Defending Bridget - P.J. Fiala Page 0,1

her little boy, so adorable and innocent. "Here he is."

Sophie took her phone and scrolled through her pictures. Her stunning smile and exclamations a tell as to how adorable she thought Aidyn was, too.

"Oh my God, he's getting so big. You must be so proud. He’s just so precious.”

"I am, always. He's a handful, but he's also mine. My mom says that he's just like me when I was his age."

"Moms have a way of doing things like that. I’m sure I’ll be hearing similar remarks from my mom." Sophie turned, put her arm around Bridget and began walking them to another room. "Come on back and let me introduce you to my friends. They're excited to meet you. I've been telling them of some of our exploits while we were in the Army."

Bridget walked along with her friend, her hip not as sore today as other days, through this magical place and fought the feeling that they'd gone back in time. "I hope you aren't telling them everything!"

The glint of mischief in Sophie's eyes gave her pause. "Not quite everything. Some things should be left for us. And Kate. We'll keep some of our memories of Kate and our antics between us."

Wrapping her arm around her friend's waist she pulled her close as they continued to walk through a gorgeous sitting room furnished with large-scale leather high back chairs in front of yet another fireplace with a small table in between them. "I miss you both so much, Sophie. I was so devastated when I heard of her death. It broke my heart when you went missing for a while, I worried myself silly. I'm so relieved that you found Gaige again and that you're still with us. Between us, Kate will always be alive. At least here." She pointed to her heart and she meant it. Kate was just the best.

"If this is a little girl I'm carrying, I'm naming her Kate."

Bridget swallowed the lump that instantly formed in her throat. Blinking rapidly to stem the tears that threatened, she nodded, squeezed Sophie's waist, and whispered, "I think that’s perfect."

2

Axel couldn't help but feel melancholy. At least a bit. He'd always wanted to be a father. Always.

"A father isn't something you want to be." One friend, Dick, teased. "An astronaut is something you want to be. You become a father when you get your girl knocked-up."

When his high school girlfriend, Donna, found out she was pregnant, he dropped his plans to join the military and found a job in his small town of Roarke, Texas. He figured that he and Donna would get married. After the shock of finding out he was going to be a father, he was happy about it. He was sure he'd be a good one. Four months later, he found out through a friend that she'd had an abortion. She was a coward. She just moved away so she didn't even have to face him. And that was the end of his new job. He followed his original plans and joined the Army the very next day. Devastated, he pushed being a father to the far depths of his heart.

Shaking the sad memory from his thoughts, he continued through the barn, the soft nickering of horses and the crunching of the fresh hay beneath their hooves filled his hearing and calmed him.

Running steps from behind him had him bracing. Josh caught up to him and slapped him firmly on the back. "What's it going to take to lift you out of this funk you're in?"

"I'll be fine, I'm just feeling sorry for myself."

"I understand they have a paintball field in the back of the barn and courses set up around the property away from the restaurant. Wanna play? Or should I say, Wanna get your ass kicked?"

Axel laughed out loud. "Fuck you, I can beat you blindfolded."

"Let's put it to the test, smart ass."

Running through the woods, shooting paintballs at his friends sounded like just the ticket to bring his mood back to its usual happy self, busting his friends chops.

Following Josh, who seemed a little too eager for fun and games considering they'd just come off a nasty government mission involving some major international arms dealers that nearly went south. But everyone had their own way of shaking off the hazards they'd faced during an operation and putting their minds right. His usually involved hitting the shooting range and firing off a hundred rounds or so. Then a hard workout, followed by