SEALed With a Kiss: Even a Hero Needs Help Sometimes... by Mary Margret Daughtridge
Authors: Mary Margret Daughtridge
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child, is totally referencing an internal state. You might say they're not in touch with reality. So you demand they focus externally, offer a reinterpretation of what's happening, with sensory corroboration, and then redirect to some action."
"Sensory corroboration. That's when you said 'feel his arms,' right?"
"Right." Pickett flashed a smile at his ready comprehension. "In this case it was easy because four-year-olds tend to see cause and effect as something being stronger than something else. For instance, they would say that an airplane can fly because it's stronger than air. So reinterpretation was a piece of cake. You are stronger than his grandmother, a fact he could check out for himself, ergo, you could keep him safe without needing to run away."
"And you could work out all this in a split second?"
A shrug sent the T-shirt sliding off the other shoulder. "Practice helps."
"I think you must be really good at what you do. Because you said the right thing for me too."
Her eyes widened slightly and her head tilted. It was like she opened a space as wide as hangar doors. He didn't have to steer his thoughts. He could go right through.
"When Danielle and I got married, I knew right away that it was a mistake, and I think she did too. She thought our marriage would be glamorous and exciting. Hobnobbing with admirals and hanging out at the pool at the officer's club. The reality is that I'm gone way more than I'm here, and most of what I do I can't talk about." He shifted forward to rest his forearms on his knees. "But just when I realized our marriage was all wrong, she got pregnant. We decided to stay together till after the baby was born.
"I didn't think about what I would do with a baby. I know it's stupid but the baby wasn't real to me. It just seemed like something Danielle was doing, and it didn't have much to do with me. I was focusing on being a SEAL and that's all I was focused on.
"Anyway, by sheer luck I was there when he was born. He was so little. He didn't even fill up my two hands." Jax spread his hands, remembering weighing the tiny creature in them. "I never expected to feel like that. That love. I just wanted to protect him and keep him safe. I knew I would die for him.
"My platoon left on assignment three weeks after he was born, and while we were gone, Danielle took Tyler and moved back to Raleigh to her mother's house.
"I didn't fight for custody Hell, she was more able to take care of him than I was. Any fool could see that."
Pickett hadn't said anything at all, mostly wasn't even looking at him. But her capacity to listen was like a force, a rising tide that floated him free from where he'd run aground and drew him into navigable water.
"I haven't seen enough of him, I know. Even though I've tried to visit when I could, I'll bet we haven't spent a total of four months together since he was born.
"But today when he was so scared and he couldn't believe I would keep him safe ..." Jax rubbed at his eyes and then his nose.
"That really hurt, hmm?"
Hurt. Jax swallowed. Nodded. "The whole op was going to shi—excuse me. And you stood there looking like I was Godzilla."
"For the record, the image I had in mind was more Attila the Hun than Godzilla."
Jax slanted her a glance. "That's supposed to make me feel better?"
"A military man—of a sort—rather than a monster? I think so." Her tone was judicious, but the tiny dimple that appeared at the corner of her mouth said she was twitting him. And enjoying it.
"Okay, you were looking at me like I was Attila and then, suddenly, you weren't.
"You believed I wouldn't hurt you and I would keep him safe." He swiveled to face her fully. She was regarding him with a tender little smile. "You believed in me."
She nodded. She had the shining-est eyes.
The force of the storm had steadily increased as they talked. The windows and storm windows were closed; nevertheless, the curtains moved from time to time. The wind was a steady roar, interspersed
"Sensory corroboration. That's when you said 'feel his arms,' right?"
"Right." Pickett flashed a smile at his ready comprehension. "In this case it was easy because four-year-olds tend to see cause and effect as something being stronger than something else. For instance, they would say that an airplane can fly because it's stronger than air. So reinterpretation was a piece of cake. You are stronger than his grandmother, a fact he could check out for himself, ergo, you could keep him safe without needing to run away."
"And you could work out all this in a split second?"
A shrug sent the T-shirt sliding off the other shoulder. "Practice helps."
"I think you must be really good at what you do. Because you said the right thing for me too."
Her eyes widened slightly and her head tilted. It was like she opened a space as wide as hangar doors. He didn't have to steer his thoughts. He could go right through.
"When Danielle and I got married, I knew right away that it was a mistake, and I think she did too. She thought our marriage would be glamorous and exciting. Hobnobbing with admirals and hanging out at the pool at the officer's club. The reality is that I'm gone way more than I'm here, and most of what I do I can't talk about." He shifted forward to rest his forearms on his knees. "But just when I realized our marriage was all wrong, she got pregnant. We decided to stay together till after the baby was born.
"I didn't think about what I would do with a baby. I know it's stupid but the baby wasn't real to me. It just seemed like something Danielle was doing, and it didn't have much to do with me. I was focusing on being a SEAL and that's all I was focused on.
"Anyway, by sheer luck I was there when he was born. He was so little. He didn't even fill up my two hands." Jax spread his hands, remembering weighing the tiny creature in them. "I never expected to feel like that. That love. I just wanted to protect him and keep him safe. I knew I would die for him.
"My platoon left on assignment three weeks after he was born, and while we were gone, Danielle took Tyler and moved back to Raleigh to her mother's house.
"I didn't fight for custody Hell, she was more able to take care of him than I was. Any fool could see that."
Pickett hadn't said anything at all, mostly wasn't even looking at him. But her capacity to listen was like a force, a rising tide that floated him free from where he'd run aground and drew him into navigable water.
"I haven't seen enough of him, I know. Even though I've tried to visit when I could, I'll bet we haven't spent a total of four months together since he was born.
"But today when he was so scared and he couldn't believe I would keep him safe ..." Jax rubbed at his eyes and then his nose.
"That really hurt, hmm?"
Hurt. Jax swallowed. Nodded. "The whole op was going to shi—excuse me. And you stood there looking like I was Godzilla."
"For the record, the image I had in mind was more Attila the Hun than Godzilla."
Jax slanted her a glance. "That's supposed to make me feel better?"
"A military man—of a sort—rather than a monster? I think so." Her tone was judicious, but the tiny dimple that appeared at the corner of her mouth said she was twitting him. And enjoying it.
"Okay, you were looking at me like I was Attila and then, suddenly, you weren't.
"You believed I wouldn't hurt you and I would keep him safe." He swiveled to face her fully. She was regarding him with a tender little smile. "You believed in me."
She nodded. She had the shining-est eyes.
The force of the storm had steadily increased as they talked. The windows and storm windows were closed; nevertheless, the curtains moved from time to time. The wind was a steady roar, interspersed
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