Soldier's Secret Baby

by Flora Ferrari

I feel my back find the wall behind me and I slide down it into a sitting position, or more accurately a puddle of my former self.

  Tomorrow’s my day off so it’s obvious what I have to do now.

  I’ll wake up early and drive straight to Vegas to get tested…

  And see if I really am pregnant.

  CHAPTER 14

  Sean

  Forty minutes later and my car is completely packed and gassed up. Gotta take advantage of those cheap gas prices you can only get on base.

  I say goodbye to a few friends and I’m off.

  As I approach the exit gate one of the sentries steps out and puts his hand forward.

  I slow down. He doesn’t move until I come to a complete stop.

  “Soldier, you are to report to the commanding officer immediately.”

  “I just spoke with him. I’m good-to-go.”

  “I have orders to see to it that you’re to turn your vehicle around and report to him immediately.”

  “Are you sure?”

  He motions with his hand to turn around, obviously annoyed that I asked him if he was sure. Luckily I outrank him so there’s not a lot he can do.

  And the CO outranks me so there’s not a lot I can do there.

  I’m not happy about this slight delay, but I go ahead and spin my wheel bringing my car around and back into the base.

  I’ll get this sorted out quickly and be back on the road. It won’t cost me more than twenty or thirty minutes and then I’ll be on my way to surprise Victoria.

  And oh will she be surprised.

  CHAPTER 15

  Sean

  “I’m really sorry, sergeant, but this Russia thing is really heating up fast. We need you there to get our troops up to speed on the language and culture as quickly as possible.”

  “There’s no one else, sir?”

  The CO looks at me in a way that tells me I’m dangerously close to being out of line, if I’m not already, and to take my orders and get out of his office.

  “Yes, sir,” I say, correcting my behavior.

  I take the new manila folder, my second of the day, and head back to my car.

  I can’t believe this is happening. I technically never even made it off base.

  “…this Russia thing is heating up fast.” What the heck? We’ve been in the cold war for decades. Throwing a little gasoline on the fire for the hundredth time isn’t going to result in anything at this point.

  Except me getting my original orders to Fort Irwin cancelled. And now all those favors I called in are wasted and much more importantly my chance to be with Victoria down the drain.

  But I’m not giving up. I can bring her here, but there’s a housing crunch on and off base.

  It’s like the entire world is conspiring against me.

  But I won’t let it. No way. No how.

  I’m a man who knows what he wants and what I want is her.

  And I’m not going to stop until I get her.

  And that includes this setback and the time I’ve lost. I’m going to get right back to work devising a plan to bring the two of us together.

  This time once and for all.

  CHAPTER 16

  Victoria

  One day later

  I see Sean’s name on my phone and I hit the green button.

  “Hello,” I say. I pull off on the exit for one of the casinos at the state line. I can’t talk to him when I’m driving right now, especially after the news the doctor just gave me.

  “Hey beautiful. How ya doin?”

  “I’m good. Thanks,” I say as I bury my head in my hand. The tears are starting already so I need to get these words out before he picks up on it. “How are you?” I say softly.

  “Never good unless you’re by my side. I’m just calling to let you know you’re going to hear about a deployment from my base later today. CNN will probably be the first to pick it up. Anyways, it does involve me, but I’m doing everything I can to try and bring the two of us together.”

  “Deployment?” I ask. Today has gone from bad to worse.

  “Yeah. The whole Russia thing is heating up apparently.”

  “Okay,” I manage to choke out. I want to tell him so bad that he’s going to be a father, but I can’t. There’s nothing I can do in comparison to what the military can do to him. Now I know what it feels like being a military spouse. I hit the mute button on my side of the phone and laugh at myself in-between tears.

  No, I don’t know. I don’t know at all. First of all I’m not a military spouse. And this is a pregnancy, a wonderful thing. I couldn’t imagine if I really were a military spouse and I got a call from some foreign country telling me…I don’t even want to think about it.

  I realize I only ever saw Sean as handsome and perfect in his uniform. Now I see there’s a lot more that goes to it. A whole other side. The reason why he truly is a hero. The danger he faces and how he can just be called away on a moment’s notice. This part really hurts…a lot.

  I want to tell him so bad about his baby but I realize now it can’t do any good. It will only worry him when he’s in the middle of who knows where. Not only that I don’t want it to come across like I’m using the baby as a tool…as a pawn.

