Page 75 of Fade (Fighting Fate)

“Babe,” she said softly, “this is the crap your mom taught you that you need to let go of. If a friend is going to say shit about you and the choices you make, then I’m sorry to say, they aren’t really your friend at all.”

Exhaling, I dropped my head back on the couch and stared up at the ceiling. “I don’t want to do this without Daniel, Amber.”

I heard Amber sigh. “You know how I think about things, babe. Everything happens for a reason. You found out you’re pregnant just after Daniel was deployed. You were meant to face this without him. This is the chance you’ve been waiting for to prove just how strong you really are.”

I let her words repeat, over and over again, inside my head, hoping I would start to believe them, because as soon as I left Amber’s room, I was going to call Seth. And I wasn’t so sure he was going to be so willing to come around.

“Now, on a more serious note, do you want me to ask Dad to see you?”

I recoiled with horror. David was an OBGYN. “Oh my God, no. I couldn’t. You know he’s like a dad to me, Ambs. That would be super weird.”

Amber smirked. “Yeah, I thought so, but thought I’d ask anyway. I’ll get Mom to book you in with Gracie.”

Something in

the pit of my stomach sank. “You don’t have to do that.”

“Don’t be stubborn. You know Dad wouldn’t have you going through your whole pregnancy without making sure you were being looked after properly.”

I sighed. I had so many mixed emotions running through me, it was hard not to feel overwhelmed. I tried to focus on the one that would be right for the moment, choosing the enormous amount of gratitude swirling around amongst it all. Reaching forward, I pulled Amber into a hug. “Thank you for always being here for me, Ambs. You’ll never know just how much I appreciate it. I love you so much.”

“Ditto, babe,” she said, squeezing me back. “Ditto.”

Chapter 38

Daniel

Deployed time: 4 weeks

We arrived back in Hasaka a few hours ahead of the biggest dust storm any of the guys had ever seen. It wasn’t known how long it would take to blow over, but after two days locked inside to avoid breathing in the crap, I was starting to go a little stir crazy. It wouldn’t have been so bad if we’d been able to get in contact with family back home, but the storm had brought communications down with it.

Lying back on my cot, I let my defenses down and pulled out one of the pictures I had of Amy. My chest throbbed as I took in every tiny detail of her features. I missed her so much. I wondered what she was doing right now.

Checking my watch, I worked out that it would’ve been somewhere around nine o’clock the night before back in the States. Would she be lying in bed, thinking of me too?

Before my thoughts could linger on it too much, I swung my legs around and sat up, just as Nelson pushed his way inside, followed closely by Johns and a few guys from the other squads.

“Comms are up,” he said, grinning. “No phones, but we should be able to check e-mail.”

Relief, excitement, and anxiety assaulted me all at once. Pushing myself up to stand, I heard Nelson laugh as he sank down on his cot with his laptop.

Pulling out my own, I sat back down on the side of my cot and quickly signed in to open my e-mails. The loading process felt like it was taking forever. My stomach knotted as I watched it.

Finally, the page opened and new e-mails started popping up. I held my breath as I watched, waiting for a reply from Amy.

There were e-mails from both of my parents, one from a guy I’d gone to military school with, and one from a guy I’d met in boot camp. Then it appeared. An e-mail from Amy. Dated the same day I’d e-mailed her almost four weeks ago.

From: Amy Benson [email protected]

To: Daniel Stephenson [email protected]

Date: Mon, Apr 11, 2016 at 6:56 PM

Subject: RE: miss you already

Oh my god, I’m crying already!

I wasn’t expecting to hear from you so soon :))))

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