Holly POV
The next day, I woke up and went to enjoy the morning with my dad. He gave me some of his M.R.E. and we talked for a bit.
"So, how are you getting along with the men?" he asked. "Are they being respectful?"
I nodded. "Yeah, to my face anyway," I told him. "I know they probably say filthy things when I'm not around. They are who they are."
He chuckled. "Just as long as they're not bothering you."
"Not at all," I assured him.
Just then, Tim showed up, and I beamed at him in spite of myself. He responded with a curt nod.
"Holly, it's about time to change those bandages again," he said.
"Oh, of course," I agreed, and pulled my robe up to my thigh.
Tim pulled his gloves on and got to work. I turned back to my dad, who was visibly uncomfortable. He swallowed. It took a lot of effort not to laugh.
"Just, uh, watch those hands, Doc," he said.
I had been taking a sip of water and I choked on it. My dad's look was of concern, but Tim shot me a warning glare.
"Daddy!" I cried after recovering. "Don't be silly. Doc's just doing his job."
He smiled. "Of course he is. Excuse me, I've gotta talk to Captain Patterson. I'll be back in a few minutes."
He kissed the top of my head and nodded at Doc before departing.
Tim looked up at me. "Nice save."
I rolled my eyes. "I'm sorry, it just surprised me is all."
"How's it going with your dad?" he asked.
"Good," I said. "I'm still getting used to his voice though. He won't really tell me all the details about this whole cancer thing. He just says not to worry myself about it."
"Are you really worried about it?" he wondered.
"How could I not be?" I returned. "He's my dad, and it's cancer, and…well, I'm terrified."
"He'll be alright," Tim assured me. "He's a tough guy."
"I know," I replied, smiling. "Thank you."
He took a quick look around, and when he was sure it was safe, he leaned forward and placed a quick peck on my lips. I smiled again. The moment was over when my dad walked back over. Tim quickly finished wrapping up my leg.
"It's looking good, Holly," he said. "It'll leave a scar, but don't let that bother you."
"Thanks, Doc," I replied with a small smile.
"Sir," he addressed my dad with a nod, which was returned.
Then Tim left. I wished that he could have kissed me one more time. Keeping this on the down low was going to be much harder than I had anticipated. I watched him go for a moment before returning to my dad.
"You like him," he said.
It was not a question, but for Tim's sake, I was going to have to lie.
"Yeah, he's been great to me," I said casually.
"You know what I mean," he persisted.
"Daddy, I really don't wanna talk about it," I said, and that was true. I tried to say it in a way that implied my feelings were not returned. He either bought it or honestly thought it would be better that he didn't know the answer because he dropped it.
"How's mom?" I asked. This struck me as odd since I had not asked about her up until this point.
"She's okay," he told me. "Been pretty broken up since we stopped hearing from you. In fact, I suggested having a funeral before I left, but she refused. She said that if you were dead, she would know it. Your boyfriend came by a lot to check up on her."
"By boyfriend, you mean my ex?" I asked.
He nodded. "Yeah. He came by a lot to check on your mom. I guess since he thought you were dead, he felt bad about how things ended between the two of you."
"I'd say an ultimatum is a pretty crappy way to end things, yeah," I said, bitterly.
"He also told us what he thought was the real reason you went to Afghanistan," he said.
I furrowed my brow at him. "What are you talking about? I went because I wanted to help people."
He shook his head. "He told us that you were pregnant, but you miscarried, and it messed you up a lot. He said that he felt like that was your reason. You wanted to get away or prevent it from happening to someone else or something."
My eyes went wide. Fresh tears came to them but I could not tell if they were from shock, anger, pain, or a combination of all three. I had not told my parents about that for several reasons. I was pregnant, but not very far along, so only my boyfriend and I knew in case we did miscarry. When it happened, I was heartbroken, but it felt like telling other people would only bring them unnecessary pain. I had told my friends, of course, but my parents…I didn't think I would be able to bear it. And now, he had gone and told them for seemingly no reason at all.
"He did what?" I asked, and I had to fight the urge to say it through my teeth.
"Holly, don't get upset –" he began, but I cut across him.
"How could I not be upset?!" I cried. "There was no reason to tell you that! You and Mom already thought I was gone and he thought he'd just add a potential grandchild on? How dare he?! What the fuck is wrong with him?!"
"Holly, that isn't why I brought this up," he said, remaining surprisingly calm. He usually agreed with me when I thought a guy was being an asshole to me.
"Why did you?" I asked, forcing myself to lower my volume.
"Because I want to know if that really was the reason," he said.
"No, it wasn't," I insisted. "I'll admit that I was more upset by it than I was willing to let anyone believe, so maybe it was part of the reason, but it was not the only reason. I wanted to help people who really need it. I still want to do that."
"I just wanted to make sure," he said.
"And just so you know, I didn't tell you and mom because I didn't want to get your hopes up if we weren't sure yet," I explained. "And also…I was a little embarrassed."
"Embarrassed? Why?" he wondered.
"Well, Chris and I weren't married or anything," I said. "Obviously, having a baby wasn't something we were planning on."
"Well, we would have been excited," he said. "As long as you would have gotten married eventually."
I chuckled. "Looks like a dodged a bullet there, huh?"
He also smiled.
"So, did you know if it was a boy or girl?" he asked.
I shook my head. "No. I was only eight weeks, Dad."
He looked disappointed.
"Why are you so interested in this?" I asked.
He shrugged. "I never realized how close I was to being a grand-Godfather."
I rolled my eyes. "When I have kids, they will not call you Godfather," I told him, and he laughed. "I mean it! You will not be Lieutenant Colonel Ferrando to my kids, you will be granddaddy, plain and simple." "You got it, sweetheart," he assured me.