Reclaiming Love: Forever Safe Romance Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Reclaiming Love

  Copyright

  Thank You!

  Dedication

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Books by Brynn Paulin

  Reclaiming Love

  Forever Safe

  By Brynn Paulin

  Supernova Indie Publishing Services, LLC

  www.supernovaindie.com

  Powered by Your Imagination

  Reclaiming Love

  by

  Brynn Paulin

  Mission: Destroy the man I love.

  Savannah

  It’s for his own good.

  I love Jordan more than life itself. A cliché but true. For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted nothing more than a life with him. Marriage, family, happily ever after. We both want that. When I learned it’s not to be, I did the only thing possible. I cut him loose to make way for his future. Without me.

  Jordan

  I had three months left on my mission in Afghanistan. Then I’d come home and marry my woman. I never expected a Dear John letter from my fiancée. Never in a million years. But with an apology and no explanation for ripping out my heart, she said goodbye. No. No way. Goodbye is the last thing I’ll accept. As soon as I get back to the States, I’ll prove we’re meant for forever.

  But when I make it home, my girl is nowhere to be found.

  New mission: Find Savannah. Reclaim her love. Never let her go.

  Copyright

  © 2019, Brynn Paulin

  Reclaiming Love

  Cover Art by PopKitty

  Edited by Liza Green

  Electronic Format ISBN: 978-1-62344-313-9

  Warning: All rights reserved. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and occurrences are a product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, places or occurrences, is purely coincidental.

  Thank You!

  Thank you for your purchase of Reclaiming Love by Brynn Paulin. We hope you’ve enjoyed the story and will consider leaving a review and telling a friend.

  Brynn loves hearing from readers! Please visit her website at www.brynnpaulin.com.

  Dedication

  To the other Forever Safe authors.

  You’re all amazing and I’m glad we got to play.

  Prologue

  ~ Jordan Camden ~

  Kindergarten

  I didn’t like girls. I don’t have sisters, but my girl cousins were bratty and whiny. All they wanted to do was play Barbies and dress up their puppy. Poor dog. I was pretty sure he didn’t like dresses.

  If all girls were like them…ick!

  The ones at the table next to mine kept talking in loud whispers, and I was pretty sure they were going to get in trouble soon. Ignoring them, I pushed my green crayon over the paper. We were supposed to be drawing our families. I didn’t want to. It was just my mom and me. Well, I had a dad. He was just far away. Sometimes, I got to talk to him on the phone, but it was weird. He’d been far away at “war” or something for more than a year. I wasn’t even four yet when he left. I wasn’t in school yet and my little brother wasn’t even born.

  Now, I was done with preschool and a big kid in kindergarten at the big school. And smarter than those girls over next to me. Girls were so dumb.

  I better hurry up and finish this picture so no one thought that about me. I wanted to be done before recess and story time afterward. Sometimes, Ms. Carson made you sit at your desk instead of on the carpet if you weren’t finished with your work. Something about ‘sponsibility or something.

  I got distracted by people moving by the door. The principal was bringing in a girl. She had long, almost black hair, and even from my seat, I could see she had really blue eyes. I couldn’t stop looking at her. She was the prettiest person I ever saw. I bet she wasn’t dumb like other girls. She looked smart, but kind of ‘fraid up there.

  I’d make sure she had nothing to be scared of at school. I’d tell her everything about here and not let anyone pick on her. Sure hoped she liked me. If not, I’d convince her I was cool. I’d be the best boy she knew.

  “Class, this is Savannah O’Reilly. She just moved here with her family, and she’ll be joining us now. Savannah, how about it you go sit next to Jordan over there.”

  Savannah looked around, and I waved at her, so she knew who I was. Her face got a little red, but she gave me a small smile. I wanted to make her smile all the time.

  “Hi,” I said when she sat down.

  “Hi.”

  “I’m Jordan.”

  She smiled again. “I know. The teacher just said.”

  “I like your name. It’s pretty. Wanna play with me at recess? I’ll push you on the swing.”

  Savannah nodded, and my chest felt all weird. And suddenly, I hoped I would know her forever.

  * * * *

  Afghanistan, eighteen years later…

  I stared at the paper in my hand, unable to believe what I was reading. My fiancée, my loving, devoted fiancée, had just broken up with me. In a damn letter. Not an email, a text or a phone call where I could immediately respond. No, she’d sent me this letter over a week ago.

  What the fuck, Savannah?

  And here I was, stuck in Afghanistan for six more months.

  I stared at the note, trying to find a clue. Anything. Something to explain why.

  Dear Jordan,

  I’m sorry to have to send you this letter. I’m sorry to tell you like this. I can’t marry you. It’s too much. I was too young to say yes to this, and I guess, I didn’t realize what it would be like to be a soldier’s girlfriend. I just can’t do it. I’m sorry.

