Love From the Ashes

by Cheryl Persons

  “I’m glad I came back too.” She was staring at the embers like she expected them to do a trick.

  “Last night I had a dream; well, it was more like a memory. It was about Scarlett.”

  “Hm…that’s nice.”

  “It made me realize that I’m not exactly being honest with you, or myself.”

  “Thomas, I really don’t need to hear any of this. That’s great that you can still remember the good times you shared with Scarlett. I would never want you to forget those.”

  She finally turned to him and he reached out for her hand, but she quickly pulled away. “Rebecca, I have been telling you that I can’t move on and…”

  “I’m not asking you too. You act like I’ve thrown myself at you. Yet, you were the one that invited me; it wasn’t the other way around.”

  “I know, but…”

  “Thomas I came back so that I could help you transport the kids home, but as far as I’m concerned…the sooner we get home, the better.” She stood up and he nearly knocked over his chair to stop her from walking away.

  “Rebecca, I am trying to…”

  She sighed heavily and turned to face him. “Don’t you get the picture? I don’t want to get discussing this. I will continue to watch the children, because frankly I don’t want to ruin the relationship I have with them. I just think that you and I…we’re not compatible as friends. It just wouldn’t work out.”

  “What? You can’t be serious. I…”

  “I am dead serious. The sooner we realize that, the better.”

  Thomas stood there in disbelief. He wanted to tell her that he was falling; yet, she wasn’t even giving him the chance to finish his sentences. “Won’t you at least hear me out?”

  She shook her head. “Too many things have been said and it’s best just to move on.”

  He nodded. He wasn’t going to push it on her; she obviously was speaking her mind. Everything that she was saying to him, made him understand that he was wrong about her. She didn’t have the feelings for him that he hoped she had. “You’re right Rebecca.” She turned away and headed back to the tent. In only a few short hours they would be heading home. Thoughts of anything else that had happened on the trip would be gone, and their lives would be back to normal. Thoughts of Rebecca as his wife and a mother to his children had vanished; it was only a dream and he just needed to realize that. There was nothing he could do.

  Chapter 17

  Two Months Later

  December

  Thomas pulled his squad car into the parking lot; he had just finished his routine patrol and he was glad that it was uneventful. He was finding that it was tough going from a city that the biggest thing you would find is a child that stole a gumball, to a city that was hopping with activity. Especially the holidays; they were the worst. As he was entering his office he saw Betty walking his way. She was a great secretary, but she looked like she had something on her mind. “What’s up Betty?”

  “The boss is looking for the file on that shoplifting case; you know the one that was the minor.”

  “Oh yes; I took her to juvenile detention, but I think I have a copy of the report. Why does he need it; I thought it would be out of our hands?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Well, apparently the juvenile detention facility lost the paperwork.”

  Thomas laughed. “Okay; I’ll grab it and get it to you soon.”

  “Thank you!” She scurried back to her desk and he went to his. He definitely remembered the case in detail. He was the officer that was sent to Edgewood Mall to pick her up. Since she was only 12, she had to be transported to the Dallas Detention Center, but it broke his heart that he was the one to do it. It made him think about Bethany and what he would do if it was she that was caught stealing. He shook his head to wipe that thought from it; he hoped that he had brought her up to know that stealing was wrong.

  He looked around his desk and had just about given up hope of retrieving the file when he opened his desk drawer. The file was lying on top and he pulled it from his safe place. Before he shut the door he stopped and removed the file on Robbie Parker; he had forgotten about putting it away. Since Rebecca and he haven’t exactly been close lately, he didn’t give anymore thought to finding out what happened that night overseas. He put the file on top of his desk and then took the records on the juvenile case to Betty. “Here you go Betty!”

  She smiled. “Thanks so much.” She then scurried away to the Captain’s office and he laughed. She was a lady of about 65, but she had more energy than most 21 year olds.

