A Field of Poppies

by Sharon Sala

  His gaze shifted to his sons. In all the years since their birth, he had never seen them this quiet. They’d bunched up together on the single sofa, sitting with their elbows on their knees, their heads down, staring at the floor. If he had to guess, he would say they were praying. God knows he done nothing but pray ever since he’d found out he and Deborah had a daughter. Callie had the Caulfield name, but Wade had definitely marked her just as he’d marked his other children. There was no mistaking where the white-blonde hair and blue eyes had come from.

  All of a sudden there was a flurry of activity out in the hall then one of the surgeons walked in.

  “Paul Tiller family?”

  “We’re here,” Wade said, as he stood up.

  “Paul did great. He’s in recovery. As soon as he’s taken to his room, they’ll let you know.”

  “What about the patient receiving the kidney? What about Callie?” Justin asked.

  “Are you her parent?”

  “Yes.”

  “All I know for sure is the transplant procedure is in progress. Her surgeon will be out when he’s finished to give you the details.”

  Justin nodded, then turned and thumped Wade on the back. “Good news, right? One down. One to go.”

  “Yes, good news.” But Wade knew Justin was right. They were only halfway through this ordeal.

  ****

  The waiting room was littered with empty paper cups, candy wrappers, paper plates and an empty pizza box. Eating had been a way to pass the time and keep emotions as low-key as possible. It has been more than four hours since the last surgeon had been in and Justin was literally sick at his stomach with fear. If he’d been waiting by himself, he would have already lost it. Wade’s sons kept a running commentary of what was happening in the NFL, what they’d done last week, and even a quick update on Paul, who’d finally been taken to his room. Wade had gone up to see him and had yet to come back.

  Justin kept pacing from one end of the waiting room to the other, pausing every now and then to stare out the window. He felt so damn helpless.

  “Hey, Mr. Caulfield, there’s a surgeon out in the hall,” Ben said.

  Justin recognized him as Callie’s surgeon and met him as he came into the waiting room.

  “Callie did great,” the surgeon said. “The transplant was a huge success. Her skin color already looks better. It’s amazing how the human body does work.”

  “Thank you! Thank you!” Justin said. “When can I see her?”

  “Soon. You know we’re going to have to isolate her for a while. We need to make sure she isn’t exposed to anything her body can’t handle. However, we’ll put a mask on you and you can walk beside her bed when we take her from recovery to ICU.”

  Justin didn’t care if they made him wear Haz-Mat gear if that’s what it took to get her well.

  “So, I’ll have a nurse come get you when she’s ready. In the meantime, feel free to let all your family know that the surgery was a success.”

  Justin nodded in agreement, but the truth was, there wasn’t anyone to call but Poppy and he was pretty sure she didn’t give a damn. He’d call his housekeeper later and let her know everything was okay, but the only other people who cared were in the waiting room with him.

  The Tillers were grinning from ear to ear as they began to clean up the mess that they’d made.

  “Man, that is such good news, isn’t it, Mr. Caulfield?” Ben said.

  Justin sat down. “Yes, Ben, it is amazing news. God is good.”

  ****

  Back in Caulfield, Poppy’s relationship with Mike was heating up. Two weeks and a half-dozen dates later, she ended what Mike referred to as training camp by taking their relationship to bed. It was, for Poppy, the inevitability of her growing love for this big, crazy man. He’d saved her, he’d fed her, he’d loved her, and now he’d branded her. She would never be the same.

  Oddly enough, it was also a turning point in how she felt about Justin. She kept remembering what her mother, Sunny, had written in her diary after she and Justin had first made love. I felt my body take flight.

  After making love with Mike, she now knew what her mother had meant, and was beginning to understand how love could blind the truest heart.

  ****

  Poppy was eating breakfast one morning during the latter part of October when she happened to glance at the calendar. The moment she saw the date, she jumped up in a panic and dumped the rest of her food into the trash. Within moments she started to cry. It was her mother’s birthday and she’d forgotten. She cried all the way to work, managed to pull herself together enough that no one noticed, then skipped her lunch break to go to a florist to get flowers. Her anxiety was at an all-time high, fearing something would delay her at quitting time.

  It didn’t happen.

  The moment she clocked out, she made a flying trip to the cemetery, knowing they locked the gates at dusk.

  The ground was still soggy from the last rain and the trees, having long since lost the glorious colors of autumn, were not only bare sentries to the passing of lives, but to the passing of seasons, as well.

  She got out of her car and began to run, eyeing the sun as it continued to slide ever farther into the west. The weather they’d been having had barely begun to settle the bare mounds marking her parents’ graves. They were still as raw as the pain left behind from their passing.

  Poppy laid the bouquet of lavender and yellow chrysanthemums onto the muddy mound, and then touched the headstone.

  “Happy birthday, Mama. You know I miss you. You know I love you. And you also know that I’m going to be okay because you raised me to be strong.” Her gaze slid to the other mound. “Hey, Daddy. I don’t know what all goes on in heaven, but I hope they allow dancing because you know how Mama loves to dance. I miss you so much and I’m trying to do what’s right. It breaks my heart that you died with the burden of my birth on your heart. I know about the other man who is my father, but you know I love you best.”

