Thanksgiving Daddy

“Okay,” she said reluctantly. “Just a talk.”

“Just a talk,” he agreed. “I need to absorb this, then we can discuss what I can do. Maybe how much of a dad I can be. I don’t want you to just walk away with everything up in the air.”

Everything up in the air? Just as she was feeling the situation had been settled, he was saying that? Well, she supposed it was, for him.

She shoved her keys back into her pocket and walked back toward the house beside him. Maybe the hard part was done. Maybe the conversation would be easy and civilized. And maybe they did need to talk. She had come all the way out here to give him the news for the sake of her child. Maybe this was something more she owed to the kid.

And that was a whole lot of maybes. She stifled a sigh. Apparently she had been wrong to think that simply delivering the news would settle everything.

Well, it might still. Nothing at all might come out of this conversation.

Marge and Nate were just inside the door. Marge beamed and announced that she would start dinner for all of them, then get a guest room ready. She buzzed away. Edie, who hadn’t agreed to stay that long, felt her stomach sink.

“Don’t mind her,” Nate said with a faint smile. “Cooking makes her feel good. You two do what you want.”

“We want a place to talk, or I can take her over to my place.”

All of a sudden Marge poked her head into the room. “Seth! You can’t take her to your place. It’s a mess!”

Seth sighed and shook his head. “Mom, I’ve seen where Edie’s been and I’ve seen what she can handle. It’s far worse than my renovation mess. Before you try to start mothering, remember this—this woman flies into heavy fire to pull out people like me. She’s perfectly capable of managing her own life.”

Marge blinked. “Oh.” Then she managed a smile. “You’re right, of course. Once a mother, always a mother. I can’t seem to stop.”

She vanished into her kitchen again. Nate eyed his son. “Be gentle with your mother, Seth. There’s a lot she can’t imagine, and I’d like her to stay that way.”

“I get it, Dad. But Edie extracted my team under some withering fire. I won’t have her disrespected.”

“It’s not disrespect,” Nate said. Then he turned to Edie. “Stay or go as you please. You’re welcome here.” Then he vanished into the kitchen after his wife.

“Wow,” Edie said quietly, feeling a little warmer toward Seth after the way he had spoken for her.

“My dad was a Green Beret in Vietnam,” Seth said. “I think there’s a lot he’s never told her.”

“Wise,” said Edie. She was of the school, so much like what Seth had said, that believed there was no good reason to strip away innocence. You talked to others who had been there, or not at all.

“We can talk here in the living room, in the family room or one of the bedrooms,” Seth said.

“Where’s most private?”

“Anywhere, right now. Dad just went to ensure it.”

She opted for the living room. She didn’t want to get in any deeper, and she knew where the exit was.

She sat on the couch again, and Seth took a chair facing her. He still looked good enough to eat, she thought irrelevantly, then caught herself. This was not the time, although it helped her remember how she had gotten herself into this fix. A short period of weakness and desire had changed her whole life. And now his, evidently.

“Are you married?” she asked.

“I was.” His mouth drooped a little. “Twice. Darlene bailed because she couldn’t handle my lifestyle and absences. She’s married to a rancher out here now. I married again a few years later. God, I loved that woman.”

“What happened?”

“A drunk driver hit her when she was on her way back from parent meetings at school. I lost her.”

Even as she felt a sickening pang for him, she also felt relieved. Contradictory emotions. “So I’m not wrecking a marriage.”

“God, no. There’s just me, and no kids. Until now.” He sat back in the chair, crossing his legs loosely, and regarded her steadily. “I was a big loser on the relationship thing in my first marriage, but so far I haven’t screwed up being a father. Whatever we decide, whatever you decide, I’m glad you told me.”

“So you’re not questioning you’re the father?” She was surprised to realize that the worry had been plaguing her. As if it mattered, given the decisions she had already made.

He appeared surprised. “Why would I? I may have only met you for a few hours, but I think I got a measure of you anyway. I picked up that honor, duty and loyalty aren’t empty words for you. I like that.”

“They’re not,” she agreed. In fact, they were the centerpiece of her life. Everything revolved around them. “Look, I don’t see how we can discuss much. You just found out. I needed a lot of time to work through things myself. So maybe I should just go, give you time to think about it, then we can talk.”

