Inspirational Christian Fiction Boxed Set: Embers and Ashes Series (Books 1 - 4)

by T. K. Chapin

  Nodding slowly, she said, “I’m sure being out with the guys is exactly what you need. You’ve been complaining since that poker night about wanting to get out more.” She paused and smiled deeply as she continued, “This reminds me… the baths stop today, thank goodness.”

  I grinned. “I agree… it was kind of awesome at first. But over time it became this emasculating task that made me feel like less than a man.”

  She laughed. “Yeah… I love you, but I’m glad that part is over.”

  Getting up, I went over to the counter and grabbed my phone.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “Seeing when tee time is for tomorrow.”

  “Oh. I thought you meant you were going to go today. I have a thing tomorrow, at nine, so you can’t have the truck.”

  “Not having a second car anymore sure is annoying… What thing do you have? Can I drop you off?” I asked.

  “Can’t you just get a ride or something? It would be easier. No use changing my plans because you decided you want to do something…” she asked.

  “I’ll try…” I replied.

  She headed into the back of the house past the kitchen and into the laundry room. As she changed the laundry from the washer to the dryer, I got a hold of Micah on my cell phone in the living room.

  “Got the cast off! What time you want to do golf tomorrow? About ten? Like last year?”

  “Yeah, let’s do that. We’ve been talking about your doctor’s appointment at the station. Few of them thought you weren’t going to get it off today.”

  “Who thought I wasn’t going to get it off? Was it Alderman?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” he replied.

  Shaking my head, I said, “For a gambler, he’s sure dumb with some of his bets. Hey, could you pick me up tomorrow for golf?” I asked, slightly embarrassed.

  “Yeah, no problem. I’ll see you at quarter to ten.” Micah and I hung up our phone call as Megan came back through the kitchen on her way to the living room with a basket full of clean clothes. “Micah’s giving me a ride.”

  “I see,” she replied as she dropped the laundry onto the couch and began folding.

  “Everything okay?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” she replied as she sighed. “I’m just tired.”

  I nodded in agreement. “I hear you on that one.” I got up off the couch and snatched an apple out of the basket of fruit on the counter. “You sure look nice today by the way,” I said as I took a bite.

  I knew she couldn’t help but smile back at me from the couch. I came over to her. Setting my apple down on the coffee table, I brushed back her hair behind her ear to see that smile as she turned around. That smile and those lips were the ones that stole my heart away so long ago back at station 9 when I was just a rookie and she was the Captain’s daughter.

  “There’s that gorgeous smile I fell in love with,” I said as I kissed her neck softly.

  She giggled as she pulled away from my arms. “I need to get this laundry done before the boys get up from their nap.”

  “They’ll be sleeping for a while. They barely went down…” I said, kissing the back of her neck.

  “True, but I don’t have the time to fool around and you’re too brittle.” A jab to my heart and ego by those sweet lips sent the moment slipping away into eternity. I took a step back and picked my apple up from the coffee table.

  “Okay,” I said, making my way over to the corner of the couch on the opposite side of her. Grabbing the remote, I turned the television on and kicked my feet up on the coffee table.

  As we sat down for dinner that night, an unexpected knock came from the front door. Setting my silverware down, I watched Megan get up and go open the door. It was the Captain.

  I set my napkin down on the table and went over to the door. “What’s going on? Something happen to one of the guys at the station?” I asked.

  Tom put his hand up. “Just trying to have a word with my daughter, if that’s alright?”

  I nodded and turned. What a jerk, I thought to myself as I headed back over to the table to continue eating.

  “Ga-pa!” the boys shouted from their seats once they realized who it was at the door.

  “Down! Down!” Bradley started yelling from his high chair.

  “Eat your dinner,” I said. Looking past the high chair, I saw Tom hand Megan an envelope. It looked like one of those you get from the bank. Is that money? Why is she taking money from her dad? I’m on medical leave; we don’t need handouts.

