Double Daddy Trouble: A Groomsman Menage

by Violet Paige

  “Is she still warm?” I asked with my medical training kicking in.

  I looked her over quickly. She seemed to be resting peacefully and was well colored. At least she wasn’t dehydrated, which was common for someone so young. At this age when it hurt to swallow kids could easily get dehydrated just from refusing to drink.

  “Yeah,” I heard the worried tone in Julie’s voice.

  I edged towards the door. I needed to leave her and let her process things. Hell, I needed to take my own time to figure out my next step.

  “Do you think I could come by tomorrow? To check on Emma that is,” I said as I put my hand on the doorknob.

  “I don’t think it's a good idea,” Julie said. “I don’t know if I am ready to tell her who you are.”

  “I understand. You don’t have to tell her anything. Not right now, if you don’t want to. I just want to come by. You know, maybe get to know her a little.”

  I could see her resolve faulted a little. I understood why she couldn’t trust me right now. That was something I would have to earn back. It was only logical she would be protective of Emma. I was okay if she didn’t want to tell my daughter who I was just yet.

  I would find a way, though. I wasn’t sure how, but I was going to make it up to Julie for all the lost time and be the father that Emma deserved.

  Six

  I let out the breath I didn’t know I was holding as the door shut on Hawk. I also had the realization that my insides were coming down too from a heightened awareness. Even after all these years just a simple touch and closeness from Hawk and my body still reacted like we were college sweethearts.

  Four hours later, dinner had been made and eaten, well by me. I couldn’t even tempt Emma to eat more than a few bits of spaghetti, her favorite meal. I gave her a nice cooling bath to help keep the fever down and then she went promptly to bed.

  I knew she still wasn’t over the worst of it when she went to her bed without so much as a peep. Being sick was really taking a toll on her little body.

  Once the house was cleaned up, the papers were all finally corrected, and I was in my comfy PJ’s, I settled on the couch with a glass of wine. I was in desperate need of a little come down after the day I had today.

  I flipped through the channels for a bit but not really finding anything of interest. I usually enjoyed my nights after Em went to bed. It was quiet and peaceful unlike the constant racket in the high school gym.

  I was too restless to relax, and even the wine wasn’t seeming to help much. I resolved the only way I was going to get some sleep tonight was if I bounced my thoughts off of someone else.

  It was easy to decide who that someone was going to be. Savannah and I became quick friends since we both were on the swim team. I couldn’t imagine anyone any more opposite from me.

  I may have fought my roots, but I was still a southern girl through and through. Give me a gallon of sweet tea, and some cornbread with honey and I was in heaven. Savannah had conformed some to our southern traditions, but she still held on to the California girl she had grown up as most her life.

  That usually meant her sweet tea was organic and she had her own raw honey from the beehive in her backyard.

  She had rubbed off some on me too. I had my own little apartment compost and a small herb garden in my window.

  In fact, I swear every time I went shopping I had her voice in my head asking if the honey buns I put in my cart were free of preservatives and artificial colors.

  I smiled to myself as I dialed Savannah’s number. She was no doubt in the middle of canning something or making her own bread.

  Savannah only lived thirty minutes away from me but in the opposite direction of civilization. She had a big plot of land surrounded by forest that she used as her own U-Pick farm and little eclectic shop of everything homemade from jams to soap.

  After two rings she picked up the phone.

  “Hey honey,” she said already knowing it was me.

  “Hey,” I said with a heavy sigh.

  “That doesn’t sound good. If you tell me you have a half drunk bottle of wine in front of you, I might just have to drop what I'm doing right now and head your way.”

  I inspected the bottle sitting on the coffee table in front of me. I was only on my second glass, that couldn’t count as half drunk, could it?

  “Noooo,” I said pretending offense.

  “Mmhmm,” she said back into the phone.

  “What are you doing anyway? I would hate to pry you away from your jams, or bees, or whatever.”

  “Too early for jams or honey. If you must know, I just put some soap in the mold. Lemon Lavender.”

  “My favorite,” I replied.

  In fact, I would say half my apartment was outfitted from her little shop. From our lotions and shampoos to half my pantry of jams and jellies and the like, it all came from her small farm.

  “You wanna tell me what’s on your mind?” She prodded.

  "Ugh, I don’t even know where I should begin,” I said taking a swig of wine.

  “How bout you tell me how little Em is doing? Didn’t you text that you were taking her to the doctor this morning?”

  "I did,” I said wondering how even to form the words. “She is good. Just a bad cold I guess.”

  “And how is the good old doctor, Papa Smith?”

  Savannah was the only one I told the identity of Emma’s father too. So naturally, she had taken a liking to calling Dr. Smith, Papa. Of course, this was only between her and me.

  “He didn’t see us today. It was actually a different Dr. Smith.”

  “I don’t follow? I get that Smith is a common name but how many could there possibly be in Sweet Haven, Georgia?”

  "Just two. The one we normally see, and his son.”

  “Hawk? Are you saying it was Hawk?”

  “Yep. I guess Hawk is back in town.”

  “Did he tell you? Did he say anything to you?”

  “The man didn’t say two words to me before he up and left why would it be any different when he came home.”

