My Daddy is a Hero 3 Read online

  “You going to sit with me?” Jose asked.

  Aidan almost laughed at his friend’s obliviousness to the situation. Jose would probably want to share intimate secrets about his night with Cherish and compare notes. Aidan knew the type of guy Jose was and didn’t want to spend the long flight seeing who had kissed the birthmark on her lower back first. He couldn’t sit with him, not right now. He just wanted—needed—to be by himself.

  “You go ahead and grab your seat, man. I’ll sit up front and calm down the greenies.” Aidan forced a smile.

  “Suit yourself, man. You don’t seem too upset we shared the chick,” Jose said.

  “Like you said, she was a sweet piece,” Aidan replied.

  He turned and walked to an empty seat next to a kid who was so new he looked like he should be eating cereal at his mom’s table. Just another piece. He said the words in his head and knew it would be a long time before he believed them. Cherish wasn’t who she said she was, and he wondered how many more men or soldiers she’d picked up in that bar. In his pocket he had her address and telephone number tucked away so he wouldn’t lose them. He dug his hand in his pocket and crushed the paper but was not able to throw it away. Instead, he left the crumpled ball in his pocket and thought about what could’ve been.

  Chapter Two

  Cherish came home and, like she usually did, checked her e-mail. Still nothing. The futility of the situation made her want to cry. Had their night together been a joke? Maybe everything she had felt for him and still did was a myth because since Aidan had left she hadn’t heard a word and all her e-mails to him went unanswered. But she had to talk to him to let him know what was going on. After all, a man should know when he was going to be a father in several months. She sat down and rubbed the little round bump of her lower stomach. Three months pregnant and she was excited to be a mom. She worried about how Aidan would take it, yet he had to know. If he was avoiding her calls because that night meant nothing to him, she would learn to deal with it. Still, she would give him the opportunity to be in his child’s life.

  She came upon a plan while she was in the boutique that afternoon. She was in the middle of a fun project that reflected her life—designing a line of maternity wear that was casual, comfortable and sexy—when she recalled him telling her that sometimes people used phone cards to call the prepaid phones soldiers were allowed to have. She bought one on her way home and now she sat on the bed and played with the worn piece of paper that held his information. “I hope this works,” she muttered and scratched out the silver coating to reveal a code to punch in the phone. She tapped her fingers impatiently as she waited for the phone to connect and then it began to ring. Once, twice, then three times and another and she thought it was going to go to voicemail when she finally heard his husky voice.

  “Gunny Brooks. Who is this? And it better not be another damn wrong number,” he said.

  “A-Aidan, it’s me, Cherish,” she said with a little laugh. “Did I wake you?”

  “Yeah, you did,” he replied. His tone was clipped.

  “I’ve been trying to reach you. You never answered my e-mails,” she said.

  “I didn’t have anything to say,” he replied.

  Okay, so it was a booty call, she thought as she rubbed her baby bump and willed herself not to cry.

  “Okay, then I’ll get right to it.” She took a breath. “I’m pregnant, and I thought you should know.”

  “Why are you telling me?” Aidan asked.

  “B-because you’re the father,” she stammered, unable to believe what she was hearing. Anger began to boil inside her. “I thought you might want to know you’re going to be a dad.”

  “Maybe you should call one of the other men you were sleeping with,” he snapped.

  “Excuse me?” she said slowly. In her head she began to count, trying to hold in her temper.

  “You know, like my boy Jose who you slept with the night before you got me into bed.” Aidan’s voice was cold. “I can give you his number. You should call him and give him the news.”

  “So your friend told you I slept with him?” she asked.

  “Yeah, he said you were great. Did you give him the same treatment you gave me?” he asked nastily.

