Unexpected Series: Box Set Read online

  Annie

  When we tried looking through pictures on Facebook of that night, we didn’t find anything. Not one single iota of a clue. To say I was frustrated is an understatement. I felt defeated. We hadn’t given up, but things weren’t looking good so far.

  It’s been two weeks since I found out I was pregnant. Holy morning sickness, batman. I’ve spent most mornings in the bathroom laying on the floor. Apparently my morning sickness is going to be an all morning thing. I’ve started just working what little bit I can from home. I was worried about money, but Doc is still paying me what I usually get. So that helps out tremendously.

  This particular morning has been a little better than usual. I was only sick once. Good thing too because I’m heading to the OBGYN for my first appointment. This doctor is the most sought after doctor in the area, Dr. Huggins. Doc recommended him to me. Apparently they go way back.

  I pull into the parking lot after my GPS tells me I’ve arrived at my destination. Walking in I notice that this building is really nice, everything is really modern. The way they decorated makes it not really resemble a doctor’s office. The reception area is decorated in soft grey and blues. I should paint my bathroom these colors. After I check in, I take a seat and pull my kindle out.

  I glance up every time someone walks in the door. Every woman seems to be very close to having their baby. They all look miserable and very uncomfortable. Fantastic. Hearing my name shakes me out of my stupor. I follow the nurse back to the scale. Step on. Wait until she tells me to step off and she instructs me to go to the bathroom to give a urine sample.

  In the exam room, she takes my blood pressure. She then gives me a bunch of pamphlets. I glance through them as she leaves. Breast feeding, natural labor, SIDs warnings, and all sorts of other topics. Taking a deep breath, I set those aside and try to wait patiently for the Dr.

  A knock on the door and I hear, “Hello, Annie. How are you today?” He asks.

  “Oh, you know. I’m nauseous, my boobs hurt, and I’m starting to sleep anytime I sit down.” I reply.

  “Well, that’s all normal. This appointment really isn’t anything big, I just like to bring you in to tell you what to expect throughout your appointments. You’ll come back in about four weeks for your first ultrasound. So if you’d like to bring the father with you, you can.” He says with a smile.

  Ah, so here it comes, the look of pity. “I, uh, actually can’t find the father just yet.”

  “Oh, no worries. You can bring in whoever you’d like to your appointments. Just know that you shouldn’t have to do this alone.” He says, he hands me a piece of paper and stands up, “If you’ll take that up front, they’ll get your next appointment scheduled. Have a good day, see you in a month.”

  “Ok, cool. Thanks.” I hop up and practically sprint out of there. Ugh, even though he didn’t judge me I still feel like an idiot. I really need to track this guy down. I mean how hard can it be? I hand the paper to the receptionist, she then confirms a date and time and hands me my reminder card. And I’m out the door and in the SUV in record time.

  I decided to stop at the local dairy queen, that just so happens to be close to a park. And on the other side is the Marine base. Oh, holy hell. I’ve always admired a man in uniform. Ice cream in hand I head to a bench and sit. I have the view of the whole park, I can see families having fun. Little kids toddling around. Practically all of the kids screaming with joy. That could be me. I can be a single mom and still have fun and provide for my child. I get lost in staring at all the kids, trying to imagine myself out there when I hear a voice.

  “Excuse me ma’am. Can I share your bench?” I turn to look in the direction of the voice and find a very naked chest. Fuck me sideways. It’s a man in just jogging shorts, shoes, and dog tags. And a very sexy body. All hard muscles, glistening from his obvious run.

  He clears his throat. Clearly I’ve been caught. “Sure, why not. I’m almost done.” I say rather calmly for what I’ve just been presented with.

  “No need to rush, I just need to catch my breath for a minute.” He says with his southern drawl. Jesus he shouldn’t be allowed to talk to the female population. He could talk the panties off any one of us.

  “I need to head home anyways, I’ve had a long day and I need to relax.”

  “Care to share what’s botherin’ ya?” Again, he needs to stop.

  “I’m not going to bother you with my problems. Thank you, though.” I love that the men down here actually try to act like they care.

