Last time on "Where the Brave Go":
"Gabi," Zeke said with a broken voice. "I—I'm so sorry."
Gabriella shook her head. "Zeke, what happened? Tell me exactly what happened to Troy."
Zeke paused and then cried. "They killed him."
Chapter 10
Almost a month passed after the call from Zeke. His nurse came back in after Zeke told Gabriella that terrorists had killed her husband. The nurse refused Zeke permission to continue with the conversation, stating that it was too traumatic for him to divulge the information.
Gabriella tried to call back, but when she finally got through about a week and a half later, she learned that he had been flown back to the states. The army refused to tell her where they had taken him, so she called Zeke's mother, Diane. Finally, after much persuasion, Diane told her that he was at a hospital in Atlanta, but he was to be transferred to Phoenix, Arizona the following week. Gabriella then decided to plan her trip to the city. She wanted to speak with Zeke in person.
It was a Friday in early May. Gabriella, along with Jack and Cara, were up early that morning in order to start their long car ride to Phoenix. She had enlisted her mother to baby sit Ava and Connor, so her mother and her parents-in-law were over to help pack their suitcases.
"I really don't like the idea of you going to Phoenix, Gabriella," Maria sternly told her daughter as she folded a pair of Connor's jeans. The children were to stay at Maria and Liam's house for the long weekend that Gabriella was to be away.
"I'll be fine, Mom," Gabriella responded tiredly. "Cara and Jack are going to be with me."
Maria shook her head as she glared at her daughter. "You are eight months pregnant, Gabriella. You have no business driving all that way! It's over six hours of driving."
"I won't be driving the entire time, Mom," Gabriella reasoned. "If Jack had his way, I wouldn't be driving at all."
At that statement, Jack popped his head into Connor's bedroom and glanced at his daughter-in-law and her mother. "Did I hear my name?"
Gabriella nodded and turned to Jack. "My mother thinks that this trip is a bad idea."
Jack walked into the bedroom and leaned on Connor's small dresser. "I won't lie to you, Gabriella. I don't think it's the brightest idea either, but you're determined to go. I won't let you go alone."
Gabriella sighed as she turned back to folding Connor's clothes.
"Besides," Jack continued. "I want to know exactly what happened to Troy, also. I think it might be easier for Zeke to open up to us in person, rather than over the phone."
Gabriella nodded as she folded the last of Connor's clothes. "Thank you for understanding."
Jack smiled half-heartedly as he turned to walk out the door, bumping into Cara in the process. Cara apologized quickly and turned to Gabriella. "We should get going. Are you almost finished?"
Gabriella nodded as she started to lift the heavy suitcase.
"Don't you dare lift that, young lady!" Maria exclaimed as she grabbed the suitcase away from her daughter. "It's bad enough that you are under so much stress. You don't need to further wear your body down by doing heavy lifting."
Gabriella nodded tiredly as she headed towards the hallway. She stopped in the living room and looked on at her children. She watched as Ava stood up beside the couch, grasping the end table to balance herself. She also saw Connor lying on his stomach watching cartoons in his PJ's.
"Connor, why aren't you dressed for school?" Gabriella sighed as Connor turned onto his side to look at his mother.
"Grammy said I didn't have to go to school today," Connor replied slyly.
Gabriella rolled her eyes. "Connor Jonathan Bolton, you know that is a lie. I told Grammy that you were to go to school today and Monday."
"But I thought that Grammy and Lee Lee were going to let us say bye to you, Grandma, and Grampa!" Connor explained pleadingly as he described the supposed intentions of Maria (Grammy) and Liam (Lee Lee).
"No, Connor," Gabriella replied as she knelt to the carpet floor to help Connor out of his PJ's. "On the way back to Grammy and Lee Lee's house, Grammy is going to drop you off at school."
"Okay," Connor sighed as he stood up to pull his PJ bottoms down and put on his jeans that were laid out on the couch.
Soon, Connor and Ava were dressed and ready to leave. Gabriella kissed both of her children goodbye and watched the children leave. She then gathered her purse and rollaway suitcase and walked out to her small SUV as Cara and Jack followed.
After a fight over the car keys occurred (Gabriella won) and a fight over the radio station (Cara won), the trio hit the road for the long trip to Phoenix.
Every two hours, the three stopped for a bathroom and snack break, and also to switch drivers. The trip was fairly uneventful, so when they finally arrived in Phoenix, all were relieved.
Finding the hospital proved to be a harder task than the trip itself. Jack, who was driving at the time, refused to stop for directions, so the three were completely lost. Finally, Gabriella called the hospital for directions and they were able to navigate their way there.