  Then she glanced up at the sky. The sun was hovering just above the horizon.

  “I have to go. Love you both.”

  She raced back to her car and drove out as fast as she’d come in. Just as she passed through the gates, the sun gave way and slipped below the horizon, as if it had finally become too heavy to sustain the height. She waved at the policeman who was getting out of his car to lock up, and headed for home.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Nearly three weeks had passed before Callie Caulfield was released to come home, and for Justin it was a day for celebration. His daughter had been given such a gift – the gift of life, and through it, was forging a tenuous bond with the people who’d made it happen.

  After she’d been moved out of ICU and into a private room, the Tiller family was at her side almost as much as Justin. Callie was no longer uncomfortable with Wade or her new brothers, but the extent of their future relationship was still a work in progress.

  She and Justin left the hospital in Charleston in the middle of the afternoon and after a two-hour helicopter flight back to Caulfield, met up with an ambulance at the airport that was taking them the rest of the way home.

  The last time Callie had been out of the hospital, the grass was green and flowers had been in bloom. Now, except for some small evergreen shrubs around the old mansion, everything was bare and brown.

  The time between had been long and scary and there were many, many days when she believed she would not see it again, yet now she was here. It was nothing short of her miracle.

  “Daddy, I can’t wait to see my room. Did you move all my angels back from the hospital?”

  “I sure did,” Justin said. “Everything’s there, although I think for sure you’re going to need some new clothes. You’ve grown at least an inch through the summer, which is amazing considering how sick you’ve been.”

  She giggled. It was almost more than she could stand, waiting to get out of the ambulance.

  “We’re almost there,”
Justin said.

  Her smile shifted suddenly. “Is Lillian still here? She didn’t leave after... uh, I mean when Nana...”

  “She’s there, and anxious to get both of us home,” Justin said.

  Callie reached for Justin’s hand. “I hope she makes me rice pudding. I love her rice pudding.”

  Justin brushed a lock of her hair from her eyes. He still thought of her as his little girl, but she was turning into a young lady in spite of him.

  “I believe she mentioned something about it when I spoke to her this morning.”

  Callie sighed. “Perfect.”

  “I know you’re going to want to look at everything, but your doctor cautioned you against doing too much at once, so let’s take it easy this evening, okay? I mean, you’ve had such a huge day with all this travel.”

  “Okay, Daddy. I’m not going to argue. I am tired, but in a good way for a change.”

  Moments later, the ambulance took a turn and then began slowing down.

  “We’re here,” Justin said.

  The back doors opened. The driver and the paramedic who’d accompanied them got her into the wheelchair then wheeled her up to the front door.

  “Welcome home, little lady,” the paramedic said.

  Callie beamed. “Thank you. Thank all of you so much.”

  Justin opened the front door then held out his hand. Callie grabbed it as she stood and they walked back into the house, a family again. The ambulance was driving away as Lillian came scurrying toward them, talking and crying at the same time.

  “Welcome home, Callie, welcome home!”

  Callie hugged her. “Thank you, Lillian.”

  “I made rice pudding,” Lillian added.

  Callie beamed. “Yay!”

  “You have some mail. I put it all in your room. Mr. Justin, is there anything I can do for you? Do you want dinner at the same time?”

  “I don’t need a thing now that Callie is home and yes, let’s have dinner at 6:00. She’s going to need some early nights for a while until she gets a little stronger.”

  “This is wonderful, just wonderful,” Lillian said, and then grabbed the suitcase and hurried up the stairs, leaving them to come at a slower pace.

  By the time they reached her room, Callie was shaky and after a quick trip to the bathroom, she stretched out on the bed.

  “Daddy, would you help open my mail?”

  “I sure will,” Justin said. “Hey, you even have a package. How about that? What do you want to see first, the cards or the package?”

  “The package!”

  Justin turned it end over end looking for a return address, but there was none. He tore into the outer wrap to the box beneath.

  “Hurry Daddy,” Callie said.

  He grinned, but when he opened the box, they realized there was more packing around an even smaller box inside.

  “What on earth?” he said, and pulled out the smaller box.

  They finally got it open to find a red crepe paper flower on top of a small silver angel. Callie reached for the angel, but when she picked it up, quickly realized it was a bell.

  “Daddy! It’s a bell! It’s an angel bell. And look what the engraving says on the inside. ‘Every time a bell rings, and angel gets her wings.’ What does that mean?”

  “It’s a line from an old Christmas movie called ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ starring Jimmy Stewart.”

  She frowned. “I don’t know who that is.”

  Justin grinned. “Yeah, he’s probably too old to be on your radar.”

  She giggled. “Who’s it from?”

  Justin looked all through the packing but to no avail.

  “I don’t know. There’s no card.”

  “What’s this?” Callie asked, as she twirled the little flower in her fingers.

  “It’s a flower that military veterans give out to commemorate Veterans Day. Disabled veterans make them and take donations from people they give them to.”

