Casualties of Love (15 page)

“Not purposely. But, while you’re figuring shit out, chatting it up with Bethany behind her back, Jessica is thinking this is going somewhere. Somewhere that you might later decide is not where you want to be.
Because you’re letting Jessica avoid telling you the truth. And, because you already have a woman
.”

Tyson gritted his teeth at Marcus’ over-exaggerated emphasis on the words. The asshole just kept talking though.

“Speaking of your woman, what about Bethany in all this?”

“You’re worked up about Bethany? You don’t even like Bethany.”

“It’s not that I don’t like her. Ok, so I don’t like her, but don’t string her along. I
do
like Jessica, though. She’s a good woman. I consider her a friend now and you know I don’t take to just anybody.”

“It’s complicated,” Tyson hedged.

“Yeah, well, a lot of things are, buddy. I don’t know what went down between you two, but whatever it was she still doesn’t deserve to get burned. She’s in love with you, man.”

“Maybe,” Tyson said.

“Fuck that. I know it and so do you.”

Tyson knew Marcus was right. He thought about the night before Jessica went out with her unit a couple of days ago. She’d stayed with him, had fallen asleep in his arms. Bethany’s call had chimed on his machine. The first time he’d ignored it, but she’d called back about an hour later. Jessica began to stir, so Tyson had slipped out of bed and taken the machine in the bathroom to quickly answer the call. He’d told Bethany that he couldn’t talk, that he was really beat from a long day and needed to sign off quickly. She’d conceded and they’d ended the connection with his promise to call her back as soon as he was up to it. Then he’d closed down the computer and slipped back into bed behind Jessica. He had felt like crap. When she’d asked him where he’d gone off to, he’d told her it was his sister and that he hadn’t wanted to wake her up. He’d lied to her. He had never lied to her. After that, he’d felt lower than crap because she’d believed him and wedged herself back into the warmth of his body.

“Where is she?”

“Who?”  Marcus said, purposely being obtuse.

“Stop being an be an ass. Where was Jessica when you saw her?”

“She was going to her barracks. They’re headed back out. You might be able to catch her, if you’re quick.”

Tyson ran out to look for Jessica, but he was too late. Her unit had already left for the Afghan border. He made up his mind to really talk to her when she got back. Marcus was right. She deserved the truth about Bethany, and he needed to stop pretending he didn’t need to know the truth about what happened with them years ago. It was time to man up and quit stalling.

Chapter 13

              Kendall Green was frantic. Jessica had been brought in on a stretcher. She was unconscious and there was blood all over her uniform.
Shit. Shit, shit, shit!

“Come on, Jess. Don’t do this to me,” Kendall muttered. She didn’t want to lose her friend. Not another one, she thought desperately. Kendall was cutting through layers of clothing while everyone was scrambling to help the wounded that had been brought in. She had to get the blood-soaked uniform off of Jessica so she could see where all the blood was coming from. She feared the woman had a wound that would cause her to bleed out before they could figure out what was wrong. Plus, Kendall hoped she could get the clothes off of Jessica before Tyson showed up. If he saw all the blood, he was likely to freak. She knew the two of them hadn’t worked out all of their past issues, but she also knew Tyson was in love with her friend. It was as plain as day.

Marcus had seen them bring Jess in and had immediately taken of to get Tyson. Kendall had tried to stop him, but he had said that Tyson needed to know. He was right, of course. Good, bad, or otherwise, the man would have to deal with the outcome. As she was pulling the ripped shirt away, Tyson ran into the curtained space where Kendall was working on Jessica. Marcus was hovering at the edge of the slight barrier with a grim look on his face.

“Jesus. Jess,” he said as he approached the table. His tone was laced with fear. “There’s so much blood, Kendall. What happened?”

“I don’t know. They got hit. IED probably. I need to get these clothes off of her to see where the blood is coming from.”

She started ripping clothes away and Tyson reached in to help. She normally would have sent him away, but everyone was busy so she could use the help. The Specialist that was helping her was helping out two others, too. She shouted at Marcus to go get her some supplies. He ran off, while she and Tyson discarded Jessica’s clothes. Jessica groaned, but didn’t open her eyes.

“Jess?” Kendall called. “Can you hear us?”
              “Wake up, baby. Come on, sweetheart. Open your eyes,” Tyson coaxed. His voice was rough with worry. “Where’s the blood coming from Kendall?”

