C
Before Everything
Chapter 4
As Mike suspected his parents went within six months of each other. His mom died from leukemia and his dad had a stroke. First him and then her. Fortunately, he was able to get home to tell his mom goodbye. They were buried next to each other, two rows from Christine's parents and next to Katie's pseudo grave. They had never located her remains, like so many others that died in the Twin Towers so to give themselves closure, they bought a burial plot and had a headstone set. They were wrong, because it never gave his parent's the closure they desired, and it never helped Katie's siblings.
Mike had done most of Christine's remodeling projects. The only one lacking was the kitchen. She wanted a gourmet kitchen and he was on a galley budget. As always, they'd meet in the middle with him compromising just a bit more. It was minor compared to some of their other arguments. He was never home. He wasn't home when he was home. She was tired of raising the kids alone and when he did get home, they never got a chance to just be a couple. Mike couldn't remember the last time they had even had dinner together alone.
It came to a head when Mike turned down a desk job in Miami. He wanted his own command and it would never happen at a desk. Christine didn't want to uproot the kids, but she had loved Florida. There would be work opportunities for her because Norfolk wasn't known for its fine dining. Christine wanted to work in a restaurant but had settled for catering for fancy dinners. Her clientele was growing, and her food was raved about. Mike found himself being invited to parties at Admirals homes so they could get Christine's information. He was not used to his wife being more successful than him.
She called him sexist at times and maybe it was true. His opinion had always been that once they had kids, she needed to be at home with them and he would make the ends meet. He had encouraged her to go to culinary school and was proud of her, but he missed his slightly insecure, easy to please wife. He could sooth her insecurities and a simple bouquet of flowers made her happy. If he really screwed up, a new kitchen gadget would do the job. She was not thrilled that he was deploying over the summer and reminded him that the kids needed him. He reminded her that he would be home for the holidays. The last night, before he was set to deploy, she had to cater some big event. It was after eleven before she got home, and the kids had been in bed for two hours. Mike decided to sleep in his bedroom, if Christine didn't like it, she could sleep on the couch. He would prefer to sleep next to his wife, but that hadn't happened in six months or better.
"What are you doing in here?" Christine said as she walked into the master bedroom. She was unbuttoning her chef's jacket and kicking her shoes off.
"I deploy tomorrow and wanted to sleep in a bed." Mike said.
"I know when you deploy, and Lucas would share with you in a heartbeat." Christine said.
"He's in a twin-sized bed and I'm six-four. That would work for about a half second. I'm sleeping in here. If you don't like it, you can sleep on the couch." Mike replied.
"Why the sudden change of heart?" Christine said with her arms folded over her chest.
"Chrissy, I never didn't want to sleep in here with you. No change of heart. I just want to sleep in a bed next to my wife. I would prefer you stay in here, by the way." Mike said. He had softened his voice and gestured for Christine to come closer. He was shocked when she did.
"How long are you going to be gone?" Christine asked. He knew he had told her that before but didn't want to pick a fight. He would just answer her.
"Four months, tops. Back by Thanksgiving." Mike told her.
"If I can save up the money between now and then and can find a place for the kids; do you think you and I can go do something; maybe over a weekend. Virginia Beach, maybe? Just you and I." Christine asked. She had sat down on the bed next to him.
"I would love that." Mike agreed. It was an odd request because Christine had not seemed to want anything like that.
"We haven't done anything like that in years. If ever." Christine said.
"While I'm gone, I've made you my power of attorney, as you know. Mom and Dad's house might close, and it was paid off. I don't know if there will be much of an inheritance from it, but the attorney has been given your information. We could put the money towards a weekend out." Mike said as Christine stood up and walked to her dresser. She was getting her nightclothes out.
"You don't want it to go towards the house?" Christine asked.
"Chrissy, the prudent thing to do would be to save it for the house, but you and I aren't doing so well, mostly because of me. I am afraid if we don't do something for the two of us, we will end up needing to sell the house because we're divorcing. I want to save our marriage. I don't know if you're in the same place I am where that's concerned, but I think this is something we have to do for both of our sanity." Mike said.