  Savannah

  It didn’t even sound like her, but it was her handwriting. I’d get to the bottom of this. Carefully, I folded the sheet of yellow, lined paper and slipped it into the white envelope. Standing from my position in the sand, where I’d been leaning against a building, I headed toward the communications tent.

  A lot of good that did. Not ten minutes later, I wanted to throw the computer across the small, cramped space. My email bounced back. Blocked. I couldn’t get through on phone either.

  My chest went tight from fear of losing my forever. She’d been my everything for eighteen years. Without her…

  And then the first missile hit, and I went from fighting for my life with Savannah to just fighting for my life.

  Chapter One

  ~ Jordan ~

  I couldn’t help thinking of Drunk on a Plane as I settled into my seat on my way to what had become a honeymoon for one. Not that I planned to get drunk, but I might pop another pain pill.

  I’d been just months from the end of my second commitment to the Army when I’d been shot up a few months ago. Now I was out, though I had four years of inactive ready reserve ahead. Thankfully, I hadn’t died out there in the sand, but at the moment, I found myself without direction and getting my bearings.

  This trip had been planned for over a year. Savannah and I would have been married as of a few days ago, and now on our way to our honeymoon on the shores of Lake Michig
an. The destination had been a surprise. She’d often told me of the idyllic days at this lake, her parents renting cottages in tiny shore-side towns. Remembering that, I’d found a resort where we could spend the three weeks of our honeymoon. Now, I’d be there alone since I’d been too busy recovering to cancel the trip. That and I had nothing else to do.

  I was out of the military, with no job yet. Savannah had left town, and I had no idea where to find her. I wasn’t letting her go, that was for sure, so I’d spend this time regrouping, figuring out my job and devising a plan to find my girl.

  The job wasn’t a big issue. I had plenty saved, enough to last me months, if not longer. And I had only to say the word and I could take on one of several job offers waiting for me—including the web developer position with Savannah’s brother, Ian, my best friend. That was my most likely decision, and Ian knew it. In fact, yesterday, Ian had been compiling a work list, operating as if I’d already said yes.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, the pilot has just activated the fasten your seatbelts sign. Please secure your carryon items and fasten your seatbelts as we prepare for landing in Grand Rapids, where the current weather at the Gerald R Ford airport is a balmy eighty-five degrees with clear skies. Thank you for flying with us. Welcome home if you’re from Grand Rapids and have a pleasant stay if you’re visiting.”

  I flipped up my tray table and handed off my empty cup to the cabin attendant. Closing my eyes, I leaned back my head and tried to relax during this final leg of the flight. Savannah should be in the seat next to me. By now, she would have figured out where we were going and she’d be practically bouncing with excitement. My girl…she was a ball of energy.

  I shook my head, thinking of how her family didn’t know where she’d gone. Frankly, they were freaking out a little. She’d called in once a week and assured them she was okay, but she refused to give them a location, telling everyone she needed to think. I also realized that I’d likely spend this entire trip thinking of her—either wondering where she was or considering how she’d react to one thing or another at the little resort.

  Without much hassle, less than an hour later, I was in my rental car and on my way to Cherish Cove. The town was located right on the shore of Lake Michigan, about two hours northwest of the airport where I’d landed.

  Feeling empty, knowing my other half was out there somewhere and I had no answers about her desertion, I drove with the radio off. Only the sound of the GPS directions interrupted the silence. I ached, bodily and spiritually.

  Deep in my thoughts, I recalled when I’d come home to the small town where I’d grown up. Savannah’s brother, Ian, had met me at the airport and brought me to my parents’ place. It was our chance to talk, something we both needed before family crashed down on us. He needed to check in with me; I needed to know about Savannah.

  “Is there someone else?” I’d asked.

  “No, man. I promise I’d tell you if there was. She just… I don’t know. It was a shock to all of us, too. I mean, she’d been in a weird funk for about a week, on the edge of crying if anyone even looked at her. Then she announced she’d called off the wedding, told Mom and Dad to cancel everything and less than an hour later, she took off. It was only when she got to the airport and was on the plane, about to take off, that she told us she was leaving leaving. She calls in once a week, so we know she’s okay. We just don’t know where she is.”

  “Fuck,” I’d muttered. That would make things harder. I’d thought I’d just come home, corner her and get things worked out. Not so much, I guess. Not that I would give up. This was only a little roadblock in the whole scheme of things.

  “Yeah,” he’d replied in the same tone. “To say the parents are pissed is an understatement.”

  “I’ll bring her home.”

  “You sure? I mean she dumped you…and when you were down, too.”

  “She didn’t know about me getting shot. And there’s no way in hell I’m letting her go. You know she’s mine. We are meant to be together. We’ve known it since we were…what? Five? There’s never been anyone else for me and I know there’s never been for her either.”

  The last had been said with far more conviction than I felt. Someone else was the only reason I could imagine that she’d ditch me and leave town, that she’d crushed my heart and years of devotion into the dirt.

