Chapter 9
Over the next few years, the O'Neill family was doing well and spent every minute they could up at the cabin so their son Charles Liam O'Neill could be with family. When they returned from a trip they took to Minnesota for Easter, Jack checked in at the base and was told he was going to be deployed for 12 months to the Persian Gulf. He didn't know how he was going to be able to go home and tell his wife that she was going to be alone and that he was going to miss the entire third year of his sons life. He took his orders and went home.
That night Sara asked him what was wrong, she could read him like a book. He pulled her closer to him on the couch and finally told her. She broke down crying which caused him to tear up. They knew it was going to be a possibility, especially with the Gulf War having just begun, they were just praying they called other units.
Jack apologized and held her, letting her work through her tears. "Ya know, maybe you should go stay with your parents while I'm gone." She thought about it for a few minutes and finally responded, "no, but maybe I should go stay at the cabin and at least they will be around. My mother would drive me crazy if I lived WITH her again." Jack laughed knowing she was right.
That night, Jack called his mother to let her know what was happening and she agreed to help anytime Sara wanted the help and was happy she was going to be able to see her grandson so often but she was completely depressed that Jack was going to be deployed.
Then Sara called her parents and told them what was happening. They did try to talk her into staying with them but she insisted she and little Charlie needed their own place so they finally accepted. Whatever happened, Jack knew Sara & Charlie were going to be well cared for.
After Sara went to bed, he went in to check on Charlie who was barely asleep so he picked the boy up, threw a blanket down and the two laid on the floor together. Jack was talking softly to Charlie and telling him how much he loved him and just small talk which he knew the boy didn't understand. Finally Jack and Charlie fell asleep together, Jack on his side holding the boy against him. When Sara found him in the morning, she wanted to cry. She went to get her camera and took a photo of the two together and hoped it wouldn't be the last.
Jack had two days before he had to report for deployment so he drove them all to the cabin to be sure Sara was going to be all set and that way she had the truck to get around. Jack only got to say a quick goodbye to his mother and Mike and returned to the cabin for the night so he could catch a plane in the morning.
Jack and Sara had a very memorable night together. After they put Charlie to bed, they went skinny dipping in the pond, and ended with a night of passionate love making worthy of humming in the morning.
So off Jack went from Duluth back to Wright Patterson where he helped load their gear getting ready for deployment. At this point, Jack was leaving with the rank of Lt Colonel and working under the command of Colonel Frank Cromwell.
Their deployment had been going well until one day a few months into their deployment, they were sent on an "unofficial" mission to Iraq where Jack was severely injured and left behind by his team who thought he was dead. Jack was quickly found by the Iraqi soldiers and held captive in an Iraqi prison for over 4 months.
When the government car was seen in the small town everyone worried. The car went directly to the O'Neill cabin. Sara's mother had been with her at the time of their arrival. When Sara saw them pull up, she feared the worst. The two men introduced themselves and told Sara Jack had been injured and is being held in an Iraqi prison. It was better news then she thought but it was still horrible. Unfortunately every question Sara had for the men they couldn't answer. All they could tell her was that he was injured and being held captive, no more. They did say they were trying to negotiate his release due to his injuries.
When the men left, Sara called Susan who broke down in uncontrollable hysterics. Mike was doing his best to control the woman but all he could do was hold her. All Susan could think was it was an almost exact repeat of what happened with Patrick.
Sara had sent her mother home so she could be alone. Over the next two months, Sara had done her best to raise their little boy. It helped that Charlie was a happy boy and was easy to let him amuse himself for quite a while when he played in the living room.
One rainy evening the Sheriff arrived at Susan's door. When she answered the door and let him in, he told her he was bringing bad news. Sara automatically feared the worst and then thought of how disrespectful the Air Force was for not coming themselves but she listened to the man anyway. He told her that her mother in law was killed in a drunk driving accident. All the Sheriff said was he was told she had been going to the bar every night the last week and they had tried stopping her so they called Mike. When Mike arrived she was already in the car and had taken off towards home at a high speed. He said she shot off the road and directly into a stone wall which killed her instantly. They said Mike had witnessed the entire thing and was quite distraught so they escorted him home to the farm.
Sara was in shock, she loved Susan. Her heart sunk, what will happen now with Jack nowhere to be found. She can't even tell him his mother died. She called her father in the morning to tell him what happened. With no other family left, Sara was going to need to help Mike with the funeral arrangements so she did.
The next month was quite somber, but Sara did her best to raise her son alone with only the occasional help from her parents. She had started taking Charlie to children's recreational things that the town sponsored, took him to the library, and stopped in to see Mike every once and a while to visit the farm animals.
She knew Mike had been talking about selling the farm. She wanted him to hold off until Jack returned as it was his mother's family farm but Mike wanted out of Minnesota. He kept saying with Susan gone, he had nothing to hold him here and he needed to be with his family and with not knowing if or when Jack would be home, he couldn't wait. She thought it was rude and in bad taste but Sara understood that legally Mike inherited the house from Susan so it was his to sell.
Over the next two weeks, Mike had sold all the farm animals and got a buyer for the house and property. She was completely surprised when she received a letter saying Mike had deposited the earnings from the sale minus $20,000, into an account at the local bank in Charlie's name. His letter stated that with Jack away, it was his way to ensure the boy would have a college account or have money for anything he may need. Mike also said he was going to do his best to keep working on getting Jack released from the prison and returned to his family. She didn't really know how he could do anything but then again she knew Mike had friends who were mercenaries so who knew what could happen.