  Tom stepped inside and came over to greet the kids. Megan looked back from the doorway and mouthed ‘mom’ to me as she pointed outside. I nodded, acknowledging I understood and she stepped outside to go see her mom in the car. Tom didn’t say a word to me as he spoke with the boys. He set a couple lollipops on the counter for the boys and went back out the front door. He felt colder than his usual self.

  After Tom left and Megan came back inside, I asked, “What’s that?” Looking at the envelope in her hand.

  “What?” She was trying to play dumb with me as she slid the envelope into her purse that was hanging on the banister near the front door.

  “That envelope your dad gave you.”

  “It’s just his way of helping out.”

  “What happened to my paychecks?” I demanded.

  “They’re still coming in… but.” She paused as she hesitated. “I’m going to be going out of town for a little bit and needed the extra money.”

  “So this had nothing to do with my paychecks?”

  “No…” She was being short and sketchy.

  “What is going on? Where do you need to go?”

  “I was going to wait to tell you. But I want to go visit my sister in Seattle for a while.”

  “For what?” I asked.

  “To see her? Do I need more of a reason to visit my sister?” she demanded.

  My wife was like a rose. Her beauty was breathtaking, her smells were intoxicating, but her thorns drew blood when they cut.

  I immediately went on the defensive as her tone was sharp, rude and reckless. “Well, it would have just been nice to know what is going on. I can’t watch the kids in my condition… you know that.”

  “And… that’s why I’m taking them with me. Plus, they would love to see their auntie and cousins,” she said, taking a seat back down at the table.

  “And you needed an envelope of cash for that?”

  “Oh my gosh, Cole, yes. I need to buy three airplane tickets.”

  She had a point. Airplane tickets were expensive. “That’s true, round trip airfare isn’t cheap,” I replied. “Okay, how long are you going to be gone?”

  “A couple of weeks…” she said.

  “A couple of weeks? What?” I asked. “You can’t take our kids away for a couple weeks. When was this even decided? Why would you make this kind of decision without me? Why wouldn’t you wait until we all could go?”

  “I don’t know, Cole. But I thought getting out of here with the kids would give you some time alone while you finish up healing. I thought you’d be happy. You’ll heal quicker without the accidental touching the kids do to you. Besides, you’ve never cared for my sister and have made it clear in the past you wouldn’t waste your time off visiting her.”

  “The point of the matter is, this is a long trip and the boys are too young to be away from me that long. They’ll miss me and I’ll miss them. This should’ve been something talked about between us. And you all being gone doesn’t mean I will heal faster. And you know I love them! They aren’t that much trouble...”

  She laughed. “Oh, yeah? You sure about that? You scolded Justin yesterday when he tried to give you a picture he colored.”

  “Don’t do that to me!” I snapped back at her. “You know I was sleeping and didn’t know what he was doing! My eyes were barely open when he began shoving that picture in my face! And I’m not used to being around the boys but that doesn’t mean I don’t love them any less!”

&nbs
p; Bradley started crying and Justin joined in on the hysterics. We began arguing louder to speak over the children, ignoring their grumblings. “Do you know how insane you sound?” she asked. “You’re not used to being around your own kids, your own family, and you’re complaining as you try to defend yourself. You should be happy since you can’t be bothered in your precious little world, Cole.”

  “No matter how much they might bother me, that doesn’t change the fact that I love them. I’m going to be lonely without you and the boys if you go…”

  “Oh, poor you!” she said.

  “Who are you?” I asked, shaking my head. “This isn’t my wife!”

  “This is your wife. She’s tired, she’s distraught and she hasn’t had a break in over three years. I need time to clear my head and relax and I am taking this opportunity. That’s the end of this conversation.”

  Bradley stopped crying only long enough to dump his tray of meatballs and spaghetti all over the front of himself, and down his chest into his diaper. Megan got up and proceeded to get him out of the high chair. As she wiped off the food from his chest, she looked up at Bradley and then over at Justin and said, “Time for a bath, Boys.”