She was feeling an increasing need to hit the road again, mainly because her attraction to this man was growing. Being alone with him once had been a major mistake. One she didn’t want to repeat.

“There’ll be time,” he agreed. “But first I’d like to lay some groundwork. Areas we can discuss, what areas you’ve put off-limits. And of course I need to know how to find you. I’d hate to rattle the bars at Headquarters Air Force, especially since they’d want to know why.”

She looked away from him, trying to clear her thoughts, to organize things. “I’m keeping the baby, obviously.”

“You thought about it, I assume.”

“I did. I’m off flying status and tied to a desk. I hate it. And I’m looking at the end of my career dreams because I’m not just going to dump the kid on somebody else so I can racket around the world.”

He remained still. Then he said, “I appreciate that.”

“What?”

“That you’re not dumping the kid. That you won’t. I was adopted.”

“Your mom told me. How do you feel about that?”

“I had good adoptive parents. I never felt a lack, until they died. Then it became paramount to track down my real parents. I can’t quite explain why, but I understand it’s not unusual for adopted kids to feel a real need to find their birth parents.”

“I never considered it. I got a lot of pressure from friends to have an abortion. It’s just not in me.” Why she felt she needed to say that, she wasn’t certain. Maybe because she suspected he might be wondering why she hadn’t just dumped this “little problem.” So many of her friends had wondered.

“I’m glad you decided against it.”

“You’d never have known. And it’s too soon for you to be glad about anything.”

“Perhaps.” He studied her as if she were a puzzle. She probably was to him. “How soon do you have to go back?”

She was tempted to lie, but she never lied. So she told him the truth, even though it might be a mistake. “I just started a month’s leave.”

“Then, if I can persuade you to hang around, we have time to talk and work out some things.”

“What things? Just what, Seth? I can take care of this baby.”

“I believe you. But have you considered the baby could have a father around, at least once in a while? If you judge me fit, anyway. I’ve never tried my hand at it, and as you know, my background isn’t exactly preparation for fatherhood.”

An odd thing happened then. It was as if a new picture overlaid an old one. Somehow Seth went from being a SEAL—rough, rugged, tough and hard to the bone—to a man who felt some uncertainty and vulnerability.

“Oh, crap,” she said. She didn’t want to see him that way. The other version had been safer for her.

“What?” he asked.

She couldn’t answer him. She might be mistaken anyway. That was something only time would prove or disprove. “Nothing,” she said. “Look, I don’t want any pressure. Not for me, not for you. If you can promise me that if I stay I won’t get any arm-twisting, I guess I can stay for a few days.” She owed that to the baby. At least that’s what she told herself.

“I can promise I won’t,” he said. “As for my mother, I’ll do my best.”

In spite of herself, Edie smiled faintly. “She was ready to adopt me.”

“That’s her, all right. I’ll tell Dad to keep her at bay, and I’ll do my best. She has a huge heart, though. It’s not always easy for her to put it on a leash.”

“I could see that.” She liked Marge, but she didn’t want the woman trying to decide her life. “I’ve already had enough arm-twisting. From friends, from superiors who warned me I was killing my career.”

“Superior officers said that?” He looked disturbed.

“They pussyfooted around it, but the message was there. Take care of this little problem and stay on track.”

“That was out of line. But I guess they wanted to see you succeed.”

“Evidently. But as I’ve been coming to realize, there are other kinds of success. When my maternity leave is over, I’ll probably move to a training position.”

“Well, you have those all-important theater ribbons,” he said. “Probably a stack of medals, too. They might keep you going. I’ve seen a few guys go far on a lot less, because of their connections.”

“Yeah. I’m short on the connection department. And I’m not a man.”

That still made a difference. She was bucking a system weighted against her and she knew it. Making full colonel was probably her limit.

She looked down and realized her hand cradled her stomach. “I’ve lost my waist,” she remarked. “I still don’t show a whole lot, though.”

“You don’t show at all in those cammies. Boy or girl?”

“Boy.”

He smiled. “Well, I should at least know how to talk to a boy.”

