Page 37 of SEAL of Valor

The memory is still so clear in my mind. That instant fear that I’d lost him anyway, followed by this intense love that promised I never would.

“I found out a couple of weeks later that I was pregnant.” I wipe another tear from my eyes, afraid to meet Tessa’s gaze. “We got married shortly after that.”

“Married? As in—really?”

I nod. “We went to the courthouse in Charleston. We were on our way back to tell everyone when Anastasia called and said she and Violet had been in an accident.”

I meet her gaze now, and I see the horrifying memory play out over her expression, too. She was right there alongside us during the loss, helping Zane and Anastasia as best she could.

Weston had been so broken even before he’d found Violet and Anastasia in those woods. He dropped me by the house so I could get their mom, then went out to look for her. Four hours later, the coroner was driving away with her body.

The entire night is a nightmare I relive far more often than I’d care to admit.

“Oh, Reese.” Tessa reaches out and takes my hand.

“I lost the baby a few days later. The stress, I think.” The tears are flowing faster now, and the lump in my throat is impossible to swallow. “It’s been a long time since I talked about this. Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. Your mom?”

I look at Tessa and shake my head. “Aside from Weston and Pastor Reeves, you’re now the only one who knows.”

Her eyes shimmer with unshed tears, and she sets her mug aside to pull me in for a hug. “I am so sorry, Reese. I don’t know how I didn’t know. How did I not see what you were going through?”

“We were all so occupied with the aftermath of what happened to Violet.” I sniffle, and Tessa pulls back to take her seat again. “Weston was never the same, and I felt like I’d let him down, you know? When I told him—” I close my eyes. “He just sat there, staring straight ahead as though he couldn’t process even a drop of additional grief. So, after we buried Violet, I left and filed for an annulment. I abandoned him when he needed me the most.”

“Oh, honey. You were dealing with it, too.”

“I should have been stronger.”

“Stronger? Reese, you lost your baby and your husband in the blink of an eye. Yet here you are, still standing.”

“Not because of me.” I shake my head. “I ran so far from everyone and everything. I turned my back on God, my anger pulling me under. And then about a month later, I felt Him there with me. He picked me up off the ground.”

“God does that.”

I smile softly. “Yeah. What’s funny is that it wasn’t until I hit the lowest part of my life, my pain an endless ocean ready to drown me, that I really understood faith.”

“That’s a feeling I know quite well.” Tessa takes my hand. “Have you talked to Weston about it since?”

I snort. “Weston isn’t in the mood to talk. I tried a few days ago, and he threw it back in my face.”

“Really?”

I take a deep breath. “Fine, I might have approached him poorly. It was a long day, and I was dealing with a migraine. But I honestly have no idea how to talk to him.”

“Weston is stubborn,” Tessa says softly. “But he’s still a good man, Reese. Zane has told me stories of their time in the Navy, and⁠—”

“Zane was in the Navy, too?”

She nods. “They were Navy SEALs. Them, Garrison, Sawyer, and Ryker.”

“Sawyer—that’s Anastasia’s fiancé?”

Tessa nods again. “They were pretty elite, too. Worked for a government agency up until right before Zane and I got married.”

Honestly, it’s easy enough to picture both Weston and Sawyer as elite members of a military team. I haven’t met the other two, and I haven’t seen Zane since I’ve been back, but if they’re anything like Weston and Sawyer, well, I imagine they were plenty deadly as a unit.

“I guess my point is that maybe it’s time for some closure.”