  “The rose is a pretty red color, but it got mashed in the box. See how flat it is.”

  “No, that’s not flat honey, and it’s not a rose, it’s a-“

  All of a sudden the hair rose on the back of his neck.

  “It’s a what, Daddy?”

  Justin swallowed past the lump in his throat. “It’s a poppy. The flower is called a poppy.”

  A wide, happy grin spread on Callie’s face. “I know who it’s from! It’s from my sister, Poppy. I wonder how she knew I liked angels? I’ve been praying she would quit hating us, maybe this is a sign.”

  “Oh you have, have you?”

  Callie nodded, hesitated a moment, then added. “I talked to her.”

  He didn’t bother to hide his surprise. “When? What about? Why didn’t you tell me?”

  Callie gave him a quick glance then had to look away for fear she’d start crying.

  “It was before my transplant. I called her just in case I died. I wanted her to know what a really good dad you were, and that I hoped she would change her mind about us. I told her that you would be very sad if I died and that she needed to let you love her.”

  Justin heard what she was saying, but he’d had no idea her fears about the transplant had included both her healing and his welfare.

  “Oh honey, I don’t know what I did to deserve you, but I’m very glad you’re mine.”

  “Me, too,” Callie said. The tears in his eyes made her sad so she handed him the flower. “Here Daddy, the angel is for me, but I think this should be yours.”

  He put it in his pocket without comment and began opening the rest of her mail, but the weightless little flower was as heavy on his heart as the burden of his guilt. He’d done so many things wrong in his life. If he could just make peace with his first child, he would die a happy man.

  It was later that night before he finally went to bed. He took the small red flower out of his pocket and fastened it to the lapel of his suit.

  He was going to wear that paper flower every day until Poppy Sadler found a way to forgive him, or until it fell apart - whichever came first - and moving out of this house was going to be the first step in making that happen.

  ****

  While Justin and Callie had been in Charleston, a logging crew had begun cutting a road up through the trees leading to the hill overlooking the Little Man, and when that was done, another crew had gone on to clearing the actual building site. People in Caulfield noticed the fresh cut on the hillside, but had no idea what was happening. All they knew was trees were down and concrete had been poured for some kind of foundation. Progress was slow-going during winter weather, and when inclement weather swept through, progress came to a halt.

  Like most everyone else in Coal Town, Poppy had seen what was happening in increments - from the first trees going down to make way for the road, to the larger site cleared away on the hill.

  She had no idea Justin Caulfield was building a new home and would have felt somewhat cornered if she had, because once they took up residence, he would be able to see the entire front of her house from any river-facing window in his house.

  ****

  John came through Caulfield the week before Thanksgiving to celebrate the holiday with her, albeit a week early. They spent the time he was there playing catch-up.

  It didn’t take him long to realize the relationship between his sister and Mike Amblin had undergone quite a change. There were little signs, like razors and men’s aftershave in the bathroom, even a couple of extra shirts in the closet that were far too big for her.

  “Hey little sister, is there something you want to tell me?” John said, holding up the razor.

  “Not really.”

  He grinned. “Is it Mike?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m cool with that.”

  She smiled. “So am I.”

  “Is he coming to eat turkey with us?”

  “If nothing happens to change the plan, yes.”

  John frowned. Something about the way she answered tol
d him that issue was of some concern.

  “Does the plan change often?”

  Poppy shrugged. “He’s a cop. It happens.”

  “Are you okay with that?”

  “I’m okay with him and all that comes with him.”

  “How’s it going with Justin?”

  She frowned. “It isn’t.”

  “Did he quit?”

  “No. He calls regularly.”

  “And...?”

  “I listen. I hang up.”

  John nodded. “Okay, it’s your business. Did you make a grocery list?”

  “Yes.”

  “You made sure we’ve got everything we need to make Mom’s cornbread dressing for the turkey?”

  Thankful he’d shifted from the personal inquisition to worrying about what went in his belly, she handed him the list and then he was gone.

  Mike showed up an hour later with a pecan pie he’d picked up at the bakery and a bouquet of yellow roses.

  “Those are beautiful,” Poppy said.

  “So are you,” Mike said, and kissed her soundly. “Oh my God, you even taste good.”

  She laughed. “It’s the cranberry jelly. I tasted it to see if it was sweet enough.”

  He kissed her again for good measure and then cupped her backside and pulled her close.

  “So I’m guessing John’s not going to be gone long enough for any fooling around?”

  “You’d be right.”

  “Damn,” he said, and then grinned. “You know me. I had to ask.”

  “I adore you,” Poppy said.

  “I love you,” Mike said, and then took pleasure in the shocked expression on her face. He’d never said it before although he’d been thinking it for weeks. “You know how I am, always gotta one-up somebody.”

  Poppy didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “I adore and love you back,” she said softly.

  Mike hugged her. “Such a teaser,” he said softly. “You finally tell me this with your brother on the doorstep. So what am I going to do about this overwhelming desire to make mad crazy love to you?”