“You can say that with six sisters?”

He laughed. “I’m still learning.”

She felt her lips twitch, and laughed, too. This hadn’t turned heavy or ugly as she had feared. He was trying so hard to put her at ease, and he was succeeding. She felt herself uncoiling, relaxing, no longer poised to defend herself. Amazing.

She felt a need to change the conversation, too. The baby had been obsessing her in so many ways for so long that she needed a break. The worst was over, at least for the moment. Time for a breather. “So you’re renovating a house?”

“Remodeling, really. The couple who lived there before owned it for forty years, and at some point they stopped keeping up. It’s outdated, but sound.”

“I take it then that you retired?”

“You bet. No desk for me.”

“How’s that working out?”

He laughed. “I can’t seem to stay busy enough. I’m used to go-go-go. Work hard, play hard and work some more. It’s a change. I could work as a deputy, but I’m not sure I’m ready for that. Or even that it’s what I want. I’m kind of up in the air a bit.”

She could get that. She still had her job, yet often felt that way. Somebody had picked up the jacks of her life and tossed them in the air.

Well, to be fair, she had done the tossing and she couldn’t even blame a couple of drinks too many. She had been neither drunk nor hungover when she’d had sex with Seth. She’d rolled the dice and lost, with nobody to blame but herself.

Getting used to the idea that this loss might turn into a win had taken months. She certainly couldn’t expect him to decide that any more quickly. But he was trying. An honorable man, if she could say little else about him yet. Honorable and respectful and sexy as hell. She wished she could remove that latter from the equation, but awareness kept insisting on tingling along her nerve endings. Damn, she could repeat her mistake.

She sighed.

“What?” he asked her.

“Just thinking.”

“You look tired.”

“I seem to tire more easily these days.”

“Want me to see if Mom got that room ready? You could take a nap before dinner.”

It was tempting, but she didn’t feel ready to get that relaxed or comfortable here. “Maybe later. I do need to get my feet up, though. I spent too long in the car and I can feel my boots getting tight.”

He was up and out of his chair like a shot, and pulled a hassock over for her. She raised her feet and rested them on it. “Thanks.”

“Want me to unlace your boots? To improve circulation?”

Damn, thoughtful, too. “If you do that my ankles might explode to grapefruits. Then what?”

He grinned. “You go around in your socks. No big deal.” His smile faded. “I can’t imagine the adjustments. I’d like to hear about them, when you feel like it.”

“Sure.” Dang, she was getting sleepy. It was as if the release of tension had released all her energy, as well.

“Can I get you something to drink?”

“Milk, please.”

He headed for the kitchen, giving her a few blessed minutes by herself. She needed them, needed to adjust to all that had happened, most of it unexpected. Space. Just a little space.

* * *

When Seth returned, he found her asleep. He stood in the door of the living room, tall glass of milk in hand, and studied her.

She was indeed as beautiful as he remembered. The creamy skin of her face had covered her entire body, and even now his hands remembered its silken feel. She had surprisingly delicate features, too, something you didn’t notice about her when she was acting, but only now, in repose. With her had returned all the memories of the night he had spent with her. She was fun, and she was hot. Very hot. One-night stands weren’t his style, either, although he’d probably indulged more than he should have over the years.

But damn, he’d never expected this. Not in a million years. Conflicting feelings roiled in him. He had to do the right thing, whatever that was, but a baby? A son? Nothing had prepared him for that, and right now he felt like a fish utterly out of water, a feeling he wasn’t at all used to.

There would have to be some adjustments, of course. He knew that for sure. Support. Visitation. He wasn’t going to remove himself from the life of a child he had helped create. No way. But how much would Edie allow? How good would he be? Shouldn’t a guy have some time to answer these questions before discovering that he had four months before the new arrival?

Well, he’d done a stupid thing, and now it had caught up with him. No input any longer about whether, now it was only how and how much. Choices had narrowed because of the reality of a new life.

He quietly returned to the kitchen to put the glass of milk in the refrigerator. “She’s napping.”

He should have guessed he would get cornered.

“What are you going to do?” Marge demanded.

“The right thing, Mom.”

