? I haven’t packed my stuff.”

“I’ll buy you new stuff.”

Annie’s dad walked out of his office. I gave him a stern look.

“He’s right, Annie. Leave. We don’t want to see you again. I can never accept Pat into this family. You made your choice when you married him. You’re dead to us.”

He must’ve been relieved—after all, he’d already declared her dead once before.

Annie bit her lip, but she didn’t break down. It was almost as if she expected this.

“I love Pat and if you can’t accept him, I don’t care. I learned to live without you once, I’ll do it again. Sometimes I think you both wish I never came back. I was worth more to you dead than alive. Pat’s the only one who loves Gabriel and me. Don’t ever contact me again.”

She clutched onto me and we walked out the front door. I hoped we never had to see them again.

We got into my truck and cruised down to my place. She looked out the window the whole way. Not a single word came from her. I didn’t know what to say.

Finally, I offered, “I’m sorry, Annie.”

“It’s not your fault. I meant what I said in there. I love you and I don’t care what they think. He’ll never accept you, and he always acted weird around Gabriel.”

I placed my hand on her thigh. I was all she had now. I wasn’t one of those men who wanted to isolate his woman from her family and friends. I wished Annie’s family were decent people and I was fine if she wanted to maintain contact with Chris. But as long as I lived, no one would ever hurt Annie or Gabriel again.

41

Annie

I DIDN’T SHED A TEAR as Pat drove away from my parents’ house. Why the fuck should I care what they thought about my husband? Pat was the one who rescued me. Pat was the one who treated Gabriel as his own, not some bastard child to be hidden.

Yes, Pat made a mistake by going to the brothel. He knew now hiring a hooker was wrong. He was lonely. But one truth I learned during my time as a prostitute was that all men were not bad. It wasn’t always about sex. Sometimes it was just about companionship, warmth, and affection.

What would my new life look like? Everything was fine now, while he was here. But he would be gone soon. And we’d be alone. I knew I could handle it, I promised Pat I could.

I was scared. What if Pat was killed on his next mission? I couldn’t imagine losing him, losing our newfound happiness, just as we started our life together.

I finally understood all of Pat’s deep concerns about marriage to a SEAL. I’d been through enough pain and anguish in my life. I had to believe, I did believe that true happiness was in store for me. That Pat would be returned to me safely, and we would have a long and happy marriage.

I’d stopped making plans for the future years ago. In the brothel, I lived in the past. Since I’d been home, I’d lived in the present. But now, I was brave enough to finally live not only in the present, but also plan for my future.

I wasn’t perfect—by far. I had a long way to go still in my healing process. But having Pat’s unconditional love helped me love myself.

42

Patrick

IT WAS FIVE A.M. ON deployment day. I didn’t know exactly how long I’d be gone, but I knew it was at least three months. Annie and I had spent a great couple of weeks together. We were assigned wonderful housing off-base in Point Loma, near Liberty Station. It was a three-bedroom townhouse with a small yard for Trigger. We made Gabriel a great Thomas the Train room and I’d been taking him to soccer and swimming. I introduced Annie to all the SEAL wives and, of course, they loved her. They saw her just how I did, as a strong woman. The SEAL wives had promised to keep her busy while I was away. Maybe I’d been wrong about marriages in our community. Yes, most fail. But the ones that worked were because of the strongest, most loyal women. And I knew Annie was the strongest of them all.

Annie enrolled in college again. She was majoring in sociology, which sounded depressing and useless to me, but who was I to judge? I had a high school diploma and no need for a college degree. Annie also threw herself into yoga and volunteering at the animal shelter. Our love grew deeper by the day, and for the first time since I’d become a SEAL, I dreaded deploying. I hated the thought of leaving her and my son.

Kyle and Vic would be deploying with me. They were both still tragically single, which was ironic since I was the one of the three of us who’d been the most dead-set against a relationship.