Page 80 of Fire and Rain
“You’ll see.”
“I talked to Captain Walcott today, told him what was going on.”
This surprised Eden so much that she slammed on the brakes, stopping at the end of the driveway. “You told him? Everything?”
“I had to do something. Dalton is flapping his jaw to anyone who will listen. When I went to sit with him and the new AETs, they all got up and left the table. While I don’t care what people think, I don’t want it to disrupt the unit.”
“What a jerk! I should have punched him while I had the chance. What did Walcott say?”
“He told me to be discreet and thanked me for coming to him. I made it clear I wasn’t there to rat out Dalton, but someone else had already reported him. I just didn’t want this to cause strife on base. The SAR alarm went off and cut the conversation short.”
Eden took her foot off the brake, backed into the street, and drove toward base. “Is he going to kick Dalton’s butt?”
Sean chuckled. “No idea. He said we both deserved happiness after all we’ve been through.”
She took Sean’s hand, squeezed it. “Well, he’s right about that.”
The officers at the gate recognized both of them, gave their IDs a cursory glance, and waved them through. Eden parked as close to the beach as she could, then climbed out, got Maverick out of his car seat, and grabbed both buckets. “Let’s go find treasure, Maverick.”
It felt so good to be outdoors. Eden inhaled the fresh sea air, let the sound of the surf wash over her, savored the bite of the rain on her face. The past couple of days had been good, but they’d also been hard. And now Justin’s letter to Sean…
Eden had been able to hear Justin’s voice in every word Sean had read.
Sean walked beside her, Maverick between them.
Eden knelt, pointed. “Look, Maverick. A sand dollar. You won’t see many of these around here.”
“See, Mommy?” Maverick picked up the sand dollar, held it out for her.
“I see.” She repeated the name. “You can tell it’s not alive because it’s white.”
Sean bent to look, his hair damp from the rain. “I didn’t know that.”
“Dollah.” Maverick dropped the sand dollar in his little pail and moved on.
Soon, a cracked butter clam shell joined the sand dollar. Then Eden found her first piece of sea glass. She scooped it out of the pebbles. “Lavender-colored glass is fairly uncommon. It comes from a specific kind of bottle made in the late eighteen-hundreds.”
Sean took it, examined it. “This has been floating around in the ocean all this time?”
“Isn’t that fun?” She took the piece, dropped it into her bucket. “It’s treasure.”
Sean seemed to get into it after that, walking alongside her, handing her bits of sea glass that he spotted among the pebbles or pointing Maverick toward some interesting find—a seagull feather, an antique Japanese fishing float, a rather large shark’s tooth.
“Look how big this is, Mavie.”
“Toof?”
Sean placed it gently on Maverick’s upturned palm. “It’s a shark’s tooth.”
As she watched the two of them, a niggling worry she hadn’t realized she was carrying surfaced. Sean had told her and Justin many times that he never planned to be a father. And yet he wasn’t some dude bro who was afraid of changing diapers or spending time with small children. Instead, he was good with Maverick and so natural.
Don’t worry about it.
After about an hour, the rain began to fall harder. It was almost bath time for Maverick anyway, so they walked back up the beach and uphill to her vehicle. When Maverick almost slipped in the mud, Sean picked him up.
“What did you think? Do you like my idea of treasure hunting?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever gone anywhere just to be there and explore. It was fun and relaxing. I see why you enjoy it so much. But next time, I’m bringing my own bucket.”
