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1
Funny how life can change in an instant —or with one sentence.
“I’ve never been one to sugarcoat things so here goes: Congratulations! You’re a dad and this is your daughter.”
I stared at the short blonde with the light-haired toddler on her hip in total confusion. Was this a prank? Some kind of sick joke? Well, it wasn’t funny. My brows knitted together in a faint scowl as the woman perused my office with faint interest before returning to me. She shifted the toddler, waiting for my response but what was I supposed to say? My tongue was glued to the roof of my mouth and my brain had short-circuited trying to make her statement make sense.
“Oh! I can see the smoke curling from your ears so let me help you out, you don’t know me. Her mama’s name was Jessica Donnelly. She was my best friend. This is Victoria.”
Jessica…that name rang a bell. “Two summers ago,” I murmured, memories flashing in my mind of the hot fling with the sweet woman who’d been in town for an extended job training. I eyed the blonde, admitting slowly, “Yes, I remember Jessica. Why are you here and she’s not, if that’s my daughter?”
The woman switched the toddler to her other hip, her voice catching as she explained, “Yeah, so about that, Jessica, um, she passed away in a car accident two months ago and well, after everything was settled, I discovered that Jessica had named us as legal guardians for Victoria. She never actually told me that she’d put that in her will and I never thought to ask but here we are.”
A tiny tear escaped the corner of her eye and I quickly handed her a tissue, my mind reeling. She accepted the tissue with a small sniff, admitting, “I’m still dealing with everything. It’s a lot, you know?”
Yeah, that’s an understatement. I nodded on auto-pilot but honestly, I was in shock. My gaze returned to the little girl. A riot of wild blonde hair sprang from her head as she watched me with wide, lash-fringed eyes. She drew a tiny baby breath and then popped her finger in her mouth.
Did she look like me?
I couldn’t tell. I didn’t want to be a dick but how was I to know if this stranger was telling me the truth? I was career Navy, I couldn’t have this kind of accusation getting around. There were rules and consequences that could ruin my career. This had to be handled carefully.
I stepped around her to close my office door so wayward ears didn’t catch our conversation. I gestured for her to take a seat. “Let’s start at the beginning. What’s your name?”
She nodded, seeming a little scattered but who could blame her, right? We were both trying to find our footing. “Yeah, good idea. So, my name is Briar Jones. I live in Berkeley —actually, I shared an apartment with Jessica before she died, and honestly, I don’t think Jessica was going to tell you about Victoria because it wasn’t exactly planned and she didn’t want you to think that she was after your money or something like that but I’m pretty sure she never planned on dying young either so there’s that, too.”
The baby whimpered as another tear escaped to splash on her plump leg. “Sorry kiddo,” Briar murmured, wiping away the tear. “The waterworks are flowing today.”
I didn’t want to be insensitive but I had to ask the hard questions. “Briar…how do you know the baby is mine? Just because someone writes a name down on the birth certificate doesn’t mean they’re the other half of the equation.”
“Yeah, I know,” Briar said, sniffing. “Jessica made provisions for a DNA test if you needed proof but I mean, look at her. This is your baby. She’s like your twin.”
I wasn’t sure about that but I wasn’t going to be rude. “I’m not trying to doubt your friend’s word but I’m sure you can understand that I have to have proof.”
Briar nodded. “Yeah, of course. She told me you were, like a stickler for rules and stuff.”
Yeah, Naval officers tended to be sticklers. To be honest, I wasn’t the type to have flings either but I’d also been fairly certain we’d used protection, too. “Briar…is there anyone else who could be the father?” I asked gently.
She sighed and shook her head. “Jessica wasn’t much of an explorer, if you know what I mean. She was a mater, not a dater. In fact, it was me who told her to ‘go crazy’ while in San Diego on her training because it was the exact opposite of anything she would do. I never expected her to leave with a bun in the oven.”
“Yeah, that’s definitely a big surprise.”
“She really liked you. I remember her telling me about her time in San Diego but because you lived here and she lived in the Bay Area, it seemed like it was best to just enjoy the memory and leave it at that.”
My time with Jessica definitely left a mark in my memory but I remembered thinking at the time that we didn’t have much of a future because I wasn’t about to start a long-distance relationship. Seems Jessica had felt the same.
“I liked her, too,” I admitted, shaking my head. What was happening right now? I couldn’t get my thoughts to settle into a coherent line. There was a ping-pong ball bouncing around in my head, jumping from one question to another and I didn’t know where to start. “How did she die?” I asked gently.
“Drunk driver,” she answered, sniffing back another wash of tears. “Happened quick. I guess she didn’t suffer at least.”
I nodded, feeling the woman’s grief like a slap in the face. How awful for them.
My mind was spun out. I wasn’t young but I wasn’t old by any means. Pushing 40, I’d had my share of adventures in my youth but even then I’d always been careful. Too many stories of guys shooting off without thinking and ending up married to the wrong woman for the sake of the kid. The military didn’t approve of enlisted men shirking their responsibilities and that kind of behavior could absolutely cost a career.
I rubbed the tension from my brow. “Okay, so first things first, we have to take care of the obvious elephant in the room —the DNA test. I’ll pay for a private lab to take care of the details. Are you staying in town?”
“Yeah, a motel called, ‘The Sleeping Duck.’”
I paused, torn between being chivalrous and prudent. I knew the place —it was a dump. Definitely no place for a woman and a baby. My house had an extra bedroom. A few days wouldn’t be too terribly inconvenient. “I know we’ve just met but I have a spare bedroom if you and the baby would like to stay with me while we wait for the results. No pressure, just offering. If you don’t want to, that’s fine, too.”
