Page 23 of SEAL of Valor

“It’s too much for you to manage alone.”

“Well, as you have seen and pointed out, I’m not managing it alone.”

“That’s not acceptable, Mom.”

“And why is that?” she asks, fire in her gaze. My mom has never been a pushover. Honestly, the fiery temper I’ve worked hard to manage over the course of my life is courtesy of her. “Weston Hayes has never been anything but kind and reliable. You never gave me a real reason why the two of you broke up, and I have to imagine that, if it had been so truly horrible, you would have said something.”

“I—” But the truth is, she’s not wrong.

It wasn’t anything specific that he did. Weston lost his sister on the day we got married. We hadn’t even had the chance to tell anyone we’d tied ourselves together for what I thought was eternity when he got the call from Anastasia.

Then, a matter of days later, we lost the baby.

He became depressed. Angry. We both were. But where I tried to pick up and move forward, Weston was determined to die in his pit. That anger turned to self-loathing, which then imploded our marriage before it really had the chance to start. I felt alone in my own grief, and watching him self-destruct...I couldn’t handle it.

“Sugar, I’m sorry if having him here is hard. The last thing I want to do is hurt you.”

“Yeah, well. A little heads up before I humiliated myself in Anastasia’s coffee shop would have been nice.”

My mom visibly winces. “Had I known you were going there, I would have warned you. They’re all really close. She’s actually marrying one of the men he served with.”

“Yeah, met him, too.” I run both hands over my face. The silence stretches on as I try to gather myself. Man, seeing Weston again leveled me in more ways than one.

“He looks good though, doesn’t he?”

I drop my hands and glare at her. “Do you really think that’s helpful?”

She laughs softly. “Probably not. But it’s an observation I don’t imagine you missed.”

She’s not wrong, that’s for sure. Weston was always handsome, but the gruffness of his appearance suits him a whole lot more than I’m willing to admit.

My mom takes a deep breath, then reaches out to steady herself on the wall.

“Mom?” My annoyance disappears, and I step forward to grab her.

“I’m fine.” She smiles at me, but there’s concern etched into her expression. “Just getting older. It’s a gift, but it is not for the birds, you know.”

But the pallor of her expression and the distance in her gaze have pushed aside every bit of anger I had. “Come on, Mom. What’s going on?”

“I’m just getting older, Sugar. That’s all.” She smiles at me, but I see the hesitance in her eyes. The worry she’s fighting so hard to hide.

“Mom.” Fear creeps up my spine. Is that why Weston is here? Is something wrong with my mom, and she has desperately needed the help?

Seven years, though? If she’s been suffering this whole time, she would have told me, right?

“It’s just been little things here and there. I’m getting a bit forgetful, and sometimes, I struggle with things that used to be simple.”

“Such as?”

“I really don’t want to get into it.” She takes a deep breath.

“Have you seen a doctor?”

“I have. So far, they’ve ruled just about everything out and have no answers for me.”

“Mom.”

“Sugar, I really am okay. Until there’s something to worry about, I’ll just consider this part of getting old.” She reaches out and grips my hand in hers, then squeezes gently. “I will be just fine.”