Life's Next Chapter by Sarah Goodman Read Free Book Online Page B

she’s desperately trying to escape my grasp.
    “Fine! Fine, I give up! Yes, I was jealous. I thought you had a young girlfriend, which meant I didn’t have a chance with you.” She mumbles the last words, but I heard her clear enough.
    “You want…a…with me?” I stumble over the words in my shock and as I force myself to ignore the insane desire I have to grab her up and spin her around. I tenuously touch her chin with my finger, lifting her eyes to mine; wanting to see the truth in them. When her smile appears, my heart launches into outer space.
    “Maybe” is all she says, in that infuriating way women do, and I feel my heart crash and burn as she gets up and walks to the kitchen island. So much for that ego boost.
    “Did you marry Danielle?” she asks, as she begins putting away the groceries.
    “No, I didn’t marry Danielle; I’ve never been married.” She looks stunned.
    “What happened? I mean, only if you want to tell me, but I would like to know.” Kate comes back to the table and sits, her eyes hopeful to hear my story.
    “Danielle and I talked about marriage after graduation. But, I just didn’t feel comfortable marrying her. We had only been dating a few months when she got pregnant, and I liked her, but I wasn’t in love with her. August came, and I told her I was enlisting. Our baby would get good medical care, and she knew it would be hard in the beginning, but after my four years, things would get better for us. I enlisted, and was sent to Fort Benning in Georgia for boot camp. There I entered the Infantry, and was stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. I spent four years at Bragg with three of those years spent in the field, training for a war that never came.
    “Danielle had the babya week before Christmas and I was able to be home to witness my daughter’s birth. I was home ‘til the New Year then went back to Fort Bragg. I was in love with Danika from the beginning. It broke my heart to leave her. I didn’t think I could love someone that deeply, and I didn’t think it would be so hard to say goodbye. I felt bad for leaving Danielle with such a huge responsibility, but I thought, in my teenage mind, I was doing right by trying to become a man. I wanted to be better for Danika than I was for myself. When Danika was four months old, I received a letter from Danielle saying she couldn’t handle being a mom. That it was too damn hard. Danielle was looking into putting Danika up for adoption. Her parents wanted nothing to do with the baby, hell her mom tried to drag her to an abortion clinic so, I knew how hard this was on her. I called my parents that day, explaining everything to them. They contacted Danielle and said they would take Danika and raise her, since it’s very hard to be a single parent in the Army.
    “I contacted a lawyer, told him what was happening. He drafted up papers for termination of Danielle’s parental rights, and had them sent to her. She signed, delivered the papers to my lawyer, and dropped everything of Danika’s off with my parents. That was the last time I ever had any contact with Danielle. Danika doesn’t remember her mother; she was just an infant. She has one picture of the three of us from the day she was born. She doesn’t ask about her, but I know there are times she needs her mom. The last I heard, Danielle moved to San Francisco for some type of schooling. Years later, Danielle’s father died and her mother moved out west. Danika has no contact from her mother’s side.
    “So, I put in my four years, wrote tons of letters home, called as much as I could, and came home whenever I had leave. Once my four years were over, I went home and raised my baby girl. I took her to school, taught her to ride a bike, played dolls, and had tea parties. I was there for her first day of kindergarten, and even first grade. I was working for a construction company, and we were doing great. Then September eleventh happened, and our perfect little world