  I know he loves me and wants to be with me. Maybe the fact that I’m pregnant could somehow help him in the military to be able to be closer to me, but then again we’re not even married. And he joined the military before we got together. That’s his first true love, right? Not me.

  Oh, I’m so emotional and irrational right now. I just need to get home and try and sort this mess out.

  “But don’t you worry,” he says. “We’re going to be together really soon. Okay.”

  “Okay,” I say.

  A few seconds go by.

  “Are you there?”

  I look and hit the unmute button. “Okay,” I say.

  “I just can’t do anything right right now.”

  “I have to run,” I say. “Good luck.”

  I hit the end call button and then all hell breaks loose. I’m balling my eyes out in a casino parking lot.

  The sign says “loose slots” and “win big.”

  Yeah, my slot sure was loose over the 4th of July and I sure didn’t win big, did I?

  Any luck I had when he first arrived a month ago has completely run out.

  I’m about to be a single mom waiting tables in the middle of the desert.

  My “luck” has completely run out.

  CHAPTER 17

  Victoria

  One day later

  I requested a personal day for today as soon as I stopped crying yesterday.

  I love my boss. He granted it immediately.

  So now I have all day to wallow in my pity or get busy figuring out how I’m going to make this work.

  I’m still extremely sad, but on the other hand I am pregnant with Sean’s baby. As much as I want to feel sorry for myself that’s an incredible blessing.

  I try and start every day with some upbeat thoughts and imagining Sean’s features in a little boy really lifts my spirits.

  Figuring out how I’m going to tell Vince I’m pregnant, and how it all happened with his best friend just feet from him in Vegas, is not going to be easy.

  But I’ve got a bit of time before I start to show where I can start to figure that out.

  And luckily Vince is at work so I can get started on my plan right away without him looking over my shoulder.

  I can just imagine. “Oh hey, sis. What are you working on?”

  “Oh hey, Vince. I’m just figuring out how I’m going to tell you that your bff and I were making sweet love high in the sky in that hotel room right next to your. And I just wanted to let you know he was totally awesome in bed! So awesome in fact that I’m pregnant with his child now.” And then I could give him a light punch in the arm. “So you’re going to be the uncle to your best friend’s love child. How cool, right?”

  I should be a freaking stand up comedian with a routine
like that. It would surely get laughs because no one would believe it. There’s no way that story could be true, right?

  Oh Jeez.

  I grab a glass of water and sit down on the couch. I need to think positive thoughts and imagining everything about my baby arriving will definitely help.

  I’m an emotional wreck still. Sad and devastated one minute and really excited the next.

  And then the doorbell rings. I’m definitely not in the mood or presentable enough to answer that.

  And who in the heck is going door-to-door trying to sell something in the middle of the desert? What’s wrong with people?

  I start in on chapter one of What to Expect When You’re Expecting, but before I even get through the first paragraph that darn doorbell rings again.

  “Go away,” I say loud enough to make me feel better but not so loud the guy at the door will hear which will lead him to be even more relentless knowing there’s someone inside who could answer the door. Could but won’t, buddy!

  I need to stay off my feet anyway, right? I’m pregnant now.

  I laugh a bit to myself, but that quickly disappears when I hear him banging on the glass window next to the door!

  Now you’re making me really mad.

  I get up from the couch and storm to the front door.

  “Go away!” I yell as I’m opening the door.

  The man has on a uniform, but it’s not for vacuum cleaners, Ginsu knives, or Omaha Steaks.

  And he’s certainly not selling Avon or Tupperware.

  CHAPTER 18

  Sean

  “Wha…what are you doing here?” she says.

  I step through the door and kiss her like it’s the first time.

  The sweetness of her lips. The curve of her hips in my hands. Her sweet smell.

  It all comes rushing back. Not that I ever forgot. Not that I could ever forget if I wanted to, nor would I want to.

  “I’m here for you,” I say. “I came for you.”

  “But you’re getting deployed. I saw it on CNN like you said.”

  “No, my unit is getting deployed. I’m not getting deployed.”

  “But…”

  “It pays to know the right people.”

  “What do you mean?”

  I can see she’s practically in shock and I can’t lie…the surprise on her face is so worth it to me.