  Her temper came out in droves. “You better check your boy, Aidan, because I would never let that piece of shit between my legs. He hit on me while you were at the bar getting drinks that night and I shut him down.” She took a breath, trying to calm herself. “In fact, he told me I should drop the zero and stick with the hero, and what did I do? I told him I would fry his nuts if he touched my hand again. He is slime and if he told you that, he is no friend to you in the least. Oh, and you could have asked me for the truth, but you chose to believe pond scum over me. What they say is true, right? Bros before hoes. That must be the soldier mission statement. And he is the lowest of the low. He strikes me as the type that thinks he can get any woman he wants. Here I was thinking you and I had a connection, but I was so very wrong. I need a man, not a boy who believes gossip.” Hot angry tears began to fall down her cheeks. She swiped them away. “Believe what you want. I no longer care. Oh, and P.S.: I never wanted anything from you. You’ve seen where I live. Your paycheck means nothing to me, if you think that’s what I’m after. I can take care of my baby. I just thought you should know. Use the information however you want to, but as for me, I never want to see or hear from you again. We don’t need you.”

  She hung up without waiting for an answer. If he could believe she slept with his friend, Gunny Sergeant Aidan Brooks could kick rocks. She would never regret their night together because now her true love was resting comfortably in her belly. Many women have been single mothers before and their kids turned out just fine.

  “Don’t worry, baby. Mommy will never let you down. We’ve got this,” she whispered and lay back on the bed.

  Tears streamed down her face and Cherish didn’t even try to wipe them away. She was crying because she felt so damn stupid for expecting more from a one night stand. She lay on her bed for the longest time, mourning something that was never there. When she got up, she would put him out of her mind and move on with her life. That was the kind of woman she was. She wouldn’t think about him anymore. Aidan was out of her life.

  * * * *

  Aidan looked at the phone and then threw it across the room in anger. As it smashed against the wall and shattered into pieces he regretted the action. Cherish was pregnant and she thought he was the father. The thought thrilled him and yet he was also dealing with the thought that she’d slept with Jose. Her words rang true; Jose was a dog when it came to women. He’d known the guy for ten years and called him a close friend. Anytime they hung out there was a different woman on his arm and some of them were skanky as hell. It burned him to no end to think such a classy lady like Cherish had slept with Jose. But maybe she hadn’t after all, and then the question was why would Jose lie? Because she shot him down. Would he go that far over petty jealousy? Yes. The simple answer came to him without too much thought. He’d been so angry on that plane and for the last three months had worked to forget Cherish. Had he been wrong this entire time?

  Aidan looked at the time; it was late afternoon for her and early morning for him. He had two days of leave since he’d come back in from back-to-back convoys. Leave in Afghanistan meant fueling up with food and catching up on sleep. He was thinking about catching a movie on his laptop or going outside and whipping some kids’ asses in a soccer game. But instead, he formulated a plan to find out who was lying. He’d showered when they came in to the FOB, which was the shortened way of saying Forward Operations Base. Back-to-back missions left him feeling grimy, and as tired as he was, he’d still rather be clean. Aidan got dressed in his uniform and picked up his weapon before heading out of his sleeping quarters. He jogged over to the motor pool where Jose worked. Music was playing and he saw a pair of legs moving to the beat even though the rest of the body was under a truck. Aidan heard a metal clank and
a few choice curse words. Aidan banged his fist on the side of the truck and cursing came to his ears again.

  “Jose, are you letting that truck beat you?” he called.

  He heard the roll of the wheels of the creeper that Jose was lying on as he pushed himself out from under the truck. “Someone should tell Uncle Sam we can only fix parts so many times before we need new ones. I’ve welded this fucking oil pan seven times already and still the new one I requisitioned for is not here yet.”

  “That’s the life of a marine—slow like molasses until the shit hits the fan.” Aidan smiled, though inside he was a jangle of nerves.

  “What’s good, man? I saw you roll out twice,” Jose said as he pulled a huge metal tool box over to the truck.

  “Yeah, we met up on at least two roads that were riddled with IEDs. Slow fucking going.” Aidan wasn’t lying there. “Hey, so Cherish called me and I gave her your number.”