  He went back to his office and grabbed the file from the top. He thought about it for a moment. There had to be something he was missing. He knew that if he could find out some information, it was sure to make Rebecca smile with him again. Things were so tense and he wanted to get back to some normalcy. He punched in Army Base of Dallas Texas into his computer. He jotted down the 800 number and then entered it into his phone. After just a couple of rings it was answered. “Good Afternoon this is Staff Sergeant Cooper Driscoll; how may I help you?”

  “Hello, my name is Officer Thomas Campbell and I am looking for some information on a former soldier from Dallas. He would have been an active soldier about 11 years ago.”

  “Okay; what’s the name?”

  “Robbie…Robbie Parker.”

  He waited as he heard typing on the other end of the call. “Hm…I’m not finding a Robbie Parker.”

  “Are you sure? Please…check again.”

  Again some more typing and then the lieutenant cleared his throat. “No; nothing.”

  “Well, that doesn’t make sense. Hm…do you have any information about the last known whereabouts of Chief Carl Murphy?”

  “Now, that is a name I am familiar with.” The Sergeant laughed and then Thomas heard ruffling papers. “The information we have shows that he was last heard from when he lived in a small town in Indiana. Hm…Kendallville. I’m sorry; I don’t have the phone number.”

  “Okay; well you have been most helpful. Thank you!” He disconnected the call and typed into his search on his computer Carl Murphy and Kendallville, Indiana. He was glad to see there were just 3 results that pulled up. Only one of those results said Carl; the other two just said C. Murphy. He first dialed the number for Carl Murphy.3

  He waited for someone to pick up. “Hello; this is Carl.”

  “Hello Carl; my name is Officer Thomas Campbell. I work at the Dallas Police Department and I was wondering if you would be able to answer a few questions for me?”

  “Well, I will certainly try. I have never been to Dallas, but go ahead.”

  His heart fell. “So, you didn’t serve in the Dallas Army?”

  “No; I didn’t.”

  “Okay; well, that would be all. Thank you!” He hung up the call

  He thought that was going to be his best chance, but he dialed the first C. Murphy and heard the voicemail turn on. “Hello, you have reached Corinne Murphy; please leave your name…” before she could finish he hung up. That was just another dead end.

  Not feeling very hopeful he dialed the last number. After a few rings he finally heard someone answering the call. “Hello? My name’s Johnny; what’s yours?”

  He chuckled. “Hello Johnny; my name is Thomas. Is there a Carl Murphy that lives there?

  “Dad…” he heard the little boy call out.

  He was suddenly hopeful; at least his name was Carl. “Hello, this is Carl Murphy. How may I help you?”

  “Hello, my name is Officer Thomas Campbell. I work at the Dallas Police Department and I was wondering if I could have a moment of your time.” There was a long silence that spoke volumes. “It will only take a minute.”

  “Is this about my ex; I don’t feel that I owe…”

  “Sir, with all due respect; this has nothing to do with your ex or anything like that. I need to talk to you about the Dallas Army.”

  “Oh; okay. I’m listening.”

  “About 11 years ago there was a you
ng soldier that was killed while overseas. However, the nature of his accident is unclear. I was wondering if you could shed a new light on an old situation.”

  “I will try, but what’s the name of the soldier?”

  “His name was Robbie Parker.”

  “Hm…that was a long time ago. I saw a lot of soldiers come and go. You say Robbie?”

  “Yes; Parker.”

  There was a long bout of quietness. “Oh; you must mean Soldier Robert Parker.”

  “Oh; I didn’t think about him going by Robert, but that has to be him. Do you remember anything?”

  “I don’t remember much, but I do know that he wasn’t killed in active duty. I wasn’t there so I’m not really sure all of the details. You would be best talking to Joseph Carpenter.”

  “This is the first I’m hearing his name.” He wrote down the name on the paper. “Who is he?”

  “He was with Robert during the accident. I seem to remember that he was injured too. I’m not really sure where to locate him. I’ve been out of Texas for over 7 years now.”