  “Well, what did you do. Did you tell him?”

  “No!” I said filling with indignation again. “I tried to get in and out of there as quick as I could.”

  “So do you think he figured it out?”

  “I was really hoping he wouldn’t, but apparently he did because I barely walked through the door before he showed up demanding the truth.”

  “And you told him, right?”

  “I tried not to. If you ask me, Hawk doesn’t deserve to know the truth. It’s what he gets for leaving.”

  “I know, Julie. But that is his daughter.”

  “You know, he said the same thing,” I said setting down my wine glass.

  “But really he isn’t. He wasn’t there when she was born. He didn’t wipe any butts. What right does he have to call Em his daughter when up until this morning he didn’t even care to know she existed?”

  “Hey, I hear you. I think Hawk is just as much of an ass for up and leaving. That being said, you can’t really fault him for not knowing about Emma since you never tried to tell him.”

  “Kinda feel’s like your on his side,” I scolded.

  I was regretting this conversation. Not the fact that I was telling Savannah, there was nothing we kept from each other. Just the fact that it wasn’t going the way I had hoped.

  “I'm not on either of your’s side. I’m on Em’s side. What’s gonna happen when that little girl asks you who her father is one day?”

  “I’ll make sure he or I am out of this town by then,” I stated.

  “Okay, but then when she goes and hunts Hawk down and finds out that you didn’t let him be apart of her life, how is that going to make her feel?”

  “Thankful, I should hope. I can save her from the same heartbreak that I got. Sure Hawk wants to be all Dad hero back from the war now. What happens two years from now when he gets sick of this small town existence again?”

  “I won’t put
her through that.”

  "Your right,” Savannah said after a pause. “It might not be worth the risk. He could up and leave the day after tomorrow without a word. So don’t tell Em who he is. Let him hang around a bit. If he leaves, then he leaves, and Em is none the wiser.”

  “I mean, that’s assuming she doesn’t know already,” Savannah added after a beat.

  “Oh hell no! I didn’t let him say anything to her,” I said still angry at his intrusion this afternoon. “Plus she was asleep the whole time he was here.”

  “Asleep, huh? Anything rekindle while it was just the two of you?” Savannah asked with an alluring tone to her voice.

  “Nooo,” I lied through my teeth.

  “Mmhm, I bet.”

  The phone went silent for a minute.

  “Okay, I can’t bear it any longer. How did Dr. Hawk Smith look at least? I bet he was hot as fuck coming back all ripped and tan.”

  “He looked the same,” I said as casually as I could.

  “Well, he was already hot as fuck. You can’t tell me he wasn’t rock hard and dead sexy though after being in the SEALs.”

  “He was a bit more muscular then I remembered,” I said hesitantly.

  “Mmmhmmm, what else?”

  “Well, I mean he was more tan, too. He grew a beard out, and his hair was way longer than it ever was before.”

  “I bet you creamed yourself from just one look of those green beauties.”

  “I couldn’t really say,” I replied blushing profusely.

  “I bet you couldn’t.”

  “It doesn’t matter how hot he is though, or how much he makes me wet my panties,” I said waving the air like Hawk was an irritating fly.

  “So he did get you all hot and bothered.”

  “Who cares,” I reiterated. “He is an unreliable tool that threw us away like yesterday’s trash.”

  “I know,” she said as if she regretted that such a sexy body encased such an ass-hole.

  “I say just sleep on things though. For Emma's sake. She deserves to have a dad if he wants to be there.”

  My heart did sink a little. I did everything in my power to raise Emma as best as I could. That being said, there were still things I know she missed only having a single parent. If she had the chance to have both her parents in her life, shouldn’t I give that to her?

  I would do anything for Emma. I hated that right now that meant swallowing my pride and possibly letting Hawk come around.

  I finished my glass and put the rest of the bottle back in the fridge. I gave myself a smug grin that I had successfully not dunk the whole bottle.

  I still had so much on my mind and wondered if talking things over with Savannah had only increased my agitation instead of calm it.

  Either way, I would have a full day of taking care of a sick baby in the morning. I needed to get some sleep. I crawled into my bed and turned out the side light.

  I laid there a few minutes just letting my mind wander. Hoping that it might lead me to drift off to sleep. Instead, it took me down memory lane. It was not wanted, but I let my mind go there anyway.

  “I win again,” I said as I came up for air and touched the side of the pool.

  "Not fair,” Hawk called from behind me.

  He slowed his rapid strokes to a leisurely pull as he came up next to me. He wrapped me in his arms, and I relished the feel of his warm body in the cold pool.

  “All you do is practice laps all day long. I'm not used to it.”

  “I know,” I said with a wicked grin as I let my body easily fold into his. “If we did it your polo way I would just stand in the water and wait. That’s no fun.”

  “You just jealous because I go for strength. It takes a lot of muscle to knock another guy down in the water,” he said with his cocky charm.

  Hawk tightened his grip on me, and I felt him fiddle with the back of my swimsuit. He kissed me then, and I let him.

  It was such a common assurance for me. To feel the water encompass my body and Hawk's lips on mine was like second nature. Even still, it would send fantastical sensations up and down my body.