  Jose stopped cleaning a wrench and looked at Aidan. “Why would you do a thing like that? You know me, man, I just bang ‘em and hang ‘em out.”

  “Well, not in this case, buddy. She’s pregnant and if her numbers are correct, you’re going to be a dad.”

  Aidan watched Jose’s face carefully, looking for a sign of deceit and he found it. It was there in a flare of alarm and the subtle twitch over his right eye when he was lying. He had learned that a while back when they were playing poker and he looked for that facial jerk to see if Jose was bluffing. At that point, Aidan knew his friend had been lying out of his ass all along.

  “Yo, man, I’m not a daddy to no one,” Jose said. “Fuck if she is dipping her hand in my check every month.”

  “Well, you can’t stop it if she goes to command. They will make you pay up,” Aidan reminded him. “She can get a paternity test and take you to the bank.”

  “Fuck that shit. I never slept with that chick. Ain’t no way she taking my pay,” Jose said angrily. “I will fight her ass on this tooth and nail because…” Jose caught what he said and slowly lifted his head to look at Aidan.

  “So you were lying when you said you slept with her, and she was telling the truth,” Aidan’s voice was deadly calm. “And we’re friends, right? Yet you thought to fuck with the one good thing that happened to me in a long time. Three months I’ve been avoiding her e-mails and I still have each one. But all I could think about was how you slept with her and I couldn’t get past that.”

  “Look, man, I’m sorry.” Jose spread his arms. “She knocked me on the floor when I was trying to hit on her, and I wanted to get some payback is all.”

  “At my expense. I wanted to build something real with her. Shit, she’s carrying my kid and I treated her like crap!” Aidan shouted.

  “Whose says it’s yours?” Jose demanded. “She could have been fucking anyone.”

  “Because she’s not one of the gutter rats you mess around with, that’s why.” Aidan was no longer able to control himself. He rushed him and grabbed Jose by the collar. “Don’t even play that, Jose. She told me everything you said. And I thought, ten years of friendship, no, Jose would never do that to me. You cocksucker, I should punch your face right in. I should pound you into the ground for this. God knows I refuse to go to the stockade or take a demotion for your sorry ass, but you can be assured I’m going to see you stateside when we get back and I’m going to beat the crap out of you.”

  “Aidan, you know I am a man. If you need to take a swing, go ahead. I’ll take it,” Jose said. “Let’s put this behind us, man.”

  “Not so easy to do,” Aidan said and shoved him away. “You see me on this FOB for the rest of this tour, walk in the other direction. When we get back to Lejeune, you fucking put in to be transferred out of my unit.”

  “You can’t be serious,” Jose said.

  “Dead serious. I’m heading to the command now to put in the request myself. And this little tidbit will get around. You’re no friend I need at my back or at the back of any of my men,” Aidan replied.

  “You’re going to fuck with my career for some black chick in a short skirt?” Jose sputtered angrily. “You’re gonna give her your money for a kid that might not be yours?”

  Aidan grabbed him once more. “If that’s what you have to say, that shows right there the kind of person you are. You wouldn’t know, but she freaking takes care of herself and owns her own business. She didn’t need anything from me. She’s not some chick I banged; Cherish is the mother of my child.” He pushed Jose away and fixed him with a deadly stare. Specialist First Class Rodriguez, you may get back to work.”

  Jose turned, and Aidan stopped him with cold words. “You salute and respect your commanding officer when you’re addressed, soldier. I said you may get back to work, Specialist First Class Rodriguez.”

  Jose’s face was full of anger, yet he came to attention and saluted. “Sir, yes, sir!”

  “That’s how you do it,” Aidan said coldly and walked away.

  True to his word, he put in a request for Jose to be transferred. It would be processed and handled by the time they got back stateside. That was a minor problem. The bigger issue would be getting back into Cherish’s life. He smiled when he thought of her and the baby. My God, I’m going to be a father. He went to the recreation room to place a call to Cherish, hoping she would answer. When he got her voicemail, he knew the task of getting her forgiveness would be monumental.

