Chapter 162: Tradition
*Fifth General Order of the Navy: To quit my post only when properly relieved*
It had been tradition for as long as Dean could remember. And whenever her mom had been gone, it had been Reese who did it. But now, her mom was gone forever. And Reese had a wife and babies. And JD was gone.
Looking at the ring on her finger, she smiled through her silent tears. He had promised to come home to her. Had said that this was only temporary. That he would *always* come back to her.
Mary had made the same promises.
Dean knew how those promises meant nothing to the universe. It didn’t care about teenage girls who just wanted to know that she was loved.
Her body shook with a silent sob and Monster moved closer to her and nuzzled her with his snout. She wrapped an arm around his body and held him close.
Lost in her own thoughts and tears, she did not hear the bedroom door open. She was only vaguely aware of the bed dipping behind her as a large body lay down behind her. A loud soul-wrenching sob was ripped out of her as a strong tattooed arm wrapped around her, pulling both her and the dog close to a large, strong body.
“It’s okay, princess.” Reese whispered and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
“I miss mom.”
“So do I, Dean.” Came the soft admission with tears in his throat. “There are times throughout the day that I think ‘Mary would get a kick out of that’ and then I remember...”
“She’s gone.” The teen finished his thought.
“Yeah.”
“I miss JD too.”
“He’ll be back.” He gave a little chuckle. “He’s going to have muscles on top of muscles and you’re going to fall in love with him all over again.”
“But is he still going to love me?”
“How could he not?” Reese asked.
“Because I’m just a little girl.”
He scoffed. “Whatever.” Propping himself up on his elbow, resting his head on his hand, he turned her to lay on her back and turned her face to look at him.
“Listen to me, little princess.” The tone of his voice forced her to look at him, her teary eyes focusing on his stern face. “You may be young, but you are far from being a little girl. I wish I could give you your childhood back. I wish that I could give you your mom back. I wish that I could give you a chance to know your dad.”
“But I can’t, Dean. I can’t change the past. But what I can do is show you how strong you are. How beautiful you are. How loved you are.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “You are so loved, Dean.”
Burying her face in his chest, the teen wrapped her arms around his neck and gave into the tears and sobs. Reese held her tight to him and rubbed a hand up and down her back.
“Let it out, princess.” Reese murmured as he looked over at the door and saw his wife in the doorway with little Jaina in her arms.
Helen gave him a soft smile and went back down the hall. Cheryl and Wayne sat around the kitchen island with the nanny, Gigi, finishing up the next bottle. Jagger was already in his bouncer passed out from a bottle coma. Janelle had finished her bottle and was on Cheryl’s shoulder.
“Miss Helen?” Gigi asked as she reached for the smallest baby.
Helen kissed the tiny head and then handed her over to the young woman with hair that was dyed silver with dark pink tips. When they had interviewed Georgia, they had both been reluctant to consider the young woman. But then she had quickly won them over.
“My name is Georgia; everyone calls me Gigi. My dad played for the Falcons and is now a coach for the Bucs. I have a degree in childhood development because it sounded fun. But now I just don’t know what I want to do.”
She came from fame and money and had grown up in the spotlight. Had no desire to try to seduce either of her employers. In fact, she looked at Reese and informed him that he was not only too old for her, but his wife did more for her.
“But don’t worry, Miss Helen. You’re a little too feminine for me.”
Gina had been by to see the babies and Gigi leaned in close to Helen. “You don’t happen to have a younger model of her, do you?”
Shaking her head as she laughed, Helen gave an honest answer. “No, but I’ll check with her later.”
The young woman took the tiniest baby and her bottle and went to the rocking chair. Jaina was squeaking with excitement as she reached for the bottle. Sitting in the chair, Gigi began to feed the baby her bottle.
“I’ve got her.” Wayne said standing up and taking Janelle from his fiancé before walking down the hall to change her diaper.
“He seems very attentive with the babies.” Helen observed as she sat down with a cup of tea.
“Yeah.” Cheryl blushed under her stepmother’s gaze.
“Cheryl?” Helen asked quietly.
“No, but we’ve been talking about it.” She admitted as her dad came down the hall.
“Yeah?” Helen asked and her stepdaughter nodded.
“What are we talking about?” Reese asked as he pressed a kiss to her head before leaning over to kiss his wife.
“Girl things.” She told her dad dismissively.
“Well.” He huffed. “Dean’s in the shower. Can you believe it, she thought that we would let her go to school without breakfast.”
His daughter laughed. “You know, the first day of school was *always* one time that I could guarantee that I would see you. Didn’t you go AWOL one time?”
“I just threatened to go AWOL. I didn’t actually do it.” Reese grinned at them as he pulled the skillet out of the cabinet.
“Please tell me you did not tell JD about this.” Helen said with a look of shock on her face.
“I did. But I also stressed that it was towards the end of my contract and had a little pull and authority.”
“Did you get to come home?” she asked as her husband began to cook bacon and sausage.
“I did. Arrived home only a few hours before breakfast, just in time to help Summer cook for my little girl’s senior year.”
They continued to talk while Reese cooked breakfast just as he had for almost every first day of school. Even when Mary had been home, he had come across the driveway to help. Reese had been honest when he said that he got a second chance at being a dad with Dean. And he understood shy his only child at the time had been jealous.
But now, the two were close friends. While Wayne and Cheryl looked for a place to stay, they were staying in Dean’s guest room. Wayne had accidentally placed one of their bags in JD’s room and Cheryl had to rescue her fiancé from her cousin.
With breakfast nearly ready, all three babies fed, and a second pot of coffee brewing, Dean finally joined the group.
“I’m sorry.” Dean said quietly.
“For what?” Cheryl asked. “You’ve had one hell of a year. You’re allowed to have a breakdown from time to time.”
“Thanks.” She said moving into the hug that her older cousin offered.
As Reese was preparing to make the scrambled eggs, there was a knock on the kitchen door. “It’s your house.” He told his niece.
The fact that he was telling her to answer the door told her that he knew who it was. She opened the door and saw a woman standing there with a large bouquet of flowers. The woman handed over the flowers and gave a smile before she turned and walked away.
Dean placed the gold-colored skull vase on the island and admired the black dahlias, pink roses, white carnations and dark greenery. There were other flowers that filled in the perfectly arranged bouquet, but Dean didn’t know the name of them.
Nor did she care.
“There’s a card.” Cheryl pointed out and Dean quickly grabbed the small envelope.
*To my heart, my love and my future. I’m coming home to you. Remember, I made that promise. And I’m going to keep it. I love you, Dean. Yours forever, JD*
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