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wryly. “After the past five years Michael, I can honestly say it would take more than a lost limb for me to pity you. You’ll be fine. You survived and you should be thankful for that.”
    Mike was silent for a long moment before he admitted in a low voice, “Sometimes I think it would have been better for everyone if…”
    “Stop it,” Tara interrupted. “Nothing good can come of thoughts like that.” She watched him intently for a moment and said, “Would you like to talk about it?”
    “No. The shrink asks me the same thing every week. I tell her the same thing. No. I don’t want to talk about it. Not yet.” His voice was strained, and Mike cleared his throat.
    “Well, what would you like to talk about, then?” She gave a little nervous half-smile.
    “Anything,” he said. “Tell me about Madelynn, starting at the hospital.” He paused before admitting, “I was there, you know.”
    Her expression was one of shock. “When? The night she was born?”
    His face colored with shame. “Yeah. Your friend Rebecca gave me a piece of her mind at Club Incognito one night. I asked her to call me when you went to the hospital.”
    Rebecca had been Tara’s best friend, though Mike didn’t know if they were still in touch. He had to be at least a little grateful to Rebecca. Despite the fact that Rebecca had hated him, Mike had been able to pry the story from her.
    After he’d had hurt and humiliated Tara, Rebecca told him that she’d turned to her for ice cream, chick flicks, and good old-fashioned man bashing. Rebecca had been the one that went to the doctor with her since Tara’s mom lived two hours away. She’d been there when Madelynn was born. She’d even moved in the last couple of weeks of Tara’s pregnancy so she would be there to take her to the hospital when the time came. Mike was glad, so incredibly glad she’d had someone there with her. And he was glad Rebecca had confronted him and told him everything. Because Mike had been too chicken-shit to find out for himself. So he wasn’t surprised to see that Tara was upset over what she probably considered her friend’s betrayal.
    “Rebecca called you? She never said a word to me.”
    “Yeah,” he replied, remembering the conversation. Rebecca had given him information, but she’d never been friendly. “She called because she said I had a right to know, but just because I was a sperm donor didn’t mean I had any other rights.”
    Tara laughed. “That sounds like Rebecca. She got married and divorced last year. My sister, Tina, got married. Madelynn was her flower girl. Here, I think I have a picture of it on my computer.”
    He’d seen Rebecca a year or so before at Lt. Winslow’s wedding. She hadn’t mentioned a divorce. Mike frowned. Come to think of it, she hadn’t spoken to him at all. Not that he’d expected her to.
    There was silence as Tara looked for the file. Mike took the opportunity to study her. She’d aged, but not by much. She’d been only twenty-one when Madelynn was born, which meant she was twenty-six now. He’d turned twenty-eight in May. Mike watched her carefully, deciding Tara looked much younger than he did. The past few months had been rough. He’d aged more on that mission in Afghanistan and during his stay in the hospital than in all his previous years.
    But Tara’s face showed very few signs of age. She bit her full lower lip while she was searching, white teeth digging into the soft pink flesh. Mike couldn’t take his eyes off the sight of her swollen pink mouth. When she finally let her lip go, she bathed the spot gently with her tongue. He felt a streak of pure, undiluted lust shoot straight to his groin. Mike cleared his throat again and looked away. He didn’t deserve to be lusting over her.
    “Here it is!” Tara sent the file to him, and he accepted the download request.
    After a few seconds, the picture loaded onto his computer. Madelynn stood between two ferns in a pale lavender dress with tiny