Chapter 3
"Jed, I'm so sorry about that ship. There was nothing you could do."
They were getting ready for bed after the State Dinner for the President of Indonesia. In the middle of that dinner Jed had been told that a Class 4 hurricane was bearing down on a fleet of ships off the Virginia coast trying to outrun it.
Getting no response, she looked for her husband and found him in the bathroom, his arm supporting himself against the wall, his head bowed and his eyes closed.
"Jed?"
"Yeah?" never turning his head to look at her.
She gently placed her arm on his shoulder, trying to share some of his heavy burden.
Softly she spoke. "Jed, they'll be okay. Those are big ships and they can weather any storm."
Still no response from her distraught husband. She took her arms and turned him away from the wall, trying to encircle his body and provide some support in his time of anguish.
"Jed, hon, it'll be okay. I bet right now they're notifying Fleet headquarters that they're fine and the ships are underway back to port."
This is what she hated the most. The nights that the country lost citizens, either through a battle or a rescue operation or just from nature's wrath. Jed deeply cared for each and every man, woman and child in the country and personally felt the anguish when one was lost. In the two years of his Presidency, this had happened too many times. Sometimes Abbey could be there immediately to try and help him through. Sometimes, separations required her to try and relieve his guilt and despair through the phone. In either case, it was important to her to share some of his burden. To give him hope when she could and to comfort him when she couldn't.
Turning to look into his wife's caring green eyes, he spoke with possible hope, "Do you really think so? You're right. Those are aircraft carriers and they're really big ships. But that boy on the maintenance ship, Abbey, he can't be over twenty years old. Liz is older than he is. He has his whole life ahead."
"Jed, listen to me. You didn't order these ships to leave port. It was the normal routine so they wouldn't be damaged during the storm. Nobody could have known that the storm would change course and head directly to where the fleet was located. Nobody. Including you."
There was silence between the two of them for a few moments.
"Get undressed and come to bed. I'll rub your neck. Your muscles seem awfully tight."
Leaning backwards, Jed stretched and realized that he was tight. Maybe a massage would get his mind off the fate of those ships and the hundreds of crew members aboard. "Okay, I will. Give me a minute."
"Fine. Let me go change clothes."
As Abbey turned to leave, the phone rang. Jed grabbed it and shouted "What!"
Abbey held her breath.
"Thanks, Leo. I appreciate the news." Hanging up the phone he turned to Abbey and smiled. "They're all okay. They're heading back to port now."
"Thank God!" She leaned in and gave him a kiss. "I care for you because you care so much. Now, how about that massage?"
"Absolutely."
