Chapter 2
The Changing Of The Guard
Dinner that night was quieter than a church on Monday. The Riveras rarely all ate at the same table, and much planning had been required to coordinate tonight’s event. Jessie’s chicken was not only late, but somehow managed to arrive both under-cooked and tough. It also tasted of hard-boiled cell phone, a fact Moe had observed in the only remark made out loud tonight.
Jessie watched her stepfather as he sawed through his dinner, and wondered what was going around in his head. She wished now that she had gotten to know him better in the short time he’d dated Mom. Now they were married, and he was still a stranger to his new stepchildren – a handsome, quiet man in a uniform who liked to spend time with their mother. After the sudden proposal last month, Mom had gone through the motions of consulting the kids, but anyone could see that she was head-over-heels in love. To argue would have made Jessie feel like a bug. Now she wished she had at least asked a few important questions, before it was too late to do anything about the answers.
Once the dishes were cleared away, Sergeant Sparrow finally began to speak. “Okay. First of all, I want to apologize.”
A collective gasp was suppressed from one end of the table to the other.
“I should never have agreed to leaving you kids here on your own for two weeks. And I can assure you, it will not happen again.”
Somehow, what started out as an apology now felt to Jessie like a prison sentence.
“Now I need to ask you some questions about today. Chris, how did your eye get black?”
“Some kid hit me,” he muttered.
“And took your shoe off?”
“Yes sir.”
“What happened then?”
“It’s all cool now. It’s fine.”
Sergeant Sparrow cocked an eyebrow, but apparently decided to let the issue go for the present.
“Jessie, what happened to your phone?”
“I bought a cheapo battery and it blew up. So I need a new phone. Say – maybe you could sue BJ?”
The Sergeant silenced a laugh. “No, we’re not suing BJ. We’ll see about your new phone. Now, did you see who hit your brother?”
“Not really. It was some kid we didn’t know. Like Chris said, it’s okay now.”
“Uh-huh. Okay, Moe – I know you were just trying to help with the string trimmer, but you can’t go out and do things on your own. From now on I’m going to be around – so you can just help me, and I’ll show you how to do stuff.”
Moe looked entirely too pleased with that rebuke.
“Aren’t you going to get after me for something, Daddy?” Katie was grinning with mischievous sweetness. The word “Daddy” had rolled off her tongue entirely too smoothly for Jessie’s liking.
The Sergeant gave her a narrow glance and a wink. “You just watch it, young lady – I’ll figure out your tricks. I didn’t spend twenty years in the military to pass the time of day, you know.”
“So.” His face went straight again. “I would imagine that there are some questions, some people wondering about how this family is going to work from now on. Ask away. I want to hear every question you’ve got – not just tonight, but anytime.”
“I’ve got one.” Jessie took a deep breath. “What would you like us to call you?”
“You can call me whatever you feel comfortable with.” Obviously he had thought about this beforehand. “Some form of ‘dad’ or even ‘pop’ is fine, or you can just call me ‘sergeant.’ And when you’re in trouble, of course, you should call me ‘sir.’ A click of the heels is always appropriate, too.” His eyes twinkled behind the stern look.
“Will there be lots of new rules?” Chris asked with a sense of dread. “Like a curfew and stuff?” Jessie tried to kick him under the table for suggesting it, but couldn’t reach.
They don’t have a curfew? The Sergeant mouthed the question to Mom, who shook her head helplessly. “I didn’t realize you didn’t already have one. For now, let’s just say the door will be locked when I go to bed, which is ten o’clock. As to what you guys are up to before that time, we’re going to have to deal with those activities on a case-by-case basis. And we’ll be making family dinner a regular practice, so everyone will need to be here from six to six-thirty each night unless you’ve got permission to eat out.”
Already Jessie’s social life was in tatters. This was worse than she had expected.
“Now don’t anybody panic,” the Sergeant laughed comfortably as if reading her mind. “I’m not going to try to turn this place into boot camp overnight. You guys haven’t had a dad in a long time, and I’ve never been one, so there’s plenty to figure out as we go along. Now, your mother has something important she wanted to share with you as well.”
Mrs. Sparrow cleared her throat and began in a quiet voice. “Kids, you remember that when your dad was alive, we used to go to church sometimes, and Dad would read to us from Daily Light in the morning? You may notice that there’s going to be more of that kind of thing in our life than there has been the past few years. You see, I’ve been trying to raise you kids on my own since Dad died, and I’ve realized that I can’t do it by myself. I’m not strong enough. And I’m not just talking about needing the Sergeant. I’m talking about needing the Lord Jesus. Both your stepdad and I have realized that we need Him very much. He is the most important person in our lives, and we made our mutual relationship with Him the basis of our marriage.”
The sound of silence abruptly returned to the Rivera-Sparrow home. The kids would have been less shocked if their mother had announced she was going on Broadway or running for Congress. No one really knew what to think, what to say, or even how to act. Jessie defaulted on changing the subject.
“Uh, that’s great. Wonderful. Great. So do you have a job lined up, um, Sergeant?”
“I do, and speaking of that, maybe we should talk about finances. You kids may be aware that your dad’s death benefit is going away now that your mom has remarried, but there’s no need to worry. Your mom’s savings, my savings, and my retirement make a pretty good pile, and we’re looking at investing part of that in some commercial properties for an ongoing income. Until then, my new job at Allred Systems should more than compensate for the reduced income.”
“Allred Systems,” Chris repeated. “What’s that?”
“Allred is a military contractor over in Kansas City. I’m going to be a consultant – at the office two days a week and on call at home three days.”
“At home,” Jessie repeated, vainly trying to thaw a smile from her frozen face. “Three days a week. How wonderful for you.”
“Yes it is,” the Sergeant agreed warmly, drawing his arm around Mrs. Sparrow. “Our life here is going to be very wonderful indeed, I’m sure.”
The Sparrow Found A House (Sparrow Stories #1) Page 2
