Sisterly Love Comes First

"Staff Sargent Rader, you have a message from Blanchfield Hospital at Fort Campbell."

SS Rader's heart rate went up. His instant thought was that his wife must be hurt or sick. "Let me see it."

"Here."

"Blanchfield Hospital is proud to announce that a baby boy has been born to SS Austin Rader and his wife Kathy. Mother and baby are doing well. Please accept our congratulations!"

"Sarge? What's the matter?"

"My wife just had a baby."

"Cool. Congratulations, Dad!"

"Do the math, asshole. I'm in my 11

th

month of deployment. The kid isn't mine."

"There must be some mistake then. Call your wife."

"No. I'm calling my old First Sergeant Nichols. Get me a line."

"Right away." After a while, "He's on."

"What the hell are you calling me at this time for Rader?"

"Nick, I just got notice that Kathy had a baby."

"Congratulations. Is it a boy or a girls?"

"That's not why I called. Nick, I am in my 11

th

month of deployment. The baby isn't mine."

"Shit! No Dear John letter?"

"No. All my letters from her are about how good things are going and how much she misses me."

"That doesn't sound like Kathy. Sounds FUBAR."

"I know. Can you check discretely for me? I don't want to accuse her of cheating if it's not true."

"Sure."

*****

THE BIRTH

"Rader, I checked around. Kathy has been living with her sister and brother-in-law up off post in Hopkinsville since you left. She and the baby left the hospital and went back to live with them after she was discharged. There is no mistake. Your wife had a baby. There have been no birth announcements sent to your friends so she's keeping it quiet. Sorry, dude. Listen: Keep your butt out of action the last month of your tour. You don't need this taking your focus off your safety."

Rader couldn't take his mind off what his wife had done. "Maybe she had been raped and didn't want to upset me and get myself killed." When I called Nick back, he said there were no rapes reported around the time of likely conception. "She has had an affair and could not bring herself to kill the child. Since she knew the child would be born before I returned, Kathy could have the baby and put it up for adoption and I should be none the wiser. Bitch!"

*****

"Sergeant Rader, I understand you have volunteered to go on night patrol. Aren't you less than a month from returning home?"

"Yeah."

"You don't have to go."

"I want to go."

"I don't like that look in your eye. You don't look like someone who will put safety first."

"I know how to do my job. I want to go. I need to go. The new guys are too raw. They're more likely to shoot each other than the Taliban."

"Okay. But the lives of seven others will be at stake. You better have your shit together."

"Roger that."

*****

REUNION

Kathy was at the designated hangar at Ft. Campbell waiting for the transport carrying her husband. The marching band was there and a large group of civilians, many with welcome home signs. She was desperate to see her husband. It seemed to take forever for them to unload but finally the troops were dismissed to join their families. She kept sifting through the crowd trying to get a glimpse of him. As the crowd dwindled to just a few, she saw a familiar face coming towards her.

"Rocky, have you seen Austin? I thought he was supposed to be with you on this flight."

"He was. You see over there. (He pointed to several metal coffins that had been unloaded after all the troops had gone.) He's in one of those."

"No! It can't be! I would have been notified."

"He had gone to Personnel and left specific orders that news about him was not to be sent to you."

"I don't understand why he would do that. How did he die?"

"You killed him."

"What?"

"When he received notice that his wife had had a baby, he became severely depressed. He checked to make sure it was not a mistake. Austin volunteered for a night patrol. When they made contact with the bad guys, Austin went all John Wayne and rushed into the fight like he was invincible. He wasn't. Austin got seven of them before they finally got him. The Taliban may have shot him, but you are the one who killed him. I hope your affair was worth it. It cost the Army one of its best." Rocky walked away. Kathy feel down in a sobbing mess.

*****

That night, Kathy was with her sister Brandy and her husband Paul and a baby boy at their house. Welcoming decorations were in disarray once Kathy told them the news. All were crying including the baby, although he had a different reason for crying. The doorbell rang. Kathy got up to answer it. When she opened the door, she fainted dead away. It was Austin.

As Kathy came to, Austin was standing in the middle of the living room floor. He was brandishing a firearm. "Austin, I thought you were dead! Oh, sweetheart, I am so glad to see you." She got up to hug him, but he stared her down.

"I doubt you were looking forward to seeing me unless you thought you could continue to deceive me about fucking another man and having his child. The purpose of the little stunt with Rocky was to get you to feel half as bad as I did when I found out you had another man's baby. I doubt, however, that you feel as bad as I did. You couldn't do what you did to me and love me very much."

"I can explain. It's . . . "

"SHUT UP! I don't want to hear anything from you unless I ask you a question. Now, who is the father?"

"Paul is, but it's not what . . . "

"SHUT UP! How long were you fucking him?"

"Two weeks."

"That's all?"

"Just enough to get pregnant."

"How many times in the two weeks did you fuck him?"

"I didn't count. Maybe a dozen times, but . . ." The glare stopped her in mid-sentence.

Brandy interrupted. "It's my fault, Austin. I got Kathy to agree to have a baby for me. I can't . . . "

"SHUT UP! There is no excuse for betraying me and our marriage vows. You didn't even have the decency to ask me in advance if I would agree to it."

"I didn't think you would."

"You're right about that."

"They wanted a baby so badly and I was available. I couldn't turn them down."