  “Okay; I will try to locate him. Thank you for the information.”

  “You’re welcome; good luck.” They hung up from each other and he called the army base again.

  “Hello, this is Staff Sergeant Cooper Driscoll; how may I assist you?”

  “Hello; this is Officer Thomas Campbell again.”

  “Oh yes; did you reach Carl Murphy?”

  “I did; thank you. He gave me the name of a soldier that I might be able to give me the answers that I need. Do you have a record of soldier Joseph Carpenter? He would have been in about 11 years ago too.”

  “Joseph Carpenter? He actually does a lot of volunteer work here. He isn’t here today; however, he should be in tomorrow. There’s an assembly that he will be helping out in.”

  Thomas smiled to himself; maybe he would get the results he needed. “Okay great; will you ask him to give me a call?” He gave his number and then disconnected the call. He looked at the file and sat back in his chair. This could be exactly what he could use to show her how much he cared about her; at least one could hope.

  ____________________

  “The cookies smell delicious. Can’t we have just one?” Frankie whined as Rebecca removed the last tray from the oven.

  Rebecca turned to the expectant faces of the children. “Okay; we probably should each eat one. After all, we want to make sure they’re edible.”

  The group laughed as she put the tray down. Each one carefully reached for a cookie and stuck them in their mouths. “Even better than they look.” Kari said with her mouthful of cookie.

  “Good; I’m glad they turned out.” She brushed away the sweat from her forehead. She had to admit, it had been several years since making Christmas cookies. She never had a reason to, but now she had more than enough reasons.

  When she heard the knock on her front door she quickly tried to fix herself. Even though things had been pretty awkward between the two, she didn’t want to look awful to his eyes. She opened the door and forced a smile. “Hello; the kids are in the kitchen we made Christmas cookies.”

  “I can see that.” He laughed as he brushed something from her cheek.

  “Oh;” she reached up and touched her cheek.

  “Sorry; you had some flour on…”

  “I know; I must look a mess.”

  “You still look beautiful.”

  She could feel her face getting redder. It was best for her just to ignore the compliment. “You should come try a cookie.”

  “Don’t mind if I do.” He laughed as they went into the kitchen.

  “Daddy, we’re going to deliver these cookies to the nursing home.” Kari eagerly stated.

  “That sounds like fun; are you doing it tomorrow?”

  Rebecca nodded. “I thought we could take them to the Lighthouse Nursing Home; it is just at the corner of the addition. We can sing Christmas carols and get everyone in the mood.”

  “That sounds great; maybe I can meet you guys there. If that would be alright?”

  Rebecca smiled. “That would be nice; I mean the kids would surely enjoy that.” She wanted things to be back to normal and not so tense, but ever since the camping extravaganza, she feared that would never be the case.

  “Well, I will definitely try my best then. After all, I don’t want to disappoint the children.” The last words he spoke were more geared for her to hear; they were in a low whisper and he had moved closer to her ear.

  She smiled and turned away. “I will be sure to put them in baggies and we can distribute them after school.”

  “Okay; give Rebecca a hugs goodbye and let’s go.” They all proceeded to hug her and she smiled as they did. She grew to love all of their interactions.

  “You guys have a good night. I’ll see you tomorrow.” She watched as they each grabbed something to take out to the van and they left her house. In time she would move on and realize that it was destined for them to be her family. It wouldn’t be easy, but it was doable and that was all she needed to remember.

  Chapter 18

  The next day Thomas found himself watching the clock repeatedly. It was nearly 3:00 and he hadn’t heard from Joseph Carpenter. He had already gotten it approved to leave early and as he was about to walk out the door he heard his cell phone ringing. “This is Officer Thomas Campbell.” He breathlessly spoke into the phone.

  “Hello; this is Joseph Carpenter. I am sorry that I am just now getting back to, but I heard that you were in need of some information.”