“I hope you do more than that.”

Nate interrupted. “Marge, sometimes you start at the right thing because it’s the only place to start.”

Marge tightened her mouth. “I can’t believe you got that girl pregnant.”

“I’m no saint, Mom. The SEALs don’t make saints.”

She shook her head while her husband frowned at her. “That’s not an issue anymore, Marge. Let it go.”

“How can I let it go? Everything in Seth’s life turned into a mess. I can understand Darlene. He warned her she wouldn’t be able to take it. But Maria, too? Why do things keep going wrong?”

“She couldn’t help being killed in an auto accident,” Seth said tautly. “And frankly, I don’t like being reminded of just how painful that was. Right now there’s only one thing I’m concerned about.”

He slid onto a bar stool beside his father and stared at his mother. “You don’t know what it’s like out there, and I hope you never know. But sometimes things happen. Fueled by adrenaline. Fueled by a relief that you’re still alive. Edie pulled my butt out of the fire, I went to thank her, and...well, here we are. That’s enough. We’re here.”

“We certainly are,” Marge said tartly. “And you had better do the right thing because I don’t want to lose a grandchild.”

“And I don’t want to lose a son. Maybe the only one I’ll ever have. But how much of a part I’ll have in his life is up to Edie. You need to understand that. This is first and foremost about Edie and the baby. I’ve messed her up enough already.”

“We shouldn’t talk about a baby as if it’s a mess.”

“Oh, boy,” Nate said quietly beside him.

Seth felt anger start to surge. “You think not? I messed up her life. Her career. She had goals and all that’s changed because she’s pregnant. They’re going to reassign her, maybe to training, maybe to a desk, but either way her dreams of rising high are gone now. The military might have accepted women in combat roles, but they’re far from accepting the limitations on a woman who won’t give up her baby or give it into someone else’s care. She’s refusing to do either.”

“Well, of course! Giving up a baby...” Marge trailed off.

All of a sudden Seth understood what was going on here. Marge was reliving giving him up, trying to rewrite her own perceived mistake by fighting for this baby. That was going to make this hell. Not just one woman’s problems and a baby’s needs, but his mother’s need to correct a wrong in her own past.

He looked at his father and saw the understanding there. “Maybe I should have Edie stay at my place.”

“Mebbe so,” Nate said. “Mebbe so.”

“She’s welcome here,” Marge argued.

“She’s already told me she wants no pressuring and no arm-twisting. Are you going to be able to promise that, Mom?”

Marge stared at him, then suddenly sagged against the counter and closed her eyes. The kitchen was filling with the savory aroma of roasting chicken. A minute or two ticked by in silence before she spoke again. “I’m sorry, I’m not helping at all.”

Nate rose and went to embrace his wife. “It’s all right, honey. It’s all right.”

“It’s okay, Mom.” Seth said. “Times have changed. Edie has options you didn’t, and because of that, so have I. Just let us work it out in the way that’s best for both of us.”

Marge nodded, her cheek against her husband’s shoulder. She looked at her son. “It’s just that I was so glad you came back to us. I’ll never forget the joy and relief.”

“And the mess.” Seth gave her a crooked smile. “I messed up your life twice. So yes, a baby can be a mess until everything’s sorted out.”

At that Marge gave him a wan smile. “I guess so.”

He rose and returned to the living room, settling in to watch Edie sleep and to think about the grenade that had been tossed his way. He needed to get used to this baby idea, and quickly. Time was wasting.

Chapter Three

Edie awoke from a dream in which her Pave Hawk was crashing into a large body of water. The sound of her name startled her, and she snapped her eyes open. Seth.

He leaned over her. “Dinner will be ready soon.”

She knew one thing instantly. “I need a bathroom.”

“I’ll show you.”

It was an urgent need, becoming more frequent as her pregnancy progressed. She had learned to go before napping or sleeping, but she’d forgotten this time. Not that she had expected to doze off on the couch.

She rose quickly. Apparently Seth sensed the strength of her need, because he led the way quickly down a hall and waved her into a small bathroom. “Take your time.”

Time? What time? All of a sudden the cammies seemed cumbersome, too much material because they were too big. She struggled to get the shirt out of the way and reach the button on her pants. Damn!