  “Yay!” Justin began shouting as he lifted his hands up, waiting for Megan to grab him.

  “I can take care of my children,” I defended myself as I stood up and tried to pick Justin up. A sharp pain shot through my arm and into my shoulder, causing me to drop Justin to the hardwood floor that lay a few feet below him. He began crying after hitting his butt on the floor.

  “Uh huh,” Megan replied as she bent down and picked Justin up. She kissed him on the side of the head and began heading up the stairs. As she climbed the stairs out of sight, I felt my anger turn into sadness as confusion set itself into my mind. Why does she need to go away? I wondered. And why for so long? Am I such a terrible husband? Do I not provide for her?

  I jogged up the stairs and into the bathroom to confront her. “What did I do that was so horrible?” I demanded at the doorway.

  “Nothing,” she said with a scoff.

  “What’s so funny? I don’t find any of this funny.”

  “You did nothing, you do nothing… That’s the entire problem, Cole!” she replied as she squirted shampoo into Bradley’s hair.

  My lips tightened. My sadness flipped back over to anger and I wanted her gone quicker than she could pack a bag to leave. “When are you going?”

  “Tomorrow. I guess you can drop me off at the airport in the morning and just drive yourself to the golf course instead of hitching a ride.”

  “That’s your ‘thing’ you had going on tomorrow? Wow…”

  She paused from washing Bradley’s hair and nodded up at me. “I’ve been planning this for a while… then it got postponed once you got hurt.”

  Taking a deep breath, I tried to gather my thoughts for a moment and pray. I prayed that God would help me choose my words carefully. Looking into her eyes, I saw determination and there was no changing her mind. I simply said, “Okay.”

  “Okay?” she asked.

  “Yep. Take this time and go figure out whatever it is you are trying to figure out. I think a break might help you. You can come back refreshed.”

  “Thank you for understanding,” she replied as she turned back to washing the boys.

  “I’m going to go lay down… I’m feeling rather… exhausted,” I said softly. Letting my arm fall away from the bathroom door frame, I headed down the hallway and back to my bedroom. Mystified by my wife’s choice to leave on a two week getaway with both boys, I popped a couple of pain killers, got underneath the covers and turned on another episode of my favorite western.

  CHAPTER 5

  The next day on the way to the airport to drop Megan and the boys off I kept getting this anxious feeling inside of me. It grew the closer we got to the airport. Something wasn’t right about this whole situation, and I could feel it in the pit of my stomach. “This is only a vacation?” I asked, looking over at her.

  “Yes, Cole,” she said over to me. “How are you feeling?”

  “I’m fine…” I replied. I was in a little pain, but I wasn’t going to complain because driving felt better than sitting around all doped up at home. I felt more like myself, plus I had more important things on my mind. “What is it you need a break from exactly?”

  She sighed as she shook her head. “It’s not a break from anything. I want to see my sister… you know her and Mike just split.”

  “Yeah, but that’s not really your problem.”

  She looked over at me and said, “If you ever get to thinking about someone other than yourself, you’d realize it’s good to be there for other people, Cole.”

  Ouch. That comment stung, but I kept my lips shut. Last thing I wanted was an argument before she took off for two weeks.

  “Just drop us off at the curb. There’s no sense doing the overdramatic goodbye and wasting time and money finding a place to park,” she said as we came up the airport road.

  “Hm. Okay.” I veered right on the road, passing the parking garage entrance. Parking the truck in one of the temporary unloading stalls, I got out and began pulling out the stroller and luggage from the back of the truck.

  “I got it. Don’t hurt yourself babe,” she said with a smile as she grabbed the stroller from my hands.

  “It’s fine,” I replied. “Just grab the boys. I have one good hand here.”

  She set the stroller down and I began unloading the suitcases out of the bed of the truck. We met over on the curb and she got the boys into the stroller. “I love you, Honey,” I said.

