Free Highway Don't Care (Freebirds) by Lani Lynn Vale

shit who
made me feel like I wasn’t good enough to do anything.  Then my mom died
of the same disease that took my dad.  A year later, my girlfriend aborted
my kid without my knowledge.  Since then two of my closest friends have
died.  I’m just not that lucky.  That is until I met you.  When
I met you, I started to feel different.  I was happy when I was around
you.”  He said.
      I sat up straight in his lap, and then turned to look into
his eyes.  They gave nothing away.  When he gave that speech, it was
all monotone.  Like he didn’t feel any emotion anymore, or he made himself
not feel.
      “Okay.  I don’t even know where to begin.  Do you
mind if I ask you questions?”  I said while looking deeply into his eyes.
      “You can ask, but I don’t know that I’ll answer.  Some
of it’s still too raw.”  He said.
      I didn’t know where to even start.  Therefore, I
started with the one that irritated me the most.
      “So who’s the bitch I need to kill, and where does she
live?”  I asked seriously.
      Gabe burst out laughing, and it made my heart go a
pitter-patter.  I didn’t say anything else though.  I was completely
serious, and if I knew where she lived, I would give her a piece of my
mind.  I had a strong pro-life stance, and felt that every human being deserved
a fighting chance.
      I knew there were some circumstances where abortion was the
only option, but in Gabe’s case, I felt like there was something more to the
story, and she didn’t have that excuse.
      Once his laughter died down, he started speaking.
      “I met Sidney when I was home on leave.  We hit it
off, and dated for about a year when we found out she was pregnant.  I was
over the moon.  I was confused on how it happened, since I never once
forgot the condom, and supposedly, she was on the pill.  That’s neither
here nor there.  I was a guarded happy.  I wanted the baby, but
wasn’t too sure about her.  The circumstances seemed a little fishy, but
there was nothing I could do about it then.  She found out the day before
I was to deploy for six months, and I didn’t have enough time to process that
she was pregnant.  She made a doctor’s appointment, and sent me a picture
about four weeks in to my deployment.  Three months in, she sent me a “Dear
John” letter.  It said that she was no longer in love with me, that she
found someone else.  She was kind enough to tell me in a P.S. that she
wasn’t pregnant anymore, that she took care of it the day after I was
deployed.”
      I was stunned into silence.  I honestly didn’t know
what the fuck to say to that.  Who in the hell wrote that in a
letter?  This man was fighting for our freedom.  He was in a danger
zone that could have killed him if his whole mind wasn’t on the task at
hand.  Anyone who was anyone would have known that you didn’t tell someone
that.  Hell, if that woman had any morals what so ever, she wouldn’t have
aborted his baby in the first place.  What kind of God-awful person did
this?
      “I don’t even know what to say to that.”  I said
quietly.
      Leaning down, I gave him a soft kiss on the lips. 
      “Nothing to say.  I just hope I never see her
again.  I had the landlord kick her out of the house.  Apparently,
the new love interest had moved in.  I closed the account that had our
name on it.  I also called movers to move all my shit into storage. 
I didn’t leave her with a thing.  I was so disgusted with her that I cut
all ties with her.  I never even went back to the town I used to
live.  I moved here when I retired from the army.”  He said.
      The more he told me about this woman, the more upset I
got.  If I’d been a cartoon character, I would be blowing steam out of my
nostrils and ears right about now.  My eyes would also be shooting laser
beams.  What.  A. Bitch.
      “What a bitch!”  I fumed.
      One of Gabe’s rare smiles flashed across his face.  It
was a