“I didn't mean to keep lying to him, but then he got hours. He said it was something about setting his room on fire. I remember that much. But he was talking to another cadet on hours, and then he confronted me about it. I didn't lie to him then.”
Captain Lemmon nods, then laughs. “Yeah, I remember when Aaron set his room on fire. He said he was distracted by something. I guess you were it.”
I snort, nodding. “Yeah, I guess so. We broke it off when I was reassigned to Lewis. I just knew it couldn't last. We’d been together for over a semester at the Academy. We were pushing our luck as it was. And . . . and I knew that it was more than just dating, more than just sex by that point. I was in love with him, and I was pretty sure he was in love with me.”
“Then when you got reassigned to Bragg, did you look him up?” Captain Lemmon asks, and I shake my head. “What happened?”
“He ran into my cart while I was shopping with Lance. He literally smacked right into me.” Telling the story is helping to calm me down, even though I know with every word, I'm getting myself and Aaron into deeper and deeper trouble. But it helps, and I need to continue. “He noticed Lance, and we started talking again.”
“Lance is Aaron's son, isn't he?” Captain Lemmon asks, and I nod. “I thought I'd seen those eyes of his around somewhere else. And what's this email he's talking about in the video?”
“I . . . I'm pregnant again,” I whisper, then look up at Captain Lemmon, squaring my shoulders. “I'm pregnant again, sir. It's Aaron's baby. I was telling him.”
Captain Lemmon sits back, and I wonder what he's going to do. He looks at me for a long, long minute, then he smiles. “Okay. Congratulations, Lindsey.”
I blink, surprised. This isn't the reaction I expected. “Excuse me, sir?”
“I said congratulations,” Captain Lemmon repeats, his smile not fading. “On your new baby.”
“I'm not in trouble?” I ask, stunned. “But . . . Aaron's an officer. Hell, I had his child while he was still a cadet. They can't take away his diploma for that, can they?”
“No, they can't, and yes, the fraternization will go in his record too, I'm sure. It at least explains why Captain Bradley transferred him off post, although I still think that's a shitty way to handle things. But Lindsey, you're fewer than six months from the end of your enlistment. What good would it do to bust you right now? You're a single mom with another child on the way. Busting you with an Article 15 or a court martial does nothing but hurt my company, hurt this battalion—hell, it hurts the Army. But more importantly, it hurts you and Lance. So, here's what I'm going to do. You are going to get an Article 15 on this, a company-level Article 15 so that nobody can try to bring this up later—double jeopardy and all. Which means I can't bust you in rank. You will be barred from re-enlistment, however. I can't do anything about that, nor do I think you need to worry about it right now. In the meantime, HQ Company is going to take care of its own. You're going to start seeing the doctor for prenatal checkups. You're excused from PT formation as long as you check in with me that you are staying in shape in order to have a healthy baby, and we're going to support you.”
I wipe at my eyes, tears of gratitude springing to my eyes. “And Aaron?”
“Aaron's a tough Devil. Even more, he's an Airborne Ranger. And he loves you. I can see that from that video. He'll do what he needs to do to come back.”
I nod, wiping at my eyes. “Thank you, sir.”
Captain Lemmon shakes his head again, standing up. “No thanks needed. Now, take about ten minutes or so, get your head right, and let's get back to work.”
Somehow, some way, I get through the rest of the work day, even as every television I come across has news about the attack on it. Reports are spotty, except for confirmation of casualties as the night drags on over in Afghanistan. Finally, just around three o'clock, I shut off the television in the S-1 shop, looking around to see if anyone's going to object. “For the past two hours, it's been nothing but repeated over-dramatic hyping.”
“No complaints here,” the S-1, Major Lincoln, says, sticking his head out the door. “By the way, Sergeant Morgan, can I see you in my office?”
I go in, closing the door behind me. “How can I help you, sir?”
“Have a seat,” the S-1 says, and I sit down. “I got a call from Captain Lemmon, says he's putting you in for an Article 15. When I asked why, let's just say I wasn’t expecting the answer that I got.”
“I understand, sir. I hope that this doesn't affect my work in the shop.”
He waves it off and sits back, shaking his head. “Why should it? It seems to have been going on for at least a few months, if not a few years, and you're doing a good job here. Honestly, the only thing that is going to suck is not being able to put you in for another medal at the end of your service.”
“Thank you, sir. Now that it's out, if I'd known the way everyone would react to this, I might have let it come out a while ago.”
He shakes his head, his smile fading. “I wouldn't have. Sergeant, can we speak plainly?”