  “It’d be no bother at all, my Momma would be sorely disappointed if I didn’t offer an ear to a women in need.” He grins. “What’s your name?”

  “I’m Annie, and you are?”

  “I’m Jonah Miller. Pleasure to meet you.” He says and sticks his hand out. So I shake it, but quickly let go. I shouldn’t be allowed to be near him at all.

  “So, you’re a Marine?” I ask dumbly.

  Chuckling, “Yes, what gave it away?”

  “I couldn’t imagine what it was.” I smile. At least he isn’t making fun of me.

  “So tell me Annie, what is botherin’ your pretty face today?” Jonah asks.

  “Well, I had a doctor’s appointment this morning. And the doctor invited my, ah, baby’s father to the next appointment,” I say, but stare ahead. I don’t want to see any judgment on his face.

  “So, what’s the issue?”

  “Well, I can’t find him.” I sneak a glance out of the corner of my eye. But only see curiosity.

  “Can’t find him as in, he disappeared and you don’t know where he is. Or he found out and took off?”

  I turn on the bench and look him in the eye. He has the greenest eyes I’ve ever seen. I take him in, something seems familiar about him, but I can’t place it.

  “As in, it was a one night stand and I can’t remember his name,” I say bluntly.

  “Hey, there’s nothing’ wrong with that. It happens to the best of us,” He says, and puts his hand on top of mine on my leg.

  “Easy for you to say, you’re not in my situation. I need to find him, I need to give him the opportunity to be in our baby’s life. I’m trying to be mature about this, when all I really want to do is run home and hide in my room and pretend this never happened.” Damnit, there were those awful tears again. My eyes are betraying me a lot lately.

  “Oh, Annie come here.” He puts his arms around me and gives me a huge hug. Just holding me, letting me get myself together. After a few minutes I reluctantly pull back.

  “Thanks, I needed that. I’m just overwhelmed, I don’t usually lose my shit in front of people. Especially people I don’t know,” I tell him with a small smile.

  “That’s ok sweetheart. If you’d like, I could help. I’m not sure what all I can do, but I can be there for you. I’m not trying to weasel my way in and try to get you to go out with me, so don’t get your hopes up.” Cue huge playful grin.

  I laugh, wow. He is something else. “Alright Jonah, I could use a friend. I don’t have too many in my corner these days.”

  With a cocky smile he says, “Let me have your phone.” I hand it over, and watch as he types his number in and calls himself so he has my number, too. “I have to be gettin’ back to base. I have a Skype date tonight with my brother, he’s over in Iraq. Maybe when he comes home I can introduce you two. If, of course, you haven’t found your baby’s father yet.”

  “Sure, I’d like that. Thanks again, Jonah. I really appreciate this,” I say and stand up to give him a hug, and start back towards my car. I really need to call Brandy. I need to tell her what happened.

  The whole drive home, I’m consumed with thoughts of the mystery brother. I wonder what he looks like. Looks like I’ll be stalking on Facebook later. In the meantime, I dial Brandy and get her all caught up on today’s appointment and my run in with Jonah.

  I tell her that I should introduce them, maybe they would hit it off. She laughs and tells me to stop with the matchmaking. So maybe I ha
ven’t had great luck with that in the past. Every time I set one of my friends up it always ends in disaster. Oops

  The drive home seems to take forever, I just want to get home and lay down on the couch and eat. Pizza sounds really good. I call and place an order for delivery. Pizza seems to be my craving in the evening. It always sounds good, I’m going to have to start switching it up somehow or I’m going to get really sick of it.

  Jayden

  It’s been a rough week here, we’re coming up on the halfway mark of our deployment. My men are starting to get restless. They’re starting to fight with each other. I’m too damn old to be supervising everyone else to make sure they’re not picking on each other like toddlers. At thirty-two, I’m a little bit older than a lot of the men I’m here with.

  I’m out running in just a pair of shorts, trying to wind down so I can actually get some sleep tonight. Sleep hasn’t been easy, seems like the natives are getting as restless as we are. They’re blowing shit up in the middle of the night. They need to get over it. The war is over, I don’t even know why we’re here anymore.