  I felt his hard erection pushing against the thin fabric between us.

  “You know this is a public pool,” I said between kisses.

  He stopped then and looked around the indoor pool on the college campus like he just realized for the first time where we were.

  “We’re all alone,” he said as he took his kisses down my neck.

  I heard myself giggling as if it was some far off echo. Like traveling down a tunnel, the memory started to fade from view.

  Soon the giggles were replaced with soft crying. I came to my senses. I was back in my darkened room. Huddled in my bed hugging my pillow. I was the one crying.

  Seven

  It was pitch black. I couldn’t even see my nose in front of me. It made my heavy breathing all the louder. In the distance, I could hear the gunfire. It was much closer then it should have been.

  I was still covered in blood. It wasn’t my blood, though. I was in the middle of surgery. It was just a clamping of an artery to stabilize the patient for airlift. One minute I was under the bright lights of our makeshift surgical tent and then next everything was black.

  I had enough sense to realize it was some kind of bomb. It was close enough to knock me back and cover me in debris.

  Now that my senses were slowly coming back, I realized that I was covered in various trays of clamps, lights, as well as the whole operating table. I felt around looking for the private.

  I finally reached far enough that I touched flesh that wasn’t mine. The stretching sent a horrible burn up one leg. I had no care for the pain. The patient would bleed out if I didn’t see to his wounds. That didn’t even take into account any new wounds he might have received in the blast.

  Scrambling around, I found one lamp still working face down in the dirt. Flipping it over, I illuminated the entire room, or what was left of it.

  My vision was going in and out and now being more able to see around me I realized the shooting was much closer then I realized. Half the tent had collapsed on top of us the other half was open and ripped to shreds. I could see men all around shooting.

  It made me pause for a minute. They were close enough that if I took just a few steps, I would touch one. Yet, the sounds of their guns were like a distant echo.

  I felt up to my own ears and found more blood on my fingers. A part of my mind said ruptured eardrums, nothing to worry about now.

  I saw the streak in the night sky. I heart the men shouting next to me but in the distance. Focusing on a face, I realized it was LT Franklin yelling at me. The streak was another incoming missile.

  It all happened in an instant but seemed like slow motion. I lunged forward not caring for the ripping pain in my leg and covered as much as I could of the Army private.

  The sound of the second blast woke me. I sat bolt upright in my bed. I was drenched in sweat, and the ringing in my ear was so loud I wanted to scream.

  I sat their gripping the sheets hard as I struggled to regain my breath and calm my heart. Finally, it started to pass, and I wiped the drenched hair off my forehead. I peeled the blankets from off of me and crawled out of bed.

  It didn’t matter that it was the middle of the night, there was no going back to sleep after that. Instead, I headed to the bathroom, slipped into some workout clothes, and headed to the 24-hour gym down the street from my small townhouse.

  I wasn’t exactly sure that a hard workout at three in the morning till the sun came up was the right choice. It was what we did, however. One thing you could count on every Military base across the world was a fully equipped gym. It was the best way to forget nightmares, to exhaust yourself so much you didn’t even have the energy to think.

  By the time it was six in the morning I was completely and utterly spent, and finally able to unclench the fear that had shot up during the night. I got home and showered.

  I knew Julie wasn’t to keen o
n me coming by and defiantly didn’t trust me. I didn’t see any other way of gaining that trust back if I didn’t stop by. After a lot of back and forth in my mind, I finally resolved I would go back to her place.

  Worse case she kicked me out, and I spent the rest of the day at the gym burning off that frustrating. I was hoping for the best scenario, however, that I got to get to know Emma a little more.

  By eight o’ clock I decided I waited long enough. Julie had been a morning person before. I figured having a kid wouldn’t result in sleeping in, so it was a good chance she was already up and ready for the day.

  I stopped at my favorite mom and pop bakery and picked up some beagles and a doughnut with pink sprinkles for Emma. I was not above bribing her to like me.

  I hesitated for just a second outside Julie’s apartment door. I listened in. I could hear the TV going, so I was relieved I at least wasn’t waking them up. I knocked softly.

  I could hear Emma's soft voice call out, “Mommy, there is someone at the door.”

  I waited quite a while and wondered if one look through the peephole and Julie had decided to keep it closed.

  “Jules, I know you're in there. Come on, open up,” I called through the door.

  I heard the lock slowly turn and the door opened. Instead of Julie, however, it was little Emma at the door.

  “My mommy’s in the shower,” she said peaking through the door.

  I bent down to her level.

  “Do you remember me? I’m Dr. Smith. I came to see if you are okay,” I said as soothingly as possible.

  That being said, in the back of my mind I was also taking a mental note to scold Jules for not teaching our daughter proper safety.

  “I brought you a doughnut too,” I said pulling the sprinkle treat out of the bag.

  Her two brown eyes lite up to the size of dinner plates at the treat.

  “Emma, what are you doing? You know better than to open the door,” Julie called as she rushed to her daughter's side in nothing more than a towel.

  She opened it more full and stood in front of Emma. I let my gaze linger on her dripping wet body, her breast bursting to come out from the towel wrapped around her.