When she was done, she paused before straightening her clothes and looked at her profile in the mirror, running her hands over her growing “baby bump.” Smooth, not too big yet, although she was assured that was about to rapidly change. “Carrying high,” one of her friends had termed it, meaning, she guessed, that she wasn’t expanding outward much yet.

But her waist had certainly vanished. The changes could still catch her by surprise.

Quickly she buttoned her pants and tugged the voluminous shirt down. In the mirror she saw a woman with red hair and blue eyes, who looked tired and a little messy. Hell, she didn’t even have a comb handy. Everything was out in the car.

She ran her fingers through her short hair and tried to make it lie down. A bit of water helped.

And that, she thought, looking at herself, was about all she was going to be able to do. Not inspection-ready, but looking more like she’d just finished a mission.

Oh, well.

Seth was waiting in the hall, leaning his shoulder against the wall, his arms folded. He smiled a little when he saw her. “Ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.”

“They don’t bite, and I pretty much told Mom to lay off. I hope you like roast chicken, mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables.”

“Why wouldn’t I? Did you get to be picky about food?”

“Not since I joined the navy.”

“Exactly.”

They shared a laugh, not something she was sure she really wanted to do, but it happened. Truce time. Not that there had been a war. Yet.

Dinner was surprisingly relaxed after all that had come before. Nate regaled them with some funny stories from his years as sheriff, keeping the mood light and pressure-free.

When Edie commented on all the hand drawn and colored turkeys on the wall, Marge explained she had kept all her daughters’ drawings, and put these up every year in the autumn.

“I also have their Halloween drawings, but those are in the den, if you want to see them. And then after Thanksgiving, I bring out the Christmas drawings.” Marge beamed.

“Six girls make an awful lot of drawings,” Nate remarked. He winked at his wife, who laughed.

“Boxes of them,” she agreed. “It’s a good thing we have a big attic.”

“And enough wall space to put them on,” Nate drawled.

Seth spoke. “But think of all the wallpapering you’ve escaped.”

The three of them all laughed.

Edie was charmed despite herself. She had an unexpected image of keeping a trunk full of such things from her own child. This was the first time she had even dared to look that far down the road of motherhood.

Edie offered to help with dishes afterward, but Marge shooed her out, and Nate remained to help.

Once again, the offer of a room was made. She wasn’t ready to accept it, though, so she left it by saying, “I’ll think about it.”

“I should warn you,” Seth said as he followed her back to the living room, “that the only motel we have in this town would make Bagram look like the Ritz. You don’t want to try to drive back tonight.”

No, she didn’t, but she was unwilling to commit to even a night. At least he didn’t press her. Indeed, he seemed to be working very hard not to press her in any way.

Something to be grateful for. In fact, maybe there was a whole lot to be grateful for.

She settled again on the sofa and put her feet up. “Are you sure you don’t want to take those boots off?” he asked.

She just knew that if she took them off she wouldn’t get them back on tonight. The question was whether she wanted to risk walking out of here barefoot. The answer was no. Experience had taught her to keep her boots on unless she was safely at home.

He sat facing her again, this time with his elbows on his splayed knees. Relaxed, yet not. For a moment she wished she could just close her eyes and fall back to sleep. Dinner had given her a sense of contentment that was rapidly vanishing. Tension steadily crept into the air.

“Tell me about it,” he said quietly. “How you found out, how you felt.”

“That’s huge.”

“Take your time. I’d like to know.”

She hesitated, then said bluntly, “I think I knew at some level right away.”

“Really?”

“Well, I always used to finish off a mission with a meal and a couple of drinks. I never drank again after that night. I told myself it was because I needed to stay out of any more trouble.”

“That would make sense.” He stirred a little, but his gaze never wavered. “I also suspect you guessed. I’ve heard my sisters say they knew almost to the moment, before they were even sure.”

“Well, maybe something happens fast. I don’t know. I just lost all desire to wind down with a drink.” She shrugged her shoulder. “Whatever. When I missed my period, I thought it was stress. But I knew, Seth. Somehow I knew. I did a great job of denial.”