The Fireman's Baby: A BWWM Pregnancy Romance (8 page)

“We watched this program the other day which lasted an hour. An hour, can you believe it? And at the end all they found was this little old broken pot and they were all amazed at it and I said to your father, I said, ‘Why are they so excited about this pot?’ Well apparently the pot meant that so-and-so had lived there at some time or another. I don't know. I stopped listening after the first thirty minutes of them ooh-ing and ah-ing over every scrap of dirt. You know, at our age, we don't have time enough to waste an hour watching people dig, but that's not why you came here. You have news you said? Another promotion? What comes after captain? Chief?”

Daniel listened to her say all of this without her pausing for breath and then jumped in’ as she took a moment to inhale.

“No, it has nothing to do with work Mom,” he told her. “It's something else. You might want to sit down.”

His mother finished making the tea, handed him his cup and shuffled in her slippers to the living room where Daniel's father was sitting in his old robe, watching the History Channel. She sat down pointedly and looked up at him expectantly, waiting for her news.

“Well?” she prompted. “Quick, while the commercials are on!”

Daniel sat down and tried to find a way to begin, but there was no easy way to say it.

“I have a baby,” he announced.

His mother laughed. “Wonderful joke, darling,” she said. “I saw Stacy last week. There's no way that girl is pregnant. A stick she is. An absolute stick. The last time I saw her, I offered her a piece of cake and she looked like I'd kicked a puppy. I don't trust girls who don't eat.”

“Well, it's not Stacy's baby,” Daniel told them. That piqued his father's interest. He had always been a surprising gossip for a man and the old man turned off the television and turned in his armchair to listen to his son.

“Well if it's not Stacy's baby, whose baby is it?” his mother asked him impatiently.

“Her name is Laura,” Daniel said. “Stacy and I were broken up at that time.”

“You're always taking breaks with that girl,” his mother interrupted. “Because she's difficult. That's why. I always said that—”

“Shut up, Annie!” Daniel's father cut her off. “The boy's trying to tell us he's got some girl pregnant and you're blathering on about cake and about how you don't like Stacy. Quiet for a second! Daniel, are you telling us we have a grandchild?”

“I'm trying to,” Daniel replied exasperatedly. “The mother's name is Laura. Stacy and I were broken up and I met this woman who lived near a fire I was putting out. We hit it off and she invited me for dinner and one thing led to another... Anyway, we only spent one night together and then I headed to Colorado. You know, I just got back last week. Anyway, I was sitting a café with some buddies the other day and who should walk in, but Laura with a stroller! We go for a walk and she tells me that I have a three-month-old daughter.”

For once, his mother fell silent and Daniel felt a sudden nervousness that he had disappointed her and that her remarkable talent for speaking without needing to breathe would allow her to give him a stern lecture for getting a strange girl pregnant. Annie was quiet for some ten seconds or so and then let out one long, high-pitched squeal of delight like a teapot that had reached boiling point.

“Did you hear that, Roger?” she exclaimed. “We have a grandchild! A grandchild! I need to call Susan! I need to call Lucy! I'm going to call the paper and get one of those little announcements put in with a photo like Gloria did when her great niece was born. Son, I'm going to need her name and date of birth. Heaven above, her name! I don't even know her name!”

“It's Annie, Mom,” Daniel told her.

There was another long pause and then another teapot shriek of ecstatic joy. His mother, who was usually so frail and arthritic, leaped to her feet and began to dance around the living room.

“After me?” she gasped. “Did you hear that Roger? They named her after me!”

Annie crossed the room to plant two big kisses on her son's cheeks and then ran to pick up the telephone, handset, deliberating over who to call first.

“When do I get to meet the mother?” she asked him excitedly. “Laura is it? When will I meet her? We have so much to talk about. Has she thought about preschool yet? Gloria knows all the best preschools. We'll have lunch. And does Laura know about infantile colic? You suffered from that, you know, and so did your sister. It wouldn't surprise me if your daughter was just the same, but I have just the thing for it.”

