The Truth He Buried With Her Chapter 01

The Truth He Buried With Her Chapter 01

My husband Griffin Prescott spent six months fighting on the southwestern border.

Before he shipped out, I stood at the gate holding our son’s hand. He gave me a loud kiss on the cheek.

I straightened his cap. “Good luck. Come home safe. Leo and I will be here waiting.”

Six months later, he came home safe—just with a girl beside him whose belly was already showing.

I stood at the gate to base housing, Leo in my arms. My face went cold.

The wives on their porches went dead quiet.

Griffin saw me. His eyes flicked away.

“Honey, let me explain—”

I laughed, short and bitter.

In my arms, Leo looked from his father to the girl, then back at me, confused.

“Mommy, who’s that with Daddy?”

I turned away, my voice flat.

“You don’t have a dad. Your dad is dead.”

***

Behind me, the noise started. Boots crunched on gravel, fast and urgent.

Griffin came around in front of me and, in front of half the housing block, dropped straight to his knees.

“Honey, let me explain!”

I shifted Leo to my other hip and looked down at him.

Six months apart, and this was our first sight of each other.

“Explain, then. I’m listening.”

The girl caught up.

She stopped beside Griffin.

“Ma’am, my name is Blair Davenport. I’m from the southwest. My town flooded. My whole family’s gone. Colonel Prescott brought me out of the relocation center.”

Griffin, still on his knees, looked up at her when she said that.

I stared at her stomach.

“Whose baby is it?”

Blair lowered her head and said nothing.

I turned back to Griffin.

He knelt there, shoulders slumped, arms hanging at his sides like a man who’d run out of fight.

“I asked you. Whose baby is it?”

His lips moved. Finally, he forced out, “I can’t say.”

From the crowd, Rita Cooper crushed her beer can and tossed it aside, raising her voice, “Belly’s that big, and you still have to ask? It’s pretty damn obvious.”

The other wives exchanged looks. Somebody snickered.

I crouched down.

“I have three questions.”

His Adam’s apple bobbed.

“First. Is the baby yours?”

No answer.

“Second. What happened between you and her in the southwest?”

Sweat ran down his temples.

“Third. Before you brought her back, did you think about how you’d tell me?”

This time he answered.

His voice was dry. “I thought about it. I couldn’t figure out how.”

I let out a sharp, bitter laugh.

Then I stood and shifted Leo higher on my hip.

His little arms tightened around my neck, his face buried against my shoulder.

I walked around Griffin where he knelt and headed into family housing.

Behind me, Rita muttered just loud enough for me to hear:

“Who’s she giving that face to? That girl’s pregnant and followed him all the way here. It’s not easy for her.”

At the corner, I stopped and looked back once.

Griffin was still on his knees, like he’d been bolted to the gravel.

Blair stood in the same spot.

She was looking down at him.

I turned back and carried Leo home.

Leo whispered in my ear, “Mommy, why is Daddy still on his knees?”

“Because I won’t let him get up.”

He said, “Oh.” Then, “Who’s that lady?”

I kicked the courtyard gate open, set him down, and crouched to his level.

“That’s someone your father brought back. Starting today, she lives in our housing block.”

Leo blinked.

“Then whose baby is in her tummy?”

Good question. Your mother would love to know too.