Kendall was wiping away blood and debris from Jessica’s body looking for the wound. She found a gash on her abdomen, just above Jessica’s hipline.

“I think this is it,” she said pointing out the wound. She wiped and wiped. “It’s not that big though. It wouldn’t account for so much blood. There’s got to be another wound, or maybe the blood wasn’t hers.”

They turned Jessica’s body to look for wounds, but didn’t find anything major. Kendall checked for internal problems. Jessica continued to moan.

“Why isn’t she waking up?”

“Might be a blow to the head,” she said. “She’s moaning though, so it’s a good sign. Here,” she said as she handed Tyson a wet towel. “Start wiping the blood away. I need to be sure this wound isn’t worse than I think. It’s not all that wide, but maybe it’s deep.”

Tyson wiped blood. He wiped, rinsed the rag, and wiped some more. He was quiet and Kendall knew he was afraid for Jessica. His features were tight and it looked like all the muscles in his upper body were strung tight.

It looked like the gash he was wiping around wasn’t gushing, but oozing slowly. That was a good sign. Kendall went about assessing Jessica’s overall condition.

“Was she injured before? Was Jessica hurt in the field during an earlier tour?” he asked Kendall. His sudden question surprised her.

“What?” Kendall asked. She looked up at Tyson.

“Was Jessica injured before? This scar. It looks serious.”

Kendall turned her attention to where Tyson was cleaning. It was near the new gash, but scar was old. It was a faint dark line the sliced across the lower portion of Jessica’s abdomen. It looked a lot like...
Oh, crap
. Kendall looked at him in surprise.

“It was serious, right? Did you know she’d been injured before?”

“Tyson,” she started.

“What this old injury is causing a problem?” he asked. “I can’t lose her.” His voice was, like he was talking more to himself than to Kendall.

“Tyson, the scar isn’t a problem. It’s not an old wound. At least not the kind...” Kendall paused. She knew that Jessica might kill her, but she wouldn’t lie to him. “That’s a C-section scar.”

Kendal watched as Tyson went still. Little by little his muscles seemed to lock up until he didn’t even seem to be breathing.

“C-section. As in had a baby,” he said. His eyes were glued to the scar.

“Yeah. It looks to be a C-section scar. From where it’s at, the length and all. Tyson, look, this is none of my business. But, I’m sure she can...”

Kendall abruptly cut herself off with the sharp shake of his head. Then, she watched him take a deep breath and go back to cleaning Jessica’s body. Kendal didn’t have a clue what he was thinking. Marcus rushed back in with supplies and Kendall got to work. It looked like all the blood on Jessica’s uniform belonged to someone else. Her wound was superficial. As long as she woke up soon, she’d come through just fine. Physically, anyway. It was now pretty clear what Jessica had been hiding. Kendall didn’t know how well she’d make out emotionally when she finally explained things to Tyson.

******

              Jessica woke up with a start. She quickly looked around and noted she wasn’t in her room. She pushed her self up and let out a groan. She was sore, really sore. Then she remembered what had happened and realized where she was.

They’d been hit. And IED had gone off during their convoy back from the border. She was riding two vehicles behind the one that got blasted, but they still felt the force. They’d jumped out and hustled to help the wounded. She’d had to help drag a couple of guys away from the burning metal before going into emergency, combat care mode. The one Soldier was bleeding badly. She remembered another small blast and falling down. Must have been a secondary device. She guessed she passed out or something, because she didn’t remember getting here – the infirmary. Tyson was asleep at the foot of her bed.

“Tyson,” she called his name. When he didn’t respond she tried again.

“You’re awake,” he said.

“Have I been out long?”

“A couple of hours,” he said. “You weren’t fully conscious when they brought you in. You’ve got a gash, but Kendall said it’s not serious.”

“You stayed with me?” she asked. “Thanks.”

“I was waiting for you to wake up.”

His voice sounded empty; his eyes looked empty. Jessica noted his demeanor. He seemed closed off somehow. Something had happened. Something was wrong.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Tell me about the baby.”

“What?” Jessica’s eyes snapped to Tyson’s and what she saw in his gaze wouldn’t allow her to look away.
Oh, God. He knows
. He’d found out somehow before she was the one to tell him.