Daniel's panic melted away and he grinned to see his mother so happy. Even his father was sitting with the happy, proud smile of a new grandfather on his face and Daniel felt some of the pressure dissipate, as he realized that his parents were simply happy to have a grandchild at last.

“I'll call Laura tonight,” he promised. “She can come for dinner tomorrow.”

Laura was surprised when she received Daniel's call, but excited too. Even though he'd said that he was going to tell his parents about her, she supposed she'd doubted it slightly. Even now that he felt afraid that they would think she was some irresponsible floozy. Still, if she wanted Daniel to be a part of Annie's life, then she supposed that she would have to welcome his parents too. Annie would be a lucky little girl to have two sets of grandparents who loved her dearly.

The Final
Chapter

So the following evening, Laura got her daughter ready in a sweet little pink dress, tucked her pink bunny beside her in the stroller and waited for Daniel to pick her up.

“Nervous?” he asked her, as he carefully strapped his daughter into the new car seat he had bought just for her and opened the door for Laura.

“Yes,” Laura confessed. “What did you tell them about me?”

“The truth,” Daniel told her.

“That some woman, who was a stranger to you, enticed you into her bedroom for a night of wild, unprotected sex?” she asked.

Daniel shook his head. “No,” he reassured her. “I told them that a bright, intelligent, young woman invited me for dinner one night and that even after I got her pregnant and left her alone for months while I was away, she still took care of my child and was nothing but gracious and forgiving when I returned.”

“I guess that's a better way to phrase it,” Laura smiled.

The captain reached over and laid a comforting hand atop hers. “They're going to love you,” he promised her. “You could be a lice farmer and my mother wouldn't care so long as you brought her a grandchild.”

“Lice farmer?” Laura giggled. “Is that a thing?”

“I said the first thing that came into my head.”

“
Lice farmer?
”

Daniel laughed. “Are you teasing me?”

“When I'm not seducing firemen, I actually have a pretty good sense of humor,” she told him.

“When I'm not impregnating gift card store owners, so do I,” he grinned.

Laura smiled and looked back at Annie in her car seat. Her baby was wide-awake for once and watching the world go by.

“I haven't heard her cry yet,” Daniel commented.

“It doesn't happen very often,” Laura told him. “Only when she's hungry or tired, just like her mother.”

“Bad Italian,” Daniel recalled. “Is that what our daughter will eat?”

“Actually, I've been taking cooking lessons I'll have you know,” Laura told him proudly. “I've learned how to poach an egg.”

“Impressive,” Daniel grinned.

Laura nudged him playfully and he laughed. She looked out the window then and wondered what she was doing. Ever since Daniel had returned, she had found herself flirting with him, except it wasn't a conscious effort this time, but something that just came so naturally between them.

Even though she was supposed to be playing it safe and keeping her guard up, the man just made her smile and since he'd returned he'd done everything in his power to do right by her and their daughter. He had not played any games, or said he'd needed time and even now he was driving her to meet his parents.

She had to admire how courageously he stepped into his duties. She recalled all too well how stunned she had been, looking at that line of positive pregnancy tests; how afraid and uncertain and upset because her plan had gone off track. She'd had nine months to grow used to the idea and prepare. Daniel had no such luxury. He had gone off a young, handsome bachelor and returned a father, and he hadn't shied away or run off.

Laura had to give him credit for taking responsibility and being so kind, even though she still felt she had to accept her share of the blame for Annie's conception. Daniel did not try to place any blame on her at all. He'd simply looked at his daughter and fell in love with her.

They arrived at Daniel's parent's house and Laura took her time unstrapping Annie from her car seat, and carrying her on her hip up the driveway.

“Don't look so afraid,” Daniel reassured her. “They don't bite.”

The captain rang the doorbell and Laura was a little overwhelmed by the whirlwind that opened the door. This Annie, Daniel's mother, was a lively chatterbox of a woman who wasted no time in scooping Annie up from Laura's arms and cooing over her excessively, making faces and playing peek-a-boo.

