SEAL's Baby (Navy SEAL Secret Baby Romance) (17 page)

“She used to play piano
on Sundays,” I said looking up at the church.

  
“She did,” Maddie said. “That was a long time ago. The first time
she played in years was at your father’s funeral.”

“That is—”

  
“Sad,” Maddie finished for me. “I know and I’ve tried to get her
to join me for mass, at least once in a while, but she hasn’t been interested.”

  
“She was the one who inspired me to go to church in the first
place,” I said mostly to myself. “She was my inspiration. She was the reason I
found my faith.”

“Oh,” Maddie said and I
noticed her expression change a fraction.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing,” Maddie said
shaking her head. “Just an errant thought.”

“Care to share it with
me?”

“Not really.”

“Maddie …”

She sighed. “It’s just …
I was thinking that it’s a little ironic.”

“What is?”

  
“The fact that Lizzie was the one that inspired your faith,”
Maddie explained. “She stopped going to church a few years ago, but I think she
started losing her faith long before then, probably around the time the two of
you went your separate ways.”

  
I looked down at Maddie and I knew she wasn’t trying to be
accusatory. I knew she wasn’t trying to blame me but I felt the accusation
anyhow. I felt the blame.

“Dylan?” Maddie said
gently. “Maybe you can try and convince her to come to church again?”

I shook off my thoughts
and focused on Maddie. “I don’t know. I wouldn’t know how to go about it in the
first place.”

  
“Listen you don’t have to make her do anything,” Maddie said.
“Maybe all you really need to do is remind her of who she used to be. She needs
to remember the girl she was: adventurous, brave, imaginative, filled with all
this endless belief. Just remind her of that.”

“What if she doesn’t
listen?” I asked, looking for some guidance.

“Then at least you
tried.”

I shook my head. “She was
always the one helping me,” I said. “She was the one who helped me find
myself…”

“Well,” Maddie
interrupted before I could finish. “It’s time to return the favor.”

I nodded once and gave
Maddie a small smile. “Thanks,” I said. “I should get going now.”

  
We said goodbye and I re-joined mom and Tyler before we made our
way back home. I had just changed into fresh clothes when I saw Lizzie coming
up the driveway. She was wearing dark jeans and a white, sleeveless blouse. Her
red hair cascaded down her shoulders and made her look like some fairy-tale
princess.

  
It didn’t matter what she wore. She always looked beautiful. I
grabbed the fishing rods and rushed downstairs to meet her. I had the door open
before she could even ring the doorbell. She looked at me in surprise as the
door swung open. Her smile made her eyes come to life with brightness.

“Hi,” I said.

“Hi,” she replied. “Did
you see me coming?”

“I did,” I nodded.

She raised her eyebrows.
“And apparently we’re going fishing?”

I smiled. “Just like old
times,” I said as I stepped outside and closed the door behind me.

“Ah, does that mean we’re
coming home empty handed?” she asked teasingly.

I shot her a look. “Ok,
maybe not exactly like old times.”

“Does that mean you
actually plan on catching a fish?”

“I plan on catching more
than just one fish,” I declared confidently.

“Wow,” Lizzie smiled.
“You’re ambitious today.”

“If you’re going to be my
cheerleader today, you’ll have to drop the sarcasm.”

Lizzie laughed. “You’re
right,” she nodded. “Dropping the sarcasm now.”

“Excellent,” I said.
“It’s up to us to catch dinner tonight.”

“I bet I can catch more
fish than you,” Lizzie said with a wink.

  
It was amazing to see her like that, joking, teasing, and laughing
at every little thing. She reminded me of the girl that I had fallen in love
with. The problem was that I knew it was a thin mirage. She was not that girl
anymore. Life had gotten in the way and changed her, and if I were being
honest, I had to admit that I had probably changed her too.

“What?” Lizzie asked
suddenly.

“What?”

“You’re staring,” she
said.

“Oh … can you blame me?”
I asked.

  
She smiled and I detected a hint of color rise to her cheeks. “Don’t
bother trying to distract me with your flattery,” she said laughing off the
moment. “It won’t work.”

“All the same, I’ll keep
trying,” I said with a wink.

  
I untied the boat and pushed it out onto the lake, then I helped
Lizzie into it and we paddled out into the very center, enjoying the combination
of the warm sun on our faces and the cool breeze at our backs.

“I forgot how nice this
is,” Lizzie said with her eyes closed and her face turned up towards the sun.

  
All I could do was stare at her. If I could have come up with an
image of Venus or Aphrodite, they would be molded in Lizzie’s image. I knew it
wasn’t just my bias, she was a beautiful woman and it was the kind of beauty
that was pure and unaffected. She wasn’t wearing any makeup. Her face was clean
and completely her own.

  
Instantly my mind fell back to all the women in the clubs I
frequented with the guys on weekends. They were slathered in makeup, tight dresses,
and exotic perfumes. They were so dolled up that I probably had no idea what
they really looked like under their faces. It was only now that I was
confronted with Lizzie that I realized the difference.

  
Her blue eyes were on me again and I knew she had caught me
staring. I smiled. “Sorry,” I said. “It’s hard to stop.”

  
She looked away from me in embarrassment. “I can’t imagine you
haven’t met much more beautiful women in all the exotic lands you’ve visited.”

“I’ve met plenty,” I
replied honestly. “But none of them were you.”

  
She smiled in the direction of the house but she didn’t say a
word. It was times like that when I wished I knew what she was thinking.