“Tell me about the baby, Jessica,” he demanded.  She tried to look away. “Don’t,” he commanded. “Look at me and tell me.”

“I’m sure you can figure it out, now that you know there was a child,” she said. Her voice sounded strained in her ears. She knew it was due to the tightness that has settle in her throat.

“Tell. Me. Now.”

Jessica hated how his voice sounded. Like he hated her. Like he never should have trusted her. Like she’d lied to him and betrayed him. She couldn’t stop the flow of tears that started to course from her eyes.

“I was pregnant. I left the Academy because I was pregnant.”

Six years ago

              Jessica sat in the Commandant’s office looking at the Superintendant. He was patient, but he wanted the truth from her and she’d give it. He’d been an unexpected supporter, though she’d never known why. He wanted to know the real reason she was giving up her place at the Military Academy when she only had months to go until graduation.

              “I’m pregnant,” she admitted to him.

              Jessica waited a bit for his disbelieving outrage over her stupidity to manifest itself, but it never came.

“I didn’t want anyone to know, so this is really difficult,” she continued. “I know you’re probably thinking “stereotypical Black kid”. I get the chance of a lifetime, and I screw it up by getting pregnant my last year. Hell, it’s what
I’m
thinking, and maybe it’s true. But, we were, um…I was careful and it happened anyway and I can’t finish the year because of it. So…”

She finished up her dreaded explanation with a deep breath, but couldn’t bring herself to look at the man leaning against the desk in front of her. Besides her extreme embarrassment over her situation, it had not escaped her notice that she’d cursed during her little talk. She busied herself looking around the room at all of the memorabilia in the Commandant’s office.

              “Jessica,” he called to her, but she couldn’t meet his eyes. “Jessica, look at me.” She reluctantly complied. “That’s not what I’m thinking. Not at all. What I’m thinking is that we’re losing a good cadet, a good Soldier. You’ve excelled here. Clearly this was unplanned. I’m sure it was…unexpected, but I want you to finish. Are you sure there’s no way you can, ah, finish up the year…discretely? This is just between us. No one else would have to know.”

              Jessica knew what he meant. She had done the numbers and estimated the progression of the pregnancy numerous times in her head, on paper, on her fingers. But, the math wasn’t that complicated. There was no way. She was eight weeks pregnant, two months along. By the time the end of May rolled around she’d be huge, that is, if she wasn’t in labor. There would be no hiding it. She wouldn’t be able to do PT, tactical operations training…anything.  She had already thought of trying to qualify for medical leave and come back to redo her last year, but she couldn’t fathom them allowing a doctor’s note to excuse seven months of pregnancy. It wouldn’t work. And she couldn’t fake some other lingering illness. That would be wrong.
Duty, honor, country.
Lying was against the code and she honored the code.

“No, sir. I’ve thought of that. The timing isn’t…ideal. Plus, since you already know, it would be breaking the code. I’ve…messed up. I have to deal with the consequences.”

“Ok.” He paused, and then continued slowly. “But, Jessica, you didn’t
mess up
all on your own. It takes two people to create a pregnancy. Why are you here alone? Why are you dealing with the consequences alone?”

Jessica was silent; she didn’t want to answer. She sincerely hoped the Superintendent didn’t ask her who the father was. She suspected he knew, given his interest in her success at the Academy. Surely, he knew that she and Tyson were dating. Even so, Jessica didn’t want to voice it out loud. If she said his name, then they could call him on it. She wouldn’t allow that. Tyson meant everything to her. She loved him. This thing that had happened… She didn’t want it to ruin both of their careers. She couldn’t hide a pregnancy, couldn’t finish her responsibilities at West Point because of it. But, Tyson didn’t have to leave. He could finish, get his commission, and serve and lead as he’d planned to.

Jessica would tell him later. She’d already worked it out in her mind. She would convince him that she needed to go, give him time to finish up, and then she’d tell him about the baby. He loved her. She knew that. He’d leave with her if he knew about it now; he wouldn’t ever let her shoulder the burden alone. If he knew, he would want to get married. They couldn’t do that because, just as cadets couldn’t be pregnant, they couldn’t be married. But if he didn’t know, he would stay. Tyson would be hurt that she left, but hopefully able to get over it later and they could move forward together when he graduated.