Laura didn't know what she had been worried about. Annie senior adored her grandchild on sight and couldn't stop telling everyone that she did.

“She's a precious little thing!” she cooed, patting at the chair beside her to invite Laura to sit at her side as she carried on chattering away. “I've been begging that boy to sow his seed for years now. Years!

I was starting to think I'd be in my grave before he had any little ones, but look at this adorable little girl! I think she's just about the sweetest thing I've ever seen. And look at you! You have a lovely face. She looks just like you, you know. Can I get you anything?”

Laura laughed with bewilderment and accepted a chocolate cookie, chewing contentedly as Annie senior continued to ramble on. Laura was grateful to have someone else holding little Annie for a while, and she kept catching Daniel's eye from across the room. He was laughing at her, trapped in his mother's endless chatter as he and his father sat on the other side of the room with a little more restraint.

“I like a girl who eats,” Annie said approvingly. “A new mother has to keep her strength up. A baby needs attention,, twenty-four seven. Tell me, Laura, have you heard of infantile colic?”

The afternoon was one of the most pleasant she’d had in recent memory. She found Daniel's parents to be kind, warm people who adored their son, adored their grandchild and, it seemed, adored her. When she'd eaten just about all she could eat and listened to every word in the dictionary fly out of Annie senior's mouth, Daniel at last drove her home.

“What did you think?” he asked her as he turned out the driveway and began to head up the main road.

“Oh, they're wonderful,” she beamed. “Your mother is so sweet.”

“I knew she'd love you,” he smiled. “And Annie of course. I thought she'd never let go of her.”

“Me too,” Laura smiled. “That's nice though. I'm so glad they liked us. I thought they'd think I was a floozy.”

“Of course not,” Daniel said. “I wouldn't let them think a thing like that. I think you're a very courageous woman. I admire what you've done for Annie very much. You're not a floozy.”

“I was worried that when you saw me again, you'd wonder what you ever saw in me,” Laura confessed. “You told me that something came over you that night that was unlike you. I was just the same. I'm usually so careful and modest. I don't know what got into me that day.”

“Whatever it was, I liked it.” Daniel told her. “I haven't been able to get you off my mind.”

“Really?” Laura asked him. “When you disappeared off the face of the earth, I thought I'd never see you again.”

Daniel frowned. “I won't be going to Colorado next summer,” he assured her. “When I was young, we had this little inflatable paddling pool that we pulled out every summer. I always thought I'd spend summers with my kids the same way.”

“Annie's a little water baby already,” Laura told him fondly. “My mother says that I used to hate the water, but Annie loves it. Well, she loves the bubbles.”

“Will I meet your parents any time soon?” he asked her.

Laura hadn't thought about it, but when she did, she liked the idea.

“I hope so,” she replied.

“If you're the floozy, what does that make me?” he asked her with concern. “Another deadbeat dad?”

“Everyone knows that you left before I found out I was pregnant,” Laura reassured him. “Don't worry. I haven't made a demon out of you. They'll respect you for stepping up the way you have. I certainly do.”

Daniel smiled and they drove on in silence. Laura was sorry when he dropped her off. She'd been enjoying their easy conversation and the way she felt so comfortable around him, as if she'd known him forever. She supposed it was natural to feel that kind of connection with him. After all, they'd had a child together. And then there was the fact that nobody in the world had ever seen that wild side of her, apart from him and although she had expected him to be disappointed to see her in the cold light of day, he still seemed to enjoy her company and respect her for all she had done.

The captain did respect her. In fact, Daniel had never respected a woman so much in his life. Laura had a grace about her that had taken him by surprise. When he'd first met her it had been in a sexual frenzy, and that had been, if he were to tell the truth, the most intensely pleasurable night of his life.

