The Seal's Secret Child

“Dad,” she said shakily, “you’d better sit down. I have something to tell you.”

* * *

Blade Harding entered the small town of Sedgwick with a knot the size and weight of a sledgehammer somewhere in his gut. He had been on the road for the last twenty-four hours, driving from his home in North Carolina, only stopping to nap in the truck before setting off again. As each mile clocked on the dash, his heartbeat turned up a notch.

Since losing the lower portion of his left leg to a shrapnel wound seven years ago, Blade had battled a range of destructive and negative feelings before finally reaching acceptance. Now he was fully integrated back into society, running a successful business and enjoying life again. He was also training for the Invictus Games, where he would compete against other wounded, injured or disabled veterans. He was proud of himself once more, something he never thought would happen. He had even embraced his new life by introducing himself to new people as Blade instead of Edward. It was a nickname that his buddies had given him due to the prosthetic blade he used for running, and it had stuck.

He glanced at the GPS screen on his dash, checking that he was correctly headed for the Kansas address his son had given him. Knowing he was close by triggered an emotion so intense that he had to pull to the side of the road and compose himself. Could he really have a son? When he had first read the childlike email purporting to be from a six-year-old boy, he had dismissed it as the prank of somebody who worked in the auto body shop he owned. The first line of the email was too unbelievable to be true: My name is Archie and I think yoo ar my dad. But after reading more of the poorly spelled words, he found himself astonished and stunned to learn that the boy’s mother was Josie Bishop. Only a very small, select group of people knew about Josie. And none of those people would prank him like that.

He had gone over and over events in his mind. Had Josie been pregnant when he’d left for Afghanistan? It was possible. He hadn’t been a Christian at the time, and neither was she. They hadn’t fully considered the consequences of their actions. But why wouldn’t she have told him?

He started out on the road again. He was now just one block away. The knot in his belly tightened. Archie had told him that Josie was in danger and needed help. Somebody was threatening to hurt her. Would she accept help from him? Would she see him? Was the child even his? The questions flying through his head were relentless. But the one thing he most hoped was waiting for him in Kansas was respect and understanding. Since he had become disabled, so many people treated Blade differently, as if he were a weaker man. He was desperate for Josie not to feel this way about him. He wanted her to see him as a complete man.

He pulled into a wide, tree-lined street, instantly spotting a house with a police car outside. The house was single-story, large and well kept, with white shuttered windows and a silver SUV parked in the driveway. His heart lurched to see a police presence and a window boarded up with wood. Given that Archie had already talked of the danger his mother was facing, he knew this must be Josie’s home. He rolled the truck to a stop along the curb. But he had no time to steady his nerves, because a police officer walked over to the truck and requested that he roll down the window.

“Can I ask what your business here is?” the officer asked.

“I’m visiting,” he replied. “Is everything okay?” He looked at the boarded window. “Has anyone in the house been hurt?”

“We’ve had some trouble here this evening, but all the occupants are just fine. However, all visitors must be approved by the home owner before exiting their vehicles. Can I take your name, please?”

“It’s okay, Officer.” A female voice cut through the air, loud and clear with the soft lilt of a Kansas native. He knew instantly that it was Josie. “I’ve been expecting him.”

The officer tipped his hat and stepped aside, allowing Blade to catch sight of Josie for the first time in seven years. She had barely changed, and his breath caught in his throat. Her hair was as red as he remembered, cascading over her shoulders in waves of lava. The intense color was the perfect frame for her china-white skin and striking green eyes. She stood with her arms crossed, wearing a black pencil skirt and a white tailored blouse, looking every inch the beautiful, professional woman. And he was struck temporarily dumb.

“Hello, Edward,” she called. “Are you going to come inside?”

He swallowed hard. He was a wreck. He slipped out of the driver’s seat and began walking up the path, all the while feeling her gaze on him. She was impossible to read.

“Everybody calls me Blade these days,” he said when he reached her. “Edward is who I used to be.”

“Well, whatever you call yourself now, we have a lot to discuss,” she said flatly as he reached the door. Her defensive posture clearly let him know that any physical contact would be unwelcome.

He looked at the police officer standing on the front lawn. “I didn’t realize your situation was so serious,” he said. “What happened?”

She ushered him inside and closed the door. “That’s not important right now. What’s important is introducing you to your son.”

Blade put a hand over his belly, which had exploded with butterflies. “So it’s true? The child is mine?”

Josie’s arms remained crossed. “His name is Archie,” she said. “And, yes, he’s yours. He’s with my dad in the kitchen. I wanted to explain things to you before you met him.”

Blade walked into the living room, feeling the need to sit in one of the large wicker chairs. He rubbed two hands over his face, now stubbly since he hadn’t been able to shave for the past twenty-four hours.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked, looking at her imploringly. “Seven years have passed, and I had no idea my son was walking this earth without his father.”

