The SEAL’s Surprise Marriage - Rachel McNeely Read online

  The SEAL’s Surprise Marriage (Special Forces: Operation Alpha)

  Rachel McNeely

  Contents

  Foreword

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Epilogue

  Books by Rachel McNeely

  About the Author

  More Special Forces: Operation Alpha World Books

  Books by Susan Stoker

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  © 2019 ACES PRESS, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  No part of this work may be used, stored, reproduced or transmitted without written permission from the publisher except for brief quotations for review purposes as permitted by law.

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, please purchase your own copy.

  Dear Readers,

  Welcome to the Special Forces: Operation Alpha Fan-Fiction world!

  If you are new to this amazing world, in a nutshell the author wrote a story using one or more of my characters in it. Sometimes that character has a major role in the story, and other times they are only mentioned briefly. This is perfectly legal and allowable because they are going through Aces Press to publish the story.

  This book is entirely the work of the author who wrote it. While I might have assisted with brainstorming and other ideas about which of my characters to use, I didn’t have any part in the process or writing or editing the story.

  I’m proud and excited that so many authors loved my characters enough that they wanted to write them into their own story. Thank you for supporting them, and me!

  READ ON!

  Xoxo

  Susan Stoker

  About the book

  Emma Trace is finally following her dream of leaving small-town Montana to start a new life in the big city of San Diego, California. She didn’t quite expect it to be so hard to find a teaching job, but she’s willing to give it a chance, despite the loneliness she feels surrounded by happy couples.

  SEAL Captain Niall Buchanan has been wary with his heart since losing his wife in childbirth years before. Leaving his daughter with his mother was never supposed to be a permanent solution. When that is no longer an option, he has to come up with a different strategy—hopefully with a little help from a pretty teacher with a wide streak of independence.

  Emma doesn’t know what to make of the handsome SEAL with the sweet little girl in need of mothering. Is he just looking for a child-care solution and an uncomplicated relationship? Or could he truly be willing to surrender to love again?

  To Susan Stoker for giving me the opportunity to write in her World.

  Thanks to:

  My editor: Raina Toomey, for all her good suggestions.

  Cover Artist: Pat Dengate, for finding me the right covers for my books.

  Thanks to Amy Hrutkay for all your assistance in helping me get all the pieces together for my books. And thank you for your understanding and encouragement. Your smile and kindness come through your emails. You are a pleasure to work with.

  Prologue

  San Diego, California

  Captain Niall Buchanan paced from one side of the waiting room to the other. Morgan, his wife, was in the delivery room. She’d suddenly had a sharp pain in her head right after their daughter was born. While taking care of Morgan, her doctor asked him to go to the waiting room.

  Niall wanted to stay with her, but the doctor insisted he leave, and a nurse held the door open as he kissed Morgan and whispered, “I love you. I’ll be right down the hall.”

  “The doctor will see you as soon as possible,” the nurse promised as she left him alone in the empty room. The room smelled of old cigarette butts and sweat. Niall wondered how many others had paced the thread bare rug before him.

  Niall smiled at the thought of having a daughter. He hoped she’d look and be like her mother, a woman he adored.

  He glanced at his watch. Thirty minutes seemed like an eternity since he’d kissed his wife and left the delivery room. Niall started to go to the nearest nurse’s station when he saw the obstetrician walking towards him. The doctor’s grim expression and slumped shoulders made Niall’s heart race. The doctor stood straighter as he walked up.

  “Please sit down, Captain Buchanan.”

  For the first time in his life, Niall felt shaky.

  The doctor sat beside him. You know your wife complained of a severe headache. We immediately put out a call for any neurosurgeon in the house. One rushed up the back way, and we tried to get your wife to surgery. I’m sorry, Captain. She died before he could help her.”

  At first, the doctor’s words didn’t make sense. “You must be mistaken. My wife is only twenty-eight years old. She seldom ever has a cold.”

  “She had an aneurysm. She was young, healthy, but it didn’t matter. The survival rate is poor. It happens so suddenly that the patient rarely survives.”

  Niall had been in terrifying situations before, and his mind stayed clear. He always found an answer, a way out. But now it was blank, and all he wanted was to scream at this man who must be mistaken. He couldn’t have lost his Morgan.

  “I don’t believe you. My wife came in here a healthy young woman. Women have babies all the time, and nothing happens.”

  “That’s true.” The doctor’s voice got softer. “This is my first case like this since I’ve been in practice, and I’ve been working for twenty years.” His voice cracked as he said, “I hope it’s my last one.”

  The sight of tears in the doctor’s eyes finally sank through the fog in Niall’s brain. “She’s gone?”