  I tapped my fingers on the steering wheel, contemplating my plan to find Savannah. Sure, I was going on “vacation,” but in truth, relaxation was the last thing I had in mind. I planned to start calling mutual friends. After that, I’d make a list of possible places she might visit. I had tracking on her phone; she’d turned it off. I’d research ways to reactivate it. If she even had that phone. Her family reported she’d been calling from another number. I had that number, and I planned to see if it could also be tracked.

  Could I have done this back in Arizona? Yes. But in truth, I needed to be away from the pitying looks and people wanting to take care of me. My mom wanted to completely oversee my life. Overbearing? Yes. I think she was traumatized by her little boy almost being killed.

  She’d have to get over that. I wasn’t a kid anymore. Hadn’t been for a long time.

  I was a broken man, with an even more broken heart.

  I intended to mend both. Or die trying. Because slowly, but surely, I was dying without Savannah. She was my center. My reason for being. She had been since the day I met her.

  The GPS announced my exit, alerting me that I’d zoned out and been driving by rote. Fuck, I needed to get my shit together. That couldn’t keep happening.

  The exit led to a series of country highways then smaller streets before I found myself rolling into the thriving metropolis of Cherish Cove, population 1200—during the off season. From what I knew, that number bumped up during the summer, when tourists flocked to the mom-and-pop resort hotels that dotted the town’s shoreline. Along with those, the locals offered guided lake activities, two museums, a lighthouse tour, hiking through a nearby state park that had a lookout point overlooking the lake, and a boardwalk full of little shops. It had seemed perfect for a laid-back honeymoon destination, a place that fit me and Savannah perfectly.

  It made me sad that I’d be experiencing it without her. Well, that I’d be there without her. I doubted I’d go and do the touristy things.

  Everything had lost its luster.

  Was this what depression was like?

  I just wanted my woman back, and I’d stop at nothing to find it done.

  And just like that, I added one of my friends to the list of people to contact. A couple years older than me, Pete “not Peter” was a Coast Guard’s DOG. I’d never heard of them until him. Like SEALs, they were a special forces group, but as Pete liked to say, “Everyone knows DOGs are better than SEALs.” When the military decommissioned the command, Pete and his brothers had gone into civilian work.

  Pete could probably help me track down my woman. I wanted to kick myself for not contacting him sooner. I made a note to call him as soon as I got settled into my suite at the Driftwood Hotel.

  Savannah was in the wind, but I’d catch her.

  * * * *

  The warm sand beneath my toes felt good as I walked down the beach toward the water. A storm was rolling in over the lake, and the billowing cloud formations were awe-inspiring. About fifteen feet from the churning water, I plopped my butt down in the sand and watched. I knew I’d probably get soak when the downpour came, but they said it wasn’t supposed to be a thunderstorm so I didn’t worry much.

  Leaning back on my hands, I closed my eyes and breathed the heavy air. Please God, let me find her. Let her still love me. Or remember how she loves me and how good it’s always been between us. Let her know she’s mine.

  I probably looked like a great fool staring at the waves while the curtain of water from the sky poured down on me. I tilted back my head and let it wash away anything within me that was unproductive for this season of life, of searching, of winning the prize. I had to
be focused and believe above all else that I would be the victor in the end.

  The pouring rain was deafening, but I still heard the sharp intake of a gasp. Turning my head slowly toward the sound and opening my eyes, I found the answer to every prayer I’d had the past few months.

  Standing a mere ten feet or so away was my woman. My Savannah.

  Chapter Two

  ~ Savannah O’Reilly ~

  It had been raining every day for a week straight. I wasn’t sure I’d ever feel completely dry again. Between the frequent downpours and the pervading humidity, it was as if a sheen of moisture always clung to my skin. Still, I loved it here. When I’d needed a place to get away, I’d jumped at the chance to come to Cherish Cove.

  Before I’d graduated, I’d talked a lot with Angie, another girl in my program. One day, we’d talked about dream vacations and I’d told her how I loved the small towns on Lake Michigan. I’d been shocked—and a little jealous—when she’d mentioned her aunt and uncle owned a resort hotel on that very lake.

  Then, by pure happenstance, I’d run into Angie three months ago, just after I’d learned I could never give Jordan the future he dreamed of. Just after I’d broken both our hearts and ended our engagement. I hadn’t talked to him afterward, but I knew he hadn’t taken it well. How could he? We were soul mates. Our lives had been knit together since the day we met. Maybe even before that.

  Cutting across those bindings and ending the connection had devastated me. I could barely talk to anyone. I’d put on an implacable face around people, but alone, I cried until my tear ducts gave out and my eyes felt rubbed raw by sand. I didn’t eat. I could barely breathe. Everything I did, everywhere I went, reminded me of Jordan.

  I was hollow. Empty. So empty.

  When I’d seen Angie at the grocery store where she’d been picking up supplies for a bachelorette party she was in town for, she’d known something was wrong. I told her I’d ended things with Jordan and I just needed to get away.