Mrs. Casey had gone home to fetch Willow’s hospital bag, which we had all forgotten in the panic of getting her to the hospital. Coach had disappeared somewhere, leaving me alone with this precious new soul.
“I’m going to love you forever,” I whispered to the baby. “You are going to have every single chance to do whatever you want in this world for the rest of your life.”
She made some sort of noise that I decided was agreement.
I touched the soft velvet of her perfect nose, drinking her in with wonder. How crazy was it that this exquisite small person was in the world only because Willow and I had had a chance encounter nine months before? I thought about all of the choices Willow had made that had led to this moment: choices that had been scary and had required courage and a certain sort of selflessness.
I remembered the day Willow had told me that she planned to keep the baby. She had said, “She feels like this little person who’s been on an adventure with me all these months, and the idea of not seeing what happens next with the two of us would be so sad.”
Now, I understood what Willow meant. Thinking about leaving, about going anywhere, without Willow and this child of ours felt like dying. It was impossible. It would be the same as ripping off my arms.
I shifted the baby a little as her eyes drifted shut and her rosebud mouth pursed. “It’s okay, peanut,” I whispered. “I’m not going away. I’m not leaving you. Not ever.”
Behind me, Coach cleared his throat. I wondered when he’d stepped back into the room and how much he’d heard me say.
“She looks like her mother.” He wandered over to Willow’s bed, and I saw with a smile that he’d brought a huge bouquet of pink roses, several balloons, and big stuffed teddy bear that was bigger than his new granddaughter.
“She does,” I agreed. “Lucky girl.”
Coach chuckled softly. “You’re not wrong. We’re blessed with gifted and gorgeous women in this family.” He set down his gifts and came over to sit in the chair next to mine. “Been quite a day, huh?”
I nodded. “Yes, sir—Coach. Feels more like a week.”
“At least.” He tapped his thigh for a moment and then glanced up at me. “I got to ask you, Lassiter—there when the midwife told us where to stand, she called you the daddy, didn’t she?”
I didn’t dare meet the older man’s eyes. “Yes, she did.”
“Dang it, son.” He expelled a long breath. “Is there something between you and my daughter that I don’t know about? I had a feeling you were sweet on her, but I couldn’t see how that was going to work out, since you’re just about to launch a career in the military, and my daughter wants, needs, stability and steadiness. She seems to like you, I think. But you can’t play with a woman’s emotions, and that goes double, treble, when there’s a baby involved. This isn’t some game of house, you know.” His gaze rested on the baby. “And raising another man’s child, even if that man isn’t involved, takes a special kind of love, I would imagine. You can’t make promises that you’re not sure you can keep.”
“Yes, sir, I know.” I didn’t bother to correct my use ofsirthis time, because for what I was about to say, I needed Coach to remember how much I respected him. “Coach, sir, I realize this will come as a shock, but the truth of the matter is . . . Iamthe baby’s father. It was me who—well, I was, um, with Willow before she came to West Point.”
Confusion and surprise warred on the big man’s face. “How in the hell did that happen?”
“I went home for a week last summer. The night before I came back to the Academy, Willow and I met at party. We, um—”
Coach’s face went red. “I got that part, Lassiter. Move ahead to the part where neither of you bothered to be honest with her mother or me.”
I swallowed hard and thought fleetingly that as long as I was holding his granddaughter, the man wouldn’t slug me. Probably. “I—we didn’t know each other’s last names. I had no clue she was your daughter, and Willow didn’t realize I was a cadet. When I came to dinner at your house, we were both—well, it was a big surprise.”
“I’ll just bet.”
I went on speaking, hoping he’d be reasonable. “I wanted to do the right thing when I found out Willow was pregnant. Well, maybe I didn’t say it at first, but once the shock wore off, I did. But the rules at West Point aren’t very flexible or forgiving for a cadet in this circumstance. If I had taken responsibility, I would have been expelled.”
For a long, tense moment, Coach remained silent. Finally, he sighed.
“I understand, Lassiter. I don’t like it, and I wish you had told me—”
“Sir, it would have put you into an untenable position,” I pointed out. “If anyone had found out and then knew that you were aware . . . well, I wouldn’t do that to you.”
“Hmph,” he grunted. “Well, this clears up a lot of questions I had about your feelings toward my daughter. But what I want to know is, what happens now? What are your plans?”
I lifted one shoulder, careful not to disturb the sleeping baby. “I wish I knew, Coach. I . . . this whole thing has been so weird. Willow and I—I think maybe we didn’t want to admit what we were feeling because we didn’t want to raise suspicions. And probably, on Willow’s part, because she knew I was leaving after graduation.” I leveled my eyes at Coach. “But I love her, sir. I want to make a life with her, if she’ll have me.”
“And have you told my daughter this?” Coach crossed his arms over his chest and scowled. “Does she know how you feel? Have you made yourself clear?”
“Ah . . .” I cleared my throat. “For a long time, I didn’t. I was . . . I don’t know, sir. I was an idiot. A dumbass. Maybe a coward.”
“Hmmm.” He wasn’t disagreeing. “But you rectified that, I assume?”