  The doctor nodded. “We did everything possible, I promise you.” After a moment, he asked, “Can I call someone for you?”

  With shaky hands, Niall pulled out his wallet and took out an old card with several names and numbers. “Call the first name, Jackson, and ask him to come. Please explain to him what happened. I can’t, not right now.”

  The doctor looked at the number and punched it into his cell. He quietly explained the situation, nodded his head several times, said thank you and hung up.

  “He’ll be here in a few minutes, Captain. Your daughter is getting cleaned up. The nurse will come and get you soon and take you to see her.”

  Niall nodded, but the words barely registered. A tape in his head kept running around and around.

  He’d returned several days ago from a mission. He and Morgan had talked with her doctor the next day. Everything had looked great.

  They were expecting a daughter, and the pregnancy had gone well except for a few times when Morgan’s blood pressure had risen, but it didn’t stay up for long. The doctor assured them mother and daughter were doing well, and their baby might be born at any time.

  At home after their appointment, Morgan put her arms around his waist and kissed him. “I can’t wait for our daughter to be here with us. I want to see her
, and hold her, and love her.”

  “I hope she’s like you and has your red hair and green eyes. I love you so much, Morgan.”

  “I know. I love you bunches.”

  “Can I get you anything, Captain?” the doctor asked interrupting Niall’s thoughts.

  “No.” He almost didn’t recognize the sound of his own voice. “The only thing I want is my wife, and you can’t give her to me.”

  Jackson rushed into the waiting room. Niall stood and Jackson pulled him into a bear hug.

  “I’m glad you’re here,” the doctor said. “I didn’t want to leave him alone.”

  “Don’t worry, doctor,” Jackson said. “He’ll have someone with him at all times.”

  “I’m glad.” The doctor’s voice sounded husky.

  Niall turned and offered his hand to the doctor. “Thank you for staying with me, and for doing everything possible to save my wife.”

  When they were alone, Jackson motioned for Niall to sit. “What can I do for you? Make some calls?”

  “Not yet. I still have difficulty believing this is all real. I want to think I’m asleep, and I’ll awake at any moment to realize it was a bad dream.

  “The doctor said it was a brain aneurysm. They rushed her to surgery, but it was too late to save her.” Niall looked up at Jackson. “How can something so horrible happen out of the blue?”

  Jackson shook his head. “What about the baby? Is your daughter all right?”

  “She’s fine. It happened right after her birth.”

  “I don’t know what say. I’m so sorry for your loss.”

  “I didn’t believe the doctor at first. It’s still difficult. I keep hoping they’ll roll Morgan up to me on a stretcher, and she’ll smile and tell me it was all a mistake.” Abruptly, he surged to his feet. “Aww, damn it. Damn, damn, damn.”

  Niall paced the floor and hit the wall with his fist. He let out a hoarse yell of emotional pain and misery. “This has to be a nightmare. Help me, Jackson. For the first time in my life, I don’t know what to do.” Then he collapsed in the nearest chair.

  “I will.” Jackson placed his hand on Niall’s shoulder. “The whole team is going to help you and your family. We’ll be around so much that you’ll get sick of us.”

  Then Niall, who’d always thought of himself as a big, tough SEAL, cried as though someone had ripped his heart out.

  Jackson was a reassuring presence beside him. “Let it all out. You’re safe with me.”

  Niall washed his face and stared into the bathroom mirror. He hadn’t cried in years. His chest and throat hurt. Someone knocked on the door, and he heard Jackson, known better as Bear, holler out.

  “They’re here to take us to the nursery.”

  Niall opened the door and tried to smile. “Good. I need to see her for myself to believe she’s okay.”

  The nurse led them to the elevator. “Both of you can come up. I’ll give you gowns, and then have you wash your hands well before you can each hold her.”

  Everyone was silent on the elevator. The nurse seemed like she was trying very hard not to meet his eyes. When the bell rang, and the doors opened, Niall and Bear followed her down the left hall.

  The nurse opened a door, had them don gowns and watched as they washed their hands. Then they walked into another small room and sat to wait as she got the baby.

  “What will you name her?” Bear asked.

  “We both liked the name Melissa. Morgan’s parents named her after her Dad, Morgan. She loved him, but didn’t like the name for a girl.”

  “I like Melissa,” Bear said. The door opened, and another nurse walked in holding a baby wrapped in a pink blanket. She glanced at the two of them.

  “I’m her father,” Niall said.

  The nurse placed the infant carefully in his arms. Niall looked down at the small baby. She opened her eyes and blinked. Then she looked straight up at him.

  “Her eyes look like they may be green,” he said in a whisper.

