Soldier From Heaven
Copyright © 2013 by Christine Thomann. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the author except as provided by USA copyright law.
This novel is a work of fiction. Names, descriptions, entities, and incidents included in the story are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, events, and entities is entirely coincidental.
The opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily those of Tate Publishing, LLC.
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Interior design by Joana Quilantang
Published in the United States of America
ISBN: 978-1-62902-191-1
1. Fiction / Christian / General
2. Fiction / Family Life
13.07.08
Dedication
This book is dedicated to my sons, Dominic and Preston, the reasons for every bit of my hard work and efforts. You are my sweet miracles and I love you so much!
And to my husband, Paul, whose support and belief in me are endless.
But most of all, thank you God for the inspiration to make this a reality.
Prologue
What a wonderful day to be alive! As I lay in bed I can almost feel the rays of sunlight on my face. The bright yet soothing sunlight is like glistening beams from Heaven. I can’t help but smile as I wake each morning and thank God for my life. But today, for some reason I feel even more energized with an uncontainable happiness. Yes, what a wonderful day to be alive.
My life has been full of blessings. Sure, life wasn’t always easy, but God certainly helped me find the beauty of each day even through the ugliness of the world around me. Life was good. I do admit though, that I surrendered my independence when I first fell in love with my husband. It was as if life hadn’t even begun until our lives intertwined. He brought to me such happiness. I could always depend on him for everything. He respected me in a way I never thought possible. He truly was my rock. His parents chose a name that truly fit him. Yes, Pete was my rock.
But I had to learn that although we had become one, I still had to rely on myself to make the life choices that would ultimately lead me to the arms of my Savior. Before that lesson was learned I had a dark time to navigate through. I do believe now, that it is through our darkest hours that we are best able to see the love of Jesus.
I met Pete during my last year of college. I was at a bar with my girlfriends and spotted Pete across the room. It amazed me that just the sight of him, just his appearance emanated a calm, generous and genuine man. I was immediately drawn to him. Perhaps there is such thing as a soul mate. There seems to be no other explanation for our connection and subsequent flawless life together. Just like a fictional love story, our eyes met from across the room, and when our embarrassment caused us to look away, we felt the pull to look once more. That second glance forced Pete to come over to me.
“I couldn’t help but notice you staring at me,” he said in a joking manner.
Feeling my face turn bright red, I replied with a giggle, “No, it was you that was looking at me.”
“How could I help myself? You’re beautiful. I’m Pete.”
“Hello, Pete. I’m Catherine.”
“Can I buy you a drink?”
“Sure, how about a sangria.”
“Two sangrias please,” he called to the bartender. “I’ve never had sangria, but since you’re drinking it, it must be good.”
He handed me the glass with a smile and raised a toast.
“To new friends, one of which has an angelic smile.”
“To new friends,” I replied. “One of which is quite the charmer.”
We clanked glasses and smiled at each other with such genuine gladness. At that moment, we both felt that we had met someone very special. We may not have realized at that moment that we were meant to be, but we knew something wonderful was happening. Not more than a year later, we were married.
Chapter 1
Happy Family
My husband Pete and I had made a glorious life for ourselves. It truly was the perfect marriage full of all the blessings one could ask for. Pete and I were very much in love. We had been married for fourteen years at this pivotal time of our lives and had three amazing children. Our oldest, Jacob, was twelve at the time, and our middle child, Ben, was six years old. Mary, our youngest, just turned one. We were as close to perfect as you could get with the family vacations and Sunday church followed by breakfast and a family outing. I, Catherine, was a teacher. But after having children, I chose to be a stay at home mom to raise our children and help with the family business. After all, I knew to be a good Christian wife and mother, all of my efforts and attention needed to be placed on my family. I loved teaching young children and was always very passionate about making a difference in their lives. But having children of my own was such a blessing, and I wanted nothing to interfere with my duties as a mother and wife. Thankfully, my husband’s hard work allowed me to stay home. And I was overjoyed to do this.
Pete was a hard-working father and husband. He owned a gas station and successful auto repair business. He was a marine in the reserves and sadly had been serving time in Iraq. Thankfully we were surrounded by good friends, close family, and great faith. We were faithful Catholics who kept Christ present in our everyday lives. We taught our children values and to have a close relationship with God. We strived to have faith that God would help us through it all. I loved my family very much and really leaned on my husband. You could say I had grown somewhat dependent on him. He was a strong father, loving husband, and provider–truly the strength of the family. As the Christian faith teaches, Pete was like Christ to the church, taking care of and respecting his family.