As they stepped into the hospital, Gabriella felt a rush of hope. Although she knew that Zeke believed Troy was dead, she was hoping that he might have a clue that may lead to finding Troy. She refused to believe that her husband was gone.
Soon, they were at the nurse's station inquiring information on Zeke. They learned that he was in a regular room on the second floor. They successfully found the second floor, and then went searching for his room.
They found it. Gabriella hesitated to open it, trying to build up the nerve to walk inside. Jack, who was impatient, decided to open the door for her and walked in with Cara following. Gabriella paused and then slowly walked into the room.
The room had two beds. The one nearest to the door was empty, but the farther one was occupied. As she neared the second bed she saw Zeke.
At first she hardly recognized him. She knew nothing of his injuries, other than that he was in a critical condition when the army had found him and several other soldiers lying in a ditch near their base. Unfortunately, only Zeke and another soldier had survived and were left for dead.
From experience as a nurse, Gabriella could tell that the right side of Zeke's face had new skin grafted to his old skin. That told her right away that he had a bad burn or cut on his face. The left side had one line of stitches above his eye and another along his chin. She saw that his left arm was in a cast, as was his left leg, which was also propped up off the bed in a sling.
After looking him over, she decided to check his cognitive skills by asking him questions. "How are you feeling, Zeke?" she asked softly as she sat in a chair next to his bed.
Zeke smiled and hoarsely responded. "I was just given pain meds, so I feel pretty good. How are you and the baby doing?"
Gabriella smiled softly. He remembered the baby. That was a good sign that he had little head trauma. "The baby is doing fine. The baby's due in about four weeks."
Zeke nodded. "Taylor," he responded.
Gabriella stared at Zeke, puzzled. "What did you say?"
"Taylor," he said hoarsely. "The baby."
Gabriella was still confused. "Why are you calling the baby Taylor?"
"That's what Troy named it. After Taylor McKessie," he responded.
"What?" She wiped a stray tear that ran freely down her face and attempted to calm her voice. Her husband had named their baby after her best friend.
Zeke cleared his throat when he saw how upset Gabriella was. "I'm sorry Gabi. I shouldn't have upset you like this. You're pregnant. You don't need me adding stress."
Gabriella shook her head. "It's okay, Zeke. I'm already stressed. Can you do me a favor though? Can you tell us what happened to Troy?"
"Yes," Zeke whispered as he shifted his free arm a bit. He paused for a bit and then finally said, "Gabi…I…I didn't mean for him to die. I tried to save him, but…I couldn't."
His statement took Gabriella aback. She then heard Jack speak up. "Zeke, will you tell us how he died?"
"Yeah," Zeke nervously responded. He shifted in his bed again and then cleared his throat before he began.
"It was a normal weekday for us. We woke up, ate breakfast, and then we had some free time. Troy was reading a letter from Gabriella; I was reading a book. I remember talking with him about the baby. I came up with the idea to name the baby something instead of calling it "it." He liked the idea and came up with a name for it: Taylor. He wanted to call the baby something memorable, and he decided to call him or her after a person both Gabriella and he loved: Taylor McKessie," Zeke said.
Gabriella felt her heart swell with love for her husband. He was so mindful of her feelings.
Zeke continued. "After a while, we went to meet our platoon for a toy give-away in town. Our group was sponsoring it. I remember him talking about how every time he looked at a local child's face, he thought of his own children.
"On the way, Troy stopped the group because he saw a child run into an unstable building. He refused to continue without making sure that the child was safe. I remember him saying that he saw shadows inside the building, but I didn't think much of it. I should have thought about it more though. We later found out that the shadows were terrorists. They ambushed us when we got inside the building. They blindfolded and gagged us and pushed us into a corner. It was so hot and cramped that it was almost unbearable.
"After they yelled at us for what seemed like forever, I started hearing gunshots. I hear screaming. I couldn't see through the blindfold, so I was so scared. I was next to Troy and I hear footsteps stop right in front of him. I heard another gunshot. I then heard laughing in the background and I felt a thud next to me.
Cara gasped and clutched onto Jack's shoulder in horror. Gabriella cried out in anguish as she listened. Her husband was shot in cold blood, and these men laughed about it!
Zeke continued. "For some reason, they stopped at me. I have no idea why to this day. The last thing I remember was someone yelling at me, and then I heard a loud bang go off. Everything then went black.
"When I woke up, I was outside. It was nighttime. I remember trying to get up, but it hurt to even blink my eyes. I looked around and saw men from my platoon lying on the ground next to me. I tried to yell to get their attention, but they didn't say anything. I knew then that…that they were…" Zeke trailed off as he sobbed. Gabriella stroked his hand to comfort him.