  “Yes; thank you for calling me back. I was wondering if you could provide some information about the accident that took Soldier Robert Parker’s life.”

  This was only slight hesitation, but then he heard his voice. “I’m sure I could. I will be home in about 10 minutes; would you like to meet up with me?”

  Thomas couldn’t believe that before the evening was over he would have some information about Robbie’s death. “I can meet you wherever.”

  “Okay; come to my house at about 3:30.” He rattled off his address and then they hung up.

  Thomas looked at his watch. It was clear that he would be late to the nursing home, but he would make it quick. When he was certain that Rebecca had dismissed her class he dialed up her cell number. “Hello?”

  “Hey Rebecca, I am going to be a little late to the nursing home. I will make it before you sing that last Christmas carol, but please let the children know I will be there as soon as I can.”

  “Is everything alright?”

  He smiled at her concern. “Everything will be great.” He hoped that that wasn’t being overconfident. “I just have something quick that I need to take care of. I’ll see you then and explain it all later.”

  “Okay; see you later.” He waited for her to hang up first and then he stared at the phone. He prayed that he wasn’t reading more into what Joseph was going to tell him. He would not be able to tell her anything if there was no news and he just hoped that he didn’t have bad news to share. He knew, either way, she deserved to know the truth. He just hoped that the truth was going to make her happy that she knew, and not sad.

  ____________________

  Thomas was welcomed into Joseph Carpenter’s house by a petite red head; he assumed she was his wife. “He’ll be right with you; please have a seat.”

  He smiled and took a seat in the living room. Within a few minutes he was joined by a man; he was probably 2 years older than him, but he walked with a cane. “Good Afternoon; make yourself comfortable. Would you like coffee? Wine? Water?”

  Thomas shook his head. “I’m sorry I can’t be too long. I have plans with my children, but I really needed to find out this information.”

  “Of course; then I’ll get right down to it. The 11 year anniversary was just last week.”

  “Really? I didn’t know.” He didn’t realize that Robbie had died so close to Christmas. If he had known, he had forgotten.

  “Robbie and I were prett
y close. We became fast friends. There were reports that a bomber was planning an attack; we got those reports about 5 times a month, so none of us ever really took them serious. Each time we would hear rumors, or threats our barracks would be on lock down. We would find several things to keep us busy. Sometimes we would play cards, or listen to music; we would do anything to break up the monotony. We felt like we were prisoners, but it was the rules. However, this one night we had decided to sneak out. We got into 4 different jeeps and drove away from the place that we were calling home. We were just going to go to this club that was on the outside of the town. We came across this detour; it told us to turn left, but after being there for several months we knew that if we turned right we could make it in much quicker time. Problem was the route we would go was down a dark alley and through a not very good neighborhood.”

  “Did you both agree to this path?”

  He nodded. “We were both young and foolish; so, what the heck. About half way down this alley we heard yelling and screaming; it was followed by several minutes of crying. Despite all commonsense telling us to keep on driving, we stopped. After all, we’re in the military to protect people. Even if it was a night off, we had to stand by it. So, we entered this abandoned warehouse; the voices seemed so far away. I went one way and he went the other. About 15 minutes into the search for the screaming, I heard him call out my name. I finally discovered him in the back of the warehouse. He was frantically trying to untie this girl; she was 15 years old at the time. I rushed over to her and she kept saying something about a bomb. Her English wasn’t the greatest and so we just went with it. Finally we untied the knot and freed her arms and legs. Robbie grabbed onto her hand and they ran. I somehow got separated from them and there were so many twists and turns in the building that I wound up exiting out of a different door. From what I gather, Robbie went back in to make sure I was out. It wasn’t necessary, because I was fine. The building blew up only seconds after I had made it out of there. However, the impact of the bomb threw me several feet away. I broke my leg, had a severe concussion, and broke 3 of my ribs. I made it out alive, but sadly Robbie didn’t.”