  Slowing down I see a group of younger soldiers hanging out around our tent.

  “What’s going on guys?” I ask as I shoulder my way through them to get to my cot.

  “Nothing, Miller. We just got orders that we’re going out on a two day mission. So we need to start getting our gear packed up. We’re leaving tonight actually,” Jacobs says.

  Are you fucking kidding me? I just want to sleep tonight. “Why are we all standing here then?” I shout, “Get out of here and get your shit together!”

  Ah, that got them to scramble out of here quick. I lay down to rest for a minute and check my iPad, to see if I have anything from my family. I sign into my email, and see a couple emails from my mom. Her typical rambling of nonsense, her way of showing me that she misses me. Thanks, ma.

  Oh, I have one from my brother, Jonah.

  What’s going on over there man? You only have three months left, then you get to come home. To the beach, to Momma’s cookin’, and I have this girl I want you to meet. She’s nothing’ hot man. There’s something about her though. You should know that she’s pregnant. She had a one night stand and ended up pregnant. That’s her first one night stand ever, and the poor girl is left with that. And now she can’t even find the guy who knocked her up. I’ve been spending a lot of time with her, she’s definitely your type bro’. Just don’t judge her, she’s a great girl. I wish we could track down the asshole who got her pregnant. Well that’s all I got for now. Don’t go doing anything stupid and get yourself killed, Momma would be pissed.

  Love you man.

  Great. This fuck tard is trying to set me up. Not even waiting for me to come home. And she’s pregnant? I’m just supposed to swoop in and be the hero? Yeah, that’s not happening. I email him back and tell him to knock this shit off. He is not a matchmaker. I also tell him that I’m heading out on a mission that’s only supposed to be a couple days. We can never be sure of time ranges when we don’t know what the natives are up to.

  Annie

  It’s been an interesting couple of months. I had my first ultrasound a couple weeks ago. Was able to see my baby moving around, and heard its heartbeat. It was such an emotional appointment for me. It made it all so real. And you’ll never guess who came with me! Jonah did. He was able to get off base for the afternoon to come with me. Unfortunately for him, everyone thought he was the father. He took it all in stride though, and he didn’t try to correct everyone. He’s such a great guy. What really makes this all so much better is he hasn’t looked at me as anything other than his sister. It’s such a relief knowing I don’t have pressure from him to be anything other than friends.

  He wants me to meet his brother still. I’ve tried telling him that I’ll meet him, but I don’t want anything right now. I keep telling him that no one wants to step in and have a relationship with a girl who is pregnant and has no idea who the father is. But he isn’t listening. True man style.

  Tonight is Friday, and you would think I would have grand plans all that. But no, Jonah has cornered me and demanded I come to his parents’ house tonight for dinner. Apparently he has told them all about me and they want to meet me. He knows that my parents died six years ago, and I don’t know if this is his attempt at letting me have some parent figures in my life. We shall see I suppose, I mean his parents could hate me. I tend to be somewhat abrasive sometimes. Without trying, and without knowing. Hazards of not having a filter in between my mouth and my brain.

  Standing in just my bra and panties I’ve been staring in my closet, trying to figure out what to wear. I’m still able to fit into all my clothes. But they are getting tight, so I’m going to have to take the plunge and buy some maternity stuff. Bleh. Maternity stuff is usually so ugly, I’m going to have to scour all the stores to find something somewhat appealing. I hear the text tone on my phone, so I walk over to where I sat it on my dresser. It’s right next to the picture I have of my parents and I at graduation. I still remember that day so well.

  They were so proud of me. When the principle called my name to come collect my diploma, I think my parents screamed the loudest for me. I’m an only child, and so were my parents. And both sets of grandparents died when I was younger, so it was just the three of us for a long time. We were such a happy family, we rarely fought. And if we did, we didn’t hold grudges, we were over it so fast.

  Swiping at a stray tear, I pick up my phone to see who the text was from.

  Jonah: Annnnnnie, I’m on my way. GET DRESSED.

  He knows me so well already.

  Me: Maybe I am ready. Just get here.

  Jonah: Five minutes.