Cara spoke as she drew near to Zeke's side. "I'm so sorry this happened to you Zeke."
Zeke nodded. "Thanks, but it wasn't your fault. It was my own."
Cara shook her head. "Zeke, you couldn't have known."
"No," Zeke responded. "But it went against my better judgment."
After a pause, Jack spoke up. "How long were you in the ditch before you were found?"
Zeke sighed and started. "I remember watching the sun set and waking up to the sunrise before I heard people calling. I guess it was about a day and a half before they found us."
Jack nodded in response. "Was the loud bang you talked about an explosion?"
Zeke exhaled tiredly and responded, "Yeah. I think it was. The army said that a bomb went off inside the building."
"Why were you moved to the ditch after the explosion?" Gabriella asked.
"I have no idea," Zeke responded. "If I had to guess, I think that they wanted to throw the army off. They didn't want them to know where we were."
Gabriella nodded. "What do you think happened to Troy, Zeke?"
Zeke shook his head. "I think he was killed before the explosion, Gabriella."
"By the gun?" Gabriella asked as tears began to fall down her face.
Zeke nodded painfully. "I'm so sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Bolton…Gabi."
Gabriella began to cry in misery. She glanced over at her in-laws and watched Jack cry softly as he tried to console his sorrowful wife. This can't be happening, Gabriella thought miserably. Troy can't be gone; he just can't.
The ride back to Albuquerque was a silent and mournful one. Although Gabriella refused to believe Troy was really gone, the amount of hope she had when she arrived in Phoenix was greatly diminished as she left the city. Cara and Jack seemed weighted by the tragic news of their only son. Both were in a silent daze until their arrival in Albuquerque.
"We're home," Gabriella called joylessly as she willed herself to walk through her front door. Her step-father appeared at the doorway holding Ava. Right way he understood by Gabriella's body language that the news about Troy was not good.
"Maria!" Liam called for his wife as he handed Ava to Gabriella's weary arms. He then turned to her. "Will you be alright, Gabriella?"
Gabriella sighed as she tried to balance Ava and her suitcase so that she could close the front door. "I don't know," she responded bitterly.
Liam nodded as he reached for the suitcase to assist her. Gabriella smiled as she walked towards the living room couch and sunk into the soft leather. She carefully rocked her daughter on her knees. Ava sunk onto Gabriella's swelled stomach and put her mouth to it. Gabriella watched as Ava kissed her stomach and softly cooed, "Baby."
Gabriella smiled and kissed the top of her daughter's head. Maria then appeared with Connor and Liam following. Gabriella motioned for Connor to sit next to her on the couch. Liam and Maria sank into the nearby love seat.
Gabriella turned to her children. "Connor, Ava, I have something to talk to you about."
Connor nodded his head in response. He seemed to know that the news wouldn't be good news.
"I spoke with Daddy's friend Zeke, Connor," Gabriella started slowly. "He told me that…that we may not see Daddy for a long, long time."
Connor's eyes grew huge. "Why?"
"Well…" Gabriella started trying to choose her words carefully. "Unfortunately, Daddy got separated from Zeke, and the army doesn't know where he's at."
"Why don't they know?" Connor questioned.
Gabriella looked away from her son and looked at Ava, who was happily sucking half of her tiny hand, oblivious to the situation. "I don't know why, Connor. It's hard to explain."
"When will they find him? When will Daddy come home?"
Gabriella felt tears well up in her eyes. "I don't know that either, sweetie."
Connor began to cry. "But…you said that Daddy would come home to meet the new baby!" Connor pleaded.
Gabriella reached to embrace Connor. "I know. I thought he would be home, but he can't right now."
Connor pulled away from Gabriella. "I want him home now!"
Gabriella felt tears fall down her face. "I'm sorry, honey. He can't come home right now."
"But he promised he would come home!" Connor cried.
Gabriella looked into Connor's eyes and said. "Connor, don't give up on your father. I promise I'll do the same. We just need to have hope that he will come home."
Connor nodded as he wiped his tears from his face. "I promise Mommy."
"Good," Gabriella responded as she lifted Ava from her lap. She then turned to her son. "Connor, please take Ava to your room to play while I talk to Grammy and Lee Lee."
Connor obediently nodded and took his sister to his room. Gabriella then turned to her mother and step-father.
"I know what you're thinking," she said before Maria could get a word in.
"Well then you know how I feel," Maria stated firmly.
She nodded in response. "I won't give up on him Mami. No matter what."