She let her hands drop to her sides, and he noticed that she was digging her nails into her palms. “When you came back from your mission in Afghanistan, I was already ten weeks pregnant, but I didn’t want to tell you the news while you were undergoing intensive medical treatment to try to save your leg.” Her eyes flitted to his left pants leg, under which was a carbon fiber prosthetic limb encased in flesh-colored plastic. “So I waited.”

Blade stood up. “I had a right to know. You should have told me immediately.”

“That’s not fair!” she shouted before dropping her voice again. “I had no idea you were about to run out on me. After you had the leg amputated, I thought you’d recover, we’d get married and our family would be complete. But you had other ideas, didn’t you?” Her eyes were blazing now. “You just vanished and nobody knew where you were, not even your friends. I had no choice but to move back home to Sedgwick and raise Archie with the help of my parents.”

Blade sat heavily in the chair. Her criticism of him was justified. He had behaved in a cowardly way, but he had a good reason for leaving like he did. Or so he’d thought at the time.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “When I lost my leg, I was devastated.” He looked up at her. “I assumed I couldn’t be a good, strong husband for you. I knew I’d be medically discharged from the SEALs, and I had no idea how I’d earn a living. I didn’t want to rely on VA disability compensation to provide for my family. I felt useless, and I thought you’d be better off without me, so I decided to disappear.”

She sat on the chair opposite him. “You left me a note,” she said in a whisper. “That’s all. If you’d broken off our engagement in person, I could have explained I was pregnant, but you didn’t give me the chance.”

“I’m sorry.” It was all he could say, but it was hopelessly inadequate. “I thought it was for the best at the time.”

She regarded him with steely eyes. “You broke off contact with everybody in your life. Why did you do that?”

Blade hated thinking about this part of his life. It was a dark time. He had no strong family connections, so cutting himself off from distant relatives was easy, but abandoning Josie and his friends shamed him.

“I was grieving,” he said. “I didn’t want to be reminded of my old life, when I was strong and able-bodied. I just shut down.” He held his hands up. “I know it was selfish, but it was the only thing I could do.”

Josie put her head in her hands, letting her hair envelop her fingers. “I tried to stay in touch with your old SEAL buddies so that I would know when you resurfaced, but over the years, I lost contact.”

“I’m guessing you never told any of them you were pregnant,” he said. “Otherwise they would’ve let me know.”

Josie twined her fingers together. “I didn’t want you to hear the news from a third party. I assumed I’d find a way to contact you, but before I knew it, I was all out of leads.” She raised her head and locked eyes with him. “I would never intentionally keep your son from you. I prayed so hard for an answer.”

He smiled weakly at her. It looked like she shared his Christian faith now. It was comforting. “After I left Virginia, I went down to Florida and lived there for four years, working for a motor mechanic business. I was just bumming around with no direction and no hope. I wanted to drop off the radar. But then I met an athlete who competes in the Invictus Games, and he turned my life around. I started training with him, and I learned to be proud of myself again. I got back in touch with my SEAL buddies through the military support unit, and I moved back to my hometown in North Carolina.” He felt himself welling up. “But this is all irrelevant now.” He looked at the doorway that he assumed led into the kitchen. “What I really want to do is meet my son.”

Josie stood up, wiping her moist palms on her skirt. “Archie says he saw you on the news and contacted you through the station. Is that right?”

“That’s right,” Blade replied. “Do you remember my old buddy Tyler?”

She nodded.

“I helped him catch the leader of a meth gang in Missouri recently. He’s a sheriff there. It’s a long story, but a national news station came to interview me about it. When I got back to North Carolina, there was an email waiting for me from Archie. He’d recognized my name and gotten my email address from the news station.” He smiled. “He’s a smart kid.”

“Yes, he is,” Josie said. “But why didn’t you contact me when he sent you the email? Surely that would have been the best option. And then I could’ve been better prepared for this moment.”

“I tried,” Blade replied. “But your number isn’t listed, and Archie wouldn’t tell me what it was. He thought you might try to stop me from coming. He said you were in trouble and needed somebody to protect you. I just had to get here right away, so I hopped in my truck and drove through the night.” Every moment that passed was another moment without his son. “Please, Josie, can I meet Archie now? I’m dying here.”

“Of course,” she said, extending her hand toward him. “Can I help you out of the chair?”

He briefly hung his head and sighed. So his most important question had now been answered. Josie did see him as a weaker man. And he was bitterly disappointed.

“No, thanks,” he said, standing with ease. “I’m good.”

She walked briskly to the doorway and closed her fingers around the handle. “Are you ready?”

Blade’s heart began to hammer. Would he ever be ready for this moment? “Absolutely.”

With that, Josie opened the door. “Archie, your dad is here to see you.”

* * *