  “The eye color sometimes changes as they get a bit older, but those eyes do look very green,” the nurse said.

  “Green like her Mama.” He glanced up at the baby’s soft hair. “And a tinge of red in her hair. She’s going to look like her mother.” He leaned forward and kissed the baby’s forehead. “I didn’t have the skills to save your Mama, but I will love and protect you with all my heart and abilities.”

  When Niall glanced up at Bear and the nurse, they had tears in their eyes. “Smile at my daughter Melissa. We have to be strong for her.” Niall took a deep breath and wondered how he would manage to raise his beautiful daughter with the career he’d chosen.

  Bear took his turn to hold her. Melissa stared at him and then opened her rosebud mouth. “She’s precious,” Bear said and cleared his throat as he touched her soft cheek.

  Niall’s Mom and Morgan’s mother arrived the next day. Niall moved through a fog as they arranged the funeral for his wife. It didn’t lift as he sat through the service, feeling numb. His insides were frozen and hurt in a way he’d never experienced. He’d have preferred it was him who died, not his beloved Morgan.

  Glancing around at the many friends and teammates in his house after the funeral, he tried to act as normal as possible. He thanked people for their condolences and offers to help in any way.

  I wonder if this is how other families felt when I attended funerals. I never grasped the pain and hollowness the other person felt — the sense of unreality. I talk like usual and smile at something someone says. I pretend to be the person I was for twenty-nine years. But I’ll never be the same.

  Niall felt a sense of relief when everyone left except Morgan’s Mom and Dad and his mother.

  Her parents walked across the room and hugged him. “Morgan loved you very much, and you were a good husband to her. I know this has been extremely difficult and sad for you, too.”

  “The hardest was the phone call to you two. I feel in some way I’ve let Morgan down.”

  “No, no one knows the future. You two were happy, and Morgan wanted this baby.” Her mother started to cry. “Sorry.”

  His father-in-law put his arm around her shoulders and walked with her to a chair.

  Niall’s mother crossed the room to him. “Have a seat, rest. Tomorrow, we get Melissa home, and everything is ready. Morgan did most of the work and picked the clothes she wanted for her. But we bought more bottles, since ...”

  Her voice trailed off and he mentally filled in her unspoken words. Since Morgan isn’t here to breastfeed her.

  “What am I going to do, Mom? I have my work, and I often travel.”

  “Have Morgan’s parents said anything?”

  “Yes. Her Dad isn’t well. They didn’t tell Morgan. They were waiting until after Melissa was born. He’s got cancer, and the prognosis isn’t good. As much as they’d like to have Melissa with them, they can’t handle her at this time.”

  “Okay,” his mother said decisively. “We’ll take her to my house. You’ll only be about an hour away according to the traffic. My home will be hers. She’ll need a stable environment, at least in the beginning. When you’re in town, you can stay with us or take her to your house. What do you think?”

  “Mom, you’re sixty-six. Will you be able to handle all the work of taking care of a newborn and, later, an active child?”

  “Niall, I’ve already thought this through. When I can’t, I’ll let you know.”

  “All right, but I’m taking a three-month leave. I want to get to know my daughter and have her know me.”

  “Good. I like that idea. And we’ll need pictures of you and Morgan to scatter around my house so that she can see you both together.” His Mom hugged him and whispered, “It will get better, but it’ll take time. You’ll always have a place in your heart for her.”

  “I hope you’re right. I can’t imagine living with this pain forever.”

  Chapter 1

  Emma Trace drove back from her interview for a job as a fourth-grade tea
cher. They’d filled the position a few days ago, but they liked her and gave her the paperwork to be a substitute teacher. The interviewer said they always had a few people, when school started, that were either moving or didn’t want their position for some reason. They reassured her she wouldn’t be a substitute for long.

  I hope so. My savings will go down fast if I don’t get a job. But I won’t mention it to Vi, or she won’t accept my money for rent.

  The phone rang as Emma came through the door. “Hello.”

  “Hi, Emma. How’s it going?” Vi asked.

  “Good. I have some possibilities and more interviews.”

  “A bunch of us are going to Aces tonight. How about we pick you up and bring you with us? You can spend the night, and we’ll go swimming tomorrow.”

  “I know you two want time to yourself. I’m fine. I have a wonderful view and a good book.”

  Vi laughed. “Oh, my. Now you must come with us. You sound like an old maid, and I’m not having that happen to my best friend.”

  “I’m not sad, and I’m not an old maid.”

  “You will be if you don’t get out and meet people.”

  “You’re going to bug me until I accept.”

  “Yes, I am.”

  “All right. But I’m not going every time you call.”

  “I won’t make it a habit. We’ll pick you up at seven.”