  Shit, scrambling around I grab a loose off the shoulder cream colored shirt and tank top. I pair it with my black leggings, and slip on a pair of flip flops. I put some dangle earrings on and call it good. I let my hair air dry, so it’s hanging just past my shoulders in a natural wave.

  Just as I’m walking down the stairs I hear the doorbell, grabbing my purse I walk over and open it. Jonah is standing there in a pair of khaki shorts and a light pink button up. With the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He looks yummy. Hey, even though I don’t look at him like that, I can still appreciate him and his good looks. I would be stupid not to.

  “Hey babe, you ready?” He asks with a knowing smile. This guy kills me. He always catches me while I’m checking him out. Fucker.

  “Yes, sir. Let’s go get this over with.” I mock salute him and wink.

  He grabs the door, locks it, and then shuts it behind us. I walk over to his car. A newer Mustang, I don’t know a lot about cars. But I know his is fast. And I’ve learned that he loves anything to do with cars. One time I almost lost it in his car and he all but shoved me out the door. Good times. Asshole, trying to shove a pregnant girl out the door.

  I get to the car before he can open the door, so I just slide in and close the door. He walks around to the driver’s side and gets in. Then he makes a show of starting the car and revving the engine. I roll my eyes as I put my sunglasses on. Boys and their toys. We drive in silence to his parents’ house; I think he’s trying to let me get myself together. He knows I’m nervous.

  Pulling into a driveway I get a look at the house he grew up in. It’s a cute brick ranch on the outside of Beaufort. It looks like everything is well taken care of, even down to the straight lines next to the driveway and sidewalk. I need their landscaper to come fix my shit. I see the front door open, and an older woman steps out onto the porch.

  There is no mistaking that this woman is Jonah’s mom. I wonder if his brother looks anything like him, or if he looks like his Dad. I look over to Jonah, and he’s getting out of the car. I know better than to try to get out while his mom is standing there. He comes over and opens my door for me, grabs my hand and helps me get out. Then reaches in and grabs my purse for me. His Momma raised him right.

  He places his hand on the small of my back as we wa
lk up the sidewalk to the front door, we stop in front of his mom and he introduces us.

  “Momma, this is Annie Reynolds. Annie this is my Momma, Janey Miller.” I’m noticing a theme here.

  “It’s so nice to meet you, sweetheart. Jonah has told us so much about you. I feel like I already know you,” She says and pulls me into a hug. Ugh, she’s a hugger.

  “I’m so happy I get to finally meet you, Mrs. Miller,” I say and step back, out of the hug.

  “There will be no of that Mrs. Miller crap. Please call me Momma,” She tells me and turns to walk inside, holding the door open for us. Getting my first look at their home, I’m amazed. It’s so cozy. There is a fireplace, with loads of pictures. There is a couch and loveseat right in front of a huge flat screen. Huh, Dad must have won that one battle.

  I look towards the rest of the house and see this massive man walking towards me. This must be Dad. Wow, even for his age he looks incredible. He must still be doing something to stay in shape.

  “Hey honey, how are you tonight? I hope you’re ready for some food. My Janey sure knows how to lay out a spread. She still thinks she needs to cook for an army.” He laughs, this booming laugh, which I can’t help but smile at him. Oh, I love his parents already.

  “Annie that’s my Dad, Jim, but you can call him Dad,” Jonah tells me.

  “Hi, uh, Dad. I’m great tonight, how are you?” I smile up at him, since he towers over me.

  “Okay, you guys get comfy I have to go finish a few things. Annie take a look around if you’d like. Dinner will be ready in just a few minutes,” Momma said.

  “I’m going to run out back with Dad real fast Annie, I’ll be right back,” Jonah tells me.

  I smile at him and tell him okay. I walk over to the mantel over the fireplace. I want a closer look at these pictures. I walk slowly, there has to be at least fifteen picture frames. The first few are of grandparents it looks like, then some of Jonah as a baby. Then some of him with his brother. His brother must be older. He stands a little taller than Jonah in the pictures of them when they were tiny. Then I look at the next picture that totally takes me by surprise.