“You stopped going to
church,” I said bluntly.

  
She didn’t reply at first, when she looked back at me I saw the
pain in her eyes. I saw how ravaged she looked, as though something had been
stolen from her. “I just couldn’t anymore,” she said. “I tried but … I
couldn’t.”

“Why?” I asked. “Is it
because you stopped believing in God?”

She shook her head. “No,”
she said. “I don’t think I could stop believing in God.”

“Then what happened?”

“I stopped
trusting
in God,” Lizzie said softly.

“Lizzie …”

  
“He wasn’t there for me, Dylan,” she said emphatically. “When I
needed him the most, he turned his back on me and I was left here in this town
alone. I thought he would be there, I thought he would protect me. He didn’t.”

  
I sat there and stared at her. I could see the hurt on her face, I
could see the anger there when she spoke about God, but I knew it was
misplaced. She thought she meant God, she probably believed she did but I knew
the truth because I knew her. She wasn’t talking about God at all.

  
She was talking about me.

Chapter Eighteen

Elizabeth

  
We had a bucket that was full to the middle with beautiful silver-scaled
fish. I had caught eight and Dylan had managed to catch five. We laughed and
teased each other the whole way through and by the time we looked at our
watches, neither one of us could believe we’d been out on the lake for three
whole hours.

“I think I won,” I said,
wagging my eyebrows at Dylan.

  
“I thought I’d let you win this one,” he replied. “You know, to give
you a little encouragement so you won’t turn me down the next time I ask you to
fish with me.”

“Please,” I retorted,
rolling my eyes at him. “We both know I’m the better fisherman.”

He pretended to think it
over and then he laughed in defeat. “Oh all right; you win fair and square.”

“What’s my prize?” I
asked.

“How about a kiss?”

“From Tom Hiddleston?” I
joked. “Cause that would be worth my while.”

He shot me a dirty look.
“I was thinking of Dylan Thomas actually.”

“Hmm … not as cute but
I’ll take it,” I winked.

“All right, how about
this?” Dylan suggested. “I’ll give you the kiss and … you don’t have to help me
gut and clean the fish?”

“Now that is a prize,” I
said gratefully. “I am willing to help you eat the fish though.”

  
We rowed back to land and I helped Dylan tie the boat up once he’d
dragged it back onto land. We set up a little space by the river to gut and
clean the fish. Dylan went about the duty very seriously and I watched him in
amusement as he set out all his little tools. It reminded me of all the times
he had set a project for himself and then attacked it with childlike zeal.

  
He was precise and methodical with the gutting and cleaning and I
couldn’t help but watch him. Once he was done with the first fish he raised his
eyes and caught me staring. “Would you mind throwing out the entrails for me?”
Dylan asked with a mischievous grin as he practically shoved the entrails in my
face.

I screamed and jumped
back as he laughed.

“You’re such an ass,” I
said shaking my head.

“Does that mean you’re
not going to help me gut the rest?”

“That’s exactly what it
means.”

  
“I think you’d be less squeamish if you just touched them and
realized there was nothing to be squeamish about,” Dylan said reasonably as he
started moving towards me.

I looked at him
threateningly. “Don’t you dare come any closer with that,” I said harshly as I
started to back away from him slowly.

“Come on now,” he said
without backing down. “Don’t be scared.”

“I’m not scared,” I said,
refusing to rise to the bait. “I just have no desire to touch fish entrails.”

“How else are we going to
get them cleaned?”

“There was no ‘we’ in
this particular job,” I reminded him. “You said you’d handle it on your own.”

  
That mischievous glint came back as Dylan’s smile grew wider. “But
then I figured this could be a learning experience for you.”

  
He kept advancing and I kept backing away from him, but I couldn’t
help laughing at the same time. It had been so long since I’d felt like this
that I’d forgotten how much the last few years had changed me. For the first
time in forever, I felt like myself. I felt like the bright-eyed, idealistic, imaginative
seventeen-year-old girl I used to be. And when Dylan was close to me it was
hard to remember the expanse of time that had separated us.

“I don’t want to learn,”
I said firmly.

“You sure?”

  
“Completely,” I said, but he didn’t stop his advance. “Dylan Robb
Daniel Thomas!” I said. “Stop it right now or you’ll pay for this later.”

  
“Really?” Dylan said with interest as he came to a stop a few feet
away from him. I could see the fish juices dripping to the grass at his feet
and I tried not to be bothered by it. “How will you make me pay?”

“Clowns,” I said, saying
the first thing that jumped into my head.

“Clowns?” Dylan repeated
with some trepidation.

  
“One of these days the door will open and you’ll find yourself
face to face with a life-size clown in full garb,” I threatened. “Is that
something you would like?”

This time it was Dylan
who took a step back. “You wouldn’t.”

“Do you really want to
test me?” I asked tilting my head to the side.

“You play a mean game
Miller,” Dylan said as he narrowed his eyes at me.

I laughed. “I do what I
have to.”

“Fine,” Dylan sighed as
he sat back down.

“Is this you backing
down?” I asked.

Dylan smiled. “I'm
backing down.”

I laughed. “I must say,
it’s very attractive.”

  
Dylan threw back his head and laughed. It opened up his face and
made him blue eyes seemed even bluer. I used to get lost in those eyes and I
realized suddenly that that was probably still true. He looked so incredibly
masculine, sitting there framed by trees and water, gutting fish for our
dinner. He certainly wasn’t a boy anymore.