Having The Soldier's Baby (Parent Portal 1)

“Okay, I’m doing well, so how are you doing?”

“Fine. I’ve sent up a request for naval police training. It’s a nine-week stint in San Antonio. And then I’ll get my orders.”

Even after he’d finished basic and received orders for San Diego, they’d always known he’d most likely be transferred at some point. She just hadn’t really given the idea much credence.

They were “them.” They’d both grown up in Marie Cove. Loved it there. When his orders had come through to ship out from San Diego, she’d almost taken them as an inevitability. She’d expected them.

So young. And naive.

And now...

“You could be sent anywhere.”

“I know.”

And if he got the divorce he wanted? Where did that leave Tristan in terms of knowing his father? And where did it leave her, living, perhaps, across the world from her best friend for the rest of her life?

She needed to ask. Wasn’t ready for the answer yet.

But there was one thing she had to know. Based on the man she’d gotten to know over the past months. This new Winston—or the one he’d always been and she just hadn’t seen—always had a goal in mind. Worked toward the goal.

“What is your goal where you and I are concerned?” she asked him. And then quickly clarified, “Not legally, but in terms of us? How do you see us working out?”

The question was clear in her mind. Coming out, it sounded pretty stupid.

“As friends, Em. Good friends. Always. Our history alone shapes that, doesn’t it?”

His answer spoke straight to her heart.

And made her sad, too.

Chapter Nineteen

On Friday, Winston was turned down for master-at-arms “A” school in San Antonio. He was invited to reapply when his six-month leave was up and he had all the necessary return-to-active-duty signatures.

And the following Monday morning, he received word that he was being offered an early honorable discharge at the convenience of the government, in spite of the fact that he had a full year left on his commission.

Could be in light of his sacrifice. Or perhaps because he’d gone rogue. That wasn’t made clear, and Winston didn’t ask.

He wasn’t required to take the offer.

The commander who met with him suggested that he talk the decision over with his wife.

While he actually wanted to hear what Emily thought, he knew it wasn’t fair to treat her like a wife when they were going to be divorcing.

After the divorce, once they were settled into a routine, then he could talk to her about that kind of stuff again.

He went to Adamson instead. He had the appointment. Now he had a reason to go it.

“I’m assuming you had something to do with my being turned down for ‘A’ school?” he asked as he was taking his usual seat in a corner of the old blue couch.

“No.” The infuriating woman folded her hands on her desk and looked at him, calm as ever. “I wasn’t consulted,” she said.

So it had just been because he was still on leave, not because his therapist had derailed him. For once she’d said something that actually pleased him.

In his good mood, he told her that he’d come clean with Emily. That they’d separated and would be getting a divorce.

And then he talked about “A” school again. He needed a good plan for the rest of his life.