Pete was on a month leave from Iraq, and we had just come back from a much needed five nights away from the children. It was the first time we spent away from the children in six years. The week in the Bahamas was filled with romantic dinners, sunbathing on the warm sands of the beach, candlelit baths in the evening, and breakfast on the veranda in the morning. Our getaway was heavenly, but we were very excited to be home with the children. When we walked through the front door upon our return, our two boys ran to us, and our little Mary crawled excitedly towards us. The hugs were amazing.
“Hey, babies. Oh, mommy missed you all so much.”
“What did you bring us, Dad?” asked Ben.
“We brought ourselves to you, buddy,” joked Pete. “Just kidding. We brought you shark tooth necklaces. We even brought little Mary a shell necklace.”
“Cool,” yelled Jacob. He grabbed the necklace and ran off to his room.
Jacob was our little spitfire. He was at the age that he acted like a teenager, thinking he was in charge of everything. He had gotten very mouthy over the last two years and was worse when his father was away. It seeme
d that every little thing set him off. If he asked for dessert and I said no, it would be a meltdown. If we had to go food shopping after school, he would yell about it. Nothing came easy with this child anymore, and I always felt that I had to prepare myself for battle before I said anything to him. I was very firm with him and never gave into his attitudes hoping that would deter him from mouthing off. But even my consistency had not yet paid off. For some reason, Jacob still hadn’t learned that his tantrums only got him in trouble, not what he wanted. He was truly a test for me. There were many times I simply felt like giving up on him. I loved each of my children so very much, and I wanted the best for them. I often asked myself what I was doing wrong. I leaned on Jesus to walk me through the tough times with Jacob, and it was he alone that kept me from yelling horrible things at my son. I can’t count how many times I nearly snapped.
Despite his argumentative nature, Jacob had a gentle soul. When he smiled at me and told me he loved me, my heart melted. The cuddles he gave were so sweet and genuine. He had a tough exterior and always wanted to be in control. His actions, in a way, helped him to have the control, or at least make him feel that he did. But on the inside, he had a great love for his family. It was so easy to read the hurt in his eyes when he felt that I was keeping my love from him. Sometimes, I would get so angry at him that I simply had to send him to his room. He would, of course, yell about going but with tears in his eyes. I would hear him talking from his room telling me that I don’t love him. When I would go to him, his eyes would tell me that he was feeling sad and unloved. I did not like to see that look in his eyes. Although Jacob’s personality was aggressive and loud, it was clear to me that he was also fragile. Family meant everything to him. He felt safe, secure, and free to be himself. He was an integral piece of our family puzzle, and it was hard for him if he felt our puzzle was somehow undone. Indeed, Jacob was a test. I believed I was somehow passing the test because when Jacob was without me, he would make the right choices; even those he fought me on at home.
Ben was our sentimental one. He was so loving and very generous. He once found out it was his teacher’s birthday, so he rushed home to make a lovely card. Ben then searched his room for a gift after I told him we could not go out and buy one. He took such care in wrapping the little puppy stuffed animal and was so proud to present it to her the next day. These little acts of kindness truly defined our Ben. Not a day would go by that he didn’t sing a little song to me about how much he loved each member of the family. And although his older brother picked on him, Ben was always upset when Jacob got in trouble. Sometimes, Jacob would have movie night taken away because of something he did to Ben. But Ben never wanted to leave his brother out of family time and would ask that Jacob be excused from the punishment.
Ben was very compliant and always did what was asked of him. The only hard time he ever gave us was at dinner time. He was still in the stage of not wanting to eat vegetables, and he was very picky about meat. I pretty much forced him to eat dinner everyday unless we had hot dogs or pizza. He would eat those with a big smile on his face. Ben was almost the opposite of his older brother when it came to his attitude. He was overall more positive and smiley. He knew his role as a child and son and did not challenge the authority we had over him. He was very comfortable under our wings and showed no signs of wanting to fly on his own. He wanted to learn from us as he recognized he was still learning about life; whereas his older brother thought he already knew it all.
My boys were very different yet each so special. I knew that every child would be molded by their parents and life events. What I may have seen as negative about Jacob could truly be turned into positives if used appropriately in life. He was headstrong and independent which accounted for his tendency to be mouthy. But those traits could prove to be beneficial later in life as a leader. And because he wanted things done the right way all of the time, he would certainly make a great engineer as his strengths seemed to be in math and construction. Ben’s sentimentality and gentle heart would certainly be useful for animal advocacy later in life. He loved animals and wanted to become a veterinarian. We had big dreams for our children and tried to relate every daily lesson to their futures.
Now, Mary was still being molded at that time, but she was a very happy girl. I would compare her to a doll. She would giggle and coo, making everyone around comment on her cuteness. She went to bed with a smile and woke up with an even bigger one. Mary enjoyed her meals with the family making it look like she was eating everything. But I knew about half was on the floor and a fourth on her face. Her brothers were her heroes. In the morning, she would look for them before she did anything else. And every time she saw them, she would smile the biggest grin I had ever seen. They were her joy, and they loved her very much.