"I agree. Part of the reason I asked was to see how you reacted. You reacted how I hoped you would. And yes, before you get mad; I bated you. I wanted to see if you valued our marriage." Christine replied. She was standing at the bathroom door.
"Chrissy, if I had thought you wanted a weekend out, I would have figured it out before now. I wish I had more time." Mike said. His deployment had been unexpected, and they had to change the course of their summer at home because of it.
"Me too. I'd better go take a shower. I'm exhausted." Christine said before walking into their bathroom. Mike knew that he should have gone to sleep but decided to wait up. Christine had always loved when he massaged her back and he hadn't done that in a long time. Finally, she came out in her pajamas with her dark brown hair in a loose braid. She looked surprised to see Mike still awake.
"Come here. I realized how long it had been before I gave you a massage." Mike said as he held his hand out to her. She took it and sat down on the edge of the bed. Mike sat up behind her and began massaging her back, just how she liked.
"This feels so good." Christine said.
"Good. Foot massage too?" Mike asked.
"That would be nice." Christine said.
The next morning, Mike smiled down at his still sleeping wife. He hadn't gotten as much sleep as he probably needed to get but he never did the night before a deployment. The massages had their desired effect and Mike and Christine spent a few hours reacquainting themselves with each other. It had been a long time since they had done that, and it felt good. Mike got out of the bed and took a shower, knowing he'd have to leave soon. Christine and the kids never went to the dock when he was leaving because he liked his goodbyes to be private. He felt it was too hard on the kids to say goodbye in front of other people. As he was putting his summer whites on, Christine woke up.
"Morning." Mike said.
"Yeah. Wow, what a night." Christine said with a smile. Mike handed her the pajamas that had gotten thrown on the floor the night before. Now that they were talking, one of the kids were liable to walk in. As Christine dressed, Mike unlocked the door.
"It was incredible. You're amazing." Mike said. He bent down and gave her a kiss on the lips.
"You should give me more massages." Christine teased.
"I definitely should." Mike agreed with a grin.
"What time do you have be at the dock?" Christine asked.
"We have a system's test at nine. I need to be there before. Its six now." Mike answered.
"I'll wake the kids up. Fix some breakfast." Christine said as she stood up. She gave Mike a kiss and walked into the bathroom. Their marriage was far from fixed, but Mike felt a bit more hope. After her fast shower, Christine went and woke the kids up and started breakfast. Mike got his morning cuddles in with the kids. He hugged and kissed each of the kids. The twins would be eight and Kaitlyn had turned thirteen. They were growing too fast. They gave Mike their deployment gifts; including an IPOD that had recorded messages from the kids. There was new photos and cards for Mike to read throughout the deployment. Christine had somehow come up with a box of baked goods for Mike to take with him. Russ Jeter was picking him up and would be there by eight-thirty.
Goodbyes were never easy. The kids always cried and generally, Christine cried too. Mike just hid his tears. He hugged, kissed and exchanged 'I love you's' one more time before grabbing his rucksack, Christine's box of baked goodies and left. As he walked to Russ' vehicle, he looked back. Hannah's little face was in the living room window and she was waving at him. With his free hand, he blew her a kiss and got in Russ' vehicle.
"I never could look back." Russ commented as he backed out of the driveway.
"I shouldn't have. Its harder on the kids. I'm hoping I can stay home for awhile after this deployment." Mike commented. It had been back-to-back deployments for a while.
"Maybe you'll have your own command next time." Russ replied.
"I can hope." Mike answered. As his house disappeared from the rearview mirror, he would start his countdown until he got home and got to kiss his kids again. Kiss his wife again.
I was originally going to end this story here, but I might do one more chapter, telling about Mike's reaction to the news of Lucas' death and his family's predicament after the Red Flu. Maybe how Christine reacted too.