He'd be lying if he said he hadn't fantasized about her body during those hot Colorado nights or every time he'd stepped into a fire engine. He'd hardly been able to get her out of his mind. But, in the last couple of days, he  began  to see a different side to this captivating creature. Laura was smart and determined and independent, which was, in its way, just as attractive to him as her physical appearance. She was a woman who could handle herself and her problems and do it with quiet dignity and bravery. He admired her for that.

And of course, there was Annie. There was no doubt in his mind that no child could ever be so beautiful without having a mother like Laura. There was no new man in her life, it seemed. That made sense, considering that she'd been acting the single mother to a newborn since he'd been gone. The knowledge that she was still single made an unexpected hope dance within him. He saw the future, which was full of days out in the park and paddling pools and when he pictured those things, it wasn't just with him and his daughter. In every fantasy, Laura was there, with her dark hair and eyes, her gentle smile and that unforgettable gaze.

It made him realize everything that had been missing between him and Stacy. He understood now that he had simply been afraid of being alone and allowed the pressure of a needy woman make him do what he had believed was the honorable thing.

In truth, Daniel doubted that he would have spent a single summer in Colorado if it hadn't been for the fact that he needed those few months of peace to keep him sane. It was only when he was away from Stacy that he realized how much she smothered him. He drove now to her apartment to break the news to her that he'd gotten another woman pregnant.

Daniel climbed the stairs to her apartment and knocked at the door. He heard Stacy step up from the sofa and walk over to the door. She pulled it open with excited eyes and a smile and just when he was starting to think how hard it was going to be to break her heart, she began to berate him for being ten minutes late.

“I called Sam and he said that you left the station hours ago!” she accused, pouting in that childish way she did and folding her arms over her chest. “I wish I could trust you!” she seethed. “But no. I'm the girl who has to call your friends to find out where you are every night.”

“How did you get Sam's number?” Daniel asked her.

“From your phone.”

“My phone?” Daniel repeated. “Stacy, what did I tell you about going through my things?”

“You don't really leave me any choice, do you, Daniel?” she accused him. “You say that you're going to be here at eight and it's already ten minutes after the hour. If I wasn't on you like this, then it would be eight-thirty or nine... You think just because you're a good looking man and some big shot down at the fire station, that a girl's just going to hang around waiting for you. Well, think again, buddy. I'm not just going to sit around all day wondering where you are...”

Daniel listened to her rage with quiet bewilderment and recalled all the hundreds of times he'd heard her rants before. True, on this occasion, he
had
impregnated another woman, but he had never lied to Stacy.

He himself  only found out about his child in the last few days, and when he had spent that night with Laura, it was when Stacy and he had a huge fight and she had dramatically declared that it was over, packed her things and left.

A week later she came  back, crying and weeping and telling him that she was sorry and like a fool, he'd taken her back because he hated to see her cry and because they had a history, and because once in a lifetime nights like the one he'd had with Laura, didn't come around twice.

When Stacy finished her rant, Daniel was finally able to tell her what he'd come  to say.

“Stacy, listen to me,” he said calmly. “I'm going to tell you something that you don't want to hear.”

“I knew it!” Stacy screeched, throwing a cushion at him from across the room. “You've been with someone else, haven't you? Who is she? How long has it been going on for? Is she skinnier than me? Younger? Does she put out more?”

“It was a year ago,” Daniel told her matter-of-factly.

“A year ago?” Stacy howled. “You cheated on me a year ago and you're telling me now? You mean that you've been keeping this dirty little secret all year? Is that why you ran off to Colorado?”

Daniel took a deep breath for patience. “We were broken up, Stacy.”

“Broken up?” she repeated. “Danny, you know I never mean that!”

“You seemed pretty serious when you keyed my car,” Daniel reminded her. “Or did you forget about that?”

“Well, excuse me for standing up for myself,” Stacy retorted sarcastically. “What am I supposed to do when you don't come home all night?”

“I was at the station,” Daniel reminded her exasperatedly. “Sometimes there are fires at night. I'm the captain, Stacy. I've told you this a hundred times.”

“So I'm paranoid?” Stacy spat. “Obviously not, since you came here to tell me about your other woman!”