AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 1
Bridget Clark buttoned up the shirt of her brand-new uniform, peering at her reflection in the mirror. Her sister, Caitlin, watched her primping from the bed, yawning, while a two-month-old infant lay next to her, reeling his arms and legs.
“I have to say, you do that uniform justice. They do the best they can to make it unflattering, and you put it on your body and voilà! Perfection.”
“You’re so nice. And I really appreciate you getting me out of a jam by staying with baby Flynn. Nothing like the daycare center losing power on my first day at work.”
“Mam hates it that you’re taking him to daycare. Why don’t you let us take care of him?”
“It’s too much,” Bridget said. “Mam would find a way to rub it in, and I don’t want to hear it.” She turned from the mirror. “I’m so grateful you offered, I really am. But babysitting would be a grind if you had to do it every day.”
“If you’re okay with it, I’ll take him over to the folks’ later today.”
“That’s fine,” Bridget replied, turning back to the mirror. Braiding her long black hair and winding it in a bun was the only way she knew to keep it neat and professional appearing.
After emergency medical technician training, the last nine months of it while she was pregnant, she’d hired in at the #34 Rural Fire Station in the foothills outside town.
“I can’t believe how calm you are,” Caitlin added. “I’d be a nervous wreck around all of those men.”
“It’s not bad, plus I did a rotation there during class, and I know the setup. I’ll just stay busy and out of the way.”
Placing one more pin in the bun to secure it, she winced. “It feels like I’ve got ten spears going into my scalp.”
“Can’t you let it down?”
“Not the first day,” she answered, moving from the mirror to the bed. “I’ll give him one more drink. The freezer is full of breast milk, but I have two bottles defrosted in the fridge. If you do end up going to Mom’s, don’t forget to take a bottle.”
She unbuttoned her shirt again and pulled a breast out of its trap. Baby Flynn grabbed her and latched on without a second’s hesitation.
“Oh man, is he going to be okay without you?”
“He’ll be fine. He’s used to me leaving already.”
Sighing, Bridget hated to leave him, hated that she’d miss out on important milestones. But independence meant keeping her own apartment and working to support her baby. His father was out of the picture, and in exchange for not having to share custody with Randy, which petrified her, she’d forfeited child support.
“We can prove he’s unfit,” her attorney had said. “You should make him pay something for his child.”
But she wasn’t willing to take the chance. It was her fault for getting involved with him. He wasn’t local, and that should have been the first indication. He had been passing through for training at the naval base. Later, she referred to their romance as a one-week stand, but barely.
“It wasn’t one night exactly,” she tried to explain to her heartbroken parents.
“When are you due?”
“Next month,” she mumbled, humiliated.
“You waited all this time! We could have supported you,” her father said.
“Are you getting married?”
“No, Mam, I hardly know the guy.”
“Holy martyrs spare me,” her mother had cried. “Why? You can date any one of a hundred boys from school? Why a stranger?”
She couldn’t tell her mother that the chemistry was steaming. She knew the minute she laid eyes on Randy that she’d throw caution to the wind. Safe sex in place,she thought, she’d only have the memory of the passion that ended up being empty and painful.
Flynn watched her while he nursed, and she giggled. He had smiled his toothless smile at her, and a little milk dribbled out of the corner of his mouth. How would she tell him someday that she’d ostensibly paid off his father to leave them alone? Randy lived in New York, three thousand miles away. But that might not have been far enough if he’d wanted to take his son home. No.
In minutes, satiated, Flynn closed his eyes and let go of her, nursing the air like they do when they sleep.
