Free Fireside by Brian Parker

medical science, but there’s plenty of observational evidence to back up the treatment.”
    “What is it, doc?” he asked. Aeric would try just about anything that the doctor told him. Katie had been the one with all the experience and who’d read the books, he’d always just planned on picking it up as it went, supporting her when she needed it.
    Doc Huerta shrugged and said, “The best thing for the baby is to have skin-to-skin contact with a woman.”
    “Huh?”
    “It helps a baby feel comforted, nurtured. That’s extremely important for a newborn’s development. Contact with the father is encouraged, but babies respond better to a woman for some reason. Kate was able to do it last night until she died. One of the nurses agreed to hold the baby for a little while this morning. Do you know anyone who’d be willing to help you for at least a few weeks, preferably a couple of months, until the baby has grown beyond the danger point?”
    “I… Uh…” Aeric stammered. His world had changed once again. He’d adapted his life to the new reality of post-nuclear war America, but the rules had changed once again. His pregnant girlfriend had been dead for a few hours and the doctor was suggesting that he find another woman before she was even in the ground?
    “I know it’s difficult, Traxx. Your initial response is to mourn your loss. Your tears need to get cried out now, in this room, and then you’ve got to move on. That little boy needs his father to be there for him. You’ve got to learn how to compartmentalize your emotions and do what’s best for the baby.”
    Aeric had learned to become a master at compartmentalizing his feelings while the Vultures held him in captivity. Every day they’d visit some new horror upon him, a favorite being the heated swing set chains that gave him the scars of his namesake. They resembled crisscrossing railroad tracks over almost every inch of his body. After a few weeks of the repetitive torture, he was able to suppress his body’s desire to scream out in pain, vowing to deny his captors’ the pleasure they sought. Yes, he certainly knew how to compartmentalize his feelings.
    He thought about the doctor’s words. There was only one person who came to mind when he thought about a woman who could help him with the baby. Veronica Delgado had been there for him from the beginning, even before he knew Kate was still alive. She’d certainly made it clear to him often enough that she would welcome a physical relationship with him, but did that offer extend to caring for an infant?
    “I know someone, Doc. I’m not sure how she’ll feel about a baby, though.”
    The doctor smiled, “Then convince her. Your son needs this.”
    Aeric nodded slowly. Would she agree to be a stand-in mother for the boy, just for a few weeks?

 
    FOUR
     
    “Oh, so that’s who our great grandmother is,” Tanya exclaimed.
    Aiden took a drink of the ersatz tea that the family brewed from various plants in the region, including mint, which helped to hide the bitterness. “Yes, child. Aeric Traxx went to Veronica with his request to help him raise Kendrick—the baby. She accepted and they fell in love, eventually getting married and starting a family of their own. Five years after Aeric’s trip to find Ted Winston, my father was born.”
    “Did he live?”
    “My father? Of course!”
    Tanya nudged his shoulder gently. “No, silly! Did Ken… Sorry, I forgot his name already. Did the baby live?”
    The old man’s brows furrowed deeply as he scowled. “Yes. Kendrick survived. He wasn’t an imposing figure, like Aeric, but he was very strong like his real father had been and he was as smart as any prewar scientist. In fact, he apprenticed to Ted when he was only a teenager, learning the skills needed to become an engineer himself. The community accepted him, but he never quite fit in. He ran away when he was a teenager without telling anyone where he was going. Aeric searched the wastes for