Sitting here, in the mall square, with kids screeching and running around as their mothers enjoyed a coffee with their girlfriends, it wasn’t so easy.
“Why not? What’s wrong, Dana?”
The younger woman’s hand shook as she stopped knotting them together and reached for her coffee. She must have been waiting a while, because the cup was half-empty and looked to be cold, so Dana had been more than punctual—she hadn’t wanted to be late at all. “I need to ask you something.”
“Ask away,” Gia said freely, just wanting to know what the hell was going on.
Dana was about to speak when a waitress popped up to their left. Gia wanted to bat her away. Instead, she asked for a latte and tried to be patient as the woman made small talk about the sandwich specials. Refusing them all, she turned to Dana, pointedly dismissing the server, who finally took the hint.
“You were saying?”
Dana bit her lip. “Are you really pregnant?”
Whatever she’d been expecting, it hadn’t been that. “Josh told you?”
“Yeah. The other day. He was excited. Heck, he was whistling. I was curious because he only whistles if something we’ve done has worked out well, and we were still in the middle of recon, so I knew it wasn’t work related.”
“Well, yes, I’m pregnant.” She’d only found out the due date yesterday, which was three months earlier than she’d expected. Which meant Luke had been a daddy, technically, since before his deployment.
Wasn’t it crazy how things worked out?
He’d been so terrified about leaving, utterly certain he was going to die…and with his seed in her belly, his child—an extension of himself—growing…death had been an impossibility.
“Congratulations,” Dana told her, her voice weak.
It wasn’t derogatory, nor was it scornful. It was feeble, timid. Odd. “Thanks. I think.”
Gia stared askew at the other woman and, spotting the waitress heading their way, dug in her purse for a bill and handed it over immediately, hoping to get her out of the way.
“You must be happy,” Dana continued once they were alone again, her fingers fiddling with the carton. She was jittery, so its contents splashed around like a blue whale was swimming around in there.
“Yes, we are.”
“He looked very happy when he told me, and it got me to thinking.”
“About?” Hell, this was like pulling teeth.
In fact, that would probably have been easier.
“About why I came to work for him in the first place.”
Gia blinked, surprised by the direction they were veering in. “Weren’t you assigned to him?”
“No.” Dana raised a hand to her mouth and began gnawing on one of her nails. “I’m kind of a…well, a loophole.”
“A loophole?”
She nodded. “I’m not an NCO or an officer. I’m not a part of the army.”
“But you have clearance?” Gia asked, a perplexed frown creasing her brow.
“Technically.”
This conversation was getting weirder and weirder. “What does that mean? You have to have clearance to work with Josh. That’s how it goes, isn’t it?”
“I kind of…well, I kind of gave myself clearance.”
Gia reared back. Uncomfortable, she peered around, making sure no one was listening in on their conversation. “Should you be telling me this?”
Dana flushed, then quickly said, “You’re not in any danger or anything. Neither’s Josh. I’m not, like, there as a mole or anything.”
“I guess I should be relieved. You’re freaking me out, Dana. What are you telling me this for? And why are you telling me?”
“I had to do something, Gia.”
“I’m sure you did. About what?” Frustration added a snappishness to her tone that she immediately regretted, because Dana blanched and ducked her head.
“I needed to know him. I needed to know what he was like as a person,” she mumbled half into her chest. It reminded her of Lexi when Gia had scolded her for something.
“You needed to know what Josh was like as a person?” she asked, making sure she was on the same page because, for the life of her, Gia didn’t know why Josh’s nature would matter worth a damn to an employee.
“Yeah. I’d been looking for him for a while. Scouring databases, looking where I shouldn’t look. It was kind of appropriate,” she murmured, her voice slightly dreamy now as she looked off into the distance, completely separate from the bustling mall and the chaos of the mom and young toddler network currently blowing up a noisy storm in the forecourt. “I found him on my sixteenth birthday.”
“You found Josh?” Gia stated, tone bland. Where the hell was this leading?
Had she been watching too many Agents of Shield episodes? Or was she right to be freaked out about this?
Dana had been… What? Stalking Josh?
“Yes. I found him. And her.”
The way she said her gave Gia chills. “Who do you mean?”
“She gave me up. Threw me away like I was of no importance. I had to know if he was like that. I had to know if he was a good person or if I was the product of two disgusting human beings who had no respect for the life they’d created.”
The noise of moments before settled into a dull buzz that vibrated at the back of Gia’s awareness. People blurred in the periphery of her vision. The smells of the greasy burgers and fries dissipated, degrading down into ozone.
All her senses, all her attention whittled down to the woman before her. The woman who was shaking, a tremor making her look like she was vibrating in her seat.
“Why are you telling me this?” she whispered.
“Because I need to tell him, and I don’t know how.”
Gia’s mouth felt drier than dust. She tried to lick her lips, but it was a physical impossibility. She knew what Dana was saying, at a base level, understood it. But somehow, the words were not computing. She shook her head, trying to clear the fog that had overtaken her mind.
It didn’t work.
“What are you trying to tell me here? J-just to make sure I haven’t misunderstood,” she mumbled hoarsely.
Dana’s mouth trembled at Gia’s words. A look of terror flittered across her face, and it came to Gia that the younger woman was petrified. Of her. Of her reaction to this. Of how she’d behave afterward.
Blinking at the realization, she discovered it was easier to approach this rationally now she saw how scared Dana was.
Whatever the other woman was about to say, there was no malice buried there, no harmful intent.
If anything, though it was only a few years that separated them, it was like looking at a young teenager who was about to admit to some terrible deed.
Pity filled her, and though it seemed impossible to have misheard what Dana had said, she still needed confirmation. “Tell me, Dana. What’s going on?”
“I…” She pleated her hands together, fingers burrowing deep and knotting, turning her knuckles a murky yellow. The desperation in her eyes intensified, the urgent need for kindness and not vitriol with it. “I-I’m…" She licked her lips, then whispered, "Please don’t hate me, but I-I’m Josh’s daughter.”
TO BE CONTINUED…
Author’s Note: Don’t hate me!! The Depth of Love is available for pre-order, and is due for release on 26th June. Catch you later, guys!
Other titles by Serena Akeroyd:
Kingdom of Veronia
Perry & Her Princes
QUINTESSENCE
Charmed by Them
Healed by Them
Worshipped by Them
Protected by Them
Loved by Them
Anchor Pride Series
Claimed by Caden
McKinnon’s Mate
The Sanguenna Chronicles
Christmas: Dragon Style
Valentine’s: Dragon Style
The Corsakis
Three’s Never A Crowd
Old Enough to Know Better
The Federation
A Menage Made on Madison
Jayce Ventura – Ghost Detective Series
Ghost Detective
Ghost Avenger
La Belle sans La Bete Series
Menage Material
A Thoroughly Modern Menage
The Luck of Love Series
The Luck of Love
The Power of Love
The Strength of Love
The Depth of Love
Touched
The Raw Touch
The Strength of Love: Happily Ever Menage (The Luck of Love Book 3) Page 18