  Chapter Three

  Six and a half months. That’s how long Aidan had been trying to reach out to Cherish. The worm had turned and now she was the one who wouldn’t answer e-mails, phone calls and he didn’t even know where her boutique was located so he could get the number. In between missions he was desperate, trying to get some kind of response from her. Each day he wondered how big his child was inside her and if she was having a healthy pregnancy. So, needless to say, by the time he got back to North Carolina he was frantic. He’d barely landed on base before he got permission to leave and hauled ass from Lejeune to Charlotte. In all that time traveling back, he had planned out how he would talk to her and ask for her forgiveness. He’d jumped to conclusions big time. The four-hour drive seemed to take forever. A sense of relief flooded through him when he took the exit for Uptown, Charlotte and a few minutes later he found himself in front of her condo.

  He parked his car in a spot close to her building and locked it before jogging down the street. Flowers. I forgot the flowers! He ran back to the car and opened the door to grab them off the passenger seat. He looked at his sleek, low mustang and realized something. He was a dad now, and he would need a bigger vehicle that could fit a car seat. He was just about to press the button to ring her condo when an older woman walked out. She had Cherish’s coloring and a hurried look on her face.

  “Good afternoon, ma’am. Would you mind letting me through the door so I can get to 419?” he asked politely.

  “That’s my daughter’s place. Who are you?” she asked

  Her mother! Ah, shit, not the way I wanted to meet her. Aidan pulled off his beret and held it to his side. “I’m Gunny Sergeant Aidan Brooks, ma’am. I’m the father of your daughter’s child. I mean your grandchild. I mean…” He shook his head. “I’m sorry, I’m frantic. I’ve been trying to reach her for over six months and she refuses to answer my calls or anything.”

  “Cherish can be stubborn,” her mother said mildly and held out her hand. “I’m Denise Walker.”

  “Nice to meet you, ma’am.” Aidan shook her hand.

  “Can you please take me upstairs to see her? I know you don’t know me, but we’ve got so much to talk about.” Aidan ran his hand through his hair. For some reason, the whole story came pouring out of his mouth in one big rush. He took a breath at the end and said, “This is why I need to see her. I want to be in her life and our kid’s life. I never had a family until I was fifteen and my adopted parents took me in. I will not have my kid not knowing who his or her father is.”

  Denise patted his hand sympathetically. “You have sucky
friends, dear.”

  He sighed. “Yes, ma’am, I do, but he is no longer my friend. So will you help me? I know you don’t know me from Adam, but I swear I mean her no harm. And after we talk, I swear I won’t budge while you grill me about my life. Anything you want to know, I’ll tell you.”

  “I’ll hold you to that, but you can’t see her here,” Denise said and came off the step so the door locked closed behind her.

  Aidan felt his hopes had been dashed against the cold, cement ground. “Well, I’ll camp out on these steps until she comes downstairs.”

  Denise looked at him and grinned. “I’m sure you would, but it wouldn’t make a difference. She’s at the hospital in labor. I came to pick up her bag.”

  He felt a buzzing in his head and leaned against the wall. “Um, what?”

  “In a few hours you’re going to be a dad, so we better get a move on so we don’t miss the birth.”

  “What do I do with these?” he asked and held up the flowers.

  “Bring them, dear. Women like getting flowers,” Denise said kindly. “Get in your car and follow me. I’m driving the red Navigator. In fact, maybe you should ride with me. I don’t think I want you driving in traffic right now. You look like you’ve lost all your color.”

  “I thought I would have time to talk to her or prepare before the baby came.” He managed to get the words out, but winced when his voice sounded like a croak to his own ears.

  Denise laughed and patted his arm. “It’s a baby. You’re not preparing for a hurricane. Come on, let’s go. Cherish never told me anything about you so this should be interesting.”