"Oh, so every time I go away you advertise that your womb is available for someone's cum dump? How nice of you."

Brandy spoke. "It was nice of her, Austin. She gave us this beautiful baby boy. This is your nephew, Shane Austin Zimmerman." She held the newborn up for Austin to see.

"You think by giving my name to him makes the bastard more legitimate? Fuck you, Brandy."

"Okay. Fuck me. Fuck me a dozen times to make up for the dozen times Paul fucked her. If that will make things even and we can get on with our lives, I'll gladly do it."

"Hell no. If I fucked you a dozen times, it would not make things even. You don't subtract negative numbers. When you have two negative numbers, you add them. We would have 24 times of cheating. It wouldn't go back to zero. It's interesting to find out that being a slut runs in your family."

"Austin, be reasonable. Take some time . . . "

"OH, I should be reasonable like you three have been. It's reasonable to you to get my wife to cheat on me for a 'noble' cause. It's so noble that you don't even have to ask me what I thought. Since I'm not around to put sperm in her, it might as well be Paul. Do you think I believe you two stopped after two weeks? I bet you fucked right up until delivery."

"We did not! We were not having sex for recreation. We were having sex to give my sister and her husband a baby they couldn't have by themselves."

"You thought that was important that you would willing to risk your marriage on it. Then again, it didn't have to mean that much since you valued our marriage so little."

"That's not true. I value our marriage very much, but I also love my sister. Me having a baby for her should not damage our marriage."

"Really? Don't you think that every time I see their baby I won't be thinking, 'That's really my wife's baby.' I will never just consider him our nephew. I consider him you and Paul's baby. What will the baby think in the future when he finds out? How about he tells you some day, Brandy, 'You're not my mother. My Aunt Kathy is.'

"Austin, put the gun away before someone gets hurt."

"Oh, I intend for someone to get hurt." He looked straight at Paul.

Brandy spoke again. "Austin Rader, put your gun . . . "

"Brandy, you better shut up unless you want your pseudo-baby grow up without a mother or a father."

Kathy yelled, "Don't shoot Paul. I'm the main one to blame."

"Oh, you'll get your turn. Now, Paul stand still."

"What are you going to do?"

"Well, you took 12 shots in my wife. I'm going to take 12 shots at you. Believe me, I know just where to place the shots so you will still be alive for shot number 13."

Paul offered. "Go ahead and shoot me, then. Just don't do anything to Brandy or Kathy. They were trying to do what they thought was right."

"Try and tell that to the 19 year-old soldier that killed the woman who he thought had a gun under her burka. 'He was just doing what he thought was right.' He killed himself that night. Paul, you knew my wife was married to me. Every time you were fucking INTO Kathy, you were fucking OVER me. Brandy didn't force you to fuck my wife. Kathy didn't force you to fuck her. And you didn't give a shit about what I thought. Stand still."

BAM!. Blood spurted out of the toes on Paul's left foot. He screamed in pain and fell back on the couch.

Brandy and Kathy were crying and screaming. Brandy went to get bandages before Austin used his gun to wave her back.

Just then the front door was crashed open, and a policeman held a gun on Austin. "Put the gun down sergeant. I don't want to kill you, but I know I can. I did two tours in the Stan and have been hoping my killing days were over, but I swear to the Corps that I will kill you if you don't put down the gun."

"Are you an accurate shot, jarhead?"

"Deadly. Sharpshooter medal."

"If you shoot, go for the head."

Kathy interjected, "Austin, we're not worth you getting killed for. Please put down the gun."

Austin sighed and put the gun down on the floor.

"Sarge, we're going to have to arrest you for discharging a gun within the city limits. Other charges may be added later. I will read you your Miranda rights now.

Austin was handcuffed and taken away in a patrol car. Brandy rode with Paul in the ambulance. Kathy stayed to take care of her son/nephew.

*****

JAIL

Three other prisoners were war vets. War stories were shared. Stories about trouble adjusting to society were shared. No one could match what Austin's wife had done to him. There were offers to finish the job on Paul once they were released. He turned them down.

Staying in jail allowed Austin time to decompress. He could just not comprehend how wanting a baby with the genes from only one parent was so important that breaking marital vows and keeping it secret from a spouse would overrule faithfulness. He began planning his future away from here. Afghanistan didn't look so bad anymore.

One day, the jailer came by. "Austin Rader, you're free to go."

"What? How come?"

"Charges against you were dropped. Get your stuff and get out."

Austin thought quickly and asked. "Do I have family waiting to pick me up?"

"Yes."

"Is there another way out of here?"

"Sure. There are several side exits. The one in back leads to an alley that I would use if I didn't want to see anyone." Austin took it. He headed to Ft. Campbell. In the next few days, he quit the Army and got special dispensation to be discharged quickly. He did not have enough time to have a pension. He did leave with a nice chunk of money. His local banking accounts with Kathy were not touched. She could have it.

Blackwater Security had an office in Oak Grove, near the fort. He went in and signed up for a security job in the Middle East for a great deal of money.

"To: Kathy and my traitorous sister and brother-in-law. I have left and have no plans to return. You can file for divorce or just take the rest of money in our accounts or both. It shouldn't make any difference to you since you didn't mind cheating on me when we were married. I will leave an international mailbox for you to send official documents to. Good-bye."

To be continued . . .