  “The anniversary of my enlistment is three months away. I was sure I was going to re-enlist until I came here for the 4th. Then everything change.”

  “Everything did change,” she says.

  “That’s right. And I realized that both sides knew my reenlistment was a foregone conclusion so I never actually signed the papers.”

  “So you’re not reenlisting?”

  “Well, when they told me they were sending me to train soldiers to speak Russian and learn the customs, a long ways away from you, I reminded them that the duty assignment was for a year…and I didn’t have a year on my contract.”

  “So you played hardball?”

  “Not really. I didn’t need to. But yes, I was ready and willing to do whatever it took to be closer to you.”

  “But you could transfer to Fort Irwin then?”

  “I already tried that one and I even got it approved…before the whole Russia thing came up.”

  “Wait a minute. I’m totally confused. What’s going on?”

  “If I were to teach Russian it takes a year to get to a decent level. But after only three months they’d barely have their feet wet and then I’d be separating? That makes no sense. I know it and the military knows it.”

  “I still don’t understand.”

  “I made them an offer they couldn’t refuse.”

  “Which is?”

  “An early out. I sold my leave days, which I’d maxed out as I never took time off, and took an early out.”

  “So you’re out of the military?”

  “Yes and no. Technically not until my anniversary date, but yes…I’m out.”

  “But wait. What are you going to do now. I thought you loved the military.”

  “I thought I loved it to, but I think the more accurate term is I really like it a lot.”

  “But that’s over now.”

  “No, it’s just getting started. Just like how most language learning is going online these days, I’m going to start teaching the same courses I taught in the military, but online.”

  “But you’re out.”

  “That’s why I can operate now as a consultant to the government. I can work from home and charge higher prices. I mean I’m not going to gouge the country that I love, but what I do does pay well and it’s only fair to charge market value. Not to mention they offered me a very generous enlistment bonus if I stayed, which I spun and then negotiated into the private contractor contract we settled upon.”

  “So where will you work from then?”

  “Next to you of course.”

  “Next to me. I live in the middle of nowhere. You’re from the middle of nowhere. Here. You know what it’s like here. You don’t want to do that do you?”

  “Remember how you told me how I loved the military and then I told you that more accurately I really really liked the military?”

  “Um, yes…?”

  “The reason I don’t love the military is because my true love is you. You always have been and always will be.”

  She gives me a look that says, “Everything is happening all at once and this is all too much.” But lucky for me I discover that when she’s overwhelmed there’s only one place that she needs to be.

  She falls forward into my arms and I catch her and hold her tight. I know she’s still sorting this all out, but she needs to know that the bottom line is that we’re going to be together and everything is going to be okay. That’s what she needs to hear. But first I have to know how she feels about this big reveal.

  “So how do you like them apples?” I say.

  “I love them but I’ve got to tell you something.”

  “Please. Be my guest.”

  “I’ve got some apples of my own.”

  “Come again?”

  “I’m pregnant.”

  CHAPTER 19

  Victoria

  “You’re what?” he says.

  “You’re what?” my brother says from the hallway.

  “I thought you were at work,” I say.

  “I thought I could trust you around my friend.”

  So much for keeping our secret baby a secret.

  “This is the best news yet!” Sean says.

  “This is bullshit!” my brother says.

  Sean hugs me tight but I hear the sound of heavy footsteps on the floor and feel Sean’s embrace leave me.

  Not a second later I hear bodies hit the floor. Well over four hundred pounds of muscle are now wrestling on the floor this is not the kind of stress I need for my child.

  “Stop it! Just stop it right now!”

  I turn and see Gail standing in the hallway in her nightgown. She looks like she’s not feeling well and also that she’s not going to tolerate any nonsense this morning.

  “Quit acting like two little spoiled brats and get up off the floor and be the men that we need right now you two!” she says.

  I never knew Gail to be so fierce, but I have to say I like it. I always knew my brother picked a good one, but this is next level good.

  The boys kind of look at each other and then release their death grips, quickly getting to their feet. I feel like I’m watching a Saturday morning cartoon right now.

  “Victoria’s a grown woman and Sean’s your best friend. Leave them alone. They can do whatever the heck they want just like we do whatever the heck we want. So quit fooling around and get back in here with a cold washrag for my head. All this fighting is stressing me out and if I’m stressed out then you know your child is stressed out and I know you don’t want that now do you?”