Formatted Seal Of Honor edit2 Read Online Free PDF Page A

nice. I like her,” she said.
    “I do too, but it’s stil weird that she reads to fruit,” he said and steered her inside. “You go rest
    and I’l forage for our dinner like a good man should.”
    “I could get used to this,” she cal ed as she went down the hal .
    “I hope you do because I plan to do it a lot,” he yel ed back to her and she laughed as she went
    into the master bedroom.
    It was so natural to kick off her shoes and slide into his bed like she was meant to be there al
    her life. She rubbed her bel y as the baby flip-flopped while she got settled. “Shh now, Marianne, let
    Mommy sleep for a bit.” It seemed she had picked a name and it was completely off the list she had
    formed in her head. Sergei had given her the gift of life and in a weird way he sent her on the path
    she was on now. The plane ticket gave her the opportunity to meet Zack and now he was going to be
    Marianne’s daddy and somehow she knew Sergei would be happy for them and that they were
    protected. She fel asleep with her arms curved around her bel y and a smile of contentment on her
    face.

    * * * *

    The sun setting over the crystal blue water of the sea was breathtaking. The orange glow
    danced across the rippling, lazy waves. The color blended with the gray-green foam and the water
    droplets that looked like diamonds surged towards the soft sand. Her feet sank into the sand that
    was stil warm from the sun of the day and the water ran across her feet. Zack held her hand and they
    talked in soft tones while they strol ed. He’d given her a pair of his PT shorts and a tank shirt to wear
    in the water since she didn’t have a bathing suit. Jordyn thought she looked ridiculous in the clothes
    that were too big even though she was pregnant. But when Zack kissed her until her toes tingled and
    told her she was perfect, she no longer minded how she thought she might look. How could one man
    be so perfect? He was gentle, kind, passionate and lit a fire in her she thought never existed.
    She had loved Sergei, but he never made her feel the way Zach did. Maybe it was working
    towards that, maybe she didn’t know him long enough. She would never know. She recal ed wishing
    for a prince charming when she was growing up, hoping for someone to whisk her away and save
    her from a life where she felt unwanted, a life in foster care.
    In high school she figured out real y quickly that guys saw girls like her who lived in a government
    home as a trick, a quick lay but not much more. They’d whisper sweet words but then take the good
    girls to the prom and on dates. The foster home girls were the ones they tried to have sex with in the
    park. It happened to her once but never happened again, but when you’re eighteen and foster care
    turns you out on the streets, you find a place to keep warm even if it means sleeping on the couch of
    some stranger. Finding work was hard, saving up money was even harder just to try to get your own
    place and maybe go to community col ege. While on their walk on the beach, while digging their toes
    in the soft sand, she revealed it al to Zack and he did the same. They formed an even closer bond
    by sharing what they had gone through growing up. He had two homes now and fancy things, yet he
    had just as screwed up a childhood as she did.
    Jordyn steered the topic of conversation to a lighter one. “What’s your favorite color?”
    “Mint green,” he answered.
    She laughed. “Mint green? That’s very specific.”
    “It’s not as dark as hunter green and not a milky weird pastel,” Zack explained. “What’s yours?”
    “Rich dark red, think velvet royal drapes the color of deep red wine,” Jordyn said. “I saw the
    movie Anna and the King and fel in love with al those rich red tapestries. For a long time, I wanted
    to move to China and become an English teacher.”
    “Lucky for me that didn’t happen. I’d have hated to have roamed the world looking for you,” Zack
    said.
    She laughed. “You