Jacob had taken an even bigger interest in her. When she was born, he was at the age where he loved babies and wanted a baby sister. When he was just three years old, he enjoyed finding money and then putting it into any charity jar that had to do with helping babies. Mary was like the answer to a prayer. He immediately became very attentive to her every need and loved helping out with her. He was so proud of every little thing she did. Ben loved her as well but would rather cling to me than play with her. Ben was, thankfully, beyond the jealous and possessive stage, so he was able to love her and not feel as if he was in competition for the baby spot. But Jacob, oh, how he loved on Mary.
While on leave, Pete made up for his time away from his children. He played baseball with his boys and horsey with Mary. I often found myself just staring at the interactions and thanking God for such a wonderful life. I knew how lucky I was to have found such a wonderful man to have as a life partner. I couldn’t live without him, I often thought. And as I watched him with the children upon our return from the Bahamas, I was thinking those thoughts again.
Pete and I felt guilty for vacationing without the children, but we needed it. To make sure the whole family had fun together, we went to Disney World a week before he had to leave again. Since we lived in Palm Beach, it was only a two-and-a-half-hour drive to Orlando. We would often take little family weekend trips there, but this time we spent five days. Thankfully, Pete’s business was doing great, and his brother was managing it flawlessly. Pete trusted him with everything and paid him well to oversee the operations during his time in Iraq and leaves with us. Pete’s priority was his family, and it was evident in the way he cared for us. So with the success of his business, we were able to stay at a lovely resort. Animal Kingdom Lodge was the boys’ favorite hotel on the property, so we splurged.
On our first day, we relaxed and had a wonderful time by the pool. We all splashed down the water slide, raced each other in the pool, and played tag. Even Mary tried to get in on the action. We all had permanent grins painted on our faces that day and every day of our trip. We had lunch by the pool and reminisced about our other Disney trips.
“Remember when you videotaped Jacob on Tower of Terror?” asked Ben.
“Be quiet,” replied Jacob trying to hide the grin on his face.
“Yes, I remember,” I said. “Your faces were classic Jacob. ‘No no no no, ahhh.’ You were hysterical. We could’ve won ten thousand dollars on AFV if you didn’t delete it. Don’t worry; I’ll try to tape you again.”
We all laughed. I admit, although very protective and nurturing, I had a dark side. I forced my children on the rides if they met the height requirement. While other parents walked out of line with their children, I kept my children in line as they cried. Pete and I loved rides, and we didn’t want our children to fear the unknown so much that they missed out on fun. And after many forced rides, my boys had come out loving them. It may have taken a few times, but in the end they begged us to go on. So, I wasn’t so bad after all.
We wrapped up our lunch, played a few hours more in the pool, and then headed back to the room to get ready for dinner. We headed out to Medieval Times for a wonderful dinner s
how. As we enjoyed our food by eating with our hands, we watched as our green knight jousted on his horse in the arena. With our green crowns on and our flags waving, we cheered on our knight throughout the tournament. Much to our dismay, he turned out to be the malicious knight. In the end, he lost. But at least Mary had a rose tossed to her during the performance.
The day was exhausting, but we couldn’t resist relaxing a bit by the fire pit before turning in. Jacob rocked contently in the chair next to me as Ben lay sleeping cuddled in my arms. Pete had Mary sleeping on his shoulder, and we all rocked in our chairs by the fire.
“Did you have fun today, Jacob?”
“Yeah. But I wish our knight won. You should have taken his place, Dad.”
“That would have been a sight. My knight in shining armor.” I gave Pete a wink.
“So what should we do tomorrow, Jacob?” asked Pete.
“I don’t know. Maybe go to Hollywood Studios so we can ride Rockin’ Rollercoaster!”
“And Tower of Terror?” I added.
“I’m not afraid of that anymore, Mom. Just don’t tape me this time.”
“Oh, come on. Maybe we can win ten thousand dollars. I’d buy you whatever Lego set you want if we won.”
“Fine. But don’t show anyone else the video.”
We sat for some time after that in silence, just enjoying being together. I know Pete and I were thinking the same thoughts. We were very lucky. We wished those moments could last forever. We wanted nothing to change. But we both knew that wasn’t possible.
The rest of the week was fantastic. I was so happy to see that Jacob wasn’t without a smile the whole time. It was as if God wanted this to be the perfect family vacation for us. And it was. We created wonderful memories that we would never forget. And the enormous amount of pictures we took would keep that trip fresh in Mary’s mind for years to come. It was pretty much the most precious trip we had taken as a family and would prove to be the most important.
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