  “I love you too,” she said, smiling back at me. She came over to me and looked me in the eyes. “I’m going to miss you, Cole.” She leaned in and kissed me. It wasn’t just a little peck, like the ones she would give me in the mornings before I headed out to work. No, this one felt different.

  “I’ll miss you too, love.” Bending a knee, I kissed the boys and told them I’d see them in a couple weeks even though they had no comprehension of time. They didn’t fuss, as they were often excited and eager to go anywhere with Mom. I once told them they were going to a chicken fight and they had the same reaction to that as they did going to the state fair. Hoorays and cheers followed by jumping up and down.

  Standing there at the back of my truck, I watched as my life walked away from me and through the airport doors. My world disappeared in a blink of an eye as she and the boys blended into the sea of people.

  Suddenly a honk from someone behind my ride startled me out of my thoughts.

  “Move along, Romeo!” A straggly and unshaven gentleman shouted from his white van. He had a cigar hanging from his lips and a mean look.

  I put my good hand up and nodded as I turned and headed back to the driver side door. As I drove out of the airport terminal, I watched as a plane took off on the nearby runway. I thought about Megan. I was already missing her.

  Getting out to the golf course later that morning, I got a call on my cell phone. It was Micah. Running through my thoughts as I answered, I realized I never gave him a heads up about not needing a ride.

  “Hey, I’m sitting outside your house, you coming out?” He asked as I walked into the clubhouse.

  “I totally spaced calling you to let you know I got the truck. I’m actually at the club house right now walking up to the bar to get a soda.” Looking up I saw Rick up already sitting at the bar. “And it looks like Rick’s already here.”

  Micah didn’t even so much as sigh. “Okay Brother. I’ll be there soon.” I was relieved he wasn’t upset.

  “Hey Gimpy,” Rick greeted me with a grin on his face as I approached him.

  “Who thought seeing your ugly mug could be so refreshing,” I replied as I walked up to him extending my good hand.

  The guy next to him at the bar noticed our fleece pullovers and said, “You guys do a great job out there. I just want you to know that.”

  “Thank you,” Rick replied with a
nod.

  “You guys going out to play some holes?” the man asked, fully turning around to the two of us.

  “Yes, we are. Well, not Gimpy here. But myself and the other guys that are coming.”

  “Well, have a good time out there. It’s unusually nice today. No snow or ice on the course.”

  Rick nodded. “After that frost the other night, I was worried about getting back on the greens before April,” Rick replied.

  The man nodded.

  Kane and Ted strolled into the club, surveying the other golfers sitting at the tables in the room on their way up to us. I was relieved to see Kane seemed to be doing a little better than the last time when I saw him at poker. Rick asked me, “You going to get in on the betting even though you aren’t playing with us today?”

  “Well, since I’m not playing, I’d only be betting on a loser,” I replied with a short laugh.

  The guy that thanked us previously asked, “So you guys gamble on your golf game? I didn’t know firefighters could gamble.”

  Rick turned to him and scoffed. “I’m a firefighter, I gamble every day of my life.”

  The guy’s phone rang in his pocket, pulling him away from the bar and the conversation.

  “You sounded so serious right there,” Kane said to Rick.

  “Well, it’s true. Gambling is in my blood. Anyone who can run into a burning building is either stupid or taking a gamble that everything is going to work out in the end.”

  “I’ll drink to that,” Kane said, tapping a finger on the bar top to get the attention of the bartender.

  Ted laughed. “You’ll drink to anything.”

  “Always got something witty to say, don’t cha, Teddy?” Kane replied with an agitated tone.

  “It’s ten in the morning and you’re getting a drink?” Ted asked, edging Kane on.

  “It’s just an orange juice, Dude.”

  Rick glanced up at the clock near the entrance into the club and asked, “Where’s Micah at? He’s never late.”

  “He’s on his way right now. I forgot to tell him I